Bank Charges Success Stories II

norm79

I see a few people have had claims paid from HSBC. They denied me saying that I had to wait for the ruling. Where was the letter sent, I did mine through my branch was this correct? Not sure why it differs customer to customer. I did plead hardship, I spent over 4 months unemployed and have been over my o/d limit every month since trying to get back on track.

MARKZ123

Barclays bank
claimed £300
paid £243.75

back in 2001 i was working full time, and the wife receiving dissabilty benefit we went over our overdraft limited 12 times and was charged £25 each time.
In june 2008 i gave up work to become my wifes full time carer, and luckily financially we are better of with a bank balance of roughly + £1500.
On the 29th june 2009 i thought i would try my luck under the hardship rules as we are on benefits. So i printed out the letter from mse website and sent of my claim.
2 weeks later they sent me a budget planner to complete i hastily returned it completed. Then today i received a letter from them saying as a good will gesture £243 will be transfered to my account today.

I am very pleased with the outcome 6 weeks start to finish. And not far of the full ammount.
I didnt want to push my luck so i didnt claim interest on the original letter.
Plus if they loose in the court battle later on in the year they say ill get the rest.

Well done barclays..

*****************************************************
reclaimed £1300 from the tax man
won a haven holiday
won a mobile phone on cokezone
won £40 from magnum lollies
won £100 topshop voucher from nivea
won playstation 3 from mccoys.

smitsturbo

i havent tried yet but i have an income of around £2400 per month but all of it is due out every month would i qualify for hardship, i have no mortgage etc tho, but i do pay around £220 per month in bank charges & im in arrears with credit cards & overdraft

Holmer999

I claimed £7290.83 from Abbey and just received a letter saying that the had repaid £5506.00. However, £2739.20 of this they sent to their collections and recoveries team to clear my debt on an Abbey loan! Can they do this as I didn't authorise this payment as it's unsecured and I needed the money for repayment of arrears on my mortgage. Any advice would be welcomed.

RedRose1_2

Bank: NatWest
Amount Reclaimed: £2226.04 (including interest)
Amount they paid: £2448.00
The story:

My husband wrote to NatWest in March 2008 to claim his charges back (from 2002) and was told his claim was on hold due to the court test case.
We wrote again in June 2008 claiming financial hardship. We were sent all the forms to complete which was done. They then wrote again to request further evidence of some of our outgoings, which were also sent. At this stage, I then requested that any charges applied after March 2008 were also to be taken in to consideration.

NatWest then wrote agreeing that we are in financial hardship and asked for the bank card and any unused cheques to be sent back to them, which again, we did. They said that they would then send an offer letter to us. They also stated that there would be no further charges or interest added to the account until the outcome of the test case had been decided.
We then received a letter this morning stating they will refund £2448.00 within 7 working days if we agree and send the letter back confirming our agreement! :j
So although we haven't actually received the money yet, I wanted to post on here to try and offer other people claiming some hope!

Thanks so much Martin and everyone on here - could not have done it without you all, and even thanks to NatWest for actually being helpful! :beer:

3pearle

Bank: Barclays
Amount reclaimed: £4.50
Amount paid: £4.50

I bought my Euros for our holiday at the Post Office using my Barclays connect card as they're in the next village, rather than going into the city and they were cheaper - double bonus (or so I thought)!
When I got back from my holiday, and checked my bank statement, Barclays had taken an additional £4.50 over what I had authorised. I called the bank this morning and got through to India, asked why they had taken the extra £4.50 - he said it was a cash handling fee. I said I bought the Euros from the Post Office - there was no foreign exchange transaction with Barclays - they would not have charged me if I had just withdrawn £ sterling or bought goods for £500. He told me he would put me through to debit card services for a refund. They referred me to a very unclear section on the back of the bank statement. I asked to speak to their supervisor, they cut me off. Called again and got put through to customer services. The lady there tried to blame the post office - they should have told me there would be a cash handling fee. I asked whether they would have charged me if I had withdrawn the sterling cash and then paid for my Euros - she said no. I said what's the difference - where does it cost you £4.50 for me to pay for my Euros. After a lot of wrangling and me emphasising that I had been promised the refund and then been cut off and spent 30 mins on the phone over this, she agreed to credit my account as a gesture of goodwill.
This cannot be right - they are penalising us for not using their foreign exchange services. It's my money, I should be allowed to choose where to spend it.
Is this another area where they should be reported to the watchdog?

jos004

3pearle wrote: »

Bank: Barclays
Amount reclaimed: £4.50
Amount paid: £4.50

I bought my Euros for our holiday at the Post Office using my Barclays connect card as they're in the next village, rather than going into the city and they were cheaper - double bonus (or so I thought)!
When I got back from my holiday, and checked my bank statement, Barclays had taken an additional £4.50 over what I had authorised. I called the bank this morning and got through to India, asked why they had taken the extra £4.50 - he said it was a cash handling fee. I said I bought the Euros from the Post Office - there was no foreign exchange transaction with Barclays - they would not have charged me if I had just withdrawn £ sterling or bought goods for £500. He told me he would put me through to debit card services for a refund. They referred me to a very unclear section on the back of the bank statement. I asked to speak to their supervisor, they cut me off. Called again and got put through to customer services. The lady there tried to blame the post office - they should have told me there would be a cash handling fee. I asked whether they would have charged me if I had withdrawn the sterling cash and then paid for my Euros - she said no. I said what's the difference - where does it cost you £4.50 for me to pay for my Euros. After a lot of wrangling and me emphasising that I had been promised the refund and then been cut off and spent 30 mins on the phone over this, she agreed to credit my account as a gesture of goodwill.
This cannot be right - they are penalising us for not using their foreign exchange services. It's my money, I should be allowed to choose where to spend it.
Is this another area where they should be reported to the watchdog?

I would inform the FSA about this. Not the FOS in this case, as you were refunded your money. I sent a load of repeat letters received from LTSB to the FSA - said they will investigate it.

Michelle1981

smitsturbo wrote: »

i havent tried yet but i have an income of around £2400 per month but all of it is due out every month would i qualify for hardship, i have no mortgage etc tho, but i do pay around £220 per month in bank charges & im in arrears with credit cards & overdraft

If your outgoings exceed your income, then you definately stand a very good chance of getting back your charges under the financial hardship claiming. Go for it!

Agent3211

Bank: Abbey/Santander
Claimed: £1,000
Got: £385 (to pay off last part of loan from them)

I used templates from this site on basis of financial difficulties. Quick response and offer, but will be appealing for more.

Thanks to MSE once again!

S4R4H

Bank - RBS
Claimed - 2400.00
Paid - 1349.00
Time Taken - About 3 Months

First wrote off for statements in June, thinking it wouldn't be more than a couple of hundred pounds. Was absolutely astounded to find it was 2400.00, to July 2001 and with interest.

Wrote off first asking for the whole amount, sent copies of everything but the kitchen sink, arrears letters for mortgage, council tax, utilities etc. Proof of my disability, and a full income and expenditure listing. They wrote back asking me to fill in their hardship form and send off copies of hubby's payslips.

I wrote back saying that as I had already given them this info, the hardship form was exactly the same and so I had just copied it verbatim from mine. Also sent two copies of payslips.

Then received a letter saying that due to statute of limitations blah blah blah, they would only look at the case back to July 2003. Not sure where I stand with this but would love some replies!!

A couple of phone calls later, received an offer for £1349.00 with the usual "will look again when test case ends". Am really happy with this amount, as it means we can pay off some worrying debts which have accumulated due to my brain haemmorhage and my hubby having to take time off work to look after me and our two children.

I wouldn't say they were the easiest bank to get the money from - Barclays were much quicker and more sympathetic, but am happy at least with the outcome.