Bank Charges OFT Test Case Discussion

rob200375

Smasher wrote: »

In my experience (which is vast in bank charges claims) this is a pointless excercise. It is very well intended and the logic is good, but in reality it gets you nowhere 9/10.


Again, the only side using a lawyer is the bank and even a giant like a bank with all their top lawyers have still failed to beat one single layman litigant in person, in court. I am treated no differently by my bank despite 2 claims against them. Its not like there is any personal relationship there, they only know me as an 8 digit number.
I know that some banks close down accounts in retalliation, but the FOS will take action against them for this & you will be awarded compensation.
Good luck with your claim

I have been told by my bank that I am not allowed to bank with them and not allowed to apply for anything with them at all now or in the future, I made a large claim early last year and got my money from them and then had a small claim paid 6 months after and they they then wrote to me saying I had 30 days to move dd then they would close my account, the account hasn't been closed as I have a loan with the bank (before I claimed I was told i was a very good customer when they wanted me to take the loan out).
I now have to keep the account open as I have a loan with them and they wont let me pay it from any other account.

Am I able to complain to anyone about this - if so who do i complain to. after reading your comments above.

smitchy73

rob200375,
I would have thought the best person to complain to is either the FOS or their is also a banking ombudsman, but have a look on the thread's I think there is some more info somewhere about it, but FOs or the banking O'man should be able to help, although some may say that the bank is correct in that if you don't like their terms and conditions(ie charges) then dont bank with us, as for the loan, you can easily set up a standing order from any account to be sent to your loan account.

Twinkly

rob200375 wrote: »

I have been told by my bank that I am not allowed to bank with them and not allowed to apply for anything with them at all now or in the future, I made a large claim early last year and got my money from them and then had a small claim paid 6 months after and they they then wrote to me saying I had 30 days to move dd then they would close my account, the account hasn't been closed as I have a loan with the bank (before I claimed I was told i was a very good customer when they wanted me to take the loan out).
I now have to keep the account open as I have a loan with them and they wont let me pay it from any other account.

Am I able to complain to anyone about this - if so who do i complain to. after reading your comments above.

Technically your account isnt closed but it is restricted. You can complain about the restriction given that it has only been done since reclaiming charges.

To be utterly pedantic about it I would first put my complaint in full in one letter to the bank and run it properly through their Complaints Procedure. They may offer you full access again if you agree not to incur further charges etc. The key really is to have written evidence of the progression of the complaint.

If they fail to lift the restrictions or you dont need to follow the Complaints Procedure because you already have all the evidence you need then follow it up with complaint the Financial Ombudsman Service. You can get the address and info on how to go about it here:

Financial Ombudsman Service

Good luck

Bumbles2

Definately go to the FOS with all your written evidence, this is just another bullying tactic from the banks. You have the right to pay your loan from ANY bank account, not one of their choosing. Stick to your guns!

Nathan_Spleen

Phoenixx73 wrote: »

I was told by Abbey that the test case is expected to last 8-10 days. Could Martin or any of his helpers (i.e. people who know a lot more about this than me). Give us an estimated time frame of the proceedings. I have read in this thread that Judgement may not come untill MAY! and then there are appeals, counter appeals etc etc and so on. Some clarification to the layman may be usefull here. IF the OFT win, when would the backlog of charges be dealt with? What happens to the waiver? Lots of questions and seemingly few clear answers.

I don't think any of your questions have a definitive answer. All anyone can really do is surmise but for what it's worth this is my take on it:

The hearing which starts next Wednesday will finish by the 28th (Jan) to establish the general principal of the charges applying to the UTCCR or not.

The court have estimated a judgement being made around May. I think this is optimistic when you consider, for example, the length of time Tom Brennan's judgement took and that was a relatively straight forward case with just one defendant. The way the test case is stuctured, the judge has to consider 8 separate defences.

If the OFT win they will then launch a second case to establish the legality of the charges themselves. The test case agreement allows for appeals to be made by either side.

Somewhere between these 2 cases the OFT will announce the findings of their marathon investigation into bank charges and the wider retail banking market. It's important to remember that the test case and investigation will only establish the level of future charges. Both the OFT and FSA do not have the power to make retrospective rulings on charges and I can't see what mechanism currently exists to force the banks to automaticaly refund past charges.

As for the waiver (and court stays which go hand in hand) the waiver was granted for one year which takes it to the end of July. Although this would roughly accomodate the time needed for the judgement on the initial hearing the FSA have made it fairly clear that the waiver would cover the second hearing and therefore would be renewed. However the FSA's Consumer Council has recently stated that ''it would be very difficult for the FSA to justify the waiver beyond Febuary'' which means after the inititial judgement in Mayish. Also, assuming the OFT win the first case, the publicity it will
generate - that the entire UK banking industry have been found in a court of law to have been systematicaly fleecing there customers for years - will be immense and will be a major global news story. And hopefully will put unbearable pressure on the FSA to lift the waiver.

Phaelok

litlwelsh wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7178766.stm

And so it begins!!

You said it well - watch out for charges for extra banking services which will effect those who have not had charges for unpaid transactions on their account in the past. Have to thank those who have been affected by these bank charges, at least we are all stung in the same way =D

dancingfairy

I think it depends on the terms of the stay whether the cases are automatically continued at the County Courts and what the judge rules in this regard or whether you would have to reapply to the courts based on the judgement.

vix2000

I had made the assumption which was confirmed on GMTV this morning that if the banks win they will only pay back the difference between the amount deemed fair by the court and what was paid. The concern I have is that, say it is set hypothetically at 12 pounds, obviously it would have been less 6 years previously. How would they decide what the ratio of charges would have been over the previous years?

borgbaiter

vix2000 wrote: »

I had made the assumption which was confirmed on GMTV this morning that if the banks win they will only pay back the difference between the amount deemed fair by the court and what was paid. The concern I have is that, say it is set hypothetically at 12 pounds, obviously it would have been less 6 years previously. How would they decide what the ratio of charges would have been over the previous years?

Then it will be the same as credit cards now and court cases is will go on for the remainder. Someones idea of fair doesnt make it legal. to be legal it has to be a true representation of the cost to the banks.

Borgbaiter

Pschyrembel

Hello All.

I am a father of five children and do work full time. Due to child care issues my partner stopped working. Some financial difficulties brought me something that my bank (HSBC) calls managed Loan. This loan runs over 14 years (!!) but at the time I had not much of a choice.

Now I am wondering. Obviously I had lots of charges on my account. If I start claiming them back now, will they start to be nasty in a way and ask for that managed loan back? Or close my account?

Does anyone has any experience with that or with HSBC in generall?

All help is more then welcome

Thank you
Frank