A Bankers View, Open Letter To Martin Lewis And His Followers On Bank Charges.

MidlandsMum

Where is the roll eyes smiley? Go away. You are talking rubbish.

marc.faulkner

MidlandsMum wrote: »

Where is the roll eyes smiley? Go away. You are talking rubbish.

:rolleyes: This one?

debsy42

I don't have any bank charges to try to claim back but, after having read your post, I hope this test case forces banks to set a realistic fee for their "charges". I have read many, many posts on here from people in desperate situations who have literally been on the breadline because of banks profiteering from absurd fees. I think you should try being on the other side of the bank counter and see how things are in the real world.

MSE_Martin

Quick note before I reply.

I believe this is a well meaning question from someone young and new to banking; I don't think its a troll. And I think the best way to handle it is to discuss it head on. I'm not sure who locked the thread whether a BG or Abuse team; but I've reopened it.

My response.

Thank you for your note. However I'm afraid you've been sold a bit of a story by your bank and much of what you write isn't really true.


1. New charges are more expensive. Many banks new charges cost more in many circumstances; specifically take Lloyds as an example


2. I tell people not to get charges in the first place. I agree the best way to avoid charges is not to have them. This site has many more articles than bank charges; far more used is the budget planner (the biggest single tool on the site) and in the bank charge article itself is how to avoid bank charges. So on this we agree.

<o></o>3. Bank Penalty Charges are unlawful. Over £500m has been paid out by the banks from unlawful bank charges; and the OFT is investigating and brought a test case; this isn't a small potato issue this is a systemic unlawfulness

<o></o>4. Bank charges were introduced to make profit. Years ago if a customer bounced a cheque/direct debit it simply wasn't paid. Then the banks had an idea; they opened a 'paid limit'. So that for a certain amount beyond your authorised limit your payments would be honoured. Why? Because then they could charge £35 a time each time it was done. Overally this added £1.6bn a year to the banks collective profits.

<o></o>5. The structure of bank charges is penal. It's wrong. It should be fought. It traps people into debt - it doesn't protect them - its designed to entrap.

Take this real life example:

<o></o>Woman pays a cheque for £40 to a business, which isn't cashed

<o></o>Six weeks later as she budgets carefully and knows she's £50 from her limit she goes shopping and spends £30 in seven stores on her debit card.

<o></o>Unbeknown to her the business had cashed the cheque; so her seven transactions were all beyond her limit

<o></o>The bank charged her 7 x £35 as a fine - meaning she owed £235 that she was unable to pay.

<o></o>When I discussed this in interview with the head of the British Bankers Association; and she jusitified the cost by saying "we need to do credit cheques" - did the bank really do SEVEN credit cheques; did it really cost £235.

<o></o>And guess what the woman couldn't afford to repay the money - so what happened - more bank charges.

<o></o>So my 'open response' to you is....

<o></o>I'm sure you mean well and you want to help. Yet you are new to the work of banking and finance. You are listenin gto the spin from companies who make nearly £2bn a year from bank charges and want to justify it - yet there's another side to the story.

<o></o>Spend some time reading the forums on here.

I don't castigate you for doing you job; and I deplore anyone who's been rude to you as an individual; there's nothing wrong with working for a bank. You're there to help add to its profits; that's fine.

Yet please don't have a go at me for doing my job either.

Kind regards

Martin

Addendum

I just read this bit and it sunk in

I would like to have a frank discussion about how your site makes me feel, which is depressed and ashamed. Ashamed for the poor misguided fools your site attracts and the false, undeserved and unnecessary hope it gives them.

How dare you! Have you read this site. Three million people do in the UK each month. Go put your head in the Debt-Free Wannabee forum and hang your head in shame about what this site does.

This is an empowering site that helps people sort their finances, gain financial literacy, take on big companies with nasty policies. People save money, pay back their debts, and take on hideous misselling from commission hungry individuals.

You call them misguided! Frankly your comments show more ignorance than that which you accuse your customers of. I had given you the benefit of the doubt; there are many who rationally argue against bank charges reclaiming and while I disagree I follow their logic.

Yet this particular comment and generalisation is pitiful; this site is all about taking responsibility, action and knowledge. Go do your research find out what this site does; then go look at your bank's balance sheet. Shame on you. I wish I hadn't done you the courtesy of spending my time composing a response; I had hoped to help educate you to the real situation; but now I suspect I'm wasting my time.

duchy

Nicely put.....I'm sure bank call centre staff ARE told-"If the customer mentions Martin Lewis.....blah blah. We are right he is wrong" They are hardly going to tell their trainees that Martin actually has a point-let alone get into the ethics of social banking.
Ultimately the banks have killed the cash cow as far as bank charges are concerned and the court case regardless of outcome has dented their credibility with the vast majority of the general public-it's a PR disaster. In ilustration-remember back to two huge banking advertising campaigns-"The listening bank" and "If you had a bank manager is your cupboard" Neither could be used today-they'd be laughed at for gross hypocracy. People once respected banks and by extension those who worked for them but those days are long gone due entirely to the conduct of the banks.

saveapenny

I wish I could have claimed back all my charges from nearly 20 years ago when I had a young family to raise and charges were crippling me each week.
And yes is was a case of either go a few quid over drawn or not eat that week and then the next month I was a few more quid over drawn and so the knock on affect went on till I owed the bank more than what was going in each month.
1 that sticks in my mind was a £15 letter charge for going 1p OD, This was when out benefites were £44 per week.
Like Martin said go a read the forum see how many people are in serious trouble and taking on more loans just to survive.
Without the help that Martin and all the rest of the team do on here I have no doubt many more people would be in serious trouble and losing everything.
Banks only listen when you have money the rest of the time they dont want to know.
My son is now fighting to calim back PPI on a £3000 loan were the PPI was more than the interest and without this site I wouldnt have had a clue about it and another young person would have fallen into the debt trap.

My mother in law aged £82 was sold a 10 year savings plan by a well known midlands building society that had no shame and she lost a lot in interest becuase it was more commision for him to sell the bond than advice her to put the money away to earn her a nice income each month. Luckily with a few penalty
charges we managed to get it moved for her but only by reading this site. She now earning enough interest each month to pay for luxuries she couldnt have before when her pension was hardly meeeting her bills because everything else was tied up for what was probably longer than she would live.

Banks/Building societies have zero morals and so do the staff they train

novelli

I suspect you are either a naive young whippersnapper or someone simply trying to stir up a response.
you say you love your job, however that was after you told us that customers make you depressed!! make your mind up have u considered that you may be in the wrong job if customers wind u up that much!!
its oh so easy for those who have no debt to run the moral high ground, as a banks customer service assistant you should be far more knowledgeable than you appear to be on the subject!!! Im not suprised you get abusive customers with your attitude!!!!
If you consider that your bank is correct and doing nothing illegal or immoral then why not tell us who they are!!!!!!!! you wont do that will you???:money:

duchy

Give her a break-she does say in her post that she's only been there for seven months-as her knowledge grows so will her appreciation of the "big picture".

PayPeanuts_2

"It may be awful, but sometimes when I get a person on the telephone who has been silly and thinks he will not be punished for it brings me great happiness to tell themm the charges he will receive." SADIST!!

hehe.

Those Customer Support Units are about as useful as a chocolate fireguard too. "Well maybe we could consolidate it into a managed loan? Or secure it on your property? No? you'd better phone CCCS'....

Nathan_Spleen

So let me get this right:

We have a 21 year old ''specialist telephone banking advisor'' with ''7 months'' experience and presumabley no financial or legal qualifications whatsoever telling us she enjoys nothing more than being able to ''punish'' people - a position that is by law is only the preserve of judges in a court of law.

I think think this is a wind up.