Help please! Trying to reclaim bank charges...

Paul_TT

Hi all, I printed the template letter and sent my £10 to the Halifax and specified that I want a list of all charges on the account (we have banked with them for 14 years and most of the charges were from the early years- the usual stuff, not enough money to pay DDs then they charge £35 taking us overdrawn then £35 charges because we are overdrawn etc etc)

SO, as stated, I asked for a list of charges but today in the post I have basically received bank statements dating right back to the year 2002, the charges are all listed with everything else but where do I go from here? Do I highlight the charges, total them up, contact the Halifax and tell them I want all that money back? Or is there another method I should use?

Please help and many thanks in advance for any advice given

Paul and Lin

DevCoder

The banks won the court case on fees so there is very little chance of any refund.

*IF* you are in financial hardship , and this means that you are barely paying priority bills like council tax etc (and that you have no mobile phone, sky, gym memberships or excessive spending on food on your current statement history) then the bank may make a goodwill offer.

This is normally a one off and normally is only for the last 6 months of charges at the most. They will scrutinise your account though to ensure you meet the hardship criteria.

Paul_TT

We were in hardship at the time they were taking the payments (we frequently had no money left for food as it was all going out on bank charges, do we have to be in hardship now? Or several years backwhen the bank was taking £thousands of us in charges?

DevCoder

You have to be in hardship now.

dunstonh

They look at current hardship cases.

I'm afraid you missed the boat on this one.

Paul_TT

So if we are currently struggling with money they have to pay it back? Seems a bit harsh really, either they took the money unlawfully or they didn't! Our current financial circumstances shouldn't be an issue! Thanks for the advice though...

societys_child

Problem is, it wasn't unlawful and they don't have to pay anything back. They have to look at current hardship cases sympathetically and any help is on a goodwill basis. If you're currently in financial hardship, they may for example freeze the interest etc. to help you get out of you current cycle of debt.

dunstonh

So if we are currently struggling with money they have to pay it back?

No. If you are in current financial hardship they have to consider ways they can help you. Hardship typically means being in arrears with debts, in a spiral of charges and living at or below breadline.

Seems a bit harsh really, either they took the money unlawfully or they didn't!

They didnt do anything unlawfully. The banks won the case.