Claiming interest back on Bank charges

PS1ON1C

Hi,

After failing to claim my charges back directly with my Bank, the financial Ombudsman have upheld my claim and have ordered all charges to be refunded to me since 2005.:)

I was wondering if I am able to claim interest on top of the refunded charges.
I am awaiting a final figure from my bank, which I believe from adding everything up will be roughly £1850, but am i able to claim the interest I lost out on because of the charges.
I hope that makes sense.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
Rob

dunstonh

After failing to claim my charges back directly with my Bank, the financial Ombudsman have upheld my claim and have ordered all charges to be refunded to me since 2005.

On what basis have they said they should be refunded? It may help others as even the FOS say on their own website they will not consider complaints about unfair bank charges. It has really only been financial hardship cases or incorrect application of charges where the FOS has been able to get involved and on the former, they can only encourage the bank to consider it fairly and not award an amount.

but am i able to claim the interest I lost out on because of the charges.

It should be automatically added by the bank.

PS1ON1C

Hi Dunstonh,
Thanks for the reply.
This all started in 2005 when i went into my overdraft, I realised I needed to sort this out and stopped using the account completely. I went through the CCCS (StepChange) to start paying the overdraft back. Although i was making payments, the bank continued to place charges on my account, which mostly out weighed what i could pay into the account.
So i started at roughly £1300 overdrawn, and after 8 years the balance was at £1200. I raised this with the bank on numerous occasions, but they were unwilling to help, and continued placing charges.

I then raised this to the FOS, which investigated, and found that the bank had not been unwilling to offer me adequate assistance, and should have either stopped the charges or reduced them. I was left by the bank in a never ending spiral of debt. The FOS found in my favour, and have ordered the bank to refund all charges applied to the account since 2005.

I was wondering if the bank will only refund me the charges they applied, or would they offer interest on the full amount on top, and if so what percentage would this be.

Wywth

PS1ON1C wrote: »

Hi Dunstonh,
Thanks for the reply.
This all started in 2005 when i went into my overdraft, I realised I needed to sort this out and stopped using the account completely. I went through the CCCS (StepChange) to start paying the overdraft back. Although i was making payments, the bank continued to place charges on my account, which mostly out weighed what i could pay into the account.
So i started at roughly £1300 overdrawn, and after 8 years the balance was at £1200. I raised this with the bank on numerous occasions, but they were unwilling to help, and continued placing charges.

I then raised this to the FOS, which investigated, and found that the bank had not been unwilling to offer me adequate assistance, and should have either stopped the charges or reduced them. I was left by the bank in a never ending spiral of debt. The FOS found in my favour, and have ordered the bank to refund all charges applied to the account since 2005.

I was wondering if the bank will only refund me the charges they applied, or would they offer interest on the full amount on top, and if so what percentage would this be.

IF the FOS have offered you a proposed resolution, they would have asked you to accept it in writing. The FOS would not make any order to a bank etc without your agreement to the settlement

castortroy31

Wywth wrote: »

IF the FOS have offered you a proposed resolution, they would have asked you to accept it in writing. The FOS would not make any order to a bank etc without your agreement to the settlement

Hi there,

thanks for posting you experience.

I have had a similar issue. was wondering if someone could help here.

i wanted to ask about unfair bank charges.
I know that there is some information on this out there but I wanted to know some peoples opinions and also whether anyone has had any type of compensation or recompense.
About three years ago in 2011, I was in pretty dire straights in regard to my money. I was upto my eyeballs in debt and had a pretty serious gambling problem at the time.
I was spending a lot of money and I was overdrawn on an account with Natwest where the over draft limit was 3000. However I tried to keep this account in the overdraft by putting in money in every month.
However nearing the time where my money was really bad this overdraft ballooned over the limit to about 4200. This was due to the fact that they were charging me 2-300 pounds a month on charges. I would then proceed to pay off for the next month back into the black and then the charges would bring me over again. I believe that this happened for about maybe 8 months. The charges were getting bigger and bigger and I couldn't afford to pay the amounts back,
In the end, what happened was that Natwest offered me a loan to clear my debts off this account. Now this loan was not based on a credit check off sorts as well no one would had offered me a loan for that size and rate. This cleared off the overdraft and another loan that I had. Technically it was a consolidation loan.
Do I have any right to claim for the excess charges that were given off the account? Or since they offered me a loan to clear off the balance, I have no claim here?
I think ideally at the time the bank should have set up a payment plan for me and then that would have reduced the overdraft. Instead I believe they have made money off various charges that I had.
I will get the old statements and details from the bank as it is and post the details on here as soon as I can.
Many thanks everyone and I apologise for the long winded explanation.
Regards,
Cas

PS1ON1C

Wywth,
Thanks for the reply
The FOS have sent me a form to sign, and the bank have agreed to refund all charges to me, but so far I have had nothing to say an amount.
The letter only states that they have found in my favour, and that they felt that the bank treated me unfairly, also that they agreed with my request for a refund of all charges since 2005.
I'm happy with them refunding everything as it not only pays off what is left on the overdraft, but also gives me around £800 leftover. But I'm just curious to whether they would only refund the chargers or add interest as they shouldn't have charged them.

Cas,
Sorry to hear about the trouble you're having, and i hope someone can help you soon.

[Deleted User]

castortroy31 wrote: »

i wanted to ask about unfair bank charges.

You can only even hope for a refund of Bank charges if you CURRENTLY meet the Bank's "hardship" criteria and, even then, only for a typical period of the last six months.
You've rather missed the boat for a refund of historical bank charges.

castortroy31

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

You can only even hope for a refund of Bank charges if you CURRENTLY meet the Bank's "hardship" criteria and, even then, only for a typical period of the last six months.
You've rather missed the boat for a refund of historical bank charges.

okay thanks for that... it was a bit of a long shot I know.

it did just seem a little unfair at the time but I understand.

Wywth

PS1ON1C wrote: »

Wywth,
Thanks for the reply
The FOS have sent me a form to sign, and the bank have agreed to refund all charges to me, but so far I have had nothing to say an amount.
The letter only states that they have found in my favour, and that they felt that the bank treated me unfairly, also that they agreed with my request for a refund of all charges since 2005.
I'm happy with them refunding everything as it not only pays off what is left on the overdraft, but also gives me around £800 leftover. But I'm just curious to whether they would only refund the chargers or add interest as they shouldn't have charged them....

Then go back to the FOS and ask them for a detailed resolution proposal including full details of all the amounts they are considering including in any settlement, rather than effectively asking you to sign a blank cheque.