Monthly bank charge

MarkG17

Firstly sorry if this has been asked before

I was told yesterday that if your bank charge for your account it's possible to claim it back

My bank charges me £6.50 a month for my account, as far as I'm aware they've charged from day one. I've had the account 28 years.

How do I find out how long they have been charging me ?
How do I start a claim ?

Nasqueron

MarkG17 wrote: »

Firstly sorry if this has been asked before

I was told yesterday that if your bank charge for your account it's possible to claim it back

My bank charges me £6.50 a month for my account, as far as I'm aware they've charged from day one. I've had the account 28 years.

How do I find out how long they have been charging me ?
How do I start a claim ?

It's not a "claim" as such, you complain if you feel the account was miss-sold to you e.g. the benefits and advantages of the paid for account were of no use to you.

28 years is an awful long time to be paying for an account you didn't want so it doesn't look credible to just moan about that all of a sudden (I am happy to be corrected but don't think paid for current accounts were used that far back).

Best thing would be to ring the bank, find out when they started charging and then put in a complaint if you feel the benefits were of no use to you (e.g. if they offer breakdown insurance but you don't have a car)

dunstonh

I was told yesterday that if your bank charge for your account it's possible to claim it back

Not quite. There is nothing wrong with packaged accounts. However, the package has to be suitable and sold correctly. If not, then you can put in a complaint giving your reasons why. If it was sold correctly and you can benefit from the package then its not mis-sold.

as far as I'm aware they've charged from day one. I've had the account 28 years.

Packaged accounts were not around 28 years ago. There are a more recent occurrence. You probably changed some time in recent years.

How do I find out how long they have been charging me ?

Look at your statements or ask them.

How do I start a claim ?

its not a claim. Its a complaint. You make your complaint to them giving your reasons.

MarkG17

Thank you for your answers

So_Flo_Bo

I have made a claim regarding a NatWest packaged bank account. This account was closed in May 2011. I complained to the bank last July and my claim was rejected. I escalated my claim to the Financial Ombudsman. They contacted me yesterday to say NatWest are now saying the claim is time barred as the account was closed May 2011 and my complaint was in July 2014. Unfortunately, I was not aware I could claim until last summer. Does anyone know if this is the case? when I received their letter turning down my claim, there was no mention that the claim was out of time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Nasqueron

So_Flo_Bo wrote: »

I have made a claim regarding a NatWest packaged bank account. This account was closed in May 2011. I complained to the bank last July and my claim was rejected. I escalated my claim to the Financial Ombudsman. They contacted me yesterday to say NatWest are now saying the claim is time barred as the account was closed May 2011 and my complaint was in July 2014. Unfortunately, I was not aware I could claim until last summer. Does anyone know if this is the case? when I received their letter turning down my claim, there was no mention that the claim was out of time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

The time-bar may well be the time between your complaint being rejected and going to FOS - was it within 6 months of the rejection?

Otherwise there are such things as the 3 year rule:

(b) three years from the date on which the complainant became aware (or ought reasonably to have become aware) that he had cause for complaint;

http://fshandbook.info/FS/html/handbook/DISP/2/8

So if you close the account in May 2011 and then complained in July 2014 it's more than 3 years since you closed the account where they could reasonably state you knew you were paying for the account and could have complained at the time.

dunstonh

They contacted me yesterday to say NatWest are now saying the claim is time barred as the account was closed May 2011 and my complaint was in July 2014. Unfortunately, I was not aware I could claim until last summer.

You are not claiming. you are complaining.

There are two potential timebars here and its not clear which is being applied but both could be.

1 - you have 3 years from being reasonably aware of an issue to complain. You closed your account in May 2011 and the 3 years from that is May 2014. So, that is one potential time bar

2 - you have 6 months from receiving the complaint response to refer to the FOS if you disagree with the outcome. 6 months ran out in Jan/Feb.

Saying you did not know you could complain is not a good enough reason to overrule the timebar.

smuggs2009

Please help,
I contacted Halifax as per letter issued on here for packaged accounts.
I had a £100 overdraft on 3rd March 2010 and on 25th June 2010 I upgraded online, I can't remember why I upgraded but probably cause I was getting charged £1 a day and as I was in my overdraft more than 15 days in the month it seemed like a financial deal as I would get a fee free overdraft upto £300 (but kept at £100)
Halifax have rejected my complaint as follows
1) Because I upgraded myself online and would have had to agree to the terms.
2) used benefits on account. (I have enquired about holiday Ins and claimed twice for a mobile phone)
So they are saying that I'm aware of the benefits and they're not up holding my complaint.
Have adv that I would go Ombudsman but they wont change their decision.
Is it worth pursuing or using a company to do the fight for me?
I look forward to help from anyone.

tomtontom

smuggs2009 wrote: »

Please help,
I contacted Halifax as per letter issued on here for packaged accounts.
I had a £100 overdraft on 3rd March 2010 and on 25th June 2010 I upgraded online, I can't remember why I upgraded but probably cause I was getting charged £1 a day and as I was in my overdraft more than 15 days in the month it seemed like a financial deal as I would get a fee free overdraft upto £300 (but kept at £100)
Halifax have rejected my complaint as follows
1) Because I upgraded myself online and would have had to agree to the terms.
2) used benefits on account. (I have enquired about holiday Ins and claimed twice for a mobile phone)
So they are saying that I'm aware of the benefits and they're not up holding my complaint.
Have adv that I would go Ombudsman but they wont change their decision.
Is it worth pursuing or using a company to do the fight for me?
I look forward to help from anyone.

Their reasons are valid. Why do you feel you were missold an account you signed up to of your own free will and made use of?

smuggs2009

tomtontom wrote: »

Their reasons are valid. Why do you feel you were missold an account you signed up to of your own free will and made use of?

I was hoping at getting some of the money that I paid into it, feel it's over the top for what you get.

tomtontom

smuggs2009 wrote: »

I was hoping at getting some of the money that I paid into it, feel it's over the top for what you get.

You chose to pay that amount, it is not a reason for complaint. Do you have any grounds to claim for misselling?