Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

you can still put yoour claim in. The FSA have said that the banks still need to log and acknowledge claims. I Have some friends working in the claims section of one of the banks involved in the court case. They are still logging cases, and people I have spoken to there say its a good idea to still put you claim in.

[SMHarman]

But on that basis BA, Virgin, Lufthansa, Korea Air etc are too, but they are being hammered on competition over fuel surcharges.

[Stephen]

Right, after getting my statement this morning my bank (LloydsTSB) have again charged me £30 for going over my overdraft last month.

The reason for this was that they added a £30 charge for when I was 21 pence over my limit the previous month. I am so annoyed with them. On plenty of phone calls with them I was told that if the bank adds any charges to my account and I end up going over my overdraft I will not be charged by them. However they are still charging me!

Without looking through the full thread can someone please advise of a good letter to send them demanding they refund the charges. I have all my statements going back to 2002 so know exactly how much I want back.

Cheers
steve

[Derek S]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by DarthYoda

The reason for this was that they added a £30 charge for when I was 21 pence over my limit the previous month.

Some one will correct me if I am wrong but I am sure that this goes against their own guidelines, I am almost certain they prohibited from levying charges on unauthorised overdrafts under £1

[monkey2468]

Interesting development.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6987110.stm

---------- Post added at 13:38 ---------- Previous post was at 13:36 ----------

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Some one will correct me if I am wrong but I am sure that this goes against their own guidelines, I am almost certain they prohibited from levying charges on unauthorised overdrafts under £1

Smile charged me a total of £95 for being a total of 3p over my limit for 16 days.
Sent several letters (before I new the legal way of doing it), told me its tuff, financial ombusman were NOT interested.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Some one will correct me if I am wrong but I am sure that this goes against their own guidelines, I am almost certain they prohibited from levying charges on unauthorised overdrafts under £1

I thought this too, but Lloyds TSB also seem to think otherwise.

[Matt D]

NatWest scumbags


A right bunch of bankers.


Oh, has our unfair charge put you over the limit? Here, have another one! Hmm, & another!!!!!


This whole mess started due to a cheque from the joint account for £60something, which Ally wrote for her mobile (she was going to cover it when she got paid a couple of weeks later).

O2 did not receive the cheque when they should have, & then later asked Ally for payment, so she paid via an alternative method (but unfortunately didn't remember to cancel the cheque! )

A couple of months later [mid-August], O2 finally found (or received) the cheque. And despite having already been paid for the bill, they promptly went to cash it anyway.

As this was not something which the two of us had budgeted for ('cos it wasn't supposed to go out!), there wasn't enough money in the account to cover the cheque – causing NatWest to charge us £38 for bouncing it, and then another £38 for bouncing it again a few days later.

The charges caused us to go over our agreed overdraft limit.

I put an extra £40 in the account to cover the first charge, when I first noticed it, so there should still then have been enough money for the two remaining bills: Sky & contents insurance. Sky cleared, insurance didn't (only a £9.87 DD!). I guess the actual cleared timings of the payments was off a bit.

They twice bounced the £9.87 insurance Direct Debit, charging us £38 each time. Unwilling to take £9.87 from our account so we could meet a Direct Debit payment, yet quite happy to take £76 instead.

So, we found ourselves down by £152, which we had not expected nor budgeted for.

And then, to make matters worse, we have received a letter containing “Pre-advice details of charges”, which states that due to going over our agreed overdraft limit, we shall be charged a “maintenance charge” of £28 on the 28th September 2007 (not the best 30th birthday present for me!!!).

The only reason we went over our agreed limit was because NatWest chose to charge us 4 x £38 in bounce fees. Charging us again does not help the situation at all, and just puts us further in debt.


And, to make it even worse, I checked the account tonight, to find a £30 "Referral Charge for August" dated the 10th September.

A quick Google found it's for when NatWest choose to honour a payment which makes you go over your agreed limit.


Wonderful.

£38 + £38 + £38 + £38 + £30 + £28 = £210

Lovely. Just lovely. Well, it's not like we're trying to save for a wedding or anything, is it...


So, we're both v v angry, & skint, plus Ally feels really bad 'cos she forgot to cancel the damn cheque.


Advice anyone?


Write to them?

Phone them first?

Swallow it, seeing as the whole claim thing seems to be on hold anyway??

[superbiatch]

I'd give them a ring Matt if this particular occasion is out of the ordinary. I've had about 5 charges allocated to my account in the last 5 years and never paid one of them yet because i argued the toss. Give it a shot, you never know your luck

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Matt D

NatWest scumbags

Again I am pretty sure that goes against their own banking guidelines as well, I think you are 'only' allowed to have three charges levied against your account a month, still seeing as they seemed to have completely ignored the one about charging people who are less than a pound overdrawn, who knows, might be worth mentioning though

[Xaccers]

HSBC have done exactly the same with Faulty.
Overdraft currently at £517

They got cunning, charged £25 to "extend" your overdraft covering anything that comes out taking you over if some late payment suddenly comes out.
Thing is, they then apply interest, which takes you a couple of quid over the new limit, oh, another £25, oh over your limit? We'll extend that for you automatically, and charge you £25. Hey, you're now over your limit, we'll just take £25 more to rectify that.
Oh dear, you appear to be £25 over your limit etc etc.
Faulty asked them to freeze the account, they refused.
Claimed the £600+ they owe her in charges, they delayed in responding until the waiver was brought in.
Offered £300 and denied they'd charged Faulty any more than that!
Now back to suggesting we settle on the £517 and call it quits on the rest.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

HSBC have done exactly the same with Faulty.
Overdraft currently at £517

They got cunning, charged £25 to "extend" your overdraft covering anything that comes out taking you over if some late payment suddenly comes out.
Thing is, they then apply interest, which takes you a couple of quid over the new limit, oh, another £25, oh over your limit?

Somethings wrong here - the people you're dealing with don't know what HSBC's policy is on this obviously (and I can believe it from my experience of trying to get info on exchange rates and debit card use abroad)

Firstly - their policy clearly states that they won't charge for a request of less then 10GBP.

we will not charge an Arrangement Fee for an overdraft
request of £10 or less

Also

They state that any charges or interest that take you over your limit WONT be charged for.

if debited Arrangement Fees (or interest) cause your
account to go overdrawn or further overdrawn we will not
make a further charge

We'll extend that for you automatically, and charge you £25. Hey, you're now over your limit, we'll just take £25 more to rectify that.
Oh dear, you appear to be £25 over your limit etc etc.

This is wrong - and I believe that this is what they said to you - their staff are so poorly trained in their own policies

See the charges leaflet here:

http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/PA_1_5_S5/co...WdFZ:11j71s4j3

I've attached it also

HSBC Fair Fees Policy
We always aim to be fair in the way we charge for our
Overdraft services, therefore:
• We will not charge an Arrangement Fee provided, within
the last 6 months, either:
- we have not agreed to a request from you for an
overdraft, or
- before 1 November 2006, you have not exceeded your
overdraft limit or gone overdrawn without a limit
• we will not charge an Arrangement Fee for an overdraft
request of £10 or less
• we will not charge Arrangement Fees for Informal overdrafts
if covering funds are paid in before the end of the day
• we will give advance notice before Arrangement Fees are
debited from your account
• if debited Arrangement Fees (or interest) cause your
account to go overdrawn or further overdrawn we will not
make a further charge
• arrangement Fees charged will never be higher than the
overdraft requested (eg a £15 overdraft will not cost you
say, £50)
• we will not charge more than one Arrangement Fee a day.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Matt D

Advice anyone?


Write to them?

Phone them first?

Swallow it, seeing as the whole claim thing seems to be on hold anyway??

All three and try and claim it back from O2 too - don't tell them you're trying to get it back from NW as well - you may cop lucky

[Matt D]

Cheers all


I think I may just write to them.


If I phone them, I'm liable to get irate & may swear at them.

Plus a letter makes it easier to go through it all & explain everything.

Nabbed a template letter off moneysavingexpert ("... believe these charges are unfair & unlawful...Please repay them...etc etc"), & whacked in a load of detail as above re. everything (minus calling them scumbags).


Also, found something on the net (one of the anti-charging forums I think) suggesting that according to the Banking Code, members must give their customers 14 days notice of any charges.

The only charges we got any notice for were the £30 "Referral Charge" (for them honouring a payment when there were insufficient funds... why were there insufficient funds? 'Cos of the charges, & 'cos they didn't give any leeway for the extra money I put in) and the upcoming £28 "Maintenance Charge" for going over the limit (a limit only breached due to their previous unfair charges...). [I had thought the only one we had notice of was the £28, but I've just found a letter in a pile which Ally's opened which does actually mention the £30 Referral Charge]

However, from a quick glance at the banking code, it wasn't too clear to me if that actually covers *all* charges (e.g. the bounce charges too), or only covers some charges.


If we had simply had notice of the very first charge (if we were supposed to... which I guess we weren't? ), then none of this would've happened. [Or, if they'd actually allowed a v. brief "grace period" after the 1st charge, & given the extra £40 I transferred time to clear...]



Oh, & here's a petition link, dunno if it's been posted here before:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BankCharter/

Originally Posted by PM Petitions

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to follow the Bank Charges Reclaiming Charter, which aims to end both the current suspension of reclaiming & the financial misery caused by unfair penalty charges.

Submitted by Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com – Deadline to sign up by: 13 November 2007 – Signatures: 50,690

EDIT:

Oh, one worry I forgot to mention -

Do they tend to tell you to sod off & pay everything back that you owe them if you try & claim charges back? e.g. "OK, Mr Dodd. Here's your £210 in charges. Oh, by the way, we're closing all your accounts & require you to pay back the overdraft" etc etc.

[grabbi]

I had one with Nationwide. I owe £250 ish now.

I went in after the first one, said "Close my account and I will pay this back. I dont need the account anymore."

They said, its outstanding so until you make a payment in full, we arent closing it.

Its racked up but the Debt Collectors can whistle.

Might get all me statements online, print em and take them to court.

It just seems like a lot of hastle! Is it?

I have all the letter templates, but Im scared, to be honest!