Been hit with bank charges in the last 6 years? Get them back, with Interest \o/

Ned · 27-Apr-2006, 14:38

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi...760,24632#step

Thats is all.

Cam · 27-Apr-2006, 14:49

lol good find Ned ,dont think i havent had any charges refund in last 6 years though as i am a right bullish cunt on the phone when they do

Jamey · 27-Apr-2006, 15:13

Werry intellesting... I might give that a go.

Sierro · 27-Apr-2006, 15:15

Aye, Captaintrips has been going on about this for ages in irc.

Ned · 27-Apr-2006, 15:38

I've managed to get most of mine refunded anyway so not doing it but a few people at work are going to be doing this.

Hapless · 27-Apr-2006, 16:50

Curse my wanton frugality! The bastards don't owe me a penny!

Methy · 27-Apr-2006, 16:55

Its you bastards who I have the pleasure of speaking to every evening mon-fri. Stop spending more than you can afford or fuck off is what I say.

Jamey · 27-Apr-2006, 17:10

Stop charging us for a service that's actually key to your success, that's what we say.

stepper · 27-Apr-2006, 18:08

Some people are so stupid with money its unreal. After working for Abbey National for only 2 months, every other customer seems to be one of the 'err i've got charges on my account because i went overdrawn without authorisation...'

Me: 'Ah i see, well theres not much i can do here apart from give you an authorised overdraft, then i can refer you to our customer support team to see if they can refund the charges if its the first time you've done it.'

Customer: 'Great cheers... back 2 minutes later. You said i could have charges refunded, but they refuse to, Abbey are lying corporate cocks!'

Me: 'Well how many times have you been overdrawn before?'

Customer: '2/3/4/5/x times.'

Me: '..... well thats why then, i can only advise you to be more careful with your account in future.'

Cue much arguing until the customer fucks off, too ignorant to realise they are completely in the wrong.

Lord Fondlemaid · 27-Apr-2006, 18:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Methy

Stop spending more than you can afford or fuck off is what I say.

Bollocks. Stop holding billions of pounds OF OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY in a completely unnecessary and deliberately drawn out process known as "clearing" simply because you want to use that money as a fluctuating but constantly huge fund, to generate interest for yourselves.

Honestly, 3 days to "clear" a digital transaction? Fuck off.

Oh, and stop deducting debits from an account before adding credits which were paid in BEFORE the debits were incurred, just so you can put people over their overdraft limits and thus add charges to the account in a fucking cunt like manner.

Ned · 27-Apr-2006, 18:26

Being in the wrong for getting fucked for £25 for going £5.01 over the overdraft?

Being fucked for £25 when they shouldn't have even been allowed to go over the overdraft anyway?

Being fucked for £40 for a failed DD is in the wrong?

It must cost about 10p in bandwidth for them to automate the return of the DD. yet they charge you £40 ILLEGALY

Ned · 27-Apr-2006, 18:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Methy

Its you bastards who I have the pleasure of speaking to every evening mon-fri. Stop spending more than you can afford or fuck off is what I say.

Banks shouldn't be giving massive credit limits to people who they know can't afford it.

stepper · 27-Apr-2006, 18:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ned

Being in the wrong for getting fucked for £25 for going £5.01 over the overdraft?

Being fucked for £25 when they shouldn't have even been allowed to go over the overdraft anyway?

Being fucked for £40 for a failed DD is in the wrong?

It must cost about 10p in bandwidth for them to automate the return of the DD. yet they charge you £40 ILLEGALY

Read the small print when you open account then, clearly states terms and conditions. Some transactions will be forced through regardless of fund levels ie. bill payments, CC payments etc. If there is not enough money in the account a customer will be charged for it, pretty simple really, as the customer has been irresponsible with their account.

A direct debit is the customers responsibility to ensure there is enough in the account each month for the DD to be paid. If there isn't then the bank has every right to fine the customer, as they are not adhering to the terms and conditions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ned

Banks shouldn't be giving massive credit limits to people who they know can't afford it.

Likewise people shouldn't ask for such large credit limits if they can't afford it. Believe it or not a persons finances are their responsibility, not the banks. The bank can advise you on pretty much every situation, but its up to the customer if they take the banks advice or not.

Ned · 27-Apr-2006, 18:49

They have a right to fine yeah, but not £40 as its unjustified.

Regarding credit limits, you know as well as I do how the banks behave to try and milk customers. My credit limits are stupid and the bank just keeps putting them up and up without me asking. Infact on my barclays one I asked to reduce it so I could pay it off, they did so and then 2 months later upped it stupidly again.

My cards are all in 16 bits in the bin however so they get paid off.

stepper · 27-Apr-2006, 18:56

But that doesn't mean you have to spend to that limit? That decision is down to the customer.

CaptainTrips · 27-Apr-2006, 19:26

You see, the whole bank charges thing is illegal. The reason no bank has won a single case when sued is because of this, obviously. From my understanding of things, under English law (things are slightly different in Scotland, but the end result is the same), bank charges are classed as penalties, and are therefore unenforceable.

The reason they are penalties is because there's no way a standard, automated letter costs them up to £30 to cover the cost of sending it. This means they're profiting from your breach of contract, which is illegal. Standard high street markups are significantly less than 100%, but assuming a 100% markup, that means sending a letter to you would be less than £1 when you break it down, with most of the cost being the postage. Being overdrawn does cause the bank inconvenience, but does it cause £30 worth of inconvenience on top of however much you're overdrawn? In most cases the answer is no because you'll end up paying back your overdraft, plus extortionate interest at a rate probably about 20x greater than the rate they pay you. So why should you also pay a £30 penalty on top of their extortionate interest rates? The legal answer is you don't have to.

If you're considering suing your bank to recover what they've robbed from you illegally, keep your claim to less than £5000. That way, you'll never be liable to pay the bank's legal fees if you lose. To file your claim in the small claims court, it will cost you between £30 and £150. This isn't a problem though, as you'll be awarded legal costs when you win. As a nice bonus too, you'll be awarded 8% interest on your claim.

In case you didn't guess, I'm currently suing my bank for being robbing bastards, and I encourage you all to do the same.

Ned · 27-Apr-2006, 19:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by stepper

But that doesn't mean you have to spend to that limit? That decision is down to the customer.

Yes, but they are purposly upping the limit to try and entice the customer to spend more, so they line their fat pockets more. When they know full well they can't afford to pay it back.

Sh0cked · 27-Apr-2006, 19:33

The legality of charges is not in discussion and should not be discussed as charges are legal from a bank perspective. You agree to charging periods and quantities in the terms and conditions of the account when you open it.

Further more the recent review of charges DID NOT make them illegal what was Suggested was that banks make charges lower and truely reflective of the charges they incure when a customer goes into overdraft.

As such most highstreet banks are now considering what to do about charges but you will find you will not like what happens when they do "lower charges" Remember how your current credit cards are free? ... I reckon yearly charges are comming back for those for a start.

Also going unauthorised overdrawn whilst I agree with you Fondle about the clearing times (and this is due to change in the next few years to "few hours" clearance between banks) the fact of the matter is you have an account with money in when you spend ALL the money in that account AND MORE you are expecting the bank to foot your bill. Now whilst friends and family might lend you £10 to go the pub this is a bank that has thousends of customers all wanting £10 to go the pub hence charges. If you dont like it take out an AUTHORISED overdraft.

Finally... back to the link.. Whilst you can ATTEMPT to claim your charges back if the bank feels that they have a good chance of winning the WILL take you to court over it. further to that all this "banks do not want to goto court" stuff is utter shite. What a bank does is take into account your total charges that you want refunded. then deduct staff pay to research the case, cost to report the case to the obudsman (£500 per case) and if your charges do not total MORE then all that then they will more then likely say "yeah here are your charges you moaning little tart"

otherwise they will continue to say "fuck off" in a polite manner.

Intron · 27-Apr-2006, 19:34

people see a credit limit as their right to spend that money. NO its a limit it means we are going to allow you to borrow this much money. but people dont see it as that.

The way people are with money today annoys me. People run up massive debts and dont seem to want to be accountable for their own spending and finances. Then when the high intrest and charges start comeing in they start to complain.

Simple dont spend beyond your means or get a loan before you need the money.

I was billed about £100 in charges by my bank as they failed to act on my instructions i sent them via Fax. They refunded my charges applogised and that was that.

Also you can ask to have a fixed limit on your credit card. Yes they will fix the limit and it will not change. The reason it goes up is for loyalty rewards and if you can manage the smaller chunks then the limit goes up. Of course if you start getting terible credit reports your credit rateing falls and so does your limit availible.

CaptainTrips · 27-Apr-2006, 19:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by stepper

Read the small print when you open account then, clearly states terms and conditions. Some transactions will be forced through regardless of fund levels ie. bill payments, CC payments etc. If there is not enough money in the account a customer will be charged for it, pretty simple really, as the customer has been irresponsible with their account.

A direct debit is the customers responsibility to ensure there is enough in the account each month for the DD to be paid. If there isn't then the bank has every right to fine the customer, as they are not adhering to the terms and conditions.

Likewise people shouldn't ask for such large credit limits if they can't afford it. Believe it or not a persons finances are their responsibility, not the banks. The bank can advise you on pretty much every situation, but its up to the customer if they take the banks advice or not.

Actually, penalty clauses under English law are illegal and unenforceable. So all the standard charges are meant to represent are the losses incurred by the bank, which they don't, regardless of what it says in the small print. The bank has no right whatsoever to fine a customer which is why when sued for the return of penalty charges, no bank has ever won.

As for large credit limits, under the terms of the contract, the bank has a legal duty to not provide credit which it is obvious the customer cannot handle. It is a bank's legal obligation to ensure the customer has the means to repay what they owe. Read up about extortionate credit.

Sh0cked · 27-Apr-2006, 19:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ned

Yes, but they are purposly upping the limit to try and entice the customer to spend more, so they line their fat pockets more. When they know full well they can't afford to pay it back.

Ned I respect you mate, known you years but have you never heard of a phone? If you dont like the new limit that is offered pick up that special object give the company a call and get it reduced back down.

Its always down to you the bank MAY increase your limit but if you reduce it and ask for no further increases they WILL action that. if you dont and your limits increase dont moan when you spend em. You know your limits and if you dont then get rid of the card

oh and in reply to above to... Penalty clauses are illegal? You best get talking to BT, British Gas, and every other energy supplier who all charge you penalties for missed payments and bounced direct debits if they are illegal.
Im not saying they arnt illegal as I dont know the law but when the majority of companies levy a charge im sure ALL those lawyers must of been pretty aware of the law before allowing it.

No bank has won in court is correct and im happy about that I dont like the charges myself. However were talking about isolated cases here where the customer was in a dire position and it was clear that the charges would cause them further misery.

The bank is not legally bound to provide finance to a customer that it KNOWS it can repay that again is bullshit cause no bank can be sure. the bank IS legally bound to TRY and only lend as much as the customer can afford to repay.. however make of that as you will.

However you slice it, IT ALWAYS COMES BACK TO YOU. IF YOU monitored your account better you wouldnt go o/d and you would reduce your own credit limit to something you can manage.

T-Bag · 27-Apr-2006, 19:39

charges probably pay my wages

Banks probably do make alot of money from charges but I doubt the credit card industry does. You should see the amount of staff + support we have working collections.

I see some letters like suggested in the link but as far as I know we just ignore them.

Intron · 27-Apr-2006, 19:42

The bank is not your accountant. it can only make judgements on what you have with them. if the banks judged credit limits and loans on just this information they wouldnt loan almost anything out. Thats where credit reporting comes in and they use this as a guide. They also take the information you provide them. Unsure about this but i would love to know how it works. Can some one just lie on the forms and over value the asset you are going to secure the loan against or does the bank do the valueation for you. if so it is easy to get more than what you can afford

Sh0cked · 27-Apr-2006, 19:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by T-Bag

charges probably pay my wages

Banks probably do make alot of money from charges but I doubt the credit card industry does. You should see the amount of staff + support we have working collections.

I see some letters like suggested in the link but as far as I know we just ignore them.

Charges pay my yearly bonus.

T-Bag · 27-Apr-2006, 19:43

You can just lie on credit card applications about your income as it's not checked. (at least not by any I know of)

T-Bag · 27-Apr-2006, 19:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy018

Charges pay my yearly bonus.

Who do you work for ?

Sh0cked · 27-Apr-2006, 19:46

The ethical group

CaptainTrips · 27-Apr-2006, 19:46

Yes, you can lie, and it happens all the time. This is why you get bad debt. Nobody would refuse to pay a genuine debt they've arranged if repaying isn't beyond their means. Also, circumstances change, hence the availability of repayment insurance...

Sh0cked · 27-Apr-2006, 19:47

Speaking of bad debt, Wait till you see the bad debt figures of the banks for last year..

should be entertaining

Intron · 27-Apr-2006, 19:52

working in debt collection can net you a lot of money. Debt is sold at about a 3rd of its value. Then the debt companies tack on charges to bolster their return. So your £100 debt is sold off to a debt company for £33 they send you a letter for £100 plus their £30 handleing fees. or so

27-Apr-2006, 14:38	#1
Ned my post count gets me dates Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Brighton Tournaments Won: 1 Posts: 4,190	Been hit with bank charges in the last 6 years? Get them back, with Interest \o/ http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi...760,24632#step Thats is all. __________________ Geckos \| Reptile Supplies \| Car Insurance

27-Apr-2006, 14:49	#2
Cam each time i post god kills a kitten Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 4,534	lol good find Ned ,dont think i havent had any charges refund in last 6 years though as i am a right bullish cunt on the phone when they do __________________ Breast awareness // Meet Cam. He's a breastologist and loves his work!

27-Apr-2006, 15:13	#3
Jamey The swagger of a cripple Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 21,913	Werry intellesting... I might give that a go. __________________ I'm a sex offender, I like offensive sex... I offend people with the sex that I have.

27-Apr-2006, 15:38	#5
Ned my post count gets me dates Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Brighton Tournaments Won: 1 Posts: 4,190	I've managed to get most of mine refunded anyway so not doing it but a few people at work are going to be doing this. __________________ Geckos \| Reptile Supplies \| Car Insurance

27-Apr-2006, 16:50	#6
Hapless Prince of All Oafs Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Reading, Writing & Arithmetic Posts: 4,301	Curse my wanton frugality! The bastards don't owe me a penny! __________________ Championing the cause of Status Anxiety sufferers since 1969.

27-Apr-2006, 16:55	#7
Methy my other post is a smiley Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 1,717	Its you bastards who I have the pleasure of speaking to every evening mon-fri. Stop spending more than you can afford or fuck off is what I say.

27-Apr-2006, 17:10	#8
Jamey The swagger of a cripple Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 21,913	Stop charging us for a service that's actually key to your success, that's what we say. __________________ I'm a sex offender, I like offensive sex... I offend people with the sex that I have.

27-Apr-2006, 18:08	#9
stepper member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 6,676	Some people are so stupid with money its unreal. After working for Abbey National for only 2 months, every other customer seems to be one of the 'err i've got charges on my account because i went overdrawn without authorisation...' Me: 'Ah i see, well theres not much i can do here apart from give you an authorised overdraft, then i can refer you to our customer support team to see if they can refund the charges if its the first time you've done it.' Customer: 'Great cheers... back 2 minutes later. You said i could have charges refunded, but they refuse to, Abbey are lying corporate cocks!' Me: 'Well how many times have you been overdrawn before?' Customer: '2/3/4/5/x times.' Me: '..... well thats why then, i can only advise you to be more careful with your account in future.' Cue much arguing until the customer fucks off, too ignorant to realise they are completely in the wrong.

27-Apr-2006, 18:26	#11
Ned my post count gets me dates Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Brighton Tournaments Won: 1 Posts: 4,190	Being in the wrong for getting fucked for £25 for going £5.01 over the overdraft? Being fucked for £25 when they shouldn't have even been allowed to go over the overdraft anyway? Being fucked for £40 for a failed DD is in the wrong? It must cost about 10p in bandwidth for them to automate the return of the DD. yet they charge you £40 ILLEGALY __________________ Geckos \| Reptile Supplies \| Car Insurance

27-Apr-2006, 18:49	#14
Ned my post count gets me dates Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Brighton Tournaments Won: 1 Posts: 4,190	They have a right to fine yeah, but not £40 as its unjustified. Regarding credit limits, you know as well as I do how the banks behave to try and milk customers. My credit limits are stupid and the bank just keeps putting them up and up without me asking. Infact on my barclays one I asked to reduce it so I could pay it off, they did so and then 2 months later upped it stupidly again. My cards are all in 16 bits in the bin however so they get paid off. __________________ Geckos \| Reptile Supplies \| Car Insurance

27-Apr-2006, 18:56	#15
stepper member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 6,676	But that doesn't mean you have to spend to that limit? That decision is down to the customer.

27-Apr-2006, 19:26	#16
CaptainTrips poster of the month Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Wormwood Scrubs Posts: 1,494	You see, the whole bank charges thing is illegal. The reason no bank has won a single case when sued is because of this, obviously. From my understanding of things, under English law (things are slightly different in Scotland, but the end result is the same), bank charges are classed as penalties, and are therefore unenforceable. The reason they are penalties is because there's no way a standard, automated letter costs them up to £30 to cover the cost of sending it. This means they're profiting from your breach of contract, which is illegal. Standard high street markups are significantly less than 100%, but assuming a 100% markup, that means sending a letter to you would be less than £1 when you break it down, with most of the cost being the postage. Being overdrawn does cause the bank inconvenience, but does it cause £30 worth of inconvenience on top of however much you're overdrawn? In most cases the answer is no because you'll end up paying back your overdraft, plus extortionate interest at a rate probably about 20x greater than the rate they pay you. So why should you also pay a £30 penalty on top of their extortionate interest rates? The legal answer is you don't have to. If you're considering suing your bank to recover what they've robbed from you illegally, keep your claim to less than £5000. That way, you'll never be liable to pay the bank's legal fees if you lose. To file your claim in the small claims court, it will cost you between £30 and £150. This isn't a problem though, as you'll be awarded legal costs when you win. As a nice bonus too, you'll be awarded 8% interest on your claim. In case you didn't guess, I'm currently suing my bank for being robbing bastards, and I encourage you all to do the same.

27-Apr-2006, 19:33	#18
Sh0cked thread or dead Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Liverpool, UK (Evertonian) Posts: 3,184	The legality of charges is not in discussion and should not be discussed as charges are legal from a bank perspective. You agree to charging periods and quantities in the terms and conditions of the account when you open it. Further more the recent review of charges DID NOT make them illegal what was Suggested was that banks make charges lower and truely reflective of the charges they incure when a customer goes into overdraft. As such most highstreet banks are now considering what to do about charges but you will find you will not like what happens when they do "lower charges" Remember how your current credit cards are free? ... I reckon yearly charges are comming back for those for a start. Also going unauthorised overdrawn whilst I agree with you Fondle about the clearing times (and this is due to change in the next few years to "few hours" clearance between banks) the fact of the matter is you have an account with money in when you spend ALL the money in that account AND MORE you are expecting the bank to foot your bill. Now whilst friends and family might lend you £10 to go the pub this is a bank that has thousends of customers all wanting £10 to go the pub hence charges. If you dont like it take out an AUTHORISED overdraft. Finally... back to the link.. Whilst you can ATTEMPT to claim your charges back if the bank feels that they have a good chance of winning the WILL take you to court over it. further to that all this "banks do not want to goto court" stuff is utter shite. What a bank does is take into account your total charges that you want refunded. then deduct staff pay to research the case, cost to report the case to the obudsman (£500 per case) and if your charges do not total MORE then all that then they will more then likely say "yeah here are your charges you moaning little tart" otherwise they will continue to say "fuck off" in a polite manner.

27-Apr-2006, 19:34	#19
Intron off topic Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 2,509	people see a credit limit as their right to spend that money. NO its a limit it means we are going to allow you to borrow this much money. but people dont see it as that. The way people are with money today annoys me. People run up massive debts and dont seem to want to be accountable for their own spending and finances. Then when the high intrest and charges start comeing in they start to complain. Simple dont spend beyond your means or get a loan before you need the money. I was billed about £100 in charges by my bank as they failed to act on my instructions i sent them via Fax. They refunded my charges applogised and that was that. Also you can ask to have a fixed limit on your credit card. Yes they will fix the limit and it will not change. The reason it goes up is for loyalty rewards and if you can manage the smaller chunks then the limit goes up. Of course if you start getting terible credit reports your credit rateing falls and so does your limit availible. Last edited by Intron; 27-Apr-2006 at 19:36.

27-Apr-2006, 19:39	#22
T-Bag please find me real friends Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Leeds Tournaments Won: 1 Posts: 12,354	charges probably pay my wages Banks probably do make alot of money from charges but I doubt the credit card industry does. You should see the amount of staff + support we have working collections. I see some letters like suggested in the link but as far as I know we just ignore them.

27-Apr-2006, 19:42	#23
Intron off topic Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 2,509	The bank is not your accountant. it can only make judgements on what you have with them. if the banks judged credit limits and loans on just this information they wouldnt loan almost anything out. Thats where credit reporting comes in and they use this as a guide. They also take the information you provide them. Unsure about this but i would love to know how it works. Can some one just lie on the forms and over value the asset you are going to secure the loan against or does the bank do the valueation for you. if so it is easy to get more than what you can afford

27-Apr-2006, 19:43	#25
T-Bag please find me real friends Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Leeds Tournaments Won: 1 Posts: 12,354	You can just lie on credit card applications about your income as it's not checked. (at least not by any I know of)

27-Apr-2006, 19:46	#27
Sh0cked thread or dead Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Liverpool, UK (Evertonian) Posts: 3,184	The ethical group

27-Apr-2006, 19:47	#29
Sh0cked thread or dead Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Liverpool, UK (Evertonian) Posts: 3,184	Speaking of bad debt, Wait till you see the bad debt figures of the banks for last year.. should be entertaining

27-Apr-2006, 19:52	#30
Intron off topic Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 2,509	working in debt collection can net you a lot of money. Debt is sold at about a 3rd of its value. Then the debt companies tack on charges to bolster their return. So your £100 debt is sold off to a debt company for £33 they send you a letter for £100 plus their £30 handleing fees. or so