Is this fair.

[daza]

Right Ive fell in the black hole that is bank charges.

Short story I now owe my bank for two charges both are £35 so £70 in total.

The best part is the first charge was based on an item for £8.95 and the second for £19.99, and I could have swore I had money in my account when I payed for them (still arguing with he bank on that.)

So I owe them £70 for basically £28.94 not to bad I think.






Now comes the question do I pay up or take it further any one with any experience out there as its the first time this has happened to me (as you can guess.)

[Rosaline]

Assuming you have a regular bank account, odds are you have already paid, such is the joy of banks and their evil use of overdrafts. If this is the case, you will want to get back into the black as soon as possible, unless you have an arranged overdraft of 0% interest.

As for what to do now, sadly the OFT investigation has put a hold on ongoing claims against bank charges So you should wait to see what happens there - don't worry, you can claim back all charges within the last six years or so.

[daza]

Ta.

Should have said its a simple cardcash from the halifax as Im only 19, Ive been advised to go into the bank and talk to who ever is there and see what can be done Ive got enough for the first charge which is due to go out today but the second charge is due out on the 15th and Ive no way of paying that due to Ive jsut been payed a week short and the rent has gone up.

Thanks again.

[SiM]

They should let you off, the first time I broke my overdraft limit. I called them and told them that I am a poor student and that I wasn't aware the charges were so high... Then they refunded me

Natwest have been very good for me... They have earned my custom, I will be with them for a while, well until they do a major screw up

[Rosaline]

You might be able to get the bank manager to help you, yes. Dress smart, practice effective pleading (you're young and unwise to banks could work as an angle to use) and good luck.

You need to make sure that you either stop the second charge or find a means to get your account back in the black before the next billing cycle. If you can't get it stopped, try and get a temporary arranged overdraft from the bank manager. If you don't arrange one, they will do the lovely thing of granting you an unarranged overdraft, then fining you for having one ¬.¬

[sammyc]

I did get £50 charges back from Alliance & Leicester for what was effectively 2 or 3 quid in the red for a few days... I used stock letters from 'which' or something similar at the time, as they didn't shift after my own first letter - however that was before the OFT investigation, as Rosaline says. Might be worth a look at the info anyway though...Banking and credit | Bank charges | Step by step

[finlay666]

I got huge interest charges when my paypal got hacked, managed to talk them out of £105 in charges though

better £8 to pay than £113

[G4Z]

I have loged complains about it in the past and had it refunded. I am with Barclays.

[DontDoIt]

I got charged the other day £30...for being overdrawn by £0.51...i dont understand how that is reasonable??

[Saracen]

... As for what to do now, sadly the OFT investigation has put a hold on ongoing claims against bank charges So you should wait to see what happens there - don't worry, you can claim back all charges within the last six years or so.

Just to add to that, in this particular case, the advice given is correct.

But in the general case, if anyone is thinking about putting in a claim thatgoes back over several years, don't delay too long to start the claim. It probably won't go forwardat the moment (though that OFT hold doesn't apply in all circumstances), but if you have charges approaching 6 years old and you delay, you may put some of those charges beyond reach by waiting. So, essentially, if you're going to claim and any of the charges you're going to claim for are more than 6 years old when you claim, you've lost your chance.


As for whether the OPs charges are fair, I guess there's two answers to that, relating to fair generally, or fair legally. Whether they're fair legally or not will depend on whether the recent ruling is appealed and if so, what happens, and on what the OFT rule after their recent victory, if there is no appeal or it doesn't succeed.

As for the general case, it's fair in that if you required the bank to pay out money you didn't have or to exceed an agreed overdraft facility, then it's certainly fair that you trigger charges. The scale of the charges, however, is another matter. Personally, I think that's excessive, but good luck convincing the banks of that. But your bank might be talked into waiving charges if you didn't go over by much, are an otherwise good customer and this is the exception to the rule and not part of a general pattern. They do have some discretion in this.

[Salazaar]

Take a look at this site:

Bank Charges: Reclaim them, they’re unlawful, includes free template letters ...

It's got a very good guide to reclaiming unfair charges.