Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

I made compaint to the ombusman re a dispute about a new bank account and them not giving me a matching overdraft ( as they stated they would anyway it's a little more complicated than that however ) as a result i recieved bank charges and the ombusdman wrote a whole section about " the court case etc" i really don't think the ombudsman route is the way to go,. its a huge disapointment. I recieved the letter on Friday i'll dig it out and let you know exactly what it said.

the_black_cat wrote: »

My original claim was in January 2007, I got my 8 week notification letter from the bank on January 15th and I would like to re-submit using todays rate of interest can you provide details on how I should do this?

i.e. I wish to show the original claim plus interest at that time and then do a new claim with interest added from todays date by using the bank charges calculator again, is that the way I would be able to proceed as clearly the interest will be different and a lot more substantial after two years and can the template letter be ammended showing this?

Also as I am claiming purely on the legal points and not the 'human' points criteria is it OK to write a 'without prejudice' notification that I would be prepared to negotiate the amount to be refunded for a quick settlement (i.e. offer to exclude the claim for interest?)

Yes natwest staff member you are right as i say it's a wee bit complex to explain...i tried to type what they said and lost it by accident - bare with me i'll try and type it again...

i notice in one of your letters you briefly make reference to the fact yo believe the charges applied to your account by ( xx) are unlawful and do not reflect the true cost to the bak. I feel i must therefore make yu aware of the supreme courts decisin about bank charges.

The Office of Fair Trading brought an important legal " test case" to establish if it could assess whether the amounts the banks were charging were fair. As part of this legal " test case", the court was also asked toconsider whether these types of charges amounted to"penalties".

As you may know,we decided nottodeal further with bank charges complaints until the outcome of the Office of Fair Trading's "test case" made the law clearer.

Put simply, during the course of the legal "test case" the courts ruld that these sorts of charges;

did not generally amount topenalties; and
cannt be challenged on the grounds they are too high

this means that the office of fair trading losts its case. the legal action ended in a decision by the supreme court - the highest court in the united kingdom - on 25th nov 2009. the decision, and a summary of it, can be found on the courts website.

i have hurried this and lost the first one i typed. Sorry if this one has bad spelling and grammer...

just wanted to share what they said really...

Is anyone qualified enough to answer my question (above) today as I'd like to send my letter to the bank without further delay? Sorry for the impatience.

I have been waiting for Martins new guide and I think I am just out of time now for the 8 week response time from my bank? Is it a complete loss now?????