Forums > Social Chat > Reclaiming Your Bank Charges (UK only)

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LoewanBRONZE Member
and behold!
464 posts
Location: Liverpool, United Kingdom


Posted:
Most of us feels that banks and cards are charging us far too much over silly little things like late payment, overdrafts and other penalities. As a student, I was at the front end of this and must have accumalative looads of debts from being in debt.

Recently, the Office For Fair Trading And Standards have decided that these charges are unfair. Bank and credit card companies should charge no more than £12 and with this law in place, there is a way to claim the excessive charges back! Some people were able to reclaim as much as £900 from their bank! Read on!

https://www.fool.co.uk/news/foolseyeview/2006/fev060504c.htm
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632,
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bankcharges

I went to my bank yesterday to ask for a full batch of statement for the last 5 years. The lady at the cashier clocked on immediately and asked me whether its to reclaim the charges and that she herself have done it. Its all worth a try at the end of the day I suppose. tongue

Why let your body be a temple? When it can be a theme park?

Wii Console Number: 3294 0297 7824 7498


baddersSILVER Member
newbie
18 posts
Location: Leeds, United Kingdom


Posted:
I've done this with Barclays. Got the last six years of statements (thats as far back as they will have) and apent an evening totting up my charges (well over a grand!). Put it all in a table and sent it off to them with a letter that i got from a website (will gladly email anyone a copy whowants one). Heard from them about a million years later and they only opffered me half the money which i think is rubbish.

Planning on calling them and saying i will settle for 3/4 or will follow with legal proceedings. Fingers crossed.

I may loose people. I may even loose my mind. But there's one thing I never loose....and that's the beat!


MynciBRONZE Member
Macaque of all trades
8,738 posts
Location: wombling free..., United Kingdom


Posted:
I've even been sent pre-set legal forms to issue to the bank, I have had loads of problems recently and can probably clear my overdraft as I incurred £210 charges just last month!!!

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.


animatEdBRONZE Member
1 + 1 = 3
3,540 posts
Location: Bristol UK


Posted:
oooh.. Is there a deadline for when this has to be done by? I've paid a few overdrawn charges in my time, and it would be really handy to get some of that money back... Problem is I'm in Spain at the moment.

And is it one of those things where you have to walk in to the bank to do it, or can it be done over the phone?

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, or it can Crash.
Be Water My Friend.


alien_oddityCarpal \'Tunnel
7,193 posts
Location: in the trees


Posted:
-----------------------BUMP---------------BIG STYLEEEE----

A man who was fed up with paying massive bank charges decided to give one of the high street giants a taste of its own medicine.

When Royal Bank of Scotland refused to refund £3,400 charges that Declan Purcell believed he was owed, he sent in the bailiffs.

Stunned customers at his branch of RBS watched as debt collectors seized four computers, two fax machines and a till filled with cash.

The branch manager was told that the items would be sold unless RBS came up with the money owed to Mr Purcell.

Only when the manager gave an undertaking that the debt would be paid did the bailiffs leave.

Mr Purcell said: "I think the bank was pretty shocked when the bailiffs went in. But my view is that this is exactly what they would have done to me."

The move, which will raise a cheer from millions of other bank customers, is part of a consumer fightback against bank charges, which net an estimated £4.5 billion every year.

Every time a current account customer goes overdrawn by as little as £1 most banks will charge around £28, even though the administration cost is only about £4.50.

Then every cheque, direct debit, or card transaction that goes through or is bounced incurs another charge of up to £38.

The Office of Fair Trading is investigating whether banks have implemented these charges unlawfully.

The Daily Mail's Fair Play on Charges campaign and that run by the Consumer Action Group have helped thousands reclaim charges in the past year.

Like other customers Mr Purcell, 48, from East London, had warned his bank that he was prepared to go to court to claim back charges he believes were imposed unlawfully.

In June last year he demanded the refund of £3,400 charges he accrued during the previous six years while running a motorcycle dealership.

RBS ignored the claim so in October Mr Purcell filed an online application to get the money back through the county court.

After 30 days the bank had not responded and so on December 10 the court ruled in Mr Purcell's favour.

It ordered RBS to pay the charges and £120 court costs. When RBS again failed to respond Mr Purcell got the court to give him a warrant of execution, allowing him to order debt collectors to reclaim items from the bank equal in value to the amount he was owed.

Finally on Monday, January 8, a team of debt collectors walked into the busy Camden Town branch in North London, demanded to see the manager, showed their court order and announced that they were repossessing items.

Mr Purcell, who now works for London Underground, said: "I was dismayed by the bank's reaction when I made my claim for a refund – it was so rude and arrogant.

"They thought they were above the law, so it is great to know that customers can use the law in the same way the bank does to get money they are owed."

A spokesman for RBS said: "We are looking into this as a matter of urgency, but early indications suggest that unfortunately due to an administrative error, the bank failed to defend the claim leading to a default judgment being obtained on the branch and a resulting warrant.

"The confusion was cleared up at the branch."

Marc Gander, who set up campaign website Consumer Action Group, which helps consumers get refunds from their banks, said: "I am quite sure that Mr Purcell will not be the last person to send bailiffs in to his bank.

"The continued operation by UK high street banks of their unlawful charges regimes will see to that.

"The heavy-handed debt collecting approach is something that the banks have been handing out to their customers for years. Mr Purcell simply gave them a bit of their own back.

pkBRONZE Member
Lambretta Fanatic
4,997 posts
Location: United Kingdom


Posted:
fair play on him!

MynciBRONZE Member
Macaque of all trades
8,738 posts
Location: wombling free..., United Kingdom


Posted:
I'm in the process of doing this... I got charged £75 ponds last month and I had no direct debits, no money taken out and none paid in and got 3 charges... I've been averaging £75 - £210 for the last 2 years in charges

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.


MynciBRONZE Member
Macaque of all trades
8,738 posts
Location: wombling free..., United Kingdom


Posted:
just finished my totalling...HSBC owe me £2610 plus 12.9% interest my biggest problem was 1 month when they charged me £370 in 1 month, (the same as my mortgage payment) after this month I was forced to leave my job for a better paid one and consolidate my debts against the value of my property, which screwed me for IVA etc. mad

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.


DrBooBRONZE Member
I invented the decaffinated coffee table.
453 posts
Location: Cornwall, United Kingdom


Posted:
Go for it Mynci - hit them where it hurts! (Well, OK, it'll only hurt them a little, but make a big difference to you!)
I love the idea of sending in bailiffs. Using their tactics to beat them at their own game.

Boo x

I intend to live forever - so far, so good.

If it costs "a penny for your thoughts", but people give you their "two-pence worth", who is getting the extra penny?


alien_oddityCarpal \'Tunnel
7,193 posts
Location: in the trees


Posted:
"They thought they were above the law, so it is great to know that customers can use the law in the same way the bank does to get money they are owed."


HELL YEAH i would love to call out the "heavies" to reclaim all my bank charges back ubblol

E_V_I_LMosh-mosh-mosh-mosh.
346 posts
Location: Midlands


Posted:
I've reecently got back some from the HSBC. Over 6 years it amassed to about £1300. I got back pretty much all of it.

Took a little while as they wrote to me saying "We're investigating and hope to have this concluded by the end of March."

Next day I got a letter offering me of 95% of what I was claiming. The letter said that they in no way admitted that this meant they acknowledged any of the points I made, but that it was to resolve the matter as they knew that financial and time costs would be more damaging if I pursued it.

Basically, they caved but didn't want to admit it.

And they didn't ask me to close my acocunt either. Score!

Xbox360 Live ID - Sacred Apollyon

"Enemies you threaten make armies. Enemies you destroy make graves."

"Here is a test to see if your mission on earth is finished: If your alive it isn't."


rainbowgirlmember
70 posts
Location: London/Southend-on-sea


Posted:
I've heard about being able to reclaim bank charges, and i'm in total support of people who do - my mum used to be a Natwest cashier so she knows all about how extortionate the prices are.

But one thing i still dont understand is how anyone incurrs so many of these charges? I'll admit i have twice missed a direct debit payment becasue my student loan was delayed, or one time because the DD went out at 2am but the loan didnt go in till 6am! But i didnt get charged (apparently because it was a student account, dont know how true that is though) and even though i have gone (very) overdrawn somethimes its been within the preset limits and also not chargeable, but thats only a few things in 5 years - the charges would be worth nowhere near the several grand people are mentioning!

What is everyone doing that i'm not? Is it my lack of credit cards and store cards, or other loans? is it because i dont use cheques? or is it perhpas becuase i keep an eye on my finances and live within my means?

Im not meaning to offend anybody or suggest that anyone is useless with money, and i will be the first to admit that systems everywhere can and will screw up and we lose out as a result, but i was always under the impression that banks charge you for doing something wrong - mostly trying to spend money you dont have or not being able to pay becuase you dont have the money - and the fact that the charges are extortionate is something of a moot point because you shouldnt be being charged in the first place because you shouldnt be doing anything wrong! (and any charge which is the result of a clerical/system error should be (and on the whole, in practice are)reimbursed in full)

Perhaps instead of complaining about the charges, people should concentrate on avoiding them in the first place!

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars

"To alcohol, the cause of - and solution to - all of lifes problems!"


MynciBRONZE Member
Macaque of all trades
8,738 posts
Location: wombling free..., United Kingdom


Posted:
I admit my account was in disorder, but it amounts from the fact that 1 DD comes in higher than expected at the end of the month and gets returned (£30 fee) the company claiming the money reapply before payday (another £30 fee) you have just lost £60 so when your money comes in the next month you are £60 down. I had all my bills on direct debits and had only £100 a month for food and travel. minus 40 for travel = £15 a week for food and drink. ok minus the 60 lost the month before and... yep no money for food, but you have to eat, so you spend as little as possible and this month 2 DD's get returned. and there you have it.

go over you r overdraft limit is an instant £25 fine stay over it and they charge you again.

I got charged £100 in charges for a month I remained in credit by £800 after I got a loan, so I don't know what the charges are actually for it is just called "total charges" at the end of each month, some months they were 75-100 the next month nothing.

it's very easy to get 1 charge and once you have 1 that can blow your budget it only needs 1 cost to tip you over the edge when you are already struggling.

I didn't get any charges for 3 years then once they started they were very hard to stop. the bank charges you (and debits your account) for returning a payment that was less than the banks penalty charge, it's hypocrisy, saying you can't pay THIS company as you don't have the money so you can OWE US £30 instead ...oh ..but you still have to pay THEM as well. so they payment is doubled.

I stoped using the account mentioned last year, and have absolutely no problems actually finding up to £100 left at the end of each month.

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.


spinningstarletSILVER Member
enthusiast
271 posts
Location: Bradford *rolls eyes*, United Kingdom


Posted:
i don't even know how much i have been charged.

Tomorrow calls for a trip to the bank methinks.


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