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?

[tigermoth]

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?

It was the OFTs rulings on credit card charges that started this, so I think it would be easier to get those back than bank charges. Go for it, you've got nothing to lose...

I will actually - I really don't have anything to lose if they close my account, a £300 credit limit is ridiculous amount. I can alway use dh's instead

Thanks Topbanana will keep you posted as to how I get on.

well zephyercat, I am in the same situation as you now - I have just got a compromise offer letter from Barclays, (relating to my Woolwich Open Plan account). My charges on this account total £2,200. Barclays have offered me £1,000 as a goodwill gesture.

I need to look at some websites to see the latest news and check what's happened with the latest claiments' cases. Problem is, we're off on holiday in two days time and I need to reply to Barclays within 7 days.

I am tempted to phone up the person dealing with my case ( I have a direct line for him, now) and see if he will offer me approx £1,500 ie approx two thirds of the total.

As the OFT's recommended limit for charges is £12.00 ie appprox one third of the present £30.00 - 35.00 charges cost, me gettting two thirds of my charges back while the bank holds onto a third seems to me a just compromise.

But Dh still thinks we should hold out - I need to contact the financial ombudsman service as well to get an independent viewpoint on this - so many phone calls to make and so little time!

That's a good result, topbanana - well done!

Any advice on my current situation very welcome - I'd especially like to know if anyone has successfully phoned up their bank to negotiate a higher compromise offer.

Well done Tigermoth - although their offers are a bit of a joke really compared to the amount they have actually taken (and wrongfully taken!)

I'm surprised they've given you 7 days to reply - ours says if they do not hear from us within 8 weeks they will consider the case closed.

I'm just trying to navigate my way around some of the money sites to try and guage some idea of what people are doing... if I find anything useful will post a link

There are lots of Barclays cases on the Consumer Action Groupl site but you have to be registered to read them so I'm not sure if this link will work... here

Barclays lady phoned dp today and he said he would accept £500 in full and final settlement and that that offer stands at any time (although the letter states that the case will be closed in 8 weeks if we do not respond). She said that if dp wants to take it any further then he will have to go to the Ombudsman.

To be totally controversial I don't see why the banks should pay you back if the rules are new. In my experience it is pretty clear what happens if you go over your official overdraft limit or don't pay credit card bills on time.

Admittedly people shouldn't suffer for earlier than scheduled payments on direct debit or lost in the post credit card payments and I do think that there should be more of a sliding scale so that people only 2p over don't get clobbered as much as those £2000 over say.

Blondilocks, for me the problem is that in the past, there is was no way top avoid these so called 'standard' charges if you wanted a bank account. All banks IME charged pretty much the same for going overdrawn without consent, so there was no choice. Of course I read the small print, knew there would be charges, but there was no way of avoiding this if you wanted a bank account IME - and it would be pretty difficult to go through life not having the sort of bank account that allows you to write cheques, set up derect debits etc.

Personally I don't mind sacrificing up to £12.00 for a default fee - I can appreiciate there must be admin charges. But fees of £35.00 per default are IMO ridiculous and the banks must be profiteering when you think about it.

Some people who are struggling to make ends meet are giving the banks a lot of money, whereas people who are comfortably off can get almost 'free' banking. I know that some people will abuse the system, but IMO most of the people who incur fees are doing so because they are struggling, not disorganised. Why should those who are struggling or facing some sort of financial crisis (ie redundancy or divorce) be the ones who get clobbered for everything?

I agree with you that some sort of sliding scale for fees would be a good thing.

Thanks for the link Zephyrcat - I will definiteky be using it and have decided to phone my case worker at Barclays, explain I am just about to go on holiday for a week so need a bit more time before I get back with a decision.

Has anyone had the copies of microfiche statements from Abbey National? I've only had the last year's through and I'm still waiting for the ones they said were held on microfiche that I've paid a tenner for...

Ahhh Blondilocks - in a perfect world...

I gave my bank a run for their money this month - I usually pay my credit card off in full, but this month for some reason the amount wasn;t credited until the day after it was due and they thought they were going to take £25 from me.

So I phoned up and said, were they aware that they could only charge me an allocation of the incremental cost to them of my money being late - i.e. increased admin costs. I asked them to specify in writing which additional costs they had incurred, save the interest which I was already going to pay. Suffice to say there was a shocked silence and £25 winging its way back into my account

You are all doing really well - keep it up

Ok, I am about to fill in the court papers for Nat West (got a snotty letter from them this morning) and for Abbey. Somewhere in my research on this, I came across something about chraging the banks interest on the money that have taken from my account. I didn't factor this in when I wrote to them initially, do you think I would be able to add a flat 5% to the amount I am claiming as interest, now that I am making it official and having to go through the courts? Or is this just being cheeky?

bump, anyone?

Hiya Wilbur - good on you for taking it all the way!

The only thing #i'd be wary about is if you didn't mention the 5% in your original letter asking for the money back. I'm not sure if you can only go on to claim for the amount that they have refused you because you haven't given the option of refusing your amount plus the 5% if that makes sense?

I coul;d be totally wrong though so don't take my word for it!

Good luck though, I hope they give in before it goes to court xx

Hi, as far as I know the court advises you to add interest, not sure about the rate though. I would use the rate that you receive on your current account when in credit. If you don't know what it is then I think 5% sounds fair.
I think the bank will offer you a settlement before it gets to court though. It costs them too much to defend.
Good luck

Thank you! I think I will add it, esp since some of the fees were deducted years ago so in theory I could have X% interest x 5 years, iyswim. I'm hoping to get a result like you topbanana - I'll accept a reasonable offer for a quiet life!

Let us know how you get on.

oh wow - hadn't thought about trying to claim to back - we paid £100's last year (possibly close to £1k) on charges on DH's account - many of those incredibly difficult (financialy) months we would have just scraped through had the charges been closer to £12!

Hi, wonder if anyone has asked for charge details from Halifax? I mailed them the first letter (sample on this thread) asking for charge details and i got a big pile of bank statements today all in seperate envelopes - they haven't said anything about charges for these but will I get charged? Or is it just £10 maximum? Help i'm a bit confused!

Wilbur - go & register on Bank Action Group! (Not got link to hand but google it).

The going rate if you have to go to court is 8% - there's a spreadsheet which calculates it all for you.

Hunker - Did you receive the rest of the archived statements from Abbey yet, like you I have only received them for the last year, I made my origianl request back in April, I wonder could I work out the charges for the last year and then times it by six as they have not responded to me properly?

woweee.... ive had loads of charges of 25 ,35 and 38 pounds. I even get double charges... a charge for the money not being in account to pay something, then a charge because I used the card. They made a mistake and money tried to come out twice for something, and I got £60 worth of charges. YIPEE!

on phone to bank now... guess what- im getting a charge for ordering a list of charges

thats normal ...between 5 and 10 quid iirc

has anyone done this with the Nationwide yet? I was told by a friend that they would close her account. Is this true?