Subject: Reclaiming unfair bank charges

Has anyone went through the process of reclaiming unfair bank charges?

Has anyone been charged for going overdrawn or had direct debits returned unpaid etc?

I would advise everyone who has been victim of these charges to claim them back soon.

I started the process 8 weeks ago, claiming back £1270 of charges from the last 5 years. It is so simple, 3 letters, £10 and a little patience.

Just got a settlement offer today of £1260

Ching ching!!!

Oh and i'm no good for a tap as its already gone ;-)

What did you say in your letters?

Please give me my money back?

(3 times like in Austin Powers?)

The bank will pay out,

because they have been taking the p1ss for some little time.

If it wen't through the courts they get totally screwed - possibly forced to pay everyones charges back. They wouldn't like that now...

Whatever money they loose will be got back by screwing mortgage customers or tweaking down that saving rate anyway. The bank wont lose.

But you need to claim the charges back!

pretty much!

you have been charging me ilegally and if you dont give me my money back i will complain to the office of fair trading as you are unfit to be a bank

I got 185 quid back from Smile no problem but Abbey are proving difficult- I may actually have to go to Small Claims to get my money.

Oh, and Cahoot (an Abbey company) are taking ages to give me back 115 quid they took by DD AFTER I cleared my loan with them- I swear to God that company (and it various trading names) is to be avoided like the plague.
(edited)

My advice would be to go the ombudsman first before considering the small claims option, they have some info on the matter on there website

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

As soon as you make the complaint, ie after you obtain the schedule of charges, if the bank has not responded to your complaint within 8 wks, then you can make a formal complaint with the ombudsman, I have friends who have had their complaint resolved in days that way, rather than paying the fee to claim through the small claims court. You pretty much complete a mandate for them to act on your behalf and they will phone the bank initially giving them the opportunity to settle or they will investigate the complaint, which means even more work for the bank, responding to the FOS complaint. Also you cant complain to the ombudsman after filing a complaint in the small claims court.

Good luck , but dont give up.

Fight The Power!!!

Been there, done that!

Firstly I submitted my SAR (under the DPA Act) to get my bank statements- Abbey only gave me a years worth and said that the rest were stored on microfiche (?) and microfiche is not covered under the DPA Act. I wrote back saying that was bollocks and cited some case that proved my point. Abbey said it was not bollocks but out of the goodness of their hearts they'll give me the microfiche statements anyway (:D). When those didn't turn up I complained to the Financial Ombudsman (or Information Commissioner, can't remember who) Abbey then promptly sent me the statements, not before trying to get me to pay for them though!!

I then sent them a letter saying give me back my money and the've told me no and they will close the case if no reply is forthcoming from me within 8 wks. That was over 8 wks ago (I've been busy!!) so I may just have to go straight to small claims.

Sorry in advance but...











Abbey are SHADY SPANISH BASTARDS. I only want £411.00 not the 1000's some folk are (quite rightly) asking for.