reclaim bank charges

[west ham fan]

Has any one got any news on the court case concerning repayments of bank charges ie; unlawfull charges for going over drawn etc;

[dzug]

There have been no developments for a while.

It has been determined (ages ago) that they are not unlawful in themselves - but may still be unfair.

[Ethel]

It hasn't been determined at all.

The Court of Appeal hearing was last October and we are still awaiting the decision - it could take months.

In the mean time the Office of Fair Trading is still considering whether the charges are fair.

So, even if the Court of Appeal determines that the banks are subject to the unfair contract terms legislation, the OFT could say the charges are fair.

We have a long way to go yet.

[dot.hawkes]

I have had every charge back for the last 6 years, and helped loads of people get theirs back too, and yet the banks still made a profit, i should have charged them more interest!

[Ethel]

dot - I'll blame you when we go back to the bad old days of no free banking - charged for every single transaction on the current account.

I wish the UK had the same laws as America and France where it is a criminal offence to go overdrawn without the authority of the bank.

[dot.hawkes]

you can blame me if you like, i'll not mind lol

[Ethel]

I've often wondered what people who go overdrawn on their accounts without permission would have done at the time if they couldn't pay with money that didn't belong to them.

Say they wrote a cheque to pay for their groceries at the supermarket and there wasn't enough money in the account. If they weren't able to write that cheque, and the bank wasn't forced to honour it because the guarantee card was used - would they starve without the groceries, or ask the supermarket for tick?

[fredpuli47]

France isn't quite as strict as to make it an instant criminal offence to go overdrawn ( If it were, I'd be in jail, for one!) What used to happen was that the bank wrote a stern letter the first time you went over, warning you of the consequences. The next time you not only lost your bank account but couldn't open another one, anywhere in France. There was a central banking authority, to which the bank reported. Currently they seem to be a little more flexible. I've been over at least twice in recent years and had a fairly polite letter. On the other hand, I've had funds transferred instantly, lest the bank resumes past practice ! They take a sensible view, having regard to the size of the account, the amounts involved, its activity and the fact that a foreigner's account is less likely to be monitored daily by the customer than a local's is.

It is, of course, a criminal offence to issue a cheque (almost non-existent in France) in the knowledge that you have not the funds to meet it.

However, we could have done with French practice on mortgages.Every step is monitored. The applicant has to produce a lot of paper to prove income and outgoings, right down to normal household and family expenses. The lender won't lend any more than a small multiplier of the net income result, and isn't allowed to.It seems that, if they do lend more and the borrower defaults because of that, the loss is on the lender, not the borrower, for breaking the rules.A result is that France has a lot less trouble over mortgages than we, or the US, have had.

[dot.hawkes]

all of my charges were over a 6 year period when direct debits had not been paid cos the money was not in when it was supposed to be, that's what happens when you are paid on the last friday of the month and can't control when the D/D goes out, i have sussed out what i should do now though, I have everything going out on the first of the month and since then it's been fine. We are not all born with a banking brain, nor do many bof us aquire it lol i have never gonen overdrawn without consent from the bank.

[Ethel]

That's interesting about the French system, fred. I knew it is a criminal offence to write a cheque without sufficient funds.

I still shudder when I think of all those transaction fees on my personal cheque account before free banking. You expect it on business accounts, but it used to be quite a lump to pay for every cheque you issued. As far as I know most of Europe and the US pay for their current accounts, whereas I earn interest on mine.

Of course, there are many more transactions on a current account nowadays than there was 30 years ago when free banking was first introduced. In those days, most people got paid cash and shopped with cash. I rarely have more than change for the car park now - everything goes through the bank.

Time will tell.

[angel21]

I was wondering about this - do you think I would be able to get my bank charges back during this recession? Is is worh a go?

[west ham fan]

Thankyou all, the replies where realy educating

[chattykathy]

www.moneysavingexpert.com has the example letters. It's still worth claiming now while they are sorting it all out.