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?

I would carry on asking them to send them to you. When i got mine they didn't charge me. I also have internet banking now so i looked on there and could tell them when exactly they were taken off. Also they should be listed on your statements.
When i sent the letter off i received my money in about 6-8 weeks. They tried to make out it was still my fault but they paid the money anyway! They do this as they don't want it to go to the small claims court as it costs them a lot more!

Sorry i dont know about HSBC.

I think in the future they have to think about changing the bank charges as they now have to constantly pay money back, abbey recently has gone up to 36 pounds i think. And no i dont think it affects your future claims to them.

HTH

Think things are maybe starting to change - DH had a letter from Capital One credit card with changes in their terms and conditions, one of which was they were reducing account charges to £12 each! We hadn't sent them a letter to reclaim anything back as we didn't need to, it was just a standard issue thing. But lets hope this is the impact it'll have on all companies and banks!!

M&S more have just sent me a letter saying the charge for late payment is now only £12, not as stated in the terms & conditions

Anniemac, yes that is the danger re signing away rights. That is exactly what Natwest said to my friend who I posted about below when they offered her a 'goodwill settlement' of £800-odd for charges of £2,200 that she was claiming back. She has not accepted their offer as they said in accepting it she would not be entitled to contest future charges. She has sent the next recommended letter stating her legal rights and is awaited a response.

No response from Barclays to me yet re my request for refund of £720

I have had enough! Just had my bank statement. Looking through this thread I am thinking of having to go take the same action but at the same time I am wondering if anyone has actually had a refund yet or maybe I'm tired and too cross to see. Anyone had joy yet? I am also thinking of telling them that I am closing the account at the same time as telling them I want my hard earned money back!

A few people have got money back yes - not myself yet but i'm still only at the requesting stage! Go for it they can only say no

Have been thinking of doing this, however thought you'd like to know it featured on Inside Money on Radio 4 this week. You can hear it using the listen again feature by going to www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/insidemoney.

Thanks for this link glassofwine, im trying to lesten to it but cant - Ive clicked on 'listen'but nothings happening does anyone know what I have to do to be able to listen to this??????

Hi,

I think my mum would be highly interested in this but I have a couple of questions to ask & I think that asking you 'experts' will be quicker than trawling the web.

What charges are we talking about here?
Current accounts/credit cards?
Unauthorsied overdrafts/refused direct debits?
What are you guys claiming the whole charge or just the extra above £12?
Has anyone actually been refused yet?

I hope you can help. Thanks

All charges (banks, credit cards, store cards etc, ANYTHING that was over £12), any charge so includes unauthorised overdrafts, returned direct debits etc, you claim the whole lot back don't deduct the £12 from any of them as the ruling says that anything over £12 isn't fair so you can claim all of the charge back. Don't know of anyone who's failed but some have gone to court, but the bank/company in question rarely turns up so you win by default anyway.

Hope this helps and good luck!!

Thanks - I found trawling the web quite confusing. The legislation in its strictest form only seems to apply to Credit cards but there seems to be more action against bank charges. Will get her sorted now.

BTW hows this for a story of unfair treatment.

A few years ago (but less than 6), the bank manager talked my mum into an overdraft she was adament didn't want. Only bank manager failed to process the application that he convinced her to fill in. Given that this was in Nov she spent the 'extra funds' on Christmas only to find out in FEBRUARY that the application had not been processed and that she had accrued a 4 figure sum in charges and interest. Bank waived 1/2 of the accrued charges & interest as a 'goodwill gesture' but only after a battle. needless to say she will be battling for the remainder now...

your poor mum! It sounds like communication got really confused or at worst, someone at the bank took advantage of her. And how did the bank let her run up a four figure sum in charges, without at least trying to phone her, considering the background to it?

Hope you are successful in getting the rest back. If I were you, I'd phone up the banking ombudsman service as well - they can offer advice and support.

sent my 'I'm taking you to court' letter 2 weeks ago and haven't had a response - Oh drats, going to have to go through with it now, anyone recommend how I go about it please - can it be done on-line, how much is this going to cost me ? - is it worth it

I claimed a couple of months ago and got back about £3.5k. You do have to threaten to take it all the way to get it all back but it is worth it. Small Claims court fees can be up to £120 BUT you can claim these back as well. You can also claim back 8% interest per day.

If you go to www.moneysavingexpert.com there is a link to a website that has all the letters you need and a spreadsheet for calculating the interest you are due.

My bank has not threatened to close my account, call in my overdraft or loans etc. If they did, it would make them look really petty.

Yes she was finally alerted when she went into the bank to make a counter transaction & the Manager asked to see her. She was told that he had rung & left numerous messages on her answer phone (when she doesn't have an answer phone!!!!). When asked why they hadn't sent a letter she was told "we didn't think you would appreciate it if we had charged you £x just to send you a letter". It is not the only problem she has had with this bank.

They 'accidently' added my fathers name to a savings account of her own (which he didn't know about). The only way she could get his name taken off was for him (my dad) to sign a declaration - which alerted him to the account - which he wanted half of when they seperated!!!
She keeps telling me she is going to change banks - but she says now she can't because of bad credit. I think she is going to have to find someone to take her on now tho as I am not happy with her proceeding with this claim (which will probably be quite hefty) and risk them closing her account as a result. Anyway we will see how she goes. I might tell her to talk to CAB as she is not really an internet person.

well this morning i recieved a letter from barclays saying as goodwill they would offer me £280.00 to be credited into my account in 7 days. i was claiming back £635. what do i do now??

2plus2plus1

yes talk to the CAB. Lots of banks have special accounts for peopl with poor credit, or alternatively she could open up a savings account and use that as her main account, beasring in mind the lack of OD etc facilities
(DH ahd bad credit after losing his job, had a savings account- their most basic was fine- at nationwide and then got a maina ccount there eventually. Pretty faultless as banks go)

trix1, no, still not had the microfiche stuff from Abbey

Will have to chase

I'd take the money and run, panda.

thanks expatinscotland dp has said the same. but i was hoping for a little more.

pandagirl - I'm about to start the process, but am waiting to get details of new bank account just in case. Having looked at a lot of the websites about this a lower offer is standard practise. A lot of people have refused this and ended up with the full amount. It's up to you, but if you can brave it out and hold on you're likely to get the whole amount.

bump

I`m just in the process of setting up what they call a parachute account-just in case.
Have read and read lots on the consumer action group website.
If you spend a couple of days reading this and do nothing until you understand the whole process from what i can see all you have to lose really is your time.Seems a longish process but if its owed to you go for it.
You can claim back all bank charges, not just the differense over £12.Also you can claim 8% interest.The consumer action group have letter templates and spreadsheets where you can work out how much you are owed.

Tigermoth-I haven't been online much lateley and haven't read all of this thread.Did you get any money back?

Having asked nicely twice for my refund, and having been offered £250 as a "goodwill gesture", which I accepted in part payment of my claim, I issued my claim (using Moneyclaim Online) on Saturday. I am claiming £2000 back - charges plus £300 interest. They have until 30 September to reply. If they don't, they have to pay it all. There are various other things that could happen,and probably will, but I am happy to see this thing through.

Have opened a "parachute" account - am happy to move my banking elsewhere, anyway.

I would highly recommend the consumer action website as mentioned many times on this thread. Everything you need to know is on there, there are separate threads for different banks.

Will keep you posted as to the progress of my claim, am looking forward to my £2k.