Claiming back bank charges

[Carlos Tevez]

Couldn't find the old thread so here goes... the bank are trying to charge me 60 quid for 2 counts of going over my overdraft. Where do I stand on this? I thought I read somewhere that, as it was Tesco that let me go over in the first place, that i could wrangle something back? Anyone know anything about this kind of thing? I'm fucked if it's 30 pounds a pop...

[Pseudopath]

Well, the first step is to talk to your bank nicely - they're not always ogres. If another party was responsible for you going into the red (i.e; payroll glitches) and you're not doing it all the time, most banks would be willing to waive the fee. If not, your employer may have provisions to reimburse staff charges which have been caused by administrative cock-ups.

If all this comes to nought, check out http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632 for further advice on reclaiming charges.

[chumfatty]

Try here first http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632

Or just phone your bank and reason/make up an excuse with them, some banks if you convince them it was a genuine oversight will cancel the charges out of goodwill.

I forgot recently that our joint account is set as a Paperless email only account so all out Statements and letters come via email. I phoned the bank and they had charged me loads for overdraft fees and they refunded most of them after I explained that I had been ignoring the emails as I thought it was spam.

[chumfatty]

Jinks! Pseudopath you can't post until I say your name.

[Cack Hen]

General tip when calling a company call centre: if you don't get the answer you want the first time you call, just try again. It's a bit boring, but the type of person you get really does make a difference. A lot of people in call centres (from my experience) tend to be these types that love enforcing their minor power (and probably like Star Trek etc etc etc etc etc)

[Pseudopath]

Jinks! Pseudopath you can't post until I say your name.

Sorry. I forgot the first rule of Rape Club. Don't rape members of Rape Club...christ, we barely got onto the agenda points last week.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Couldn't find the old thread so here goes... the bank are trying to charge me 60 quid for 2 counts of going over my overdraft. Where do I stand on this? I thought I read somewhere that, as it was Tesco that let me go over in the first place, that i could wrangle something back? Anyone know anything about this kind of thing? I'm fucked if it's 30 pounds a pop...

I read an article that said it was illegal for a bank to charge any more than it cost them for you to go over your overdraft, so loads of people are claiming back charges. Not sure how you go about getting it though.

[Carlos Tevez]

Alright, cheers for all your help. Is it generally ok to ring or is it better to just make an appointment with a local branch and turn up in person?

[Still Not George]

I read an article that said it was illegal for a bank to charge any more than it cost them for you to go over your overdraft, so loads of people are claiming back charges. Not sure how you go about getting it though.

Indeed, it's illegal for them to levy "punitive charges" at all - private concerns do not have the right to levy fines. Since most banks actively call it a penalty charge, it's therefore illegal for them to do so.
And as you say, admin charges are capped at a small amount.

[Make me smile]

Alright, cheers for all your help. Is it generally ok to ring or is it better to just make an appointment with a local branch and turn up in person?

The bank stung me a few months back for about £100 due to 2 returned DDs and going over my overdraft limit. Completely my fault, but I just sent them a letter saying 'look, I ballsed up, but I have been with you for donkey's so if you could just give me my money back, that would be lovely' and they returned the money.

So, I would write them a letter in the first instance and I reckon that should do the trick.

[Smackhead Kangaroo]

I did this recently regarding some £40 or £60 and proceeded to do the faux litigation stuff stating that it was illegal and all that. Eventually they refunded £20 out of 'good will', and I couldn't be bothered to continue with pressing them for the  rest. Nonetheless it's fairly clear the costs of their automated letters to not equate with their charges. However wasn't there some guy who lost a case recently? I think the advice in the aftermath of that was to still go ahead and demand your charges back since the particular case didn't affect other's attempts to claim

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

I did hear that one bank at least is now taking the litigation seriously, as so many people are now attempting to reclaim their charges - by going to court and overturning the counter-claims. Is there any truth in this?

[sick as a pike]

Advice here

The case that went to court didn't set general precedent... for reasons I can't now remember.

[duckorange]

I got a 38 pound charge refunded yesterday by asking niceley. I went 15p over my limit!

The latest bank charge court case was thrown out for the reason that neither party showed up to court, and the claimant's paperwork was a complete dog's dinner that made no sense to the judge. The banks - I understand - have won 2 cases out of approximately 100,000 claims, and one of those on a technicality.

[Pseudopath]

I think the other case got thrown out because someone was trying to claim back interest charges on their agreed overdraft.

[Waking Life]

I work for a bank and dealt with charge queries for some time.  We don't refund at all now unless it was a bank error.  If it is an external company, we'd just refer them back to the company.

I didn't agree with the bank charge costs myself as it was obviously excessive so I had to play devil's advocate.  We would get moved down from "Green" to "Amber" for our monthly reviews if we were to refund more than 2 or 3 (affected by the amount too) charges a month regardless of how the charges were incurred, it was bullshit.  I'm looking forward to leaving the bank in the next few weeks never to return again (hopefully).

You can get them back though if you go through the whole 6 years of statement palaver and follow the appropriate steps, my brother ended up with more than a £1000 recently.  Although to be fair, I had little sympathy for his Switch&Cashback scheme he used to use as a student.

[DistantAngel]

Managed to successfully get back £1200 from NatWest, so I'm quite pleased with myself.  No response to my letters, then just as I was about to start going through MoneyClaim to take it court, I got a letter saying "we don't agree with your claim, but have the money you asked for as a goodwill gesture" ...

[Artemis]

I also work for a bank (in my defence it's part time and will only last a couple more months) and know that if you call up and try to argue your bank charges back over the phone you stand absolutely no chance at all. It all has to be done by writing, with letter send recorded delivery and from templates best found here.

These days, banks are not even entertaining the matter until they've sent out at least one, usually two, letters refusing you a refund, or making an offer of a partial refund. However, if you refuse anything but a full refund, take them to court through the small claims court (which can be done online) and stick to your guns, not backing down until you pay them the whole thing, you will get all your money back. I'm in the process of litigation against Nationwide at the moment.

What I don't quite understand are the people who are claiming back thousands and thousands. What on earth have these people been doing to have been charged that much?! Didn't they realise they were being charged as much as they have, and why didn't they take steps to avoid such charges, given that charges are actually avoidable?

[nixon]

Yup I'm in the process of getting back just over a grand from the Halifax.  That "Little Extra" THEY kept taking from me I'm getting back alright.   3rd letter sent now.. theiveing gits..

[nixon]

Bwhahh haha !  Hey!  Got all my money back!  It worked!  £1,551!

[Deadman97]

That's really good news, nixon. A few weeks back I sent my first letter to HSBC, I'm angling for the £1,300 they've had off me in the past five years. I got the template letter from the usual places, have had a response saying they're looking into the matter, now I just wait. So the advice is even if I get an offer of a partial refund to hold out, is it?

[Jaffit]

Bwhahh haha !  Hey!  Got all my money back!  It worked!  £1,551!

I hear that Howard is out of a job now thanks to you. I hope your happy.

[nixon]

I hear that Howard is out of a job now thanks to you. I hope your happy.

Exceedingly!  Greedy four Eyed C**T!

And yes.. hold out for the full whack!  I was so angry about it I thought sod it I've got nothing to loose!   They started by giving me just £500 and I laughed and laughed..... And then started court proceedings.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

Fucking hell, I should try to incur more bank charges. It's obviously pretty much as good as a savings account.

[nixon]

Fucking hell, I should try to incur more bank charges. It's obviously pretty much as good as a savings account.

Damn right.  Get your skates on though.. Legistlation is coming in soon that will stop it all!

I started sending out £10  to them to get a list of all charges, then using template letters to "ask nicely" for the money back with interest.. they refused.. I said right, I'lll take you to court for them then!  It cost £120 to take them to court ..ONLINE! mad I know but there is a website.  Halifax has paid me back the charges, interest and the £120 fee.

[Defikon]

Okay... this is a tiny, tiny amount compared to you lot but still it's the principle dammit! And my first ever bank charge! Heh. I've been charged £39 because wait for it... my phone bill was 12p more than I had in my account FOR A FEW HOURS (I went down that day at 11 and put more money in). It's not even my fault, Gametart charged me this month despite me cancelling my account, and they've been slow giving me a refund. I should note this isn't my main bank account, just one that's old that I kept for the little money I make online which covers phone bill and a few other things. Annnnnnnnyway, I've wrote a letter I intend to send tommorow which basically says "This is ridiculous", they won't take the money until the 18th so hopefully they see sense and don't bother/canel it. Will they?

I'm really confused as to what justifies a £39 charge because I was lacking 12 pence.

[SetToStun]

I'd be astonished if a polite letter didn't result in the charges being refunded/cancelled. I can't imagine the bank would want to get into a shitfight over 12p right now - especially with all the bad press they've been having over charges.

Try calling them first and explaining. And if it was cash you put in and it was before 15:00, it should have cleared before close of business that day anyway.

If they don't want to cancel the charge, go to your local paper, name the bank, the branch, the branch manager and the person you talked to.

EDIT:

I'm really confused as to what justifies a £39 charge because I was lacking 12 pence.

Nothing does - that's why they're having to refund people's money. Businesses are not permitted to levy fines and a £39 charge on 12p's worth of overdraft for a couple of hours is nothing but a punitive fine.

[aaaaaaaaaargh!]

Nobody has to answer this of course, but how do you rack up over a grand's worth of bank charges?  Is it just the accumulation of loads of £20 odd charges, or have people had absolutely huge single charges?

[Deadman97]

The first one, I've been through six years worth of statements.

[nixon]

Nobody has to answer this of course, but how do you rack up over a grand's worth of bank charges?  Is it just the accumulation of loads of £20 odd charges, or have people had absolutely huge single charges?

It was 6 years worth