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Nell Vs. Natwest (How To Reclaim Charges From Your Bank)
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| Nell |
Have any of you been charged for going overdrawn etc in the past 6 years?
Well i just have and there's a way you can get the money back. A friend of mine who does law gave me a link to THIS SITE and i'm now in the process of claiming back the £38 i was charged for not having enough funds for a direct debit.
Anybody can do this, and out of all the cases on the website, there has been a 100% success rate, and out of the couple of cases that went to court, the banks didnt turn up and the account holders won by default.
here's a snippet of what you should know..
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Bank charges are not legally enforceable if they are penalties. Penalty clauses in contracts in English (and Scottish) law for breach of contract are not legal if the penalty exceeds the actual cost of the breach of either party.
Nobody believes that it costs a bank £25 to £39 to return a DD, SO or cheque. It is purely a money making scheme, and a lucrative one at that - last year Which! estimated that the top 4 UK high street banks made £3 Billion from these charges alone. One in five bank customers incur these types of charge, and because its a bank imposing them, most assume that the bank must be legally entitled to do so.
An interview by Radio 4 with Peter McNamara in 2004 has been transcribed and is in the library. Peter McNamara had previously been the Head of Personal Banking at Lloyds. In his interview, he makes it clear that charges are used to fund free banking for the whole population.
We believe this is also a breach of the 1999 Consumer Credit Act (Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts) - the OFT is already investigating the charges levied by Credit Card Companies - and possibly the Supply of Goods and Services Act.
The following information is based on experiences of people posting in the forum and has been collated here in a readable form. This should not be considered legal advice.
REMEMBER - using the courts is a last resort. You should be absolutely, 100% sure of your case and 100% sure that you have exhausted every avenue to settle before considering legal action.
How to reclaim your charges.
Thousands of people have now reclaimed their charges from their bank - some by just asking, some by sending threatening letters and some by starting legal action. ALL got their money back before a court hearing has been heard.
It is our opinion that the banks do NOT want to go to court. In all of the letters received from banks giving the money back, they claim that it is for 'financial' reasons - i.e. the cost of defending a claim would outweigh that of just paying up.
In the case of one of our forum users, the bank paid 600% of what was being claimed in order to avoid court action. The bank in question has repaid over £100,000 so far. Surely if they were legally entitled to this money, they would have defended an action by now to prove the point and stop the 'snowball' effect?
How many more cases do they have to pay back before it becomes financially viable? I think we all know the real answer.
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if you want to know more, get yourselves over to the site and claim back every charge from the previous 6 years! |
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| dj_cuba |
| sounds good but where is the link on that website that actually tells me how to reclaim bank charges? |
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| Nell |
sorry!
first register on the forums HERE, then go HERE for the step by step process on getting YOUR money back. |
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| dj_cuba |
I shall definately be doing this! I have no doubt I have had up to a grand or over in bank charges over the last 6 years. All because I can't be arsed to manage my account funds properly but if I can claim it all back I will!
Nell, Have you done this yourself or in the process of claiming? |
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| slinkyhead |
| i got overdrawn once and charged, went into my bank and they refunded it straight away. Moral: go with a better bank.....? |
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| spacetrain |
I posted this on the godskitchen forum. My court case is the end of December but they usually settle just a few days before the case.
Depending on the bank it can take a month or 6 months.
I started my case in July and the bank didnt acknowledge the case so I won. Didn't realise this til they set-aside the case so its taken longer oops. Read all the information and if in doubt email the administrators of the consumer action group forum as they tell you what to do. |
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| dj_cuba |
If the case went to court does anyone know roughly how much money I would have to splash out on my solicitors fees and any other fees that will/may be neccesery to bring the case to court? If you lost the case would you have to pay back the banks solicitors fees?
Probably a dumb question but since I have never been to court or had the need for a solicitor I don't know how it all works...
oh, and I've just had a bad thought, if you have no agreed overdraft on your account as I don't can you still claim? Thinking about it I'm guesing you can't :( |
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| dj_cuba |
| quote: | Originally posted by slinkyhead
i got overdrawn once and charged, went into my bank and they refunded it straight away. Moral: go with a better bank.....? |
I think you must have just been very lucky there! The case of a better bank in my opinion is the case of a bank of lesser evil, though I recon that they're probably pretty much the same :whip: |
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| moondog |
| just ordered my statements today going back 6 years. Incidently, my current bank sent me a letter today saying that i have been charged for being overdrawn, but they are refunding the charge as i have had no defaults in the last year. ing good job too or i would have been on their case :whip: |
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| chesco |
I'd be careful when claiming your bank charges back, if the bank do decide to pay them back then they will close all your accounts and if you have any over draft or any other form of debt with the bank then they will call it in as soon as they do.
I'm wanting to get a letter sent to lloyds tsb but I need to pay off a few things on my account first..
The bastartds charged me £30 quid for going 74p over drawn and the £1 charge that took me over drawn was their foreign currency transaction charge:mad: All in I've got about 250 quid that i could get back of the scoundrels. |
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| moondog |
| quote: | Originally posted by chesco
I'd be careful when claiming your bank charges back, if the bank do decide to pay them back then they will close all your accounts and if you have any over draft or any other form of debt with the bank then they will call it in as soon as they do.
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Are they allowed to do that??
Not overly fussed as i dont have an account with th ehalifax anymore |
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| Nell |
| it's highly unlikely they will close your account, but even if they do im sure you can set up a bank account elsewhere with the same facilities beforehand. |
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