Credit Card Reclaiming Success Stories

angelcakes_smw

hello!

I started the process in august 2010 to reclaim my charges and sent my first letter in september, they replied with the usual "our charges are fair so no we wont refund them". By the time I had received their answer it was the end of october so I sent them the second letter and waited. As of 19/01/2011 I had still not heard from them so I contacted the FOS who said they would send them a letter and then things would go from there.

Well, this morning I received a letter from Barclaycard dated 21/01/2011 saying that they are going to refund me £540 in charges and £86.99 in interest.....this is lower than I had asked for but not by much so I am definitely going to take it! I cant believe it, a bit of good luck for once!!

I am still very annoyed that they just ignored my letter but so happy that the FOS acted so quickly and got something done!
I hope everyone else has some luck too!

MattyA

Premier wrote: »

'The expiration of 6 years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.'

One could argue that the cause of the action actually accrued on the date you actually exceeded your credit limit or paid late, but usually it is taken as being reasonably known from the date the charge was actually posted to your account.

If your understanding was correct, do you not think Martin would have simply written:
"This is a step-by-step guide, including template letters, to force your current or old credit card provider(s) to repay late payment fees or charges for going beyond your limit since 2000: ... "
and
"You need to find all the fines you’ve been charged by each credit card. You can go back to 2000 in England and Wales or 2001 in Scotland; these time periods are limited by law."
:huh:
But he didn't, favouring the slightly more complicated explanation he did opt to use.

The fact that you appear to have been unsuccessful so far in recovery of charges based on your understanding is a further indication that you have probably been misguided.

Edit: See also above, the post immediately above this by frankiew13 where charges over 6 years old were not reimbursed.

I still dont believe that you are correct for the following reasons:

Over what period can I claim back charges ( Limitation Act 1980 )
Many people believe that it is only possible to claim back credit card charges for the last six years. This is incorrect.
The Limitation Act 1980 is quite clear ( see section 32 ) that in cases of fraud, deliberate concealment or the consequences of a mistake the period of limitation does not begin to run until the Claimant has discovered the fraud, concealment or mistake or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it. Claimant's could not have been in the slightest bit aware that charges applied to their credit card accounts were either unlawful or unfair prior to the OFT publishing their report into credit card charges on April 5th 2006. Basically, until that time any Claimant could not reasonably have been expected to have discovered the credit card companies deliberate concealment etc.
Claimants would therefore be fully justified in arguing that the period of limitation did not commence on this matter until April 2006, so you may argue that you have until April 2012 to make a claim in respect of ALL the unlawful / unfair charges applied to your account since that account was opened with the credit card company.

I would therefore recomend that people investigate this fully and make up there own minds as which way forward is the best for them before blindly following other peoples advice - it could cost you dearly.

Im not saying that it will be easy as I am finding out,but if you have the records to prove the charges claimed you are in a better position than the provider as they are only likely to have on file / provide details of any charges made to you account for the past 6 years.

There are many people it seems,including members of the site team ,who have successfully claimed back charges made more than 6 years ago.

I will continue along this path and let you know how I get on.

Good luck everybody ,whichever route you choose BUT dont be fobbed off by these people with 'token' full and final settlements.

Matty.
ps - I am also claiming PPI and interest applied to the charges by them along with contract rate interest in restitution.

boycey01

Hi MattyA,

Thanks for that, I wasn't aware. I am following your advice and have sent a letter back to Halifax stating all this.
So I will let you know how I get on. It's definitely worth a try!

MattyA

No probs - and good luck to you boycey.
I am no expert - I too have followed other peoples advice / success on here and on other sites,done a lot of reading and decided that this is the best path for me to follow.

MattyA

It gets weirder by the day - Im sure they make it up as they go along.
Letter recieved from MBNA stating that they will pay all charges +8% interest before 2006 but NOT after this date becuase their charges from then on in line with the OFT's ruling and thus deemed to be 'fair'.
anyone else had this one?
Matty

boycey01

Well I received a letter from Capital One stating that they have reviewed my account and because I hadn't any default charges added to it, they are unable to offer me a refund!!! I requested copies of my statements when I first wrote to them and it worked out i'd been charged almost £500 in default charges, so I don't understand how they can say I haven't had any added to my account. So i've sent them another letter. Watch this space...............

Premier_2

boycey01 wrote: »

Well I received a letter from Capital One stating that they have reviewed my account and because I hadn't any default charges added to it, they are unable to offer me a refund!!! I requested copies of my statements when I first wrote to them and it worked out i'd been charged almost £500 in default charges, so I don't understand how they can say I haven't had any added to my account. So i've sent them another letter. Watch this space...............

Did you follow the MSE guide and use the template letter therein?

Because in the template letter it says:

...
I have attached a full schedule of the charges and interest with this document....

If you had indeed attached that full schedule, then neither do I understand why they would say you did not have any charges applied.

boycey01

Yes I used the template letter off this site and also sent them a full schedule of charges plus interest, before I received a letter to say I haven't had any charges added to my account. So i've sent them another letter including a full schedule of charges and also copies of my statements with the charges clearly added to it. Surely they can't deny it again!

frankiew13

Provider: Barclaycard
Amount Requested: £1643
Amount Offered: £1453

Sent letters in August and October that I never got replies from. Sent a final letter on 17th January. Got a reply last week saying they were looking into it and would reply by 15th Feb. This morning the offer came through for £1453!!! Clears the balance with nearly £1000 to spare!!
Brings the total I've reclaimed to £2454! Now am just waiting (for 3months!!!) for Littlewoods and Great Universal to send me my information to hopefully clear these debts aswell.

mapleleaf_2

I sent a claim in back in 2007 for 2 credit card charges...

Since then they have dropped their charges to £12 instead of the £35 they used to charge.

Can you go back to the end of your last claim and put in for all the £12s they have charges since??