Bank Charges

Bank Charges

Big rasberry to all who said it could not be done.

I have successfully claimed back £115 from First Direct and £128 from the Co-op.

And moved house in the three weeks of non-board attendance.

Missed much?

how long did it take in total?

For the Co-op about a month because I had to write and request six years of statements, go through them, add the charges up, send another letter then wait for the ££.

With First Direct I had my statements to hand so I skipped the first stage and sent a letter demanding charges to be refunded.

Took ten days, max.

Easy money.

rocking

Nice to have the money flowing the other way for a change.

there was a doc on tv about how many illigitemate charges banks claim.. u do right to protest.. A&L being among the worst..

well done

i don't get how they can still charge them tho, with so many people getting their money back ?

Unless people challenge banks, they aren't going to hand the £ over.

I guess a lot of people don't know this is possible, or maybe think it sounds like hassle and don't bother.

Also, although a number of case have got to county court level, nothing has been contested to the stage where it could be used to make changes to the law.

And the banks have never admitted what they do is wrong - all my letters stated they felt the charges were acceptable, but they were refunding them out of "goodwill" - because major finanical institutions tend to hand over money when they are wrong?!

I suppose when we try to get £10 out of the bank when our balance is only £3 we are taking the piss a bit. The fact that the bank states that there will be charges if we do this and the fact that we agree to the terms regarding bank charges makes this acceptable to a certain degree.

It's not fair that they charge so much but since we agree'd to it when we opened an account not many people complain but seeing as the bank gets way way way way WAY more money than it costs to sort out these problems it makes sense that they'll give people back the money if they complain. I'm going for it!

The charges they apply are illegal under common law, whether you agree to these in the terms and conditions is irrelevant.

Contract terms can't over rule statue law.

For a really obvious example, it's like if you worked for McDonalds and your contract said you could slap customers who didn't go large.

Still an illegal act and no contract in the world would get you out of a spanking, in the legal sense.

Go for it.

i want to do this but am concerned they'll threaten to close my account if i do

thats the risk you take.........


ive done it twice now with First Direct but dont reckon its worth doing it again

can you mail me the copy of your letter-esq thing you sent to get them back? might get my £30 back (the only charge I have ever got from my bank)

Anyone done this with Barclays?

Banks always try to rip ya off

£1500 plus interest and court fees returned to me last month paid for a lovely new Canon 30D camera and a sexy 100-400mm lens :groovy:

Suing your bank is very liberating

Ruth - open a new account before you start. They closed my account but to be honest I couldn't care less. When I opened my new accound with Lloyds they transfered all of my direct debits etc automatically. It was really easy.

Whoever said about claiming back £30 quid.....just call them and ask nicely...they'll probably give that back anyway. I wouldn't go through the trouble of sending letters.

And anyone else....go to the www.consumeractiongroup.com website.....they really helped me with getting my huge amount back. They have all the templates and everything for letters.

Nationwide usually take it to the stage where you have to fork out £120 online to send a court summons to them but when they do that you get to claim 8% APR per year since each charge was issued and they pay back the court fees. I had my money 2 days after they got their summons.

now i reckon i have ended up with well overa £1000 worth have charges and have a bad credit rating cos of it.

would that effect my chances of getting my money back?

not at all

you can even ask the bank to remove any defaults or negative enteries on your credit file if it could be reasonably assumed they were caused by charges.

visit www.themotleyfool.co.uk and search for their Ultimate Guide to Claiming Back Bank Charges.

The letter templates there have it all worded out for you.

I've not had a bank charge in my life and I've been literally hundreds of pounds over my overdraft limit throughout 6 years as a student.. You're either with the wrong bank or a walk over at negotiating things..

HSBC