Reclaim Your Bank And Card Charges

[sarahlouise45]

I had a letter from Barclaycard this morning to say that their over limit and late payment charges are being reduced to £12 as of 1st August. However their interest rates are going up (obviously to compensate?). Anyone else had this letter and will this affect me making my claim for charges to be refunded over the last five years??? Thanks guys.

[Flobajob]

My DPA letter went off to Gnat West this morning, fingers crossed.

[monkey2468]

I have been with smile for just over a year, in which they have charged me a huge amount of charges, £550 in total for being 3 pence over my overdraft limit. Using the advise website I sent my FIRST letter ASKING for the money back on the 6th of june. I got a reply from them this morning giving me the full amount + intrest back. I think they have realised that they are not going to win. 9 months ago I sent a letter I made up asking this money and they told me to go away, so just my sending the letter from the advise website made them change there mind.
Barclays are next!!

[bopdude]

Nice to hear a success story, I WILL have to pull my finger out and get started on this venture, I'm owed 1000's

[Mr Angry]

Originally Posted by sarahlouise45

I had a letter from Barclaycard this morning to say that their over limit and late payment charges are being reduced to £12 as of 1st August. However their interest rates are going up (obviously to compensate?). Anyone else had this letter and will this affect me making my claim for charges to be refunded over the last five years??? Thanks guys.

It has no effect on your claim. Incidentally the £12.00 isn't legal either unless it represents the actual liquidated losses incurred by them. That figure was merely suggested by the OFT as their "opinion" of the law.

Monkey2468

Well done, spread the word.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by monkey2468

I have been with smile for just over a year, in which they have charged me a huge amount of charges, £550 in total for being 3 pence over my overdraft limit. Using the advise website I sent my FIRST letter ASKING for the money back on the 6th of june. I got a reply from them this morning giving me the full amount + intrest back. I think they have realised that they are not going to win. 9 months ago I sent a letter I made up asking this money and they told me to go away, so just my sending the letter from the advise website made them change there mind.
Barclays are next!!

Monkey, any chance you can post a template of the first letter you sent? I don't want to go quoting Acts etc as advised by Mr Angry if it's going to **** them off....

[bopdude]

Originally Posted by orangebird

Monkey, any chance you can post a template of the first letter you sent? I don't want to go quoting Acts etc as advised by Mr Angry if it's going to **** them off....

Good point OB, this is one of the things that's holding me back, I seem to have lost the plot somewhere, I know it's a lot to ask, but is there someone who can either post a link to / or post the letters in the order they should be sent, and the manner / content of said letters

sorry to ask a lot but I'm soooooooo stupid when it comes to this stuff, probably what got me into the state of affairs in the first place.

Thanking any and all in advance

[bob_a_builder]

Go to THIS forum - sign up (same as any other forum, no charges or anything)
You will then have access to the letter templates (sticky threads in that forum)
Then read the FAQs
Then go HERE and pick your bank and see how others are getting on against them

IIRC process in summary

1. The letter to request your statements for last 6 years under DP act - they have quite a long time to respond to that but most seem quite quick - max £10 charge for this
2. Wait for statments, calc what you've paid and are owed
3. Letter giving them 14 days to refund your charges
4. Letter Threating to sue them for the money giving them 14 days to give to refund your charges
5. Letter 'Before Action' threatenng to take them to court - again 14 days notice
6. Create a court action/case online at MoneyclaimOnline, again this gives them some notice period - you have to pay charges up front, but would be claiming those back too + 8% interest on the amount owing to you (spread sheet for calculating interest HERE)


I didn't do step 1 since, no charges before, so went straight to no .3

Never heard from them once in the entire process, untl the funds appeared in my account + letter next day after step 6

[bopdude]

Thanks bob a builder, that has been posted I think, I'd forgotten about it, maybe a MOD could create a sub thread to this with relative links etc etc, it might save others getting lost in the flood of posts as i did.

[monkey2468]

I did exactly what Bob_a_builder said. I got to step 3. I asked for it back, and they did! I may be lucky, or they know they are very in the wrong.

---------- Post added at 10:07 ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 ----------

Originally Posted by orangebird

Monkey, any chance you can post a template of the first letter you sent? I don't want to go quoting Acts etc as advised by Mr Angry if it's going to **** them off....

I would post the letter I sent but I would rather you sign upto the consumer action website as bob_a_builder has posted, as they were very helpful to me.
Or PM me!

[Timeless Stew]

My son went to Barclays in Guildford and he asked the manager to give him 60 quid back that they debited from his account for being overdrawn 2-3 times the previous years. The manager thought that it was ridiculous request and he brushed it off as naÃÃâ€*’¯ve but he registered the complain with Barclays legal dept.

A cheque of 100 quid was sent by Barclays to my son today as gesture of good will.

This and Shaun's advice on a Credit card saved me 600 quid--- no bad!

[etccarmageddon]

Lloyds TSB have just issued a leaflet with this months CC bills - this is the new conditions including the late payment charge reduced from £20 to £12 in addition to this it points out the interest rate for cash advances and normal transactions is both xx.xxx% and xx.xxx% - morons! (section 5.1)

[Shaun]

Capital One sent a leaflet in their statement - no sign of reduced fees for bouncing payments but they're now classing withdrawals at bookies and internet gambeling sites as cash advances rather then purchaces.

[Timeless Stew]

Originally Posted by Shaun

Capital One sent a leaflet in their statement - no sign of reduced fees for bouncing payments but they're now classing withdrawals at bookies and internet gambeling sites as cash advances rather then purchaces.

I am bit puzzled about this. I understand you could not use your credit card to gamble, for example there was the case of Kassogi, the arms dealer that used his credit card in various euro casinos and lost millions. The casinos failed to enforce his debts as he had used his credit cards to gamble and that was illegal.

That's perhaps why Capital One classes them as cash advances.

Capital One is also one of the few credit cards that can be given to under 18 (non principal cardholder). The idiots at 3 network, said to my 14 year old son, we checked, you have a credit card, therefore you are over 18, here is free adult content for you....

[Neil]

I've made this thread a sticky as there seems to be a wealth of useful info in it.