worth keeping accounts for reclaiming charges?

spiggot

Sorry if this has been posted before, I couldn't find anything so thought I'd ask here.

I have the Alliance and Leicester Premier direct current account, which from memory reverts to a lower rate of interest after 12 months. I did intend to ditch it after 12 months from opening for this reason, however I've picked up some charges on it due to unauthorised overdrafts. Thanks to the OFT I understand I have little or no chance of recovering the money for the forseeable future, perhaps several years. Obviously the banks have a vested interest in making sure the trial drags on as long as possible as they don't have to worry about paying back any charges while the case is ongoing. My question is would I have a greater chance of recovering any money by keeping the account with zero balance?

I think the OFT is a fairly toothless organisation in the face of the big banks and is very unlikely to force them to pay out billions in the current financial climate. However I don't want to lose the chance to ever recover the money as I'm no longer a current customer. In the unlikely event they do force them to repay I've no doubt the banks will do everything they can to not pay out, including limiting payouts to current customers only.

Bizzarely, as I've been typing this the phone has just rang with a recorded message asking if I've paid unfair bank charges recently, if so press "2" on the keypad. Operator then tells me I should be lodging a claim now despite the OFT case being nowhere near settled. They can do it for me for a returnable admin fee of £30 (if successful) and 25% of what is returned. I declined the offer.

Should I be lodging a claim now (who with?!), and should I keep the alliance account in the vague hope I'll get the charges back one day?

Orford

You can claim whether the a/c is closed or not.

To include the earliest charges, you must file at court within 6 years of the date of those charges.

Any claim should be made against A&L

YorkshireBoy

spiggot wrote: »

I have the Alliance and Leicester Premier direct current account

My question is would I have a greater chance of recovering any money by keeping the account with zero balance?

Don't forget you have to fund this account with a minimum of £500 per month to avoid the £5 per month underfunding fee...which cannot be reclaimed.

maz1964

Hiya all just to alert you read a message earlier about scam telephone calls asking about reclaiming your charges wonder if this call you had spiggott is what martin is looking at to investigate further or if its just cold calling.

Yes im the same dilemma, hope to clear overdrawn amount of 350.00 and close the alliance and leicester then i will claim the charges thus stopping the 5.00 monthly charge seems sensilbe.

thanks to all who have replied on this

have a fun day

ciao maz

spiggot

It was definately a cold call. No idea if they offer a decent service, or even what the company name is. I wouldn't buy anything from a cold calling company purely on principle, even if I might be interested in thier product. The product can't be that good if they resort to using such aggressive marketing.

I forgot about the £5 monthly charge. Probably best to make a claim now I guess.