Report Bank Charges successes and failures

The reason they refunded the charges is due to the packaged bank account fees coming out when I had no money in my account. As a result of this, they charged me around £5 a day for going over my £100 overdraft. As I was only 18 years old with a part time job (which I got paid mind month) I was racking up £85-£145 a month in fees and only earning £300-400. So sometimes half my wages. On top of that was the packaged bank account charge of £15- which was completely miss sold. A few years later when I finally addressed that I shouldn’t be paying that much and began taking control of my finances and asked the bank to help. They put a control fee on my account of £10 a month (to prevent me from going over my limit) and downgraded my account. However they continued to charge me £40 in fees even with the control fee added.

When I put this all into my letter, I was refunds packaged bank account fees, some bank charges and some control fees.

The payment out to me was mostly refunded bank charges. I encourage people to still try. After reading this and not realising that people weren’t getting paid out for it anymore I still persued and I 2k better off. Every case is different and you will never know if you don’t try. Maybe because I had a packaged bank account it helped the case to be looked at by the FOS. IDK but still, I’m happy that I tried. I just wanted to share my story to encourage people still go for it. I may share the letter, I’m not sure as of yet. I don’t feel like I should have to prove it to anyone but if it helps others then I may.

Misleading Premier terminology complaint "Upheld"

Bank name: Barclays
Amount reclaimed : All overdraft fees since 2013
Amount paid: All 2018 Overdraft fees

In July 2019, a Barclays personal banker noticed that I did not have the 1k fee-free overdraft benefits of a Premier account, so he changed my "under the Premier banner" current account to an actual Premier account to make use of the £1,000 fee-free overdraft. He also refunded the last month of £40 overdraft charges.

So, I asked for the overdraft fees to be refunded from 2013 because I thought that I already had a Premier bank account from then. All of the letterheads I was getting previously said Premier, and all letters were addressed from Barclays Premier, yet they somehow expected me to know that I did not have a Premier account.

At first they denied my complaint by phone and in writing saying that my account was only "under the Premier banner". So I wrote to them. Last week Barclays phoned to again deny my complaint. They were not answering the questions in my letter, and I felt that I was being fobbed off. I said we should let the Ombudsman decide. I asked when the fee-free overdrafts first became available as they had ignored that question in my letter. They said they would find out and call back.

They rang back the same day (I took the call in the garden) and I was told that the first £1,000 of overdraft was first available fee-free with a Premier account from January 2017. They said that my complaint was being "Upheld". I don't know why they suddenly changed their mind. They only refunded the overdraft charges for the year 2018 though, so I feel as though I have been somewhat short-changed. On reflection I realise that the refund should really be from January 2017 when the fee-free overdrafts apparently first became available. How can they uphold my complaint but only partially refund ?

Why do Barclays have to phone customers, when surely complaints communications are much easier to recall and consider if they are all in writing. And also surely it is far easier to present complaints to the Ombudsman if all previous communications are in writing.

So if you only have a regular Barclays current account and have been receiving letters with 'Premier' letterheads and addressed from 'Barclays Premier', you may want to consider changing your account to an actual 1k fee-free overdraft Premier account, and claim all of the overdraft charges back from January 2017.