Bank Charges Success Stories II

troy_edwards

Since I lost my job in December 08 & being put on short time in my new role the Alliance & Leicester bank has been relentless in it's charging me & sent me on wild goose chases to various advisors at my local bank. I wrote a number of letters & phoned them and after around 10 weeks I managed to get back the £700 which they took from me in my hour of need. SUCSESS!!!!... Many thanks Martin.

Troy.

treeinafield71

Bank: Halifax :mad:

Amount Reclaimed:£2175.03 (incl intrest) + £465 (further charges while claim was ongoing) = 2640.03

Amount they paid: £968 plus suspension of fees for 3 months :eek:
The story: We made a claim of £500 in 2006 which at the time was pretty straight forward, but after that we incurred several more bank charges as the economy of the country went mad our debts spiralled and began living on our credit cards to pay for food and petrol so there was enough money in the bank to cover bills, unfortunately there often wasn't and so the bank charges came thick and fast!
We applied originally for £2175.03 in August 2008, which the bank told us we were not entitled to as we had previously claimed. I applied again stating this was a separate claim for different charges so they sent us a financial statement form, which luckily the Citizen's Advice Bureau had filled in for us for a debt management arrangement with our credit cards. We included with this that we should be considered for financial hardship, they said we were not in financial hardship! :mad:
I threatened court after not hearing anything for over 2 months and after still hearing nothing I contacted the Financial Ombudsman in April 2009 (all with the help of Martins template letters and guidance!). :money:
They were great! Sent us out a claim pack, updated us periodically, and acknowledged the fact that we had incurred a further £465 in charges bringing the total to £2640.
By this time our debt management plan had turned into an IVA.
At the beginning of July we received an offer through the Ombudsman of only £968, which I was a little disappointed with, but we were in no other financial situation but to accept (as we were living constantly £1000 overdrawn and STILL incurring charges).
They also offered to suspend our fees for 3 months and stated that this offer was made without any admission of liability and in full and final settlement.
The bank is due to contact us before August 10th 2009.:rolleyes:



I'm not sure where that leaves us, because this was only a (so called) goodwill gesture and the bank must contact us when the overdraft charges court case outcome is known.

• Will they the process our complaint AGAIN?
• Can we expect years of delays in these processes after the courts ruling?
• Will we receive the difference in the amount owed to us?
• Is it too much to ask for some sort of apology for driving me insane with all this! (That last 1 was a joke):rotfl:

Any comments are greatly appreciated (as long as they help!) because I have had enough!

If I had any energy left I would change banks!

But many thanks to Martins guidance and templates, otherwise I would be even more demented than I am! :j

natweststaffmember

Clarify with the Financial ombudsman service the wording whether it is "Full and final settlement of your claim" OR full and "final settlement of you financial hardship claim"?
If it is the latter then the rest is still on the table and if it is the former then that is against the FSA Waiver on bank charges.

joegw

Bank: Lloyds TSB
Amount Reclaimed: £203.26
Amount they paid: £203.26
How long did it take: 5 weeks
The story: :j

treeinafield71

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Clarify with the Financial ombudsman service the wording whether it is "Full and final settlement of your claim" OR full and "final settlement of you financial hardship claim"?
If it is the latter then the rest is still on the table and if it is the former then that is against the FSA Waiver on bank charges.

yes indeed it was the latter! it was in full and final settlement of our financial hardship at this time! so fingers crossed we may see the rest!:T

claudette

Banks - Barclays Bank
Amount Claimes - £1,100.00
Amount Received - £1,100.00 :T:T:T

I received the full amount claimed back from Barclays bank after going down the financial hardship route, and i received it back within 3 weeks of filling out my expense form. It was paid straight into my account and i was really pleased with the outcome. Thank you Barclays!

big_al_1981

just to let you all know that after my 1st letter for requesting a list of my bank charges from past 6yrs with lloyds 2weeks ago, i got them in post this morning:rotfl:
so i have made copies of these charges ( for the FOS),should i need 2 send them for my complaint
anyway im claiming financial difficulties and also included copies of letters with my claim to lloyds highlighting my situation, ie,missed payments,default notice etc etc from creditors.
ive now sent off my claim asking for full refund of charges,which is 3600pounds,plus 8% interest of 288pounds,so altogether 3888pounds.
i hav threatened lloyds with the FOS should they not respond positively in the next 14days.
wil keep u all posted on my claim:T

natweststaffmember

big_al_1981 wrote: »

just to let you all know that after my 1st letter for requesting a list of my bank charges from past 6yrs with lloyds 2weeks ago, i got them in post this morning:rotfl:
so i have made copies of these charges ( for the FOS),should i need 2 send them for my complaint
anyway im claiming financial difficulties and also included copies of letters with my claim to lloyds highlighting my situation, ie,missed payments,default notice etc etc from creditors.
ive now sent off my claim asking for full refund of charges,which is 3600pounds,plus 8% interest of 288pounds,so altogether 3888pounds.
i hav threatened lloyds with the FOS should they not respond positively in the next 14days.
wil keep u all posted on my claim:T

Can I ask why you are reclaiming for just 6 years?
Were you sent statements for further than 6 years?

big_al_1981

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Can I ask why you are reclaiming for just 6 years?
Were you sent statements for further than 6 years?

i joined lloyds in 2002 so i have all my charges since then to july this month,however before i joined lloyds i was with rbos so i requested a list of my charges from 1999 to 2002 (upto when i joined lloyds), but yesterday i got a letter from rbos saying they cudnt provide these charges as these records are untraceable in their system,which i thought was very convenient,however the waiver states that the cut off point is july 2001,and i was stil with rbos at this point,so surely even if they gave me a list of charges from this point on until September 2002 i wud be happy,but they didnt,personally i think they are trying to get one over on me and lye,im not going to give up,has anyone any suggestions wot 2 do now to get hold of my charges as rbos says they are untraceable,surely there must be a record somewhere??? please help.
thanks

kiwi_sheila

Bank: Barclays
Amount Reclaimed: 1400 + 400 interest
Amount they paid: 1400

The story:
We put in our claim two years ago, around the time the first test case was in court, and Barclays refused to consider our claim until the test case had been heard.
In March this year my husband was made redundant, and this month he read an article about the financial hardship exception to considering bank charges claims, and decided to call Barclays last week and ask to have our claim considered now on the basis of financial hardship. We have managed to bring in less than one third of a normal month's salary in the past four months (we're living on credit - cards and overdraft...).
One week after the phonecall, 1400 pounds just appeared in our account - no letter or phonecall from Barclays, but when I looked at the full description in the transaction history it was called a 'Goodwill gesture'.
I was convinced we were going to have to fight with Barclays and I am still paranoid that they might reduce our overdraft facility at any moment but I think we are probably safe for now. We are Additions Plus customers and young professionals (although I'm now a mum) so I think they are anxious to keep our account.
Thanks Martin for all your good advice! I can not believe it was that easy!