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Ever been stiffed by a bank with charges you thought were unreasonable?
Then we've got just the thing for you - a step-by-step guide for how to get your money back and with interest on top!
It's been written by a HEXUS.forum member who wishes to remain anonymous but who has successfully taken on his bank and won - with free help provided by The Consumer Action Group.
More in this HEXUS.lifestyle.headline.
The Consumer Action Group is a great website. I followed their advice after being charged £60 for two returned direct debits, and bank gave a full refund within a week. This is despte my account being a basic bank account, so should work for anyone.
Just read about this on Hexus tonight, having sent off my DPA Subject Access Request letter earlier today. I've been charged over £1300 (yes, thirteen hundred pounds) since April this year alone and intend to claim the past 5 years of charges back (I live in Scotland so it's 5 years, not 4). I'll post any notable events in here.
Wish me luck!
Eeek!Quote:
Originally Posted by 8bit
Good luck (though I kind of think you won't need it - I'm quietly confident you'll get the lolly back.Quote:
Originally Posted by 8bit
And, do please keep us posted.
I've been lucky with bank charges over the years, partly due to sounding quite scary on the phone I think.
Great info to have though.
I Remember when my dad was going through a tough financial period and got stung for a variety of o.t.t. petty little charges.
*Off Topic*
I will in investigate
Also i too do all my parents telephone renewal malarkey sky, bb, mobiles etc. and this seems to be the only way to get a fair price. I personally think they see an older less technically generally less modern consumerism savvy as there nice little profit base.
For more information on this try
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/
Martin Lewis has been banging on about this for a long time.
The banks response to this seems to be that if more and more people keep trying to get their money back, that it will lead to the end of free banking in this country.
Anybody think that this could happen. I'd hope that there was enough competition in this country to stop this happening.
ROFL!Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckskull
Reminds of the time I was in a publisher's office arguing with him about an overdue promised pay rise and realised that for the last little while he'd been backing away from me and walking in circles around his desk with me walking after him.
I think the banks would find it very difficult now to withdraw "free" banking and, if they all did it, the EU would be down on their heads like a ton of bricks because it would be assumed (probably correctly) that they'd colluded and were acting in an anti-competitive manner.Quote:
Originally Posted by rolph
First Direct (who I bank with) just announced a 10ukp banking charge per month if you account is below 1500ukp (or you don't pay in more than that per month, or you don't have a loan/mortgage with them). This doesn't affect me but i shall be telling them how bad an idea I think it is shortly..
Seems the banks are trying to reap some nasty revenge on people taking this route.
They are apparently reporting us to the credit reference agencies for late payment, before the outcome of any 'charges' clawback is decided.
It's one good reason for them stringing it out a bit, because technically they are correct until the case is settled.
Source: Money Mail/Daily Mail/Wednesdays.
red,
I don't understand.
Care to spell that out in a bit more detail - and to give a URL, too?
It was in the Money Mail section of the Daily Mail a couple of weeks ago.
I got it wrong in more than one respect, it's not for late payment, it's for breaching their terms and conditions. A two pronged revenge, they will report you to credit reference agencies and try to boot you out of the bank!
I can't post URL here because I haven't made 5 posts yet so I've put it in Chatter on DV forum for you to pick up.
I've been charged by natwest for being over my overdraft.
IE
Say you have £23 in your account, they'll happily bounce a DD or SO for £25 but then charge you £30 and actually take it out of your account putting you over your overdraft, they will then charge you there fee..
Also, my finances are tighter than a duck arse, I have ~£30 a week to spend after bills are paid, thats £30 to spend on fuel, food etc..
Now for the last few months they've been charging me £40 for being over my overdraft and taking the money, which has put me back over my overdraft again, so they've charged me again, which has put me over, so they charge me again and so on and so forth...
Worth me seeing if I can get my money back out of them?
red,
Thanks!
Here's that posting of yours:
++++++++++++++
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-...8&in_page_id=7
Seems a twofold attack, one, reporting you to the credit reference agencies, two, booting you out of the bank.
Nasty lot aren't they!
++++++++++++++
I reckon the article is well worth reading, and to give you all a flavour, here are the first three paras:
Quote:
Fighting unfair bank charges could damage your credit record. Current account holders who have already won back thousands of pounds in unfair charges made by their banks when they slipped into the red are now starting new legal challenges
Some are now going back to court to stop banks closing their account, while others dispute bad credit marks against their name.
In the latest salvo in the Fair Play on Charges battle, Money Mail has heard from readers that have successfully started court actions to get NatWest, Abbey and Nationwide to remove bad credit ratings which were given because the customer disputed their overdraft charges.
Me, I'd borrow £100 from a mate and start up an account with a bank or building society that showed more decency than that, and then shut down the NatWest account and move all the incomings and outgoings to the new accounts.
So, might be good if folk here could advise you on who they'd recommend switching to and why.
Quote:
Originally Posted by [GSV]Trig
Avoid TSB like the plague then Trig as they are doing exactly the same to me with their excessive charges and then charging me for the charges taking me over my overdraft :o
Aye, got some bits to sell on eBay to get some funds but its nearly xmas n no bugger wants to buy owt lol
Trig,Quote:
Originally Posted by [GSV]Trig
Until recently that was almost exactly the position I was in. In the short term you need to do something to break that cycle. I know money's really tight for you but if you could borrow enough just to keep you from going into the red for a month so you don't get charged next time that will help in the short term. Sounds obvious I know but getting a claim out of the bank can take months so it's not a quick fix.
Update on my claim: Still waiting for the bank to respond to my request for all charges under the Data Protection act. My colleague who first put me onto this stuff did tell me about one of her banks that wrote to her and told her that they were setting their charges at a flat £12 rate which would seem to comply with the OFT regs, I'll ask her again today which bank it is and post here.
Worth pointing out that (in Scotland anyway, maybe different elsewhere so do check) is that as I've been informed, a bank cannot legally give you a bad credit rating for anything other than reneging on the T's and C's of a credit card that they have issued you so going past your overdraft limit technically cannot affect your credit score with anyone other than the bank with which you hold the account in question. That said, these ridiculous charges are no more within the law than that and they do it so I'm not surprised. Once people start to challenge this new approach they'll just go and find some other way to screw over the likes of you and I.
Me, I'd probably feel safer giving my money to the Russian Mafia to keep safe... ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Crabtree
Fair play to Bob C for highlighting this subject, it's one that I've railed against for years.
I can say from my own experience, before the latest blast of clawback publicity, this is a subject I've drawn down to a fine art without ever going to court.
What I do is simply telephone the bank (using the 'say no to 0870' website to get a local number, or simply asking them to call me back) and complain like hell!
I prepare a list of 10 complaints and simply keep repeating them, working my way up the list from telesales op to telesales sup to dept manager.
I have never failed to get charges reinstated using this method in the last 20 yrs!
Just scream like a banshee about the indiscriminate profiteering, they know it's bad practise, we've just got to stick together and make them aware we know it too!
This was too good an opportunity to pass up - but I can't claim any significant credit apart from a little bit of word-tweaking.
Oh, but I like your perseverance!