Bank Charges

[ludwig]

Is there a principle that bank charges/fines have to be proportional to the 'crime' committed?

My daughter got charged £25 for each of a series of small payments made when she was already overdrawn. The result was she's been charged £150 for basically going about £30 overdrawn for about a week - an interest rate the most unprincipled loan sharks can only dream of.

I think this is unreasonable exploitation of someone who's basically a naive youngster, and I'd like to have the charges reversed. Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

The bank is SANTANDER by the way.

[johnny37]

General rule is that a new charge is triggered every time an unauthrised o/d increases above an agreed limit. She must have agreed the rules. She can have them refunded if she is under 18 on the grounds the contract is not valid. She can see her acc manager and throw herself on his mercy. Last thing is to have a higher o/d limit but not treat it as if it is there to be used. Sorry, this does not explain why bank charges are so rapacious.

[ToraToraTora]

Not sure if this was ever resolved but a couple of years ago the banks where told that admin charges had reflect what it reasonably cost them so in most cases that would be very little. It seems that they are still getting away with extortion. The problem is that she would have agreed to them when openning the account so really the only way is to appeal to their sense of good will, which in the case of Sandander is non existant. The lesson here is don't go beyond agreed conditions or it hurts! Reminds me of when my younger brother had a cheque for £10 bounce and they charged £25!

[chelle7272]

I had a similar experience with Santander, a debit payment of £3.00 was honoured (even though I shouldn't have been able to exceed the limit on my account) which resulted in £80 of charges.

I was able to get them refunded by going to the bank as I had never had charges incurred or refunded before.

[Peter Pedant]

yes I thought they had to be consistent with the 'crime'

you might try appealing

otherwise she has to put it down to a learning experience and like we all do, keep an eye on balances. friend spent £50 giving his nephews £20 for Christmas - but he is more careful now

[ludwig]

// Not sure if this was ever resolved but a couple of years ago the banks where told that admin charges had reflect what it reasonably cost them so in most cases that would be very little //

Yes, that's what I thinking of 3T.

// I had a similar experience with Santander, a debit payment of £3.00 was honoured (even though I shouldn't have been able to exceed the limit on my account) which resulted in £80 of charges. //

That's it chelle. She has no authorised overdraft facility, so as far as I'm concerned they shouldn't have honoured the payments.

[chelle7272]

Yes exactly ludwig, I would approach them about a refund of charges. I went in person to my branch as I felt that I was less likely top be fobbed off if it was face to face. They replaced the funds in my account straight away.

A bit of googling suggest that bank charges have reduced in recent years but clearly not with Santander!

[black_cat51]

i have a feeling it was only to do with letters they send you telling you you had overdone it? They used to charge for the letters too, but i think they have either stopped this, or they have come down

[chrissa1]

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges

My son has just put in a claim for quite a substantial sum, going back to 2005.

Read this and act on it, ludwig. My som's claim is being looked at by Barclays and he will hear soon.

[ludwig]

update : We had a letter written out, but based on chelle's experience above decided to go to a branch and speak to someone first - they cancelled the charges.
Just as well because there was another raft of charges totalling another £150 yet to be applied but which weren't on the latest statement.

thanks for all your answers.