Claiming back bank charges!

[PremierPDS]

I have a personal and a business account with Abbey. I very rarely use the personal Abbey account and it only really exists so I can tranfer money- all my household bills/ direct debits are taken out of a personal current account with an entirely different bank. I received a letter from Abbey a couple of weeks ago stating that I'd gone overdrawn by 12 pence when a Paypal payment linked to my personal account went out which I'd forgotten about for which they now want to charge me £35...

I happened to mention the above to my sister this morning and said I was going to phone them to try to get them to waiver this as it's the first time it's happened etc and she confided in me that she's paid thousands over the years in bank charges, missed direct debits and late credit card payments etc. This prompted me to look into possibly claiming these charges back so I've had a quick nosey around the net and realise she stands a good chance of reclaiming some, if not all, of these charges. I'm still a little unclear about a few things though so I'm hoping you might be able to help with the following...


1. If certain bank charges have been judged as unfair and people are claiming back their money then why are the banks still issuing people with these charges (like the letter I had from Abbey a couple of weeks ago)?

2. Can she claim back late payment charges she's paid to her credit card provider?

3. Will she have to go through all her bank and credit card statements and calculate how much she thinks she's owed herself or will writing a simple letter asking how much she's paid in 'unfair charges' in the last 6 years prompt the banks and credit card providers to calculate this for her?

[RedEvo]

I have to say, personally I have little time for people who habitually abuse bank accounts and credit cards.

Don't get me wrong, I have no time whatsoever for bankers, but when people break the T&C's of their accounts they deserve to be charged for this. Have they been overcharged? Yes. Should they get all their money back? IMHO no.

Just a point of view

d

[PremierPDS]

Hmmmm, yes I agree that there should be a penalty- it's the amounts they charge I don't agree with. Any late payment creates extra admin etc and I absolutely agree that this costs money and the customer should be liable for those costs given that it is the customer who has broken the T&C's but £35 for going overdrawn by 12 pence !!! My mistake and I'm willing to pay the penalty for that but not £35 which I deem as excessive!

My sister on the other hand is a completely different story and does habitiually abuse her bank account- thank God she'll never see this thread...she won't wait for anything and hence the debt she's got herself into over the years although most of the charges I'm referring to did occur over a particularly difficult 2 year period in which her fella left her and her little girl was in hospital very ill which made it difficult for her to work full time and the charges kept mounting up and mounting up until they were taking every penny she earned giving her no chance of ever getting back into the black. The only way she was able to do it was to borrow the money off my parents and she's still paying them back today and will be for the next 5 years. I don't expect the banks to be sympathetic to her personal circumstances, I do however expect them to give her (and others like her) the chance to get back into the black without compounding the problem and laying on charge after charge after charge!!!

[LOS Design UK]

1. If certain bank charges have been judged as unfair and people are claiming back their money then why are the banks still issuing people with these charges (like the letter I had from Abbey a couple of weeks ago)?

The OFT have launched a test case that is due for ruling this month. As of yet, the OFT HAVE NOT stated that the bank charges are unfair...YET

This is not a case of people blatantly breaching T&C's this is about UNFAIR T&C's, so lets not forget that.

2. Can she claim back late payment charges she's paid to her credit card provider?

Different process altogether. Bank charges and credit card charges are NOT covered by the same case law in this instance.

3. Will she have to go through all her bank and credit card statements and calculate how much she thinks she's owed herself or will writing a simple letter asking how much she's paid in 'unfair charges' in the last 6 years prompt the banks and credit card providers to calculate this for her?

Yes, and as point 2, they are DIFFERENT claims.

HTH

[HuggyBear]

As far as I know it is all dependant on the test case that is on-going.

Im not a financial expert but the last I heard it was:-

* All claims for refunds have been put on hold because of the test case
* No judgement has yet been passed that these charges are fair so banks are continuing to charge

[LOS Design UK]

As far as I know it is all dependant on the test case that is on-going.

Im not a financial expert but the last I heard it was:-

* All claims for refunds have been put on hold because of the test case
* No judgement has yet been passed that these charges are fair so banks are continuing to charge

SPOT ON hugs old bean...

points I forgot to add

This link has loads more info => http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges

[RedEvo]

I think on the face of it going 12p over and getting charged £35 is excessive. You'd think there would be a buffer zone on accounts for silly stuff like this.

However, the £35 may equate to the work they've done to chase this irrespective of the amount you went over, I dunno. I thought banks were reducing these fees to about a fiver.

d

[PremierPDS]

Thanks guys, it's much appreciated. It'll all depend on whether she gets off her backside now and goes through all her statements (if she still has them) and writes to them. Interesting to see from Shaun's link that the report by the Office of Fair Trading said credit card issuers shouldn't charge more than £12 for late payments even if they don't carry any weight with the banks...I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for that ruling from the test case!

[HuggyBear]

Thanks guys, it's much appreciated. It'll all depend on whether she gets off her backside now and goes through all her statements (if she still has them) and writes to them. Interesting to see from Shaun's link that the report by the Office of Fair Trading said credit card issuers shouldn't charge more than £12 for late payments even if they don't carry any weight with the banks...I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for that ruling from the test case!

It was Daren's link

[PremierPDS]

I think on the face of it going 12p over and getting charged £35 is excessive. You'd think there would be a buffer zone on accounts for silly stuff like this.

However, the £35 may equate to the work they've done to chase this irrespective of the amount you went over, I dunno. I thought banks were reducing these fees to about a fiver.

d

Well they only sent me one standard letter and it was rectified the same day I received the letter- all £35.12 (including the charge) was put into the account so they can't really have claimed to have made any real effort to chase the money. I have however just phoned them and to their credit they've agreed to waiver the £35 fee and accept that it was a simple mistake- albeit on my part! It does show that banks really can be reasonable when given the chance but then not everyone is prepared to phone them and argue their case - it's often the less well off in society that are less likely to be clued up on this sort of thing and the banks are relying their on ignorance to increase their profits.