Excessive bank charges - anybody going to complain to their bank?

[EmmaG]

Summary of court fees

up to £300 £30
£300.01 - £500 £50
£500.01 - £1,000 £80
£1,000.01 - £5,000 £120
£5,000.01 - £15,000 £250
£15,000.01 - £50,000 £400
£50,000.01 - £100,000 £700
£100,000.01 - £150,000 £900

[jenny]

oh wow, thats quite alot of money. we dont have that kind of money

[EmmaG]

Jenny if you cannot afford the Court fees (£120) (you will have a couple of months to save the money). Could you not ask a family member to borrow the money?? I lent by Sister in Law the £250 to do their claim. If it does go to court and the banks put in a defence you will also have a £100 court allocation fee to pay, but this is refunded when you win your claim, and this won't be payable until about a month into the court proceedings.

If you cannot afford the Court fee and want to take the banks offer, my suggestion would be to write to the bank and say that you will settle at £1,400 to be paid into your OH's account, this will clear his overdraft, ok you won't have the money yourself but it will clear a debt for him...just a suggestion.

[Fran]

It's just been on Watchdog

[EmmaG]

Drats I missed that, but there was a piece on ITV Martin Lewis (he has a website to reclaim charges) was on and gave quite a good interview.

Was Watchdog good Fran?? What did they say ?

[Fran]

Originally Posted by EmmaG

Drats I missed that, but there was a piece on ITV Martin Lewis (he has a website to reclaim charges) was on and gave quite a good interview.

Was Watchdog good Fran?? What did they say ?

I only saw it half way through and Mildred stood on my laptop and shut it down so I couldn't inform you all of it
They gave a couple of case histories and basically said anyone can do it! They also made mention of the fact that after people have claimed that often the banks will close their accounts and they were basically saying that they shouldn't be doing this. They did give a number of an organisation to contact if you were having difficulty with the banks with regard to getting back your charges and them closing your account etc...but the phone rang and I missed it

[EmmaG]

No doubt it was the Financial Ombudsman they are referring people to, one bank actually got fined recently for shutting down a customers bank, and they had to pay the customer!!! lol

Out of all of the claims we did none of the banks have actually shut down our accounts. Despite me getting quite tough with a couple.

[dinahsmum]

Emma, is there a time limit on these claims. I've been fortunate and been able to manage my account for a good few years now, but there certainly was a time when the bank kept piling on charges (always when you can least afford them, of course)

[EmmaG]

You can easily go back 6 years, some people have managed to go back further, but you need to have your bank statements, as the Banks legally have to provide 6 years.

[dinahsmum]

mmm, no windfall for me then