Cable Forum
Page 4 of 8 123 4 5678
Show 100 post(s) from this thread on one page

Cable Forum (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/index.php)
-   Current Affairs (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/forumdisplay.php?f=20)
-   -   Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthread.php?t=47635)

handyman 20-09-2006 13:12
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lew (Post 34120553)
I just checked my online banking today (Abbey National) and was pleasantly surprised:
That's £780 in refunded charges!

:D
Fantastic news

Mr Angry 20-09-2006 17:37
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lew (Post 34120553)
I just checked my online banking today (Abbey National) and was pleasantly surprised:



That's £780 in refunded charges!

:D
Well done!!

Pia 13-10-2006 00:27
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pia (Post 746038)
I'm going to do this too... i will let you know how i get on;)
Well i posted that in May...:erm:

But now that i have a posh new printer i had to test it out somehow:D

So i've got two letters printed off and ready to post in the morning, one to Barclays, for both my current account and Barclaycard- According to someone on Consumer Action Group i can send a single request to them for both as it's the same address.

And also one to Argos Card, who have charged me many a £17.50 in the past.

Cheques are signed, envelopes are licked, just need to wait and see what the damage is now before i can get the ball rolling and send off the Preliminary Request for Repayment!

Xaccers 13-10-2006 01:00
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
HSBC have got sneaky now.
My gf recieved a letter today with new information about their overdrafts.
They now have two types:
Formal where you go in an request an overdraft
Informal where if you have insufficient funds for a transaction, they can extend your overdraft for you for 31 days.
You can have 1 change to your overdraft in a 6 month period free, any more and there's a £25 admin charge.
If you go over by less than £10 however, there's no fee.
They also won't charge you more than what you go over (so if you go over by £11, you'll have a £11 fee, interesting as why would it cost £11 to set up an £11 extension to your overdraft but £25 for a £40 extension?)

So instead of charging you for an unauthorised overdraft, it's now an admin fee for giving you an authorised extention to your overdraft.

Incidently, if you put money in on the same day as you go overdrawn, you won't be charged.

Now I don't know about you, but I don't think these changes are too unreasonable (although I'm not sure about £25 for an admin fee, although they do say "may be charged" rather than will) but it's obviously an attempt to protect a lucrative income through charges.

bopdude 13-10-2006 10:59
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Well done Lew, sorry the reply came late, have been off line for a while, how long did it take start to finish and were they snotty about it in any way ????

Scarlett 13-10-2006 11:18
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Okay, even more fun... Company A has threatend me with legal action! as they state that threatening to take them to court constitutes a breakdown in customer relations. They said there response will be to counter sue me for everything that I owe them... oh and the charges are valid so we're not paying you them back...

Hmm... a couple of points...
1) I no longer have a card with them so they can sue me for £0, good luck making that one stick in court!
2) The justification for the charges etc consisted of stating that they employ staff to make sure you pay your bill each month. Nothing to do with going over the credit limit...
3) The old 'you signed the contract' argument. purleeze one more time for the hard of understanding. If a specific term of a contract is illegal then it cannot be enforced. So you can get me to sign a job contract stating that I will work for £1 per hour but I can still come after you for the extra £4.35 to make it up to min wage.

Will send the second 'pay up or else' letter later.

Company B is currently with the info commisioners office while they explain how microfilch is not a vailid filing system...

Scarlett.

oh and congrats to Lew for £780!

Chrysalis 13-10-2006 15:11
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaccers (Post 34135768)
HSBC have got sneaky now.
My gf recieved a letter today with new information about their overdrafts.
They now have two types:
Formal where you go in an request an overdraft
Informal where if you have insufficient funds for a transaction, they can extend your overdraft for you for 31 days.
You can have 1 change to your overdraft in a 6 month period free, any more and there's a £25 admin charge.
If you go over by less than £10 however, there's no fee.
They also won't charge you more than what you go over (so if you go over by £11, you'll have a £11 fee, interesting as why would it cost £11 to set up an £11 extension to your overdraft but £25 for a £40 extension?)

So instead of charging you for an unauthorised overdraft, it's now an admin fee for giving you an authorised extention to your overdraft.

Incidently, if you put money in on the same day as you go overdrawn, you won't be charged.

Now I don't know about you, but I don't think these changes are too unreasonable (although I'm not sure about £25 for an admin fee, although they do say "may be charged" rather than will) but it's obviously an attempt to protect a lucrative income through charges.
interesting, I got the same on a loan offered to me, was a condition if a payment was missed a £25 admin fee would apply fo rthe letter sent out.

Your situation tho hsbc would be clearing the payments, my bank lloyds tsb currently bounce anything for me even if I am 1p short. Charged £35 as well.

TheDaddy 13-10-2006 16:28
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrysalis (Post 34136036)
Your situation tho hsbc would be clearing the payments, my bank lloyds tsb currently bounce anything for me even if I am 1p short. Charged £35 as well.
I thought that they couldn't bounce stuff if it's under a pound?

Chrysalis 13-10-2006 16:33
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
they did with me 17p once.

TheDaddy 13-10-2006 16:39
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrysalis (Post 34136182)
they did with me 17p once.
That's outrageous

Shaun 13-10-2006 17:55
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Capital One blocked ym credit card the other day for forgetting to pay them 26p.

I cleared the full balance, nearly two months ago miss-keyed the pence part of the payment on my Internet banking and ended up owning just 26p to them. Never missed a payment in the 2 years I've been with them and always paid in full but they still blocked my card and tried to charge me interest. Strangely it wasn't on the 26p (x% of 26p is £0 in anyone's book) but on the items I'd bought since I missed the payment to them.

Suffice to say they refunded the interest and unblocked my card. Assholes. :rolleyes:

Xaccers 13-10-2006 21:33
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 34136187)
That's outrageous
Lloyds are nasty when it comes to their overdrafts.
A friend at uni was £40 over his £500 student overdraft, and they asked him to come and see them.
So he put £400 in his account and thought nothing more of it.
They actually came to the house and took his cards off him.
Guess who didn't get any of the £10,000 he inherited 6 months later ;)

He also managed to get Abbey to pay £120 of his student loan off because rather than reject the direct debit on an account with no overdraft facility and no money, they let 3 payments go.
He pointed out their mistake and they had to write the overdraft off :D

AntiSilence 14-10-2006 00:56
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scarlett (Post 34135883)
Okay, even more fun... Company A has threatend me with legal action! as they state that threatening to take them to court constitutes a breakdown in customer relations. They said there response will be to counter sue me for everything that I owe them... oh and the charges are valid so we're not paying you them back...

Hmm... a couple of points...
1) I no longer have a card with them so they can sue me for £0, good luck making that one stick in court!
2) The justification for the charges etc consisted of stating that they employ staff to make sure you pay your bill each month. Nothing to do with going over the credit limit...
3) The old 'you signed the contract' argument. purleeze one more time for the hard of understanding. If a specific term of a contract is illegal then it cannot be enforced. So you can get me to sign a job contract stating that I will work for £1 per hour but I can still come after you for the extra £4.35 to make it up to min wage.

Will send the second 'pay up or else' letter later.

Company B is currently with the info commisioners office while they explain how microfilch is not a vailid filing system...

Scarlett.

oh and congrats to Lew for £780!
Tell them that it's all rubbish... It's UNLAWFUL for their charges, so they are in the wrong, not you.

Chrysalis 14-10-2006 19:48
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 34136187)
That's outrageous
not only that there was currently over £500 I deposited waiting for clearance, has anyone else also noticed now banks are often refusing overdraft increases in favour of offering much more costly loans.

kronas 14-10-2006 21:30
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
here is one issue for you guys:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=269424

Quote:
Social Security Administration Act 1992
Miscellaneous
Certain benefit to be inalienable **

187- Subject to the provisions of this Act, every assignment of, or charge on-
(a)benefit as defined in section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;
(b)any income-related benefit; or
(c)child benefit,
and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void; and, on the bancrupcy of the beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors.
i was overdrawn by £100,89p, now apparently the above says they cannot eat my JSA up, as its counted as an 'income based benefit'

here is the .gov site with the info, so what are my chances then ?

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1992...16.htm#mdiv187


i rang up internet banking and they noted on my account what i had said, told me to bring proof of my JSA with me and discuss this with the branch, my local branch is like fort nox when trying to talk to them, even paying bills gets you 100 questions!

lauzjp 15-10-2006 05:52
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaccers (Post 34136406)
Lloyds are nasty when it comes to their overdrafts... Guess who didn't get any of the £10,000 he inherited 6 months later ;)
heehee, I did the same thing many moons ago - my bank manager (Lloyds) was phoning me up constantly until I spent down to about £3000 then he wasn't interested anymore!

to be fair, Lloyds have been great to me. There is a handy department called 'customer support' (ask the general call centre for the phone no.) and they can do such useful things as removing one bank charge a year, just cos you phone them and moan about it, or temporarily increase your overdraft if it has gone over its limit because of all the charges (mine does this often! I just forget that I get excess charges nearly every month). they even reduced my loan repayments to £20pcm, so in 4 years time I should have paid off my ickle loan I got so long ago I can't remember how much it was originally for!? :)

---------- Post added at 05:52 ---------- Previous post was at 05:51 ----------

I'm sorely tempted to go for this reclaim your bank charges thing, but they have been very good to me for over 15 years...

Chimaera 15-10-2006 08:21
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
They've been 'good' to you for so many years because it's profitable for them - not out of the kindness of their hearts! So it's time to get writing those letters - remember it's now been decided that the charges all these financial institutions have been making for all these years are way over the top - that's why they are refunding them. That's your Sunday sorted out, then! :D

AntiSilence 15-10-2006 12:48
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Out of everyone here who's reclaimed some charges, has any of your banks told you that they're now closing your account at all?

Chrysalis 15-10-2006 16:43
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauzjp (Post 34137111)
heehee, I did the same thing many moons ago - my bank manager (Lloyds) was phoning me up constantly until I spent down to about £3000 then he wasn't interested anymore!

to be fair, Lloyds have been great to me. There is a handy department called 'customer support' (ask the general call centre for the phone no.) and they can do such useful things as removing one bank charge a year, just cos you phone them and moan about it, or temporarily increase your overdraft if it has gone over its limit because of all the charges (mine does this often! I just forget that I get excess charges nearly every month). they even reduced my loan repayments to £20pcm, so in 4 years time I should have paid off my ickle loan I got so long ago I can't remember how much it was originally for!? :)

---------- Post added at 05:52 ---------- Previous post was at 05:51 ----------

I'm sorely tempted to go for this reclaim your bank charges thing, but they have been very good to me for over 15 years...
whats this customer support #?
is it uk based?

my experience of lloyds tsb is they will do anything to avoid increasing overdrafts as they not profitable enough, they keep offering me a loan to remove my overdraft why? because the overdraft isnt making them any money and the loan is a big earner for them at 18.9% apr. I am also hardly using the overdraft perhaps onve every few months.

arcamalpha2004 15-10-2006 17:07
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
" Incidently, if you put money in on the same day as you go overdrawn, you won't be charged."


Problem solved ! ;)
Youre £50 overdrawn on monday, you withdraw £50 from the hole in the wall and deposit it on the same day!
I know, I'll start digging now :erm:
I think with banks they see the customer as a means to an end, making money!
To hammer the point home I will tell you a story ( max bygraves )
I have had an account with lloyds tsb since around the late 80's.
I had never in all that time had one courtesy call from them.
All changed however in 2002 when lets just say a nice redundancy wedge was paid into the account.
The day after the money was due to be paid in I checked the balance ;) as you do :)
I had to go out somewhere, but when I came back her indoors informed me that the bank had called and said they would call me back! now theres a change !
The resulting call was to assure me that the money had safely arrived in the account ( as I was placing down my new cd player ;) )
But I can tell you that the shock of that call almost resulted in a warranty claim! :D

---------- Post added at 17:07 ---------- Previous post was at 17:03 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrysalis (Post 34137366)
whats this customer support #?
is it uk based?

my experience of lloyds tsb is they will do anything to avoid increasing overdrafts as they not profitable enough, they keep offering me a loan to remove my overdraft why? because the overdraft isnt making them any money and the loan is a big earner for them at 18.9% apr. I am also hardly using the overdraft perhaps onve every few months.

At one time they offered us a loan for the same thing, to pay off the overdraft.
But ofcourse aswell as the interest on the loan there would be interest, a higher rate, on the overdraft :erm:
Another money spinner is the insurance!

lauzjp 15-10-2006 18:19
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
yeah the # is uk based, i can't find it right now though...

Watchman 15-10-2006 18:48
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
my bestist mate has just recieved payment of over £2500 back due to "unlawfull charges"

Pia 15-10-2006 21:21
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Watchman (Post 34137458)
my bestist mate has just recieved payment of over £2500 back due to "unlawfull charges"
Oooh nice:tu:
Which bank was that with?

Xaccers 15-10-2006 23:29
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by arcamalpha2004 (Post 34137376)
" Incidently, if you put money in on the same day as you go overdrawn, you won't be charged."


Problem solved ! ;)
Youre £50 overdrawn on monday, you withdraw £50 from the hole in the wall and deposit it on the same day!
when I was at uni, I could cash a £50 cheque for 50p at Dillons.
Put the money straight into your account.
Repeat until pay day.
You've increased your balance by £100 (2 days of deposits before the first cheque clears which is covered by the 3rd day's deposit).
Actually paid off my overdraft once with this method thanks to the shop not ticking the box in the back of my cheque book.

SMHarman 16-10-2006 19:33
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
This process is technically know as kiting. Works even more crazily if you have multiple cheque accounts and spin the money round in circles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_kiting

kronas 16-10-2006 19:57
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SMHarman (Post 34138177)
This process is technically know as kiting. Works even more crazily if you have multiple cheque accounts and spin the money round in circles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_kiting
ok im confused, how the hell does that work! :confused:

Gareth 16-10-2006 20:00
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kronas (Post 34138200)
ok im confused, how the hell does that work! :confused:
Because you're drawing funds on an account where you don't have the funds... then doing the same again to credit the initial account you drew upon... then doing the same again to credit the other account you drew upon... etc... etc... etc...

Chrysalis 17-10-2006 01:28
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
I am still confused since its not an available balance.

SMHarman 17-10-2006 15:50
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
It does not really work in the UK or anywhere these days as banks have redesigned their systems to cope with the concept of cleared funds and balances.
Back in the day, you wrote a check for $100000 on bank account A (in NY) and paid it into bank account B (in LA), while the banks sent the checks back and forth it showed as available to spend. In the mean time you wrote another check the other way and this balance never cleared in either account but you could spend it.

Scarlett 17-10-2006 16:22
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AntiSilence (Post 34137229)
Out of everyone here who's reclaimed some charges, has any of your banks told you that they're now closing your account at all?
I expect company A would have tried that with me (If I hadn't closed my account alrerady) but at the end of the day if the bank/CC company are being that nasty then your better off without them anyway.
I expect that we will see this happening even more as it's an easy way for the companies involved to avoid paying up. i.e. if you come after us for our illegal charges then we'll call in your loan...
They're probably covered by the T&C's so they can do it but any judge is likely to take a very dim view of that sort of behaviour.

---------- Post added at 16:22 ---------- Previous post was at 16:20 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by AntiSilence (Post 34136522)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scarlett
Okay, even more fun... Company A has threatend me with legal action! as they state that threatening to take them to court constitutes a breakdown in customer relations. They said there response will be to counter sue me for everything that I owe them... oh and the charges are valid so we're not paying you them back...
snip...
Tell them that it's all rubbish... It's UNLAWFUL for their charges, so they are in the wrong, not you.
I have now, it took me a few days to stop sniggering long enough to write them the letter though...

TheDaddy 17-10-2006 16:26
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AntiSilence (Post 34137229)
Out of everyone here who's reclaimed some charges, has any of your banks told you that they're now closing your account at all?
Nope look at post 85 of this thread ;)

smucks 18-10-2006 19:40
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
After reading most of this thread and asking someone on here I have put a letter in to my bank asking for a statement of any charges they have charged me over the last 6 years.
I took the letter in to my branch and straight away I was meet with "But you agreed to these charges when signing for the account"
A quick explaination of the information I have learned and its now on its way to head office/branch of Barclays.
I will let you all know what happens after the 40 days

AntiSilence 18-10-2006 19:42
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 34138766)
Nope look at post 85 of this thread ;)
Consider it read :)

arcamalpha2004 19-10-2006 17:09
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrysalis (Post 34138417)
I am still confused since its not an available balance.

The look of disbelief on the bank managers face is even better ;)

Pia 20-10-2006 11:34
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
1 Attachment(s)
Hi all, just had 2 letters in the post this morning, Barclays have sent for the Barclaycard but NOT the Bank account, wonder if that comes separate or if they really did need their own letter for that... I was told on the C.A.G forums i could kill the two birds with one stone.

Anyway, the charges aren't as bad as i thought, Argos had refunded quite a few times to be fair to them, so taking that into account they've only charged me £119.

Barclaycard have charged me £240 worth, again nowhere near as bad as i thought. But still, better in my pocket than theirs;)

Just a question though, the letter they sent with it, is that a bog standard reply?:dunce:

Mr Angry 20-10-2006 12:54
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Pia, what did they send you info / printout wise?

Pia 20-10-2006 13:08
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Angry (Post 34140802)
Pia, what did they send you info / printout wise?
Barclaycard sent pages and pages of statements, one for each month, all as detailed as my usual monthly statements.

Argoscard sent a less detailed version see here, for the whole time i've had an account open with them.

Shaun 20-10-2006 14:11
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pia (Post 34140755)
Hi all, just had 2 letters in the post this morning, Barclays have sent for the Barclaycard but NOT the Bank account, wonder if that comes separate or if they really did need their own letter for that... I was told on the C.A.G forums i could kill the two birds with one stone.

Anyway, the charges aren't as bad as i thought, Argos had refunded quite a few times to be fair to them, so taking that into account they've only charged me £119.

Barclaycard have charged me £240 worth, again nowhere near as bad as i thought. But still, better in my pocket than theirs;)

Just a question though, the letter they sent with it, is that a bog standard reply?:dunce:
Pia, that's complete bull****. My other half used to run the Microfiche department when Barclays (Bank, Current/Savings/Loans) had them stored in Leicester.

They are now with an external company in Glasgow (at last checking with is former colleagues). The normal accounts are stored in sort code order and then account number and are printed to MF every three months.

For current accounts and savings the account number given to the customer is even given to them in an order so that when the fiche are ordered properly in the cabinet according to a/c number they are also (roughly) alphabetical in respect to name too.

I'm guessing the credit card statements are stored in the same way even now. No point filing statements away in a random order if they can't retrieve them.

Barclays are lying to you mate. I'd contact the Office of the Information Commissioner for advice on this one mate.

It makes me so :mad: when companies lie to you so blatantly.

Pia 20-10-2006 14:16
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaun (Post 34140856)
I'm guessing the credit card statements are stored in the same way even now. No point filing statements away in a random order if they can't retrieve them.
That's what i thought, seems strange that they think we'd believe they store things and not be able to retreive them:shrug:

Well i didn't get my Barclaycard til around late 2003 ish, and i ran my account well at the beginning so i doubt there'd be much point in seeing the rest of the statements.
If i knew there was lots of charges before 2004 however, i'd probably follow it through, but like i say i doubt there'd be much point.

Scarlett 24-10-2006 10:35
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pia (Post 34140860)
That's what i thought, seems strange that they think we'd believe they store things and not be able to retreive them:shrug:

Well i didn't get my Barclaycard til around late 2003 ish, and i ran my account well at the beginning so i doubt there'd be much point in seeing the rest of the statements.
If i knew there was lots of charges before 2004 however, i'd probably follow it through, but like i say i doubt there'd be much point.
You need to go back to them pointing out that you only want the details of the charges and not the actual statements.

As for me Company A have responded again, they've obviously actually looked at my account this time because the threat of legal action is reduced to 'if you take it to court then we'll apply for instant dismissal and come after you for our costs...' and an offer of £4 for each £20 charge they applied (as they claim they have reduced their charge to £16 and the OFT is happy with this)

Looks like this one's going the distance. They are still stating that these are fair charges to recover there costs of adding a single line to my statement each month that they don't event print out (just email me to say the statement was ready) the amusing thing was all the justification they have previously provided for the £20 penalty charge consisted of them having someone to call me if the monthly payment didn't make it to them. Nothing whatsoever to do with going over my limit.

The big argument going back is that at one point in the past I had account cover on the card. I forgot about this but my card reached a point at which the account cover + monthly interest > minimum payment. when did they finally call me about this ? (what I apparently pay £20 each time for!) Only once the monthly payment failed to bring me back under the credit limit, not before. I believe that in this instance alone they had £100 over 5 months and although I was unhappy at the time, they refused to discuss any refund as "It is the customers responsability to monitor their account." So on one hand we have that your paying £20 because they have to employ people to monitor your account and on the other it my responsability to monitor the account. I'm going to court with this to contest that the only justification is that I should pay extra for the privilidge of having someone call me if my payment doesn't make it to them. Considering the rest is pretty much automated what were they doing with my interest payments all the time I was with them ?

Legal action starts on Friday as that was the dead line that they were given in my last letter. If once this is done and dusted I am able to reveal who company A is I will but I suspect that even If I win I will be forced to agree not to say as part of the agreement :(

Mr Angry 24-10-2006 12:15
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scarlett (Post 34143398)
You need to go back to them pointing out that you only want the details of the charges and not the actual statements.

As for me Company A have responded again, they've obviously actually looked at my account this time because the threat of legal action is reduced to 'if you take it to court then we'll apply for instant dismissal and come after you for our costs...' and an offer of £4 for each £20 charge they applied (as they claim they have reduced their charge to £16 and the OFT is happy with this)

Looks like this one's going the distance. They are still stating that these are fair charges to recover there costs of adding a single line to my statement each month that they don't event print out (just email me to say the statement was ready) the amusing thing was all the justification they have previously provided for the £20 penalty charge consisted of them having someone to call me if the monthly payment didn't make it to them. Nothing whatsoever to do with going over my limit.

The big argument going back is that at one point in the past I had account cover on the card. I forgot about this but my card reached a point at which the account cover + monthly interest > minimum payment. when did they finally call me about this ? (what I apparently pay £20 each time for!) Only once the monthly payment failed to bring me back under the credit limit, not before. I believe that in this instance alone they had £100 over 5 months and although I was unhappy at the time, they refused to discuss any refund as "It is the customers responsability to monitor their account." So on one hand we have that your paying £20 because they have to employ people to monitor your account and on the other it my responsability to monitor the account. I'm going to court with this to contest that the only justification is that I should pay extra for the privilidge of having someone call me if my payment doesn't make it to them. Considering the rest is pretty much automated what were they doing with my interest payments all the time I was with them ?

Legal action starts on Friday as that was the dead line that they were given in my last letter. If once this is done and dusted I am able to reveal who company A is I will but I suspect that even If I win I will be forced to agree not to say as part of the agreement :(
The OFT is not "happy" with £16.00 charges. They cannot force a non-disclosure on you as part of the settlement. I don't see why you just don't name "Company A". Someone may have prior experience of nailing them which could prove useful to you in bringing them to their senses. Additionally I think the OFT have a right to know that companies are now stating that they (the OFT) are happy with £16.00 charges.

Hold your nerve - unless you're talking hundreds of thousands in charges you are 99.99% certain not to see the inside of a court over this.

Pia 24-10-2006 12:47
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Scarlett, i took the amount of the charges from the statements, so i didn't think it mattered how they sent them as long as i had the records.

I thought the OFT had only said 'they won't get involved' for charges of £12 not £16:shrug:

Scarlett 24-10-2006 13:20
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pia (Post 34143452)
Scarlett, i took the amount of the charges from the statements, so i didn't think it mattered how they sent them as long as i had the records.
It doesn't If you have the statements for the period in question. I am aware that some people don't actually keep 6 years of bank statements and so might need to get this information out of the company in question. Barcleycard and others are hiding behind the microfich wall to try and avoid paying out money. As you only asked for the details of the charges made, even if you don't need them as you actually have all the charge details, they should still be provididng them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pia (Post 34143452)
I thought the OFT had only said 'they won't get involved' for charges of £12 not £16:shrug:
The Co in question believe that because they insist on a DD being setup for every card then they are immune from paying the charges back and even go so far as to imply that the OFT has agreed to this! Their excuse is that they use the money gained from the charges to pay the people to call us when _we_ fail to pay them.

As this does not cover the majority of my charges (all but 1 is an over limit charge) this IS going to court. However, they are apparently fighting every case at the moment it is yet to be seen what happens in open court because once a decision has gone one way or the other it will have a slight knock on for all subsequent cases. (and will certainly be cited) I may consider only going after the over limit charges as this is by far the stronger case (i.e. they do absolutly nothing except put a line on my bill) on the other hand, the worst the judge can do is to remove that part of my claim, I don't believe that it will invalidate my whole claim provided I keep the 2 section seperate in the court papers. I may be seeing a solicitor for a free 1 hour consultation on this, after all the Co. do advise that I seek independant legal advice before starting a court action.

---------- Post added at 13:20 ---------- Previous post was at 13:16 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Angry (Post 34143438)
The OFT is not "happy" with £16.00 charges. They cannot force a non-disclosure on you as part of the settlement. I don't see why you just don't name "Company A". Someone may have prior experience of nailing them which could prove useful to you in bringing them to their senses. Additionally I think the OFT have a right to know that companies are now stating that they (the OFT) are happy with £16.00 charges.

Hold your nerve - unless you're talking hundreds of thousands in charges you are 99.99% certain not to see the inside of a court over this.
Actually this might see the court as the Co believe they are immune from court action. I will be submitting a complaint to the OFT on this. I am deliberatly not naming them so that I can state that I have acted in 'good faith' on that point. More brownie points from the Judge in case they try to bring it up. (I am now assuming that unless there is a massive change in the outstanding cases, this will reach court)

Shaun 24-10-2006 13:39
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scarlett (Post 34143398)
You need to go back to them pointing out that you only want the details of the charges and not the actual statements.

As for me Company A have responded again, they've obviously actually looked at my account this time because the threat of legal action is reduced to 'if you take it to court then we'll apply for instant dismissal and come after you for our costs...' and an offer of £4 for each £20 charge they applied (as they claim they have reduced their charge to £16 and the OFT is happy with this)

Looks like this one's going the distance. They are still stating that these are fair charges to recover there costs of adding a single line to my statement each month that they don't event print out (just email me to say the statement was ready) the amusing thing was all the justification they have previously provided for the £20 penalty charge consisted of them having someone to call me if the monthly payment didn't make it to them. Nothing whatsoever to do with going over my limit.

The big argument going back is that at one point in the past I had account cover on the card. I forgot about this but my card reached a point at which the account cover + monthly interest > minimum payment. when did they finally call me about this ? (what I apparently pay £20 each time for!) Only once the monthly payment failed to bring me back under the credit limit, not before. I believe that in this instance alone they had £100 over 5 months and although I was unhappy at the time, they refused to discuss any refund as "It is the customers responsability to monitor their account." So on one hand we have that your paying £20 because they have to employ people to monitor your account and on the other it my responsability to monitor the account. I'm going to court with this to contest that the only justification is that I should pay extra for the privilidge of having someone call me if my payment doesn't make it to them. Considering the rest is pretty much automated what were they doing with my interest payments all the time I was with them ?

Legal action starts on Friday as that was the dead line that they were given in my last letter. If once this is done and dusted I am able to reveal who company A is I will but I suspect that even If I win I will be forced to agree not to say as part of the agreement :(
You are claiming through the small claims tracks aren't you? If so then they can stuff their costs as neither of you can apply to the courts for costs mate. Guff and bluster again. These companies make me really :mad:

Scarlett 24-10-2006 14:39
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaun (Post 34143497)
You are claiming through the small claims tracks aren't you? If so then they can stuff their costs as neither of you can apply to the courts for costs mate. Guff and bluster again. These companies make me really :mad:
Nope its the county court using a D1 form...

popper 24-10-2006 15:11
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scarlett (Post 34143536)
Nope its the county court using a D1 form...
you mean an N1 form,and you can fill in these with help from the many helpfull county court staff.

i can see these companys are really getting to you, as Mr A already said,its all bullying tactics and you should see it for what it is Scarlett, your getting far to worryed about the outcome and not seeing the wood because of the trees as it were.

small claims is the county court, and these people have got to much to loose if they allow claims against them to go all the way, after all these unlawful charges/moneys ARE YOUR MONEY.

claim every single penny back including interest over the time you have been deprived of them ,some on CAG have even claimed compounded daily interest and won every time they have got to the court steps, not once has it ever gone all the way inside and they have NO RIGHT to force you to sign any 'non-disclosure', it your money remember that one thing.

they might try and con you into signing as its to their advantage but are you really ready to role over and be conned again !.

rememeber acted in 'good faith' is one thing, being a mug and letting this company off the hook outside the court papers is plain wrong, if you really insist on keeping this company A (after all its only a for profit company, not a person) unnamed then go over to CAG do a search on this company and read up on all the
answers you find there to see how everyone helps each other to become informed spot it and cut through the company bull and do it NOW.
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...off-court.html
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...y-account.html

Scarlett 24-10-2006 15:59
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Have read the CAG site now but thanks anyway.

This is looking quite interesting I believe they will try and justify the charges by stating that they ONLY employ a collections team because people go over the credit limit and/or miss payments. Therefore the charge is
(the cost of that team + all its equipment + office space) / an estimate of the number of people who will miss payments and/or go over the credit limit.

Amusing gems from the CAG site are comments that said company has already cited previous victories where the claiment failed to show up as cases it has 'won' to try and put people off.

At the moment, they have not settled (i.e. payed up) one single case. Two are in the process of going to court at the moment. I am issueing an N1* on Friday in any case. I just need to wait and see what they try to defend this with.

Scarlett.

* might need some help with the N1 if I can't even get the 2 character name of the form right :doh: :D

popper 24-10-2006 16:36
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scarlett (Post 34143580)
Have read the CAG site now but thanks anyway.

This is looking quite interesting I believe they will try and justify the charges by stating that they ONLY employ a collections team because people go over the credit limit and/or miss payments. Therefore the charge is
(the cost of that team + all its equipment + office space) / an estimate of the number of people who will miss payments and/or go over the credit limit.

Amusing gems from the CAG site are comments that said company has already cited previous victories where the claiment failed to show up as cases it has 'won' to try and put people off.

At the moment, they have not settled (i.e. payed up) one single case. Two are in the process of going to court at the moment. I am issueing an N1* on Friday in any case. I just need to wait and see what they try to defend this with.

Scarlett.

* might need some help with the N1 if I can't even get the 2 character name of the form right :doh: :D
LOL, it seems your feeling a little better about this now and good for you, not enough clues in there :tiptoe: but as regards the N1 , rememeber to put any removal of defaults, injunctions, further legal action if harassed, and just about anything else thats related to your claim.

remember its your court action claim against them, not theirs, so anything you want them to do is easyest if its in there, as even if it doesnt (and it wont) go all the way to standing infont of the judge while he/she makes his/her court order to them, then its in the claim so they need to do it before you agree to withdraw the action at the court steps etc.

Shaun 24-10-2006 17:20
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Scarlet, as long as your claim is under several thousand* then it will be handled under the small claims track of the county court and you are not eligible for the company's costs.

It's all in the leaflets the court will send you with the N1 form if you ask them. :)

SMHarman 24-10-2006 18:59
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaun (Post 34143622)
Scarlet, as long as your claim is under several thousand* then it will be handled under the small claims track of the county court and you are not eligible for the company's costs.

It's all in the leaflets the court will send you with the N1 form if you ask them. :)
And even if they go down the full county court route you can ask for it to be re tracked to the small claims track which then makes it a massive headache for them as the court gets moved to your local court, their lawyers fees are owned by them.
I successfully fought a claim by a supplier for a show stand which they agreed to drop if I dropped my counterclaim (for my deposit cheque) as effectivly their lawyers costs / travel etc would have outweighed the claim. I would probably have won, but the risk / reward / time / effort at that point became to great (a very different circumstanse to those in this thread but an story to highlight the big business bully tactics).

Chrysalis 24-10-2006 22:34
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
martin was on gmtv this morning I thought he was very good, but the gmtv presenters were fighting the banks cause without anyone from the bank present.

Again one of the banks statements tho was very inaccurate I think it was natwest said something liek this.

"customers have if responsible wont get in this situation in the first place and we are allowing them unauthorised borrowing if they need to borrow they should ask us first"

that failed to explain 2 points.

1 - if payments are bounced the customer still gets charged and they havent borrowed anything.
2 - more often then not extended overdrafts are declined now days in favour of expensive long term loans.

Pia 27-10-2006 12:04
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pia (Post 34135758)
So i've got two letters printed off and ready to post in the morning, one to Barclays, for both my current account and Barclaycard- According to someone on Consumer Action Group i can send a single request to them for both as it's the same address.
Well i still haven't got anything back from Barclays regarding the Bank Account, so shall i just assume they aren't seding the account details since i've already had the Barclaycard statements, and send off the S.A.R again with another cheque?

Chrysalis 27-10-2006 12:12
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
report them to the finance commissioner?

orangebird 27-10-2006 12:23
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pia (Post 34145616)
Well i still haven't got anything back from Barclays regarding the Bank Account, so shall i just assume they aren't seding the account details since i've already had the Barclaycard statements, and send off the S.A.R again with another cheque?
Did you send the request recorded delivery?

Pia 27-10-2006 12:28
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by orangebird (Post 34145626)
Did you send the request recorded delivery?
Yeah i did, and i sent the requst for both Barclaycard and Barclays together on the same letter as i was told that would work- they have responded to the Barclaycard but not the Bank account.

SMHarman 27-10-2006 19:04
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Barclaycard and Barclays Bank are probably two separate operating companies (or maybe two separate divisions of the same company). A company that size often does not know what the left and right hand are doing, do both have the same DPA or whoever you make the request to? And for that matter the same address to send the request to?

Pia 27-10-2006 20:38
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SMHarman (Post 34145840)
Barclaycard and Barclays Bank are probably two separate operating companies (or maybe two separate divisions of the same company). A company that size often does not know what the left and right hand are doing, do both have the same DPA or whoever you make the request to? And for that matter the same address to send the request to?
Like i said, it is the same address, and i have been advised on Consumer Action Group that many people have sent their request for both this way and have received both.

Gareth 15-11-2006 00:27
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Guess this was kinda inevitable...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6148776.stm [bbc.co.uk]

Quote:
First Direct is set to charge bank customers with less than £1,500 in their accounts, effectively ending the principle of free banking.

It is proposing to charge people who only have a current account a £10 monthly fee, potentially affecting up to 195,000 customers.

danielf 15-11-2006 00:41
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gareth (Post 34158505)
Guess this was kinda inevitable...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6148776.stm [bbc.co.uk]

I'm not surprised some charges are brought in to replace the earnings on 'unarranged overdrafts', but £10 a month is just ridiculous imo. Basically, they're trying to lose/charge any customers earning less than £25k a year unless they bring in extra business over a current account. Good publicity :rolleyes:

Chrysalis 15-11-2006 03:59
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
they said they aiming for it to affect dormant accounts but its quite possible active accounts from poorer people will be hit, so as usual the banks continue to charge the most vulnerable.

Shaun 17-11-2006 14:14
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaun (Post 34140856)
Pia, that's complete bull****. My other half used to run the Microfiche department when Barclays (Bank, Current/Savings/Loans) had them stored in Leicester.

They are now with an external company in Glasgow (at last checking with is former colleagues). The normal accounts are stored in sort code order and then account number and are printed to MF every three months.

For current accounts and savings the account number given to the customer is even given to them in an order so that when the fiche are ordered properly in the cabinet according to a/c number they are also (roughly) alphabetical in respect to name too.
Looks like Abbey tried this "MF are not a proper filing system" crap too.

Quote:
Abbey Bank microfiche is relevant - IT'S OFFICIAL!!
The Information Commissioner has responded to a flood of complaints from CAG Users by conducting an investigation of Abbeys claim that their microfiche was not subject to the Data Protection Act. Their conclusion: That Abbey have been breaching their statutory obligations. Have you been refused a statutory disclosure by the Abbey? Now is the time to make a claim.
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...s-against.html

I'm guessing Barclays will be found out too soon. :)

Scamming buggers.:mad:

SMHarman 17-11-2006 16:05
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Looks to me like the microfiche departments are getting overloaded with requests and this is the lazy way to address it. I would imagine the banks consider the microfiche filing a cheap way to store for business record purposes and can be trawled through for internal purposes, now the masses are requiring this information the system cannot cope and I would also hazzard a guess that all this access to them is starting to get the fiches mixed up making info harder to find.

Does not make it right though.

lostandconfused 20-11-2006 12:40
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
hi,
not sure if anyone can help with this, ive just got in touch with the halifax about bank charges, they told me that as the OFT ruling only came in in april they would only backdate the charges until then? is this correct?

orangebird 20-11-2006 12:49
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lostandconfused (Post 34162516)
hi,
not sure if anyone can help with this, ive just got in touch with the halifax about bank charges, they told me that as the OFT ruling only came in in april they would only backdate the charges until then? is this correct?
Absolute poppycock. They've just refunded my charges for the past six years. Carry on as usual. If you want help with letters templates etc etc, drop me a pm! :)

SMHarman 20-11-2006 16:13
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lostandconfused (Post 34162516)
hi,
not sure if anyone can help with this, ive just got in touch with the halifax about bank charges, they told me that as the OFT ruling only came in in april they would only backdate the charges until then? is this correct?
They could have an argument that they would not refund any charges since April as they are in line with OFT guidance, but anything before then is fair game.
Anyway, see the post above.

Mr Angry 20-11-2006 22:39
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
It's complete rubbish.

Shaun 20-11-2006 23:48
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
It's a down right lie.

Send it to the OFT. I bet they'd love the hear about banks using their name to get out of paying the fees back!

lostandconfused 21-11-2006 02:37
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
well a recorded delivery letter is on its way to them hopefully it will go well:)

Mr Angry 21-11-2006 09:31
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
I've developed a slight variation on the initial formal approach letter which is proving very effective and resulting in "Hands up, we're rumbled" refunds without the usual "We believe, they said, you said, she said that... aye, your ma" nonsense.

I'll post it later.

Alien 27-11-2006 04:15
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Angry (Post 747178)
One such example of a penalty charge is the recently introduced "£10.00 late payment fee" (by its very own title a penalty) from a certain company.
I recently had 1 of those, as they don't do that payment arrangement thing anymore. :mad: A good & wise friend suggested I speak to their "please don't leave us" department [my term, not his - I forget what he said they're called], but for the most part I'm relatively happy with NTL [aside from their not allowing the use of 3rd-party decoders, even though I wouldn't be getting any channels I shouldn't be :mad: :cry:], so don't want to risk them calling my bluff. :(

As for my bank [LTSB] & CC [Capital One], mostly I manage the accounts fairly well, though maybe a couple of times [for each] I've gone over my limit & incurred a charge, but I've always paid enough in within a few days to get back within my limit, so I don't think it'd be worth the hassle. If I stood to gain more back, then I'd probably go for it. I should also point out that this is a personal choice & don't want to discourage those who are owed way more. The only thing I wish was less is the interest on the CC, but that gets less [in amount, not %] if I pay it off, which I'm trying to do, though when I do have enough paid off there are things I need to buy again, thus back to square 1. Oh well. :(

[edit]
p.s. great thread guys, keep up the great work. :)
[/edit]

lostandconfused 28-11-2006 03:00
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
update on the bank charge saga, think im going to give up now, it seems like they want a fight and am not sure i can be bothered. am quite impressed with how quick they got back to me, not so impressed with the content though.
this is the reply i got.

"To summarise, you are requesting the refund of any default charges applied to your account in view of the recent rulling by the office of fair trading.

Following publication of the OFT's report on industry-wide credit card charges, i can confirm that HBOS is reducing its card default fees - although it does not support all the OFT's findings.

HBOS disagrees with the legal analysis of default fees outlined in the OFT statement, published in April. however the group confirmed 2nd June 2006 that it will be reducing default fees across its credit card product range to £12 with effect from 1 august 2006, and until that date all existing terms and conditions will apply. this charge will not be apploed retrospectively, so unfortunatly, no refund of charges is due to you.

I trust this response has clarified our position and resolves this matter for you.

Yours sincerely

xxxx"

Alien 28-11-2006 03:19
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
lostandconfused: it's just more bull to put you off, if you stand to get back more than I would, e.g. an amount well into 3 or 4 figures, then I'd say keep going. They're still banging on about their terms & conditions, but the fact is that no terms & conditions can override UK law, & as has been said numerous times the charges are illegal under UK law.

[I'm not a lawyer/solicitor/etc, just repeating what's been said on here & on the community action site.]

lostandconfused 28-11-2006 03:24
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
thanks for your reply i think i will send them another letter in the morning,
its not a huge amount of money, total of £210, its more the case of if they are wrong then i shouldnt have been charged.

does anyone know if the OFT rulling is actually a law? im just trying to think if things like mentioned in the above post so i can get my facts straight before i send them another letter

Mr Angry 28-11-2006 06:30
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Include this in your next letter (apologies for the delay).

"....I did not enquire as to why these charges are added. I know why they have been added and, in light of the information as provided in my original correspondence, reiterated above, I am disputing the legitimacy of same.

Nowhere did I suggest that the OFT were challenging the right of banks to add default charges. I stated that the OFT viewed charges in excess of £12.00 (yours being £**.**) as excessive / unfair. You quite rightly pointed out that the OFT believes default charges of £12.00 as likely to be fair. You then go on to assert, as is your right, that you disagree with the OFT analysis. It is clear that we are of differing opinions on the matter but, for my part, I have yet to see evidence of any financial institution successfully defending an action reclaiming default charges where the plaintiff has cited the views / opinion of the OFT on the matter.

Additionally I would draw your attention to what Mr Fingleton states in paragraph IV of his press release (68/06) 6th April 2006:

“Where credit card default charges are set at more than £12, the OFT will presume that they are unfair, and is likely to challenge the charge unless there are limited, exceptional business factors in play. A default charge is not fair simply because it is below £12.Ã¢â‚¬à 

And further, from NOTES 4. thereof:

“The OFT is not proposing that default fees should be equivalent to the threshold, and a court will certainly not consider that a default fee is fair just because it is below the threshold.”

Notwithstanding your right to disagree with the OFT’s analysis, as I have said, I find it interesting that of the many dozens of documented cases of County Court action having been instigated against banks to recover charges not one successful defence of said charges has reached court - all have been settled out of court.

On that basis I think it is fair to assume that HBOS, along with many other financial institutions, is uneasy with the prospect of having to explain the breakdown of their charges in open court. It was for that reason that I requested a refund of these charges without the “hassle⠢‚¬Â of issuing proceedings. I would much rather resolve this situation at this stage than draw further on County Court resources by encouraging defence motions which, ultimately, never see court. I would also like to think that HBOS would be minded to consider the fact that there are more important, though no less principled, matters which County Courts could be dealing with...."



cc the letter to Mr Fingleton at the OFT and also advise them that you will be including copies with your N1 form in the event that they insist on going to court.

Alien 28-11-2006 06:49
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Angry (Post 34168097)
Include this in your next letter (apologies for the delay).
<snipped rest of excellent post>
Dude, if you're not a lawyer/solicitor/whetever, you should consider it. That was the finest example of a polite, yet unmistakeable :bsmack: I think I've ever seen! :nworthy:

bob_a_builder 28-11-2006 07:41
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
@ lostandconfused

"Illegitimi non carborundum"

My case was only for a relatively small sum, but went for it anyway, it was MY money not theirs.
I followed the procedure set out by CAG

Which makes it clear you should be setting the timetable and agenda (and sticking to it). And it works !

These are just hurdles they are putting in your way, fail to jump them and they win

lostandconfused 28-11-2006 11:20
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
hi all, thanks for your replies, a letter will be in the post today, i hope you dont mind if i copy some of your post mr angry? it sounds too good to waste:D

Mr Angry 28-11-2006 15:16
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Not at all.

Paul K 12-12-2006 06:19
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
BBC are getting in on the act now
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6170209.stm
there is a programme on tonight (Tuesday 12th December 2006 10pm) about it too.

Mr Angry 12-12-2006 06:28
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
How funny is this becoming?

Anyone who has been "hit" by NTL's "late payment" fee (see: penalty) - post 22 this thread - should now get in on the act.

bob_a_builder 12-12-2006 09:59
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Anyone tried recovering the late payment fee ?

It would seem that its set at or below the OFT's magic number of £10

Mr Angry 12-12-2006 10:51
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob_a_builder (Post 34177487)
Anyone tried recovering the late payment fee ?

It would seem that its set at or below the OFT's magic number of £10
The charge, as described by NTL themselves, is a "Late Payment fee". It is a penalty charge and penalty charges, as far as consumer contracts are concerned, are illegal.

The OFT "threshold" is £12.00 - they find this, in their opinion, to be an acceptable amount. They do not suggest that it is a legally acceptable minimum. From my earlier post quoting the OFT “The OFT is not proposing that default fees should be equivalent to the threshold, and a court will certainly not consider that a default fee is fair just because it is below the threshold.”

In actual fact no court to date has ever considered any late payment / penalty to be legally enforcable under consumer contract law and there are listed cases to which complainants may refer where courts have found in the complainants favour.

NTL, much like the banks, are not about to defend illegal charges given the fact that there are legal precedents in place that counter & defeat their arguments.

In short, if you have been charged £10.00 for late payment simply write to NTL advising them of these facts and demand a refund. If they are not forthcoming then take them to the small claims court and exercise your rights as a consumer.

lauzjp 12-12-2006 17:02
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
I would like to find a company that will do the work for me, on a no-win no-fee basis (I'm fine with them taking a cut), has anyone got any reccommendations?

Mr Angry 12-12-2006 18:06
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauzjp (Post 34177768)
I would like to find a company that will do the work for me, on a no-win no-fee basis (I'm fine with them taking a cut), has anyone got any reccommendations?
How much are you intending to claim?

lauzjp 12-12-2006 18:09
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
not sure, but I've found a company called bankcomplaints that are going to send out some paperwork... fingers crossed. I've been with lloydstsb for many years, and I'm always over-overdrawn!

they say that they can find out all the charges and wotnot and work things out.

Mr Angry 12-12-2006 19:09
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
With all due respect lauzjp this isn't rocket science. I've explained exactly how to do this in several post on this thread alone and the BBC are even offering template "cut n' paste" letters.

Quite why you'd want to give someone 25% of money that's already been stolen from you is beyond me.

handyman 13-12-2006 11:51
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul (Post 34177438)
BBC are getting in on the act now
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6170209.stm
there is a programme on tonight (Tuesday 12th December 2006 10pm) about it too.
An excellent program, highlighting just how easy it is to get caught up with charges, and also just how easy it is to claim them back.

TheDaddy 13-12-2006 12:12
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul (Post 34177438)
BBC are getting in on the act now
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6170209.stm
there is a programme on tonight (Tuesday 12th December 2006 10pm) about it too.
That link is good, is there a way where it could be at the top of every page, I know that the letters and what to do have already been posted here but it is getting to be a bit of a nightmare trawling through all the post's to find them ;)

danielf 13-12-2006 12:13
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 34178312)
That link is good, is there a way where it could be at the top of every page, I know that the letters and what to do have already been posted here but it is getting to be a bit of a nightmare trawling through all the post's to find them ;)
Perhaps someone should knock up an article...

TheDaddy 13-12-2006 12:26
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by danielf (Post 34178313)
Perhaps someone should knock up an article...
Great idea, are you volunteering then ;)

danielf 13-12-2006 12:28
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 34178319)
Great idea, are you volunteering then ;)
I think this calls for someone who has actually gone through the process of claiming. I never paid any penalty charges, so that rules me out... :angel: ;)

TheDaddy 13-12-2006 12:30
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by danielf (Post 34178321)
I think this calls for someone who has actually gone through the process of claiming. I never paid any penalty charges, so that rules me out... :angel: ;)
Strangely enough me to ;)

Mr Angry 13-12-2006 12:41
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
OK, hint taken ;).

I'll do up an "idiot's guide" to reclaiming charges.

handyman 13-12-2006 13:14
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
I have the bbc's bank letter typed up in word form if you require Mr A.

Going to give this another shot after getting all the way to the court stage with Yorkshire bank and then being unable to proceed due to me dealing with the Scottish office.

Letter going off today direct to my English branch.

Russ 13-12-2006 13:15
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
A good idea would be a letter for iminent charges - when the bank tell you they are going to charges you as opposed to after they've done it.

handyman 13-12-2006 13:17
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
I'm about to call my bank about some recent charges. Starting the call with 'inlight of recent media coverage.....can you just give me the charges back ta'

Knobbly 13-12-2006 15:20
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
I received a cheque from RBS refunding all of my charges recently, the attached letter made me laugh.

Quote:
We believe that the particulars of your claim disclose no reasonable grounds or cause of action against the Bank. However, we believe that given the amount of your alledged claim, it is not commercially viable or cost effective for the Bank to defend this claim
So despite them assuring me that I had no reasonable grounds to take action against the bank, they decided not to defend the case? Smells like cattles business to me!

Their litigation department also made the cheque payable to "My name into account XXXXXXXX" being the account that was in dispute and apparently they're doing this to a lot of people even if the account is closed. I simply crossed out the "into account XXXXXXXX", deposited it into another bank account and it cleared no problem.

handyman 13-12-2006 15:32
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knobbly (Post 34178413)
I received a cheque from RBS refunding all of my charges recently.
We have charges with rbs as well, can I ask which letter you used and how long it took to get your dosh back?

Knobbly 13-12-2006 15:38
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by handyman (Post 34178422)
We have charges with rbs as well, can I ask which letter you used and how long it took to get your dosh back?
I used the standard letter templates and spreadsheet from the consumeractiongroup forums, they settled 2 weeks after I filed the county court claim, paid all charges, interest and court fee's.

When you get your money back, they WILL make the cheque payable to "you into your account no.", you can either deposit into said account, you can get them to reissue the cheque in just your name or you can do as I did and just cross out the "you into your account no." (I was advised to do it by a bank clerk)

handyman 13-12-2006 16:17
Re: Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges
 
Excellent, thanks for that, I'll use the same process with rbs then :-)


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 19:48.
Page 4 of 8 123 4 5678
Show 100 post(s) from this thread on one page

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
All Posts and Content are Cable Forum