[Moorf]

I heard some rumblings from another Brit that there's some sort of rebate being given by banks after some bank charges were deemed illegal or unjustified? It seems you can claim some charges back?

Can anyone throw further light on this?

Taa
Moorf

[jubjub]

I heard of that a while back, but I thought that it was more to do with credit card fees/charges rather than actual bank charges... remember seeing a discussion about it somewhere... see if I can find it... BRB

[SteveR]

not sure it being from UK banks but several NZ banks were fined by the NZ commerce commission for not disclosing some foreign currency charges on there credit cards

http://www.asbbank.co.nz/story11603.asp?

is ASB banks web site and tells you what you need to do if you bank with them

[jubjub]

Cant find what I was looking for, but there are shed loads of links on google, a which report for one...

http://www.which.co.uk/reports_and_campaigns/money/campaigns/Banking%20and%20credit/Bank%20charges/bank_charges_campaign_559_74996.jsp?CMP=KNC-GOOGLE&HBX_PK=Jellyfish&HBX_OU=50&jtid=7311039&source_code=607PAJ

heres another

http://money.guardian.co.uk/saving/banks/story/0,,2122951,00.html

might have a good read of this lot later....

[Pip]

I think (and don't quote me), - its something like this. Rattling around from those days at law school, there are a few fragments about consumer rights, and penalty clauses. I think - and this was a long time ago, that its illegal to charge a 'penalty' as part of a contract. You can charge a fee to cover your time/expense which would be legal, but you shouldn't profit and it musn't be excessive.

I think someone went to court and demonstrated that going overdrawn (or whatever the issue was), hadn't cost the bank in real terms the £25 they charged him to send a letter telling him and therefore it was effectively a penalty. He won his case, and since then lots of people have therefore been digging out those dreaded letters from the last few years when they were hit with penalty charges for going overdrawn and the banks have been quietly refunding them, rather than going to court, as based on the precedent set in the original case - the bank would lose.

I think it was something along those lines anyway... hope that helps!

[Moorf]

Yep, yep - that's it Pip, I remember he mentioned about the case that won... cheers!

And thanks for the links Sal :nice1

[wiki]

Pip's right about the legal side

There's a limit of six years on it - you can't claim for charges before that.

And they reckon that thousands of people have had refunds because the banks don't want to have to reveal their fee structures in court, so don't challenge the claims (although some banks have left it right up to the morning of the court hearing to pay out - therefore causing worry and stress for the claimee)

And often when the banks have refunded charges (anything from £20 to just under £20,000) they turn around and close your account because they don't want your business lol.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/26/nbanks126.xml

The banks are now taking a test case to the High Court to clarify their legal position on those fees - and sadly for anyone who has recently applied for a refund, there won't be any more payouts until the test case is resolved now.

http://money.guardian.co.uk/saving/banks/story/0,,2122951,00.html

[Kim39]

Yep thats true you can reclaim those charges back over a 6 year period. Take a look at the link and it will answer all your questions. There is someone on this forum who was successful in making the claim, but i will keep them anynmous. We are in the third stage of claiming back our last 6 years, but seeing things have changed with the OFT taking the banks to court on a test case then we will have to put ours on hold and wait for the outcome of the case before proceeding any further.

www.consumeractiongroup.org (http://www.consumeractiongroup.org)


Kim

[leachio]

Yip it sure is true Moorf, we have just won back £2000!!! That will pay for flights home thank u very much!!!

[UK Neil]

Yip it sure is true Moorf, we have just won back £2000!!! That will pay for flights home thank u very much!!!

We got just under £1000, Lovely.....:)

[saralou]

I'm (hopefully) on my way to claiming back just over 3.5k. There is a good link on the GMTV site as they have been highlighting the situation for ages. As far as I am aware, only a handful of people have not been successful.

A newly qualified barrister recently tried for compensation on top of bank charges but had no luck.

The reason so many people are winning is that, in order to submit a reasonable defence, the banks would have to submit a breakdown of what their charges are for. Recent report suggest the cost is less than £1 per charge hence the reason bank profits have soared the last few years with the increase of debt per capita etc etc.

Many financial instituations are now fixing their charges at £12 each in a bid to stop future cases.

If anyone in the UK wants any help stating the process, let me know and I will happily forward you all the info I have!

[Moorf]

Yip it sure is true Moorf, we have just won back £2000!!! That will pay for flights home thank u very much!!!

Marvellous! Well done you! You, too, Neil.

Saralou - thanks for link, we'll be having a look at the weekend. Our friend in Chch had 6 yrs worth of bank statements printed out and sent to them here in NZ from their UK bank - for free - so it appears they are being somewhat co-operative.

Thanks all, I'd heard nothing about this until now :cheers

Moorf

[saralou]

Some banks are more co-operative than others. A friend of mine is with HSBC and they refunded all charges without a fight. Sadly, for me, my bank (Abbey) wants to go the whole hog!

[Andy-Dee]

The latest claim for individuals for claiming money back is when switching your morgage.

When you switch providers or even sometimes when you switch policies with the same provider they quote you a fee of approx. £50 as the 'get out' clause. But in the small print it usually says they can review it and change what they like - so £50 becomes £200 or more.

The Banks watchdog - equivilent of OFWAT (I know thats the water one) have told them what they have done is wrong and if anyone asks for the difference back they HAVE to give it to them. This is non-negotiable for the banks BUT YOU HAVE TO ASK FOR IT.

There should be more info on the GMTV link.

Good Luck

[Moorf]

What about the penalties paid to banks/building societies to get out of a fixed mortgage - do they count?

[Moorf]

Just to answer my own question (have been surfing the GMTV site - very informative) - NO - you can't claim back mortgage redemption penalties, but you can claim back what they call MEAF (Mortgage Exit Admin Fee). :clap