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Original poster

Did you know that bank charges of more than £12.00 have been ruled as unfair by the OFT and you can claim your money back? And your claim can cover the last 6 years?

537 replies

tigermoth · 23/04/2006 08:49

I've cut and pasted the article that appeared in Telegraph money section:

Get your money back from the bank

The Office of Fair Trading's ruling that bank penalty charges of more than £12 are unfair could spark a flood of complaints from customers seeking compensation for unjustified charges over several years.

Earlier this month the OFT ruled that penalty charges for late payments on credit cards, unauthorised overdrafts, unpaid direct debits and standing orders and missed payment fees on store cards and mortgages were deemed unfair if they exceeded £12.

Last weekend, this paper revealed that this could lead to redress for bank customers who have been erroneously charged for the past six years.

The OFT's initiative strengthens the case of anyone who has seen penalty charges automatically deducted from their accounts after falling foul of bank and building society small print. As with any legal proceedings, there is not a 100 per cent guarantee that you will win, but lawyers and consumer groups reckon the OFT's position means judges will be far more likely to accept arguments that penalties of more than £12 amount to unfair contract terms that cannot be enforced.

The process for reclaiming the unfair charges from your bank is straightforward.

First your bank is obliged to supply you on demand with a list of all charges you have paid in the past six years under the Data Protection Act. You then need to write demanding the bank repays the unfair charges. If that is not successful, you can take the matter further by either going to the small claims court of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

More details on how to claim and pro forma letters are available on the website of Which?, the consumer group.

"Claiming back these unfair charges from the banks is a relatively straightforward process," says Emma Bandey, a personal finance campaigner at Which? "These charges are nothing but an easy money-spinner for the banks."

I am thinking of doing this. What a windfall if I am successful!

But I am worried about something. If I push for this, and my bank give me my money back, is there a risk that the bank might start to get difficult with me? I don't want them to mysteriously refuse to send me a new cheque book, refuse to extend my overdraft limit or refuse a loan. Do you think there is a risk that banks might start doing this to customers who claim their charges back?

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 23/04/2006 08:52

thanks for posting this..my dd2 and her boyfriend have been really stung with ridiculous charges which I've posted on here about...one being 100.00 on one account within a couple of days

I don't see that it should affect your relationship with the bank, after all they are competing for customers

Jasnem · 23/04/2006 08:54

Wow...I get charged £25 for going over my overdraft limit.
Don't know if they are likely to "punish" you for claiming the money back. Probably not if it becomes well known and lots of people do though.

Original poster
tigermoth · 23/04/2006 08:56

well, the bank might see you as a difficult customer. Their rules on granting loans, overdrafs etc are not transparent. I know it's to do with credit rating and personal profile, but this could be open to interpretation so if you were refused, it would be difficult to appeal.

OP posts:
nutcracker · 23/04/2006 09:03

Wow it would be great if it works. I got charged £30 the other week for being £5.55 overdrawn for a day.

expatinscotland · 23/04/2006 09:06

i've paid £200 in charges in the past few months, all for going over by no more than £3 for a day.

i'm going to give this a go.

Freckle · 23/04/2006 09:07

If the bank does as you say, simply open an account with another bank.

Original poster
tigermoth · 23/04/2006 09:07

has anyone started claiming yet?

those of you who work in a bank - what's the bank's reaction to this new ruling?

OP posts:
Original poster
tigermoth · 23/04/2006 09:10

freckle, if you open an account with another bank, though, would you automatically get a cheque book, over draft etc right at the beginning, if your present bank had just refused you these things? I don't know how this works as I have never changed banks in this way.

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 23/04/2006 09:15

if you are really concerned then open another bank account first and then claim Smile

I have more than one current account anyway

Nemo1977 · 23/04/2006 09:57

Am another been charged ridiculous amounts so am thinking about this. I was charged £75 for being £5.30 over drawn for what I know was only 2hrs in reality as when I realised that my account would be deducted that day I immediately put money in!

hunkermunker · 23/04/2006 10:02

I'm going to do this for DH and for me. Thanks for posting this, Tigermoth!

welshboris · 23/04/2006 10:03

Yeah Im going to do this aswell, thanks

Pinotmum · 23/04/2006 10:04

This dos apply to old accounts. I changed from Nat West because of their charges and dh changed from Halifax. If we're no longer customers they don't have to give us the money do they??

Pinotmum · 23/04/2006 10:04

Sorry should have typed - Does this ... Blush

VeniVidiVickiQV · 23/04/2006 10:04

Great isnt it.

This has been on themoneysavingexpert.com website for a while.

Have been wading through DPs bank statements on and off - i estimate that we will be getting back about £k between his and my banks.

Shocking isnt it.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 23/04/2006 10:05

i meant £1000 or 1k obviously Blush

hunkermunker · 23/04/2006 10:05

How much VVV? £1k?

hunkermunker · 23/04/2006 10:05

Blimey, that IS shocking!

nutcracker · 23/04/2006 10:07

Not sure what mine would be over 6 years, got to be a couple of hundred though easily.

Must tell my brother too as he has had loads and loads of bank charges at £35 a time.

expatinscotland · 23/04/2006 10:08

£30 here. Like I said, about £200 worth of charges in Jan. and Feb. as I was on SMP. But it was never more than £3 over the limit.

Angry
Elf1981 · 23/04/2006 10:10

Barclays currently charge £25 for being more than £1 over an authorised overdraft, with no more than 3 lots of charges in a month.
This month I think I have been charged £75 as I have jsut gone back to work after maternity leave and my pay has been screwed up. Could have done without the £75 charges!!

VeniVidiVickiQV · 23/04/2006 10:11

Well as an example, in January, DP was charged £138 in excess o/d charges and refused DDs. Since they couldnt at the time charge more than the cost of the breach of which one was about £10 (got charged £29 for) etc ALL of it can come back to us.

Now January was a particularly bad month so i dont expect that much every month for the last six years but i can see it mounting up to about £1000 in total.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 23/04/2006 10:13

AND i didnt realise how much in charges we were paying until i completed the budget spreadsheet on the moneysaving expert website and was utterly shocked that having a bank account costed us about £150 a month that month. Truly truly shocking and extortionate.

pucca · 23/04/2006 10:17

I puta thread on about this a good while ago, here is the link to the thread with link to the letter you need to send off to the bank.

\link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=2230&threadid=152409&stamp=060308164040\this}

pucca · 23/04/2006 10:18

For some reason the website is no longer there, i tried to claim back my charges and got no where at all.