Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges article discussion Part II

natweststaffmember

indytim wrote: »

The Halifax have taken over £3000 from me in bank charges over the past 8 years. This has been a time when I have suffered a great deal of financial hardship and been made redundant twice. During this time I wrote to the Halifax on several occasions asking if they could show some leniency relating to their bank charges while I got back on my feet, but their response was basically 'tough, it's not our problem'. I have learnt the hard way that the happy, customer friendly image they convey through advertising is nothing but a lie shrouding the truth.

Anyway, this year I decided enough was enough so, using on-line guides to help me, I set about claiming the past six years charges back; which amount to roughly £2500 (a small fortune to me). I have a £900 overdraft with the Halifax which is infuriating, as it's necessity is a direct result of their charges.

They fobbed me off with automated response letters but I continued through the motions until I eventually came to the point where involving the courts became my only option, so I did. After submitting my claim to the court I received documentation back stating 'The defendant says that the amount you are claiming has been paid (see attached Form N9B)' and there were details of the 'test case'. As not a penny of my bank charges has not been paid back to me this seemed ludicrous and actually offensive. I was asked to complete a form asking how to proceed and so I checked the box 'I wish to proceed with the claim' and returned it.

This morning I have now received a letter from Northampton County Court (after completing my claim online this is who all the correspondence has been coming from, which I found a little odd as I live in West Yorkshire). It simply reads ...

'I write with reference to your request to proceed with the above case (case number quoted). We are unable to transfer the case as it is an Office of Fair Trading case pending the outcome of the case currently with the High Court.'

Can anyone make sense of this and advise me how I should now proceed? To me, that appears to be drawing a line under my case and informing me that I've failed in my claim. Any help or advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

All cases are on hold in the county court pending the OFT test case issues so you are now on hold.
Can I ask if you went back to 27th July 2001 on the claim?

nippyone

natweststaffmember wrote: »

All cases are on hold in the county court pending the OFT test case issues so you are now on hold.
Can I ask if you went back to 27th July 2001 on the claim?

indytim said -
Anyway, this year I decided enough was enough so, using on-line guides to help me, I set about claiming the past six years charges back; which amount to roughly £2500 (a small fortune to me). I have a £900 overdraft with the Halifax which is infuriating, as it's necessity is a direct result of their charges.

natweststaffmember

nippyone wrote: »

indytim said -
Anyway, this year I decided enough was enough so, using on-line guides to help me, I set about claiming the past six years charges back; which amount to roughly £2500 (a small fortune to me). I have a £900 overdraft with the Halifax which is infuriating, as it's necessity is a direct result of their charges.

And do you know why I am asking the question?

nippyone

natweststaffmember wrote: »

And do you know why I am asking the question?

I was just saying he 'said' he went back 6 years but then you asked if he went back to July 2001!

natweststaffmember

nippyone wrote: »

I was just saying he 'said' he went back 6 years but then you asked if he went back to July 2001!

I know, some people say 6 years which may not necessarily be 6 years from today so clarification is always worth doing cos they may not be claiming for charges that they are able to claim for.

HeadKM

We are a very small business suffering in the credit crunch, and our bank charges are even worse than personal accounts as we get charged for every transaction, cheques, paying in, etc etc
All the publicity seems to centre on personal accounts but we feel that business account charges are even more unfair
Can we reclaim too, or is it just limited to non-business accounts?
If we can claim can we use the same template letters and procedure detailed on MSE?
Does anyone know the answer to this, please
Thank you

esmerellda

HeadKM wrote: »

We are a very small business suffering in the credit crunch, and our bank charges are even worse than personal accounts as we get charged for every transaction, cheques, paying in, etc etc
All the publicity seems to centre on personal accounts but we feel that business account charges are even more unfair
Can we reclaim too, or is it just limited to non-business accounts?
If we can claim can we use the same template letters and procedure detailed on MSE?
Does anyone know the answer to this, please
Thank you

The only charges you may be able to claim would be the unauthorised transaction charges (ie bounced direct debits/cheques etc) the process is different and its a minefield at the moment as business claims can't use UTCCR and the test case has said that the terms in personal accounts (which are similar/the same as business accounts terms) can not be deemed as penalties. So no it isnt straightforward but some people are still receiving refunds off the back of letters, it really depends on the bank.

cinderella46

HI everyone, I am new, can somebody please please help me, I done the letter to halifax for statements, + £10, halifax cashed the cheque no statements weeks later no statements, and yesterday a letter demanding we pay £1,383 so the £35 overdraft has gone balistic, my son has just come out of the army after a traumatic time in iraq I have hid this letter cos I feel it is going to push him over the edge and I have not got his type of money, oh please please can someone help me with what to do

cindy46

davidcrouch

I heard on the Radio today that the Government are asking the suppliers of Mortgages to clarify the charges they are requesting from lenders of £35 per letter on defaults in the repayment of their loans.
Am I not right in thinking, this is what the refunding of Bank charges is all about. VICTORY IS VERY NEAR Why is there such a big wait on the Lords ruling.

natweststaffmember

davidcrouch wrote: »

I heard on the Radio today that the Government are asking the suppliers of Mortgages to clarify the charges they are requesting from lenders of £35 per letter on defaults in the repayment of their loans.
Am I not right in thinking, this is what the refunding of Bank charges is all about. VICTORY IS VERY NEAR Why is there such a big wait on the Lords ruling.

No and yes is the answer. I think the government is looking closely at these charges but the problem is that until the first part of the OFT test case is resolved we may not necessarily know if there is anything that can be done via litigation.