PLEASE help me, historic grossly unfair bank charges, £180+per month

Gwarren

Hello,
I know mine won't be a unique story but as I write this in a hotel room I actually feel disgusted and without wishing to sound over dramatic I feel quite violated by what I've found by going through my old bank statements.
I have two accounts with lloyds, one since 2006 and one since 2009, neither have been out of the over draft so I'm used to paying the fees, it's usually about £70 a month between both, I'm older now so although I'm still always in my overdraft I do have a better idea of what's going in and out of my account, however today I decided to look into what was going on before the age of Internet banking with a view to finding out how much I've paid in fees since opening the account, I called lloyds and asked to get a statement, they faked being confused then fobbed me off saying I'd have to stay on the phone while they did it which would take hours, so I decided to do it myself and I've just been appalled by what I've found
In just ONE of my accounts I was routinely being fined over £95 every single month, Infact in June 2008 I was fined a total of £180 for one month !!! £180 for one month , I fear this is only the tip of the iceberg as it's quite a time consuming job to go through every statement I just plucked this one out at random.
I never checked my statements back in 2008 I was in my early twenties and naive, all I knew was I never had money but looking back I feel lloyds really did violate me by taking these obscene sums and I want to do something about it but I have no idea what to do,
I want to make use of my time so need advice on the things I should be doing about this, I'm prepared to do anything however long it takes to get some kind of justice,
There's loads of information online but most of it conflicting,
What should I do?
Thanks in advance

DesG

Take responsibility for your actions?

Gwarren

You're a nice guy des, shame were not all as sensible as you isn't it

SJshah

2008 - 2015.. It's a little too late.
Besides, being naive is no reason to have your bank charges refunded.

Mistake made, move on, learn from it.

Gwarren

far back can I reclaim?
We're certainly talking years, not months, though there are varying views on how many, and you'll probably be asked to prove your financial situation for the full time you're claiming for. Don't worry if you haven't kept old statements, you've a legal right to access them (see below).

The Ombudsman suggests claiming as far back as you like, and it will decide whether or not all or part of your claim can be considered. We believe it's more popular than not to only be paid part of your claim, though.

Technically the Ombudsman can only help with claims within three years of when you realised there was a problem, so if you've been waiting, claim now. If you end up in court, normally the Statute of Limitations Act says you can only claim for something within six years of the event in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland.

In many ways, this six years is probably a good rule of thumb for putting a complaint to the Ombudsman. But if you had substantial charges before that, there's no harm including them.

DCFC79

You make a claim for the charges to the bank and take it from there.

You can find a letter to send on the net or go to the complaints part of Lloyds website.

Paul_1977

If the charges were within the terms of the account, I really cannot see what can be done.

chambta

Paul_1977 wrote: »

If the charges were within the terms of the account, I really cannot see what can be done.

It's not stopped anyone else.

bengal-stripe

The banks did win the case about the unfairness of bank charges in 2009. The Supreme Court did decide that bank charges are not unfair.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8376906.stm

Since that date, bank charges cannot be claimed on ground of unfairness. You might be able to claim some charges based on financial hardship (at present, not at some point in the past). The bank will examine your spending patterns. "Financial Hardship" will be based on income and the inability to buy essentials. If your "Hardship" is due to reckless spending (restaurants, purchases of luxury items, sky television etc.) that will not count.

You might be better off on the DFW board to see where you can save monies, to get you out of permanently living in your overdraft.

jonesMUFCforever

OP please tell us what the charges were for?
Is it because you were using their money or yours?
Did the bank make any errors in processing items to your account?

If so you have a case for getting the errors rectified.
If not you will not get anywhere - sorry.

eskbanker

Gwarren wrote: »

In just ONE of my accounts I was routinely being fined over £95 every single month, Infact in June 2008 I was fined a total of £180 for one month !!!

What do you mean by 'fined'? Do you mean 'charged for borrowing their money' or do the charges and/or interest relate to something else?