Just to recap - Possible Reclaim ?

Jamie2126

Hi all,

I've read various threads re the ruling in 2009 that affect new claims being submitted to ask for refunds. However reading the article "Reclaim Bank Charges" 9 October 2018 it may still be possible?

The situation I have is that my elderly parents (mid 70's) asked me to look into their bank accounts as they couldn't understand where their pension was going. After looking back through 12 months statements their bank (Lloyds) have charged them around £3k in over draft fees, These are made up of daily fees that have been applied to the account. I've spoken to the bank who has agreed to place a 30 day hold on further charges. As my parents have limited income they are in a snowball effect with these charges being applied upto £300 per month and I see no way they can successfully continue to pay these charges. Direct debits have regularly been returned as unpaid. These charges have made their financial hardship situation materially worse. This has also led to them using their credit card to make ends meet which is adding to their debit.

I have started conversations with Payplan to look at putting a debit plan in place. I'm angered that the bank moved them from their standard current account to both a platinum and classic accounts which has confused matters and I feel that these products are not suitable for their circumstances and may of been miss-sold?

We met with the bank bank last week and they were unable to help as they wanted to enter a new loan agreement but with their debt/ income a loan was not possible.

Do I have an option to submit a request for a refund on the current charges that have been applied?

I have requested under data protection a list of all charges applied for the past 6 years to understand what charges beyond 12 months have been applied.

Any comments/ views greatly appreciated...

-taff

No, you can't claim for historical charges but as your parents are in current financial hardship [no sky subscriptions or similar?] then you can ask the bank to look at the charges on that basis.
They ay not refund them, but they may refund a portion, or stop charging interest or charges for 6 months potentially.
Don't put anywhere in your letter [write, don't phone] anything about 'unfair' charges, just exaplin as you have above that they are in a descending spiral of debt due to the charges already applied.

You can also make a complaint about the packaged bank accounts if they are not using any of the features but you need to find out when these accounts were opened.
Do you have POA for them?

[Deleted User]

Jamie2126 wrote: »

I have requested under data protection a list of all charges applied for the past 6 years to understand what charges beyond 12 months have been applied.

This is a complete waste of your time I'm afraid.
You (or your parents) aren't going to be refunded six years of Bank Charges .

By all means appeal to the Bank if your parents are in ( the Bank's definition of) Financial Hardship , but even then the Bank are under no obligation to refund anything. What they are obliged to do is look fairly at such appeals, but they have a range of options available to them including suspending interest for a time and/or insisting on debt management. Sounds like they have already done this?

What you must not do is accuse the Bank of imposing "unfair" bank charges. This will only achieve an automatic rejection referencing the 2009 court case.

I also doubt you'll get very far complaining that the Platinum/Classic accounts were somehow "mis-sold" to them unless they were suffering from severe mental impairment at the time. If these accounts are only now unsuitable, that does not mean they were unsuitable when sold.

There really is little point in being "angered" by the Bank's actions as they really are not responsible for your parents' financial mismanagement.

-taff wrote: »

but they may refund a portion, or stop charging interest or charges for 6 months potentially.

They've already suspended interest for a month.

If this is all the Bank were prepared to offer then the Financial Hardship cannot be that severe?

Approaching PayPlan seems to be the only correct (and viable) option at this point.

-taff

Well, if they've done that as an initial response, they may do more later.
If you post on the debt free board you may get more options, including things like [if the bank does not agree to lookmore favourably on their finances, changing their bank account and just not paying the charges set by Lloyds.
If they're not planning on getting any more credit , it's not going to hurt them. Lloyds may well send letters and get a debt collections agency involved but if their pensions aren't excessive, they won't have to worry about paying big amounts back, and just drip feed repayments.
I would also give stepchange a ring.