Have you had ANY bank charges in the last 6 Years ?

As you may have noticed from the news and other sources there is a growing movement to reclaim punative charges from the banks.
These charges include unauthorised overdraft, declined Direct Debts and bounced cheques, not to mention the interest that these activities incur.

Which ? magazine has recently done some research into these exorbtant charges and the banks' charges are currently under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.

Here's a few articles concerning this movement:
Watchdogs Back Fight Against Bank Charges (from The Argus)

Mirror Money - HAS YOUR BANK RIPPED YOU OFF?


One of the BEST resuorces I have found for this and other money related matters is MoneySavingExpert: Consumer Revenge, his no nonsense approach to these matters has got him alot of media attention.
His directions on reclaiming these charges is excellent and a MUST read: Bank charges: Reclaim them, they're unlawful, so you can get six years money back,

But and it's a big BUT, the banks are starting to fight bank and threaten customers with account closure or canceled overdrafts.

Don't bank on reversing the charges | News_ | Guardian Unlimited Money

Banks threaten customers who reclaim account fees - Money - Times Online


Well thet way I see it is that the banks have been making money from our mistakes and are not willing to help, so it's time to fight back.

MSE has a whole board devoted to members stories that have tried just that:
Reclaimed Bank Charges SUCCESS stories - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

So my letter went off at the weekend, 27th Jan, just time to start with the old waiting games I suppose.

I'll keep you all posted how I get on.

curlybenswife

LMAO thats because you are the worlds first tight student

colbtech

Hi all, just jumped on the bandwagon and sent of my DPA letter requesting statements. My daughter got 1400GBP back last week. Spent that on buying her second house (legal fees etc, not the whole house!).
Couple of other websites Ripped Off Shore - Welcome and Penalty Charges UK - Fighting your Corner for FREE same as MoneySavingExpert: Consumer Revenge - Credit Cards, Shopping, Bank Charges, Cheap Flights and more but certainly time to kick a$$

Curlyben

Good on you colbtech, welcome to the club.

How long did it take for your daughter's case to be settled ?

colbtech

I think she told me 8 weeks from the initial letter. It was vs HSBC

Curlyben

WoW thats excellent.
I assume by that she wasn't forced to take legal action.

Well at least one bank can do things correctly.

I'm still waiting on a complete set of statements, but saying that I am being very cheeky and pushing the Data Protection Act fully.

I have requested ALL the data that they hold on me, so that's 10 years worth.
Should make for an interesting calim when they finally arrive, especially with interest

colbtech

Quick update, DPA requesting statements to NatWest went in last week 25/4. I've had a letter back from the bank stating they are examining my account (worrying?) and will respond within 28 days...not much news but the interesting thing is......the letter is from the "Charges Referal Team". So at least they have a department set up to examine these cases.

Curlyben

Col, I wouldn't worry as this is a standard letter.
Interesting that they now have a specific dept dealing with these, but I bet you don't get a decent response to your request.

Well I now have all of my statements dating back to March 1997.
Time to get the highlighte pen out me thinks.
Thank god it's a long weekend, there's a ton of paper to get through.

iAMfromHuntersBar

Well I still haven't heard a thing from Natwest, they've got one week today until I take them to court! Woohoo!

And still nothing back from RBS after the usual "we're looking into it" letter! That'll be a month on Sunday, so they may be getting a phonecall / letter pretty soon too!

It only took me an afternoon to work out all my charges, why is it taking them so long?
Granted, they've got to sort out one or two more people than I did! Lol!

Curlyben

So, spent the weekend getting all my paperwork in order.
I've received statements going back to 1997 and THREE copies of charges applied to my account for the last 6 years.

A couple of hours with highlighter pen, caclulator and coke and I'm done.
Prelim goes off tomorrow for £2,600 including interest, £750 is pre 6 year "limit".

Not as bad as I was thinking, but still too much.

I noticed that back in 1997 I was charged £6 per month for exceeding my overdraft, in 10 years that has risen to £90 for the same "service" !!!!

Now if it'd stayed at £6 then none of this activity would of started.

iAMfromHuntersBar

I know it's boring work ... but resorting to drugs is not the best way to stay awake mate! Lol!



6 years of statements from 2 accounts! What a waste of paper eh!?