potentially the end of the road for reclaiming bank charges? or the end of free banking.

[wannaBe]

stmhere

have a friend who works for one of the big banks, and they've been told that it's estimated this case will take up to 7 years.

Oh no I've got a big pile of bank statements from the past 6 years!! I've not got off my lazy ass and gone through them to see if I can reclaim.

Better do it this weekend, it's meant to be so easy as well!

Apparently banks have been told they no longer have to issue refunds until this case has been decided, so before you spend the weekend doing it maybe you ought to check whether your bank will do it?

Yes - it will drag on and on no doubt. They are up against all of the big guns, and we all know how good they are at their delaying tactics since they have had a load of practice with all these individual cases brought against them.
I hope it gets sorted though cos they are a bunch of crooks sometimes. I made an accounting error a couple of months ago cos we had a really expensive month with paying for a holiday, car service, MOT and road tax all coming up together. I didnt check the balance carefully enough and we eneded up going overdrawn a little. I then carried on swiping a few things after that for about 5 days until more money went in. they were all silly 'top-up shops' amounts of £20/30ish.
So - instead of not paying the money out cos we didn't actually have it - they paid it all and sent me a letter fining me a total of £250 in charges for every time they paid an amount out.
I hope this gets sorted cos that is just ludicrous. Everyone makes mistakes now and again but that amounts to extortion.

There is no point starting a new claim now and those that are in the system have been put on hold.

I think it will be the end of free banking myself.

You must do the reclaim! Ive done it and been paid out for one account and still waiting for the 2nd claim. Still have about another 5 to claim for. In the end i should be about £9000 better off! However im continued to be charged on the first account despite the claim payout and therefore their acknowledgement that it is unlawful!

Haychee - there is no point reclaiming. The banks have been categorically told that they do not have to repay any charges that are currently being claimed until this case has been settled.

If it takes 7 years....then there will be no charges to claim because of the 6 year rule

how convenient!

Obviusly there will be some that accumulate charges in the next 7 years which would potentially be eligible. Also I assume that those that are still claiming will have to be honoured (depending on outcome) as they have initiated there claim IYSWIM.

Even Martin Lewis doens't know whats going on though so I guess we will have to wait and see.

If the banks dont win, there will be no more free banking and we'll either get charged monthly for holding accounts or they'll start charging for each transaction at worse case scenario.

Maybe not a popular opinion but I hope they win. If you spend money that is not yours then why shouldnt they be able to charge? Agree the charges are high so could be reduced but it they didnt charge or charged a minimum charge more people would abuse their accounts.

At the end of a day they are a business and should be able to levy charges without fear of lawsuits.

Happy Mummy the argument isn't that they charge, most peole recognise the need to do so- but the level of charges and the way in which it is done, one small accidental payment or delay in transferring funds can mean spiralling charges on charges, and that often completely devastates the most vulnerable.

Also the big issue and the crux of the lawsuit is that they should only charge what it actually costs them to bounce your payment. It certainly doesn't cost £35 to bounce a payment and have a computer send you an automated letter for the privalege of charging you £35. There are even those that argue that the OFTs recommended £12 is probably still more than it costs.

What they should do is increase their interest rates on the overdraft etc. so you are paying for what you are borrowing. I don't think there is any ruling which limits the amount of interest they can charge as this is where teh banks (should) be making their profit.