Claim your bank charges back

[Candybeatdiscos]

For those that don't know about this, hundreds of people are now successfully claiming back six years worth of bank charges. I am personally getting to the stage of serving my bank 14 days notice to refund mine before the case is lodged with the small claims court.

If you look at the website below, you will see how this works and how you can claim your charges back.

http://www.penaltycharges.co.uk

[NeilP]

Another one is
www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk All the information is FREE and like this forum, there are loads of people all in the same boat, all helping each other get the money back - you can go back 6 years!!

With the help of these guys i managed to get £8k back for my two accounts, Old Mortgage and my Wifes old Account - Poor Old Abbey National!!

I was (i believe) the 3rd person in the county to get a CCJ against Abbey National for these charges, and nearly (with a day to spare) about to get the Bailiffs to go into their Head Office in London!!

Search under 'NeilP' in the Abbey National Thread to see the full story!

It is well worth doing as you can see from my experience. Lewnics, stick with it, you WILL get your money back.

[Candybeatdiscos]

Well worth claiming back...i remember reading about this guy...

[Candybeatdiscos]

well my letter to bank serving 14 days notice before i lodge the issue with a small claims court ( ie issue a default) is all ready and will be issued on wednesday :)

[Creature]

be careful - halifax will refund you - but will close your account down !!!!!!!!!!!!!! not heard of any other banks/building societies following suit just yet

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

be careful - halifax will refund you - but will close your account down !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And what reason are they giving for doing that? :omg:

[BeerFunk]

I'm not sure I understand this... how could you re-claim bank charges? In order to charge you for anything, the bank must have set it out in the terms and conditions of your account usage (which you signed). Please explain? :confused:

[Corabar Entertainment]

There is a piece of legislation - "the Unfair Contract Terms Act" which allows the courts to overturn any clause in a contract if it is deemed to be unfair, and there has been at least 1 case where someone challenged the fees that the Banks charge as being unfair..... and he won!

So, in the light of that, many people are now contacting their banks to ask for their money back.

[BeerFunk]

There is a piece of legislation - "the Unfair Contract Terms Act" which allows the courts to overturn any clause in a contract if it is deemed to be unfair, and there has been at least 1 case where someone challenged the fees that the Banks charge as being unfair..... and he won!

So, in the light of that, many people are now contacting their banks to ask for their money back.
Right, but so long as the T&C are laid out clearly and fairly, I can't see why people should complain. A lot of the time, people simply don't read it!

[Danno13]

Surely you've agreed to charges in your T&Cs with the bank. We'd all soon be moaning if customers started sueing us over things they've already agreed to when they book!!

Just read Angela's post... although i still don't agree with the ethics here...

[Have a disco]

well my letter to bank serving 14 days notice before i lodge the issue with a small claims court ( ie issue a default) is all ready and will be issued on wednesday :)

Please send me a draft copy of this letter as I wish to do my bank that has just shut its branch locally and I have had to move banks, how much do you expect to reclaim all of it or some of it as I believe some of my bank charges were fair but overpriced

I believe a computer printed letter should cost no more than £10 for going overdrawn, not anything up to £35 they now charge £39 per item refused with my old bank, no way does it cost more than this figure its pure profiteering it use to be bareable at £25 but now they are starting to get greedy

So yes Im going to try to get a refund wether full or partial

My new bank Barclays only charge once a day now no matter how many items are presented but even this £30 figure is OTT for someone pressing a button to print an automated letter........ someone probably paid to do it working in India at that

[Candybeatdiscos]

if you go to http://www.penaltycharges.co.uk you get all the templates for the letters etc, they give you every piece of advice....

My halifax account is already closed anyway, i haven't read of anyone who has had thier account closed as a result of this.

best thing i suggest guys is to read the website, should answer all your questions

[NeilP]

Just becuase it is in the T&C's doesn't mean that it is fair. If a term in any set of T&C's is deemed to be unfair then it is unenforceable under common law. What is deemed unfair? Charging £35+ for a letter that costs under £1 to produce and post - that is unfair.

Stephen Hone was the first to highlight this, and to date THOUSANDS of people have got their bank charges refunded going back 6 years + Interest at 8%

Alliance & Leicester have stated that they will refund the charges without quibble BUT will close the account.

Go to the forum that Lewnics has mentioned (or www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk) and they both will show you how to do it, provide templates of all the letters that you will need to send.

This applies not only to Bank Charges, but charges on Credit Cards, Mortgages, HP Agreements, some have even challenged to Redepmtion Charges when changing mortgages!! As i said before, it is all about waht is deemed to be fair, and as the Banks, nor any other financial institution want to disclose exactly what their charges are, because, then even the £12 limit suggested by the OFT could be deemed to be unfair and that would open a HUGE can of worms that would cost them £billions.

It's a perfect scenario - you want your money back, and as long as the bank agrees that the figure you are claiming is correct, they will pay you. Why? Simpy because they wont go to court to defend it just incase they lose!

Hope this makes it slightly clearer than mud!!

[A1DL]

I'm with Beerfunk and Danno on this one.

My Company banks with Barclays and I have always found them to provide excellent service, the scale of charges is clear and we have never had any problems.

And spot on, lots of people don't read or understand the T&Cs, as in most customer facing service industries, but the failure on the part of a customer to read or understand what they sign should not negate their contractual obligations IMHO

[A1DL]

Charging £35+ for a letter that costs under £1 to produce and post - that is unfair.


But the banks will only do this if you are in breach of your agreement with them, i.e. your failure to operate cleared funds within any agreed overdraft limit, which is normally confirmed in writing at the time it is set up, and printed on each bank statement you receive.

Their T&Cs say they will charge you £35 if you operate outside these perameters - so why gripe about it, if you've allowed that situation to arise?


On our T&Cs we reserve (and have exercised) the right to apply an administration fee of £30.00+vat to serve a notice of overdue debt to a customer who fails to pay an invoice within the terms of the agreement.

Like the banks, in terms of time, stationery and postage, it probably costs less than £1.00 to produce this letter, however if the customer has agreed to, say 28 day credit terms, and trys to stretch this to 50 days, then it's in black and white, a charge may be applied.

I really don't see what the problem is. Adhere to the terms of an agreement you sign with a supplier, customer, bank, etc... and these problems won't be encountered.

[Have a disco]

Because its part of a rip off britain banking scenario that has been going on for decades and is getting worse just to justify there losses they up charges again and again in the last 20 years they have gone up unfairly.

Even Insurance companies are ramping up there costs and claims went down??? why FUEL costs amongst many reasons

People are finally saying enough is enuff

In America there is a rule on profiteering, no one is allowed to usurp 3% over a std rate in profit (Im not too sure exactly how the rule works). It encourages competition, choice of buying it cheaper has just hit this country and were starting to want the same as elsewhere in the world

[NeilP]

A1DL.

I don't think anyone is saying that there shouldn't be a charge for breaching the contract (ie. bouncing a DD, cheque etc), only that it shouldn't be extortionate or unfair. If you go back 7 or 8 years, the cost for the breach with Abbey National was just £7, some would say that this is reasonable. Now it is £35, an increase of 500% in 7 - 8 years ....... plus the banks have admitted near enough, that it is simply a money making machine to help fund the free banking that is offered to some of their customers.

The £30 you reserve the right to exercise may be fair, as you would be raising the demand letters manually, which when you work out the time and effort spent, would equate to say £20 + £10 proft. 50% profit.

All i would say at this point, to save it excalating into a full scale arguement, is that if you are happy paying the banks (which we all have to have a bank account these days to clear cheques, have Tax Credits paid into, Pensions, pay bills etc) these charges, then fantastic, however, don't critisise the rest of us who wish to stand up to the banks and claim back what has, according to English Law, unlawfully been taken from us for the last 6 years (and beyond) and is therefore rightfully our money.

[BeerFunk]

I still don't understand how you think the bank is acting unlawfully. We do not live in a communist state, so the bank can charge whatever they like, so long as they tell you about it beforehand.

[A1DL]

The £30 you reserve the right to exercise may be fair, as you would be raising the demand letters manually, which when you work out the time and effort spent, would equate to say £20 + £10 proft. 50% profit.

Read my earlier post again, I have given an indication on costs.

BTW, this process is automated.

[NeilP]

Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 states:-

Unfair Terms
5. - (1) A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.

(2) A term shall always be regarded as not having been individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term.

(3) Notwithstanding that a specific term or certain aspects of it in a contract has been individually negotiated, these Regulations shall apply to the rest of a contract if an overall assessment of it indicates that it is a pre-formulated standard contract.

(4) It shall be for any seller or supplier who claims that a term was individually negotiated to show that it was.

(5) Schedule 2 to these Regulations contains an indicative and non-exhaustive list of the terms which may be regarded as unfair.

it goes on and gives a list of scenarios where a term may be deemed to be unfair, the following is the one that is used with the Bank Charges:-

e) requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation;


The banks have also near enough agreed that these charges are penalties, and the law of the land states that penalties cannot be disproportionate, and should reflect a genuine pre-estimate of the loss incurred by the breach.

So in the case of the banks (and A1DL by the sounds of things) unless the charges are a genuine pre-estimate of the loss, then the charges are unenforceable (sorry A1DL!)

It's not a case of living in a communist state, it is a case of the law being there to protect the customer (whether consumer or business) from being ripped off by those who think they are in the know. A similar things happened with Halifax (i think) a number of years back where they were reserving the best interest rates for the new customers. The courts ruled that this was unfair and that all their rates should be available to all the customers.

[A1DL]

So in the case of the banks (and A1DL by the sounds of things) unless the charges are a genuine pre-estimate of the loss, then the charges are unenforceable (sorry A1DL!)




ours are enforceable, and indeed have been successfully enforced in various County Courts across Southern England over the last few years

[Have a disco]

In a case of small businesses of course your t & c are enforceable but in the diferencial in business size to someone like the big 4 banks whom are all making mega profits, unlike your small business otherwise you would be a giant by now?? most people pay you out of respect for doing a good job, the banking system are systematically robbing people for the sake of sometimes 1p which is disproportionate to the fine as stated in all there own T & Cs

I have even taken on the big guys and won (licenced industry owners of small pub chain) once people get to a certain size they think they are untouchables

[Creature]

A Warning! They may threaten to close your account


Recently as part of the settlement, some banks have informed complainents that, to paraphrase, "we'll pay up, but we'll shut your account down." Obviously if you're in financial difficulties this will be a nightmare (and interestingly breaks the Banking Code, but that's another point). However a sensible precaution before you start this process is to open up a new bank account elsewhere, which is operational, just in case this happens.

taken from /www.moneysavingexpert.com

2 people here in spalding have had there halifax accounts closed for them after they paid out.