Bank chgs - worth claiming back?

sweet sensation said:
Im so glad you posted this cos I need to send a letter to claim mine back. Natwest owe me £500 and I lost the letter template that I had to send :?

Do you need to send your statements with the letter or can you just send the letter? Also is the letter posted above ok as a first letter to send? (if that makes sense lol!) ;)
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Use the link I have posted to Consumer Action Group. This has a spreadsheet that you detail all you charges in. Send this not the statements.
 
bad news

'Market watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) will allow banks to suspend dealing with any claims filed against them until the test case is decided. However, the banks will still need to make a note of any claims lodged, and will have to honour offers to settle claims that were made before the test case and waiver were announced.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6918140.stm
 
PFD50 said:
The bank decided to pay a new DD I setup for the 1st time which was £500+. Rather than call me to say was I aware of this (like a real customer focused organisation would do) they just paid over the money when I only had half that amount in the bank at the time. Then all my switch payments from the weekend got cleared but the funds were already gone so I was hit with 7 or 8 charges totalling over £250. To make things worse my card was still accepted the next day and this also rang up more charges. The first I knew of all this was the next day when I got the letter saying we paid the £500 for you and will charge you x, y, z.
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brilliant. you set up a dd for twice the amount you've got in your account. spend a load of extra money on your card and then expect the bank to tell you.............come on. even here i know exactly how much i've got in my account. they're a bank not a babysitter. a bit of responsibility for your own finances is what's required.
 
stephen said:
brilliant. you set up a dd for twice the amount you've got in your account. spend a load of extra money on your card and then expect the bank to tell you.............come on. even here i know exactly how much i've got in my account. they're a bank not a babysitter. a bit of responsibility for your own finances is what's required.
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Well actually, the bank setup the direct debit for us to come out of the wrong account when we swapped mortgage. Hence me getting really pissed off when they just payed it out without checking first.
 
so the bank can set up a dd on your account without you authorising it?? i still have to sign for everything here!!
 
So, what are all these charges you can get back? I've never heard of anything like that here.

so these are all the charges that you get when you take money out of another bank machine? or what?
 
utagaura said:
So, what are all these charges you can get back? I've never heard of anything like that here.

so these are all the charges that you get when you take money out of another bank machine? or what?
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In the UK when a customer has for example £6 left in their account and pays for something that costs over £6 ( even if its £6.01 ) then the bank will instead of not letting you pay for it, they will let you go over your limit and charge you anything up to £39 for this. Then, it will also apply another charge of £28 each month that this happens. Some people get charged crazy things like £30 a day.

So people have been claiming these charges back as the banks will not go to court to try and justify them.

Until now. A test case is about to start.
 
utagaura said:
So, what are all these charges you can get back? I've never heard of anything like that here.

so these are all the charges that you get when you take money out of another bank machine? or what?
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Generally a charge of about 25 quid is levied on anyone who goes over their overdraft limit, often per item paid out.

This is in peoples contracts with the bank, so banks, for years carried on without challenge.

However, under english contract law, it is illegal to include what is refered to as a 'penalty clause' within a contract.

contracts may contain damages clauses, however these must be directly related to the loss suffered by the injured party. Not a means of making profit - this would be a penalty clause.

clearly the 25 charge is over and above the expense incurred by the bank in servicing the over draft breach & is a source of profit.

Accordingly, it counts as a penalty clause & is prima facia illegal.

However, the banks evidently are not going to take it lying down.
 
stephen said:
so the bank can set up a dd on your account without you authorising it?? i still have to sign for everything here!!
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Fair enough but we had been sitting there for hours going over the details and assumed they would be correct as we had been discussing them.

I don't sign anything now unless I have checked over all these kind of details. It was a genuine mistake on the mortgage providers part but my main point is that you would expect the bank to check on these things if your account is generally in good order and all of a sudden a NEW DD is requesting 2 x what you have on your account.

They charged me for having an unauthorised overdraft. Well if they decided to pay the money over then they authorised it. ?????????


We now have an account (with a different bank) that will swap money between accounts when needed so this never happens. It's not like the money was not there. Only in a different place.

******************back on topic. My laundry is clean now************

The banks will string out these test cases for ages but must have some idea they will win as it's been a few years since this all kicked off. If they (The Banks) loose we can all look forward to great holidays the next year.


PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE USE THE CONSUMER ACTION GROUP IF YOU WANT TO GET CHARGES BACK. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE BEFORE HAND. PEOPLE SENDING IN "LAME" CLAIMS ARE THOSE BEING CHALLENGED.

Thanks


http://www.consumeractiongroup.com/
 
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The banks won't entertain complaints about charges until this test case is decided one way or the other.

Neither will the Financial Ombudsman Service.

You can try to take the bank to court but until this case is decided you wont get anywhere.

*** this is copied from the Office of Fair Tradings' website***

11. What happens to those wanting to, or in the process of reclaiming charges while the case is going on?
It will be for the courts to decide in relation to claims made to them.
The Financial Services Authority has issued a 'waiver' from its complaints handling rules. This action means that until the test case is resolved any bank or building society that applies for the waiver will not be required to handle complaints relating to unauthorised overdraft charges.
The UTCCRs law is one factor that the Financial Ombudsman Service must take account of when making its decisions. As this action is expected to provide certainty about the law, the Financial Ombudsman Service has decided not to progress complaints about current account charges until the outcome of the legal action is known.



This test case could take more than a year.
 
I think that just means that the Financial Ombusman will not take on any cases but I don't think that means you can't go down the tried and tested court route.

This thread is a step bt step guide http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.u...ese/31460-example-step-step-instructions.html

Like I said read through the Consumer Action Groups forums and get a handle on what is happening with claims as they happen.

Here is what they CAG are saying so get those claims in.

"Whilst the news of a test case by the OFT is very much welcomed and has been a long time coming, I'm sure many of you are wondering where this leaves your claim.

The agreement between OFT & 7 banks makes reference to the fact that it will be up to individual courts to decide whether cases be stayed or whether they should be allowed to continue. FOS is to suspend all investigations relating to bank charges and banks are freed from having to investigate complaints.

If you have already issued a court claim then continue as normal until you hear otherwise from your court. Make sure you continue to comply with any orders and attend any hearings. Do be prepared for the fact that the court may issue a stay pending the outcome of the test case and this could take some time.

If you have not yet issued a court claim do stick with your time table as before and issue a claim. If you do not issue a claim until after the test case, you may lose the right to claim some of the older charges under the Limitation Act. Your claim may well be stayed but at least you have your foot in the door and will therefore be at the front of the queue when it comes to payouts after a successful test case.

The OFT is relying on both unlawful penalties and UTCCRs in its submissions and therefore will affect all claims. The banks involved represent 90% of all UK banks and those who are not involved in the action have agreed to be bound by the decision. What is not clear is whether they will be investigating business bank accounts in addition to personal bank accounts.

The test case if successful on the substantive issue of fairness will go on to consider issues of limitation and restitution."
 
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PFD50 said:
I think that just means that the Financial Ombusman will not take on any cases but I don't think that means you can't go down the tried and tested court route.
"
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DanielR is correct, nothing will happen, court case or not until the test case has been decided. This will be quite interesting.
 
Yeah the banks have been granted a waiver meaning they don't have to investigate claims until this test case is decided.

I know the CAG site is still saying people should proceed, I have a thread there and that's where I found out about the test case yesterday.

Guess it won't do any harm going ahead, the banks may wish to clear current cases but I doubt it.

I'll be watching closely as I have £4643 in the pipeline.8O
 
DanielR said:
Yeah the banks have been granted a waiver meaning they don't have to investigate claims until this test case is decided.

I know the CAG site is still saying people should proceed, I have a thread there and that's where I found out about the test case yesterday.

Guess it won't do any harm going ahead, the banks may wish to clear current cases but I doubt it.

I'll be watching closely as I have £4643 in the pipeline.8O
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I understand the banks have a waiver from the Financial Ombusman not the courts. It will be upto each court/judge how to proceed
 
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