Hiya all.
Did you know that the Office of Fair Trading and The Financial Ombudsman Service have recently ruled that no bank or credit card company can charge
you more than 12.50 at any one time for a late payment, an unauthorised overlimit on overdraft, insufficient funds for direct debit, bounced cheque,
etc, etc!!!
If you have ever been a victim of unfair bank charges you can RECLAIM THEM ALL!!!
2 weeks ago I sent a solicitors letter to my bank stating that; I was unhappy about their unfair charges to my account over the past 6 years, I
informed them that I knew these charges were illegal and if necessary was prepared to take further action in order to get my money refunded...
...which can ultimately lead to The Office of Fair Trading revoking the banks credit license!!! (I kid you not - they are "bricking"
themselves over this)
Anyway, last week I recieved a letter from my bank (the Halifax) stating we are very sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with our service, we will
investigate the matter, please give us 28 days to get back to you.
Today, one week later, I have recieved another letter it reads something similar to this: We are very sorry, we have been ripping you off, please
accept our deepest apologies and may we offer you a full refund as a final settlement (over a grand by the way!)
Obviously I may accept their offer, depending upon what my solicitor recommends.
So if like me you are a single parent struggling to make ends meet, or have in any way been a victim of this kind of corporate theft, you may want to
know how to go about taking action yourself; to find out more subscribe online to the Consumer Action Group (IT IS FREE) on their forums you will find
full details, including letter templates, to help you claim your cash back!
Good Luck
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/
Was it wise to tell everyone that your credit rating may be less than brilliant ?
why would it be a bad thing on here?
Hell im basically broke at the minute. fell free to spread the word.
i got stung for £30 pounds last week when a £5 charitable direct debit took me over the limit - might give them a ring!
quote:
Originally posted by JackNco
Hell im basically broke at the minute. fell free to spread the word.
I tried this recently with Natwest and they told me to eff off. It's only one charge of £38 for a bounced DD but I will take it further out of
principle. Might be a struggle as they don't seem to want to play ball
[Edited on 25/10/06 by matt_claydon]
Top Tip !!
just been on that site. does it include charges for D/D's that go out because of a lack of funds in your account. if so ill soon be rolling in
it
John
quote:
deepest apologies and may we offer you a full refund as a final settlement
Just remember guys, some of the banks have been known to say "here's your money, we're closing your account. Oh, and by the way
we're recalling all loans and overdrafts"
Also the banks aren't stupid and they will continue to make money somewhere - if everyone starts claiming money back, then we'll ALL lose
the free (personal) banking service that we've enjoyed for a long time.
If it's on a credit card for a late payment, I pay mine off in full at the end of every month, it's one that gives you 1% back and a couple of months ago I missed it because they moved the payback date forward 2 days and due to my inattention I missed it. They charged me £25 and I phoned them back to complain so they instantly refunded me all but £12.50. So they know it's illegal but will only refund you if you complain. I have been with them for 20+ years and that was my first miss.
quote:
Originally posted by _luke
Just remember guys, some of the banks have been known to say "here's your money, we're closing your account. Oh, and by the way we're recalling all loans and overdrafts"
Also the banks aren't stupid and they will continue to make money somewhere - if everyone starts claiming money back, then we'll ALL lose the free (personal) banking service that we've enjoyed for a long time.
and i'm sure in this country, even coventry , she has the right to freedom of speech.
ar#eholes
I recently did this and managed to get bank chargees for the last 6 years back, not all of them but i did get about £150.
I wouldn't recommend pushing for the whole lot as I know of people who have been told they are having the account closed and would like repayment
on the overdraft in 7 days because they did keep pushing.
Worth a try, only wastes some of your time, I didn't even use a solicitor.
[Edited on 25/10/06 by brashhighlander]
i think it would be better if free personal banking ended and these fines ended too. I never realised til i got married and ran out of money, just how
expensive it is being skint! They all try to kick you when you're down. So as always, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
As for recalling the overdraft and loans, they are welcome! Bloody 16% apr on the overdraft and arranged loans! Disgraceful... i intend to add it onto
the mortgage now its up for renewal, 1/3 the interest...
Looked back, been charged £480 in DD charges alone for the past year.
If i was to open this issue ( I have an overdraft and a loan with them) What's the worst they could do?
If they recalled the loan and overdraft I would have no way of paying, so would be royally screwed.
I'd probably be ok if they revoked the overdraft - but how far can they go on the loan?
James
you would think they couldnt. With 3 acres of small print its hard to be sure!
I found this letter ( rename to a .doc ) and gave this to my daughter.She sent it to her bank and got fobbed off. But i made her stand her ground and
eventually serverd the bank a small claims summonse. And guess what---- they coughed up . Dont be frightened off by these corporate thugs, claim your
charges back---I wish i had this information years ago (many) as i got well stuffed during the reccesion and my mortgage sky rocketed and left me in
the P#~
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/photos.php?action=showphoto&photo=1306102.jpg
Hiya all.
Several points to make here.
1) These days I pay for everything upfront, with cash if possible.
2) My understanding is that these illegal charges are any flat rate fine regardless of reason. So would apply to non payment of DD, Unauthorised
overdraft, Bouncing a cheque, etc etc... IF they charges a flat rate fine..... if they charged you higher interest you can't claim that back.
3) At the moment you can only claim for charges in the last 6 years with any degree of confidence. There are legal cases in process of going through
where the claimant is asking for money back before that but these have yet to be settled.
4) Yes there are cases were the banks then turn around and close the holders account. However it appears that this is also illegal and the banks would
probably not be able to enforce it IF it went to court as a seperate matter.
5) This also applies to credit card companies as well.... not just banks.
[Edited on 25/10/06 by DorsetStrider]
Further details and information can be found at...
LINKY
BTTT
I'm just reviving this post to say thanks.
To explain, my wife was charged £39 on her current account for going £1 beyond her overdraft limit, remembering this post and after a quick google I
found this site http://www.bankcharges.info/ which detailed it.
A quick phone call to the bank and what do you know, very sorry for the confusion Madam, no idea why that happened, please accept our appologies
etc etc, and please accept a full refund!...LOL..even the wife was impressed (and trust me, that takes some doing)
Cheers
Alex
PS
I'm now looking into a claim for the re-payment of many more illegal charges
After all how often do you get the chance to put one over on the banks!
i intend to persure this one too, once i am a little closer to the black and hence have less to lose if they close the account! Good to know it works!
I'll add that I have an account with the Coop bank which is only used to pay a DD to my insurance and to my gas rental and it has gone over a few times due to my inattention and they have never charged me for this, so there are some organisations who are not jumping on you the second you go down.