Claim your Bank Charges Back (UK)

This is taken from a Martin Lewis press release yesterday 25th November 2009.
What exactly was this case deciding?

It's all about whether bank charges need to be fair under the law. Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal said they do, but yesterday the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court overturned that.

That means for the moment the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can't investigate whether charges are fair.

For those people who've already had a payout, there's no problem as it would've been paid as a goodwill gesture and therefore the banks can't demand the money back.

For those who either have cases on hold at the courts, banks or Ombudsman or wanted to reclaim, this ruling making things much more difficult - yet I still believe there's a 10-20% chance.

Yet there are some glimmers of hope - the Judge did tell the OFT it may be able to pursue the fairness issue using a different element of the law.

For the latest http://www.gm.tv/money/money-saving-expert-martin-lewis/42047-bank-charges-update.html

I was horrified to find that after years of asking for my unlawful Bank Charges to be refunded that I was on a spiral and ended up paying charges every month-Enough is enough-I decided it was time to do something more about it as the bank kept fobbing me off. I logged onto the website run by Martin Lewis after seeing him on daytime TV, http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges and got stuck in!!

I opened a bank account with a completely different bank. (Just in case they closed my account down) Many people worry about the impact of reclaiming charges on their credit score/rating. In fact, banks can't put a note on your credit reference files about this.

I got this template letter from the same website and filled in my name address, a/c number etc. added a £10.00 cheque and took it into my branch for them to action.

_______________________________________________

[INSERT NAME, ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER]
[INSERT DATE]

[INSERT NAME AND ADDRESS OF BANK]

Dear Sir or Madam,

Re. Account number: [INSERT ACCOUNT NUMBER]

I am writing to request a fully comprehensive list of all the default charges for direct debit, unauthorised overdrafts and standing orders I have paid over the last six years.

Please find enclosed a cheque for the maximum statutory charge of £10. If you are unable to provide this data, I will accept a copy of my statements going back six years; I understand that statements on their own are not covered by the Data Protection Act 1998, yet I'm not requesting the statements per se, but the charges, which I'm entitled to by law.

If you store any of the older records on microfiche, please be aware that the Information Commissioner deems this to be a relevant filing system under the Act. As such, any microfiche data must be sent to me in fully legible and comprehensible form.

I look forward to your response within 40 days, as [INSERT NAME OF BANK] is obliged to reply under the Data Protection Act. If not I shall seek remedy from the Information Commissioner.

Yours faithfully,

[YOUR SIGNATURE]

[YOUR NAME (PRINTED)]

Please feel free to copy and paste this letter, and send it to your branch with £10.00

This was a real bind, as The bank only has a maximum 40 days to respond. Sadly, many are now failing to do so, citing the fact they're overloaded with claims. Yet don't be put off, you have a legal right to this information within 40 days. If you don't get it, regardless of the banks excuse, follow up with a phone call and then report it to the Information Commissioner for a breach.
you can do this here-http://www.ico.gov.uk/
(Just for the record, RBS took 3 weeks to send the information to me)

Again, I got the details from Martin's site, I found out that I needed an interest calculator, (Martin has a really cool and easy to use one on his website - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges#step2-
all you do is go through your statements and add the charges to the sheet, everything else is done for you!!) I put all the charges on the calculator and printed it off. (twice, one copy for me and one for the bank) It took me about 3/4 of an hour to work through my statements going back 2 years.
Here's the web address for you if you want to take a look at his whole system.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges#step4

[INSERT NAME, ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER]
[INSERT DATE]

[INSERT NAME AND ADDRESS OF BANK]

Dear Sir or Madam,

Re. Account number: [INSERT ACCOUNT NUMBER]

I am writing to request that you repay all the default charges that have been applied to my account.  I do not believe these charges reflect the true cost to [INSERT NAME OF BANK].

The charges total £[INSERT TOTAL CHARGE], plus as I believe I have been unlawfully deprived of the money I have calculated £[INSERT TOTAL OF INTEREST] interest at the statutory rate, the amount the court will award.

I therefore ask that you repay me the full amount of [INSERT TOTAL OF CHARGES PLUS INTEREST].  I have attached a full schedule of the charges and interest with this document. [INCLUDE THE PRINT OUT OF CHARGES AND INTEREST FROM THE CALCULATOR AND BE SURE TO KEEP A COPY FOR YOURSELF]

I look forward for a full response to this letter within 14 days.

Yours faithfully,

[YOUR SIGNATURE]

[YOUR NAME (PRINTED)]

Please feel free to copy any print this out to send to your bank (Obviously with your own details)

There can be a variety of outcomes.

VICTORY. You get all your money back. For a rare few, the bank will simply write back and offer to pay you the money. If this happens, congratulations.

You're ignored or refused. The most common outcome is you get a letter explaining that the charges are lawful, and that you don't know what you're talking about, or even that it is prepared to fight. Yet these are one of a myriad of tactics that banks will try to dissuade you from carrying on. It may suggest you go to the Financial Ombudsman; it may tell you that you've no case; there's been a ruling; that it can't comply with your details; that it's satisfied with the way it's acted; it may even quote legal precedents at you.

These are all common tactics using spin, spiel and carefully written scary notes to put you off. Don't be worried though, hundreds of thousands have already had these letters and carried on.

It's all just another step in the dance. If the summary of the letter is 'no you're not having your money back', however it's dressed up, .... then in the words of Kenneth Williams..... carry on regardless.

It makes a partial offer. There is a chance it'll offer some or all of the money you want. If so, you need to decide whether it's worth continuing or just taking the cash.

Remember, in the letters, YOU set the timetable, so stick to YOUR timetable and don't allow the bank to dictate.

I was fobbed off yet again, onwards and upwards........

[INSERT NAME, ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER]
[INSERT DATE]

[INSERT NAME AND ADDRESS OF BANK]

Dear Sir or Madam,

Re. Account number: [INSERT ACCOUNT NUMBER] 
I refer to default charges applied to my account amounting to [INSERT TOTAL OF CHARGES PLUS INTEREST], which I have requested you pay back.
I wrote to you on [INSERT DATE], making the original request for a payment in settlement of my claim.  As I have not heard from you/not received a satisfactory response [DELETE AS APPROPRIATE], I am writing to inform you I intend to claim the full amount claimed together with interest up to the date of judgment and court fees in the proceedings through the county court.
This is based on the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, as I believe these default charges are unfair and not proportionate to your costs, and therefore the court will rule in my favour.
I have attached a full schedule of the charges and interest with this document. [INCLUDE THE PRINT OUT OF CHARGES FROM THE CALCULATOR AND BE SURE TO KEEP A COPY FOR YOURSELF]

I look forward to a full response to this letter within 14 days, otherwise I will commence court proceedings to reclaim my money.

Yours faithfully,

[YOUR SIGNATURE]

[YOUR NAME (PRINTED)]

Again, please feel free to use this letter after putting your own details on it and send a copy to your bank.

I did not get a satisfactory reply, so it was on to the next step-another letter:

[INSERT NAME, ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER]
[INSERT DATE]

[INSERT NAME AND ADDRESS OF BANK]

Dear Sir or Madam,

Re. Account number: [INSERT ACCOUNT NUMBER] 
I refer to default charges applied to my account amounting to [INSERT TOTAL OF CHARGES PLUS INTEREST], which I have requested you pay back.
I wrote to you on [INSERT DATE], making the original request for a payment in settlement of my claim.  As I have not heard from you/not received a satisfactory response [DELETE AS APPROPRIATE], I am writing to inform you I intend to claim the full amount claimed together with interest up to the date of judgment and court fees in the proceedings through the county court.
This is based on the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, as I believe these default charges are unfair and not proportionate to your costs, and therefore the court will rule in my favour.
I have attached a full schedule of the charges and interest with this document. [INCLUDE THE PRINT OUT OF CHARGES FROM THE CALCULATOR AND BE SURE TO KEEP A COPY FOR YOURSELF]

I look forward to a full response to this letter within 14 days, otherwise I will commence court proceedings to reclaim my money.

Yours faithfully,

[YOUR SIGNATURE]

[YOUR NAME (PRINTED)]

Again, please cut and paste this template and add your own details.

I received a letter from the RBS offering to settle my claim as long as I signed a letter stating my claim was settled in full-I searched the small print with a magnifying glass to see if there were any clauses preventing me making any new future claims, there weren't so I signed the letter and sent it straight back to branch.

Phew!!
I checked my bank account and they deposited the full £1491.35 back into my account-Hoorahh!!!
Now I have to bring Lloyds TSB to account-See my next lens to see how I get on.

The Prime Minister has called on current account providers and the regulator to urgently "negotiate" to prevent payout delays if bank charges are ruled unfair.

Gordon Brown spoke out on overdraft penalty charges for the first time in a letter to MoneySavingExpert.com received on 22nd September 2009 (read it here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/reclaim/2009/09/pm-wants-swift-bank-charges-compensation)

Stay cool folks, The ruling should have come through in October, but now looks to be in November instead, Just make sure you get your claim in to your bank right now to highlight your case with them as Gordon Brown has stated that the banks need to sort out their customers accounts quickly and without delay if their charges are ruled to be unfair and unlawful, good Luck with your claim!!