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 have the same concern as Glass of wine.
I have an overdraft, a loan, and a credit card with HSBC.
If they demanded all their money back I would be seriously in trouble.... but having said that, the claim would go a fair way to settle some of that.
Nervous to go ahead incase they ask me to settle all accounts, can they do that?

So sick of these banks charging these ridiculous fees, yet another example of 'the rich get richer, the poor get poorer"!

grrrrrrrrrrr

batters, kelly got money back - scroll down a bit,and also one or two other people have so far been successful.

Quick update - when I phoned the Woolwich's customer services at the bank on friday, they changed tack and almost immediately said I could have a list of charges to cross reference against the account statements. Very wierd, as the person I spoke to was the same person who had written me a letter refusing my charges list request. Banks, eh!

Anyway, she promised me I would have the charges list next week. When I get it I will immediately send a letter to request a refund.

nixnoo, I can't see hwo they could possibly ask for all their money back, I'm pretty sure this would be a breach of contract. It would also be very bad in terms of customer relations - just imagine the reaction an act would get from the press. I would go for it.

I have recently done this with Lloyds TSB after finding out about it from MSE a few months ago. Lloyds were tough and I actually made a claim at the small claims court because they were refusing to refund. I got a letter a few days ago from their solicitors offering to settle in full
I was shocked to find that over six years I had racked up £2k in charges mostly owing to a very bad year a couple of years ago, but am very very happy to have gotton it all back now :)
Good luck to anyone trying this, it is definitely worth doing!

How much did you have to pay to take them to court?

Hi Tigermoth you clever lady!( Hope you are well BTW- I can't believe we live in the same square mile and yet never bump into each other!!)
Am SO glad to have found this thread and just wanted to assure you after working for Barclays for 17 years, that there isn't the "personal" touch anymore in the Banks' automated worlds-I used to ring up the unpaid items from the Manager at Borough Road branch to my now,(then future), husband at Waterloo branch-then, it was a person who made the decision as to pay or not to pay-normally he,(was EXTREMELY MALE DOMINATED BACK THEN!),the lending Manager, would write up hand written notes that could be refered back to in future lending decisions.
These kind of managers were made redundant or re-located many moons ago when Banks brought in Software that did maths!!
By complaining and requesting your charges back, there won't be a "face" thinking about your so called "relationship" with themselves.It will probably be dealt with by one of their huge Service centres that deal with complaints etc and will no doubt be seen as a "nuisance" or by now,an "epidemic" that has to be dealt with.

Fair play to you and good luck to everyone who pursues this injustice.I for one have copied the letters below and they will be sent 1st class on Monday.

nothercules I paid £150 to file the claim, I did it online it was very easy and straight forward, and then added the £150 to what I was claiming from Lloyds so got that money back anyway. :)

thanks

Hi dropinthe, I'd forgotten about your banking background! what you say about Barclays is really interesting. I thought things had changed over the years regarding fees and you've confirmed it. I am so glad you have caught this thread. Long time no see! (n both here and in real life) Hello!
And airy, that is so excellent! you must be feeling so very pleased :) I wonder why the bank didn't want to settle out of court? perhaps they had less people claiming then and thought they could win?

what is so sad is that this can only be applied to the last 6 years

in the 80s, when everything went tits up, dh had a massive overdraft with a big bank and they charged him so much in penalty charges that he had to go into the bank and agree some sort of credit arrangement which he only managed to pay off just after I met him in 1999. Of course, since he met me, I've sorted out his finances but I really wish the OFT could have slapped the banks on the wrist and perhaps taken an amount from each of them to set up/pay into free debt counselling for those in financial difficulty.

Just found this and have sent off my first letter asking for details of charges to be sent to me.

I think that I'm going to be shocked when I see how much it is - it won't run into thousands but it's certainly a good couple of hundred.

WDh haswriten numerous letters to our bank (Halifax) complaining about the unfair charges and we have got nowhere but this is certainly worth a try.

Did I see that Auntyquated got money back from the Halifax? All credit to her if she did, they are hardly a caring, sharing bank!!

we've just had dp'statements in the post from Barclays and have found 750.00 worth of charges in the last 3 years!!

So.... what do I do now? Is there a template for a letter to send asking for the money back? I registered on the money expert site linked below but I can't get the templates and don;t want to mess this up!!

Does anyone know if we can do this with a business account?

AM sending my first letter to HSBC recorded delivery today, will keep you posted with progress. Havent included the £10, thought I would wait for them to ask for it.

flip the thread and scroll a bit for the templates from auntyquated

oh my god

just spent last hour trailing through online statements that only go back four years so other two to consider yet and found £1090!!

Two bouts of maternity leave seen us struggle financially with no sympathy from bank

writing letter in the morning!!

good luck chocolatepeanut! For information, I have managed to get my bank to send me a seperate list of charges only, so I can cross reference this with my general statements. I think it helps.

Have been trawling through everything - the list of separate charges arrives at last on Thursday. Will be sending off my letter tomorrow.

I have three accounts with the Woolwich and all have incurred some charges - shall I send three letters - one per account? Anyone advise?

And have you seen the latest news? Some banks are now putting up the interest charges on their credit cards as a result of the OFT pressure on lowering bank charges for defaults. They have to recoup the loss of revenue I guess. Some banks are also, as of the end of June, reducing their bank charges to the recommended £12.00.

hello does anyone know what address i use to send my letter to barclays asking for a list of charges. many thanks

Hot damn! I've long been fuming over the excessive charges I've suffered at the hands of the evil b*stards at the Bank of Scotland, oh happy day I can screw them back! Sending the letter by recorded delivery today.

Bought something off ebay and paypal paid from wrong account.sorted it all out but got a letter from Halifax saying they were charging me £39!!

Just rang them and challenged it and they were quite insistent until I mentioned the O.F.T

They then back tracked and have taken charge off!!

amazing eh?

Given that the OFT ruling now exists, why are banks still charging more than £12 in bank charges?

I assume the 6 years time period represents the length of time that you can sue for unfair contract.

I have just received a bank statement charging me £50 for being overdrawn twice in one month but only for a day each time.

My overdraft is £150 and the first time I went overdrawn, I was overdrawn for 1 day when I paid in a cheque for £650. I then went overdrawn again, the day before I got paid, and also got charged for that.

Each time I go over my overdraft they charge me £25 so I have been charged £50 for two times being overdrawn in one month, but only for 1 day each time.

Is this fair?

Can't believe it. Just spoke to my bank, HSBC, and they are recrediting me the £50 they charged me last month. Great!!