No response from bank

alecsleigh

I’ve sent a letter to my bank requesting a refund of past charges following the steps on MSE.

However the bank have failed to respond more than a week after the deadline. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Would you say it’s worth sending a follow-up letter or is it better going straight to the ombudsman?

[Deleted User]

It would be quicker to ask where they are with the complaint.

However, a request for a refund is unlikely to be successful. What exactly did you ask for?

-taff

You are ten years out of date on that particular case. The banks won a court case in 2009 regarding 'unfair' charges. Unless you are in current financial hardship?

Or unless you mean a packaged bank account?

Nasqueron

Old charges (such as late payments or OD fees) are NOT reclaimable, as the MSE article clearly states. The banks won the 2009 supreme court case which ended the "unfair" charges argument - since then the fees were set at a much lower level that the regulator was happy with and are not considered unfair. If you are in current financial hardship you can ask about help but this does not mean a refund of old charges automatically and if it does, typically only 6 months or so.


A packaged account is a bit different in that you can complain but most are time barred now

dunstonh

I’ve sent a letter to my bank requesting a refund of past charges following the steps on MSE.

What steps on MSE were those?
The banks won the court case in 2009 and the MSE article is only there for reference purposes with an update referring to the court case ending the reclaiming of bank charges except for current financial hardship cases.

However the bank have failed to respond more than a week after the deadline. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Would you say it’s worth sending a follow-up letter or is it better going straight to the ombudsman?

As it says on the FOS website, they no longer consider complaints about unfair bank charges following the court case.

So, unless you are in CURRENT financial hardship, the reclaiming of bank charges is not an option for you.

Or are you perhaps referring to packaged bank account charges? (not normally called just "bank charges")

[Deleted User]

alecsleigh wrote: »

I’ve sent a letter to my bank requesting a refund of past charges following the steps on MSE.

However the bank have failed to respond more than a week after the deadline. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Would you say it’s worth sending a follow-up letter or is it better going straight to the ombudsman?

It sounds as if they haven't received your letter, contact them to confirm.

Unfortunately, unless you are currently in the bank's definition of financial hardship you won't be getting any refund at all. If you are just hoping to recover old charges and cannot show that you are struggling financially, you may as well give up now. The MSE advice article on the subject is woefully out-of-date.

Historical charges are not recoverable, but the Bank can sometimes offer a goodwill gesture of very recent charges or they can choose to suspend interest for a period or ask you to enter some form of debt management programme. Remember, they are not obliged to refund any charges. They do have to respond sympathetically to hardship cases and this is all the Ombudsman can ensure has happened.

No point going to the Ombudsman, they cannot adjudicate on "unfair" bank charges.