Reclaiming bank charges..have you done it?

Ok, so hands up, I just went past my overdraft limit & will be charged £30 for the privilege.  I'm annoyed & am thinking about writing Lloyds TSB & asking for my money back. But before I do, has anyone had any luck?  I'd rather not set up a new current account - has anyone else had to do that in case their bank doesn't want their business any longer? Is it likely that I'll need this new account?

I've just posted about this. I think you saw the thread I started on moneysavingexpert.com.  I had ummm, more than 30 quid!! I was refunded the whole amount and was not asked to close my account. I already have a couple current accounts so if I had been asked to close it, it would not have been a problem for me.

Yes I did read your post & I received my letter about it today...so it got me thinking!

I think I might set up another account just to be safe. BUT when I do claim it back, I asking for the lot of the charges, over the entire 6 years, so mine will account for lots more than £30  .     

Just curious, how long did it take before you received your money back?

I think I might set up another account just to be safe. BUT when I do claim it back, I asking for the lot of the charges, over the entire 6 years, so mine will account for lots more than £30  . 

Likewise!

I used the template letters provided by the web site (FWIW, the BBC also has some template letters). However, I made it clear in my first letter that I would take them to small claims court. The template letters sort of imply that should go in your second letter to them if you don't get a satisfactory reply.

I sent my letter to FirstDirect round about 13 December and then went on holiday. We got back on 2 Jan and there was a 'holding' letter... basically telling us we'd hear something in a week. I then got a second holding letter at which point I was starting to wonder what on earth their reply might be. Then this past Friday, I got a letter with the full offer (not including interest which I did try to claim!). I had to sign a letter saying I accepted that offer which I posted yesterday. So, technically I'm waiting for the money but I expect I'll see it next week.

Now I need to think about doing this with my other account!

It never hurts to write letters - all it costs is a postage stamp and you might make much more back!

yes.  for the cost of 4 letters recorded delivery, i recouped £260 from Halifax.

well worth it!

I keep thinking I should do this but would have to trawl back through so many bank statements, half of which I don't even have any more .... but I read an interesting article in the Observer at the weekend about a guy who claimed back money from RBS. He didn't have all his statements so he wrote & asked for them and they never replied, so he filed a small claim. They didn't defend it so he won by default. Then they didn't pay up so the court sent the bailiffs in!

Then they didn't pay up so the court sent the bailiffs in!

Ha ha - that's great!  I'm sure that in a bank the bailiffs were able to find things to levy...

I keep thinking I should do this but would have to trawl back through so many bank statements, half of which I don't even have any more ....

Take a look at the moneysavingexpert.com site, Liz. There is a template letter where you can ask for records of your charges from the last 6 years. It'll cost you a tenner (send it with the letter). From there you can then send the letter asking for the charges back! Well worth the tenner if you ask me! I'm going to have to do this with my other account as while I probably have all my statements, they are 'filed' in various boxes throughout the loft!

OK I will look! I think that's the guy who is always on TV these days talking about this issue, isn't it? I also found the original overdraft agreement the bank sent me, and guess what, it says it's interest free!! And all this time they've been charging us interest! But we'll need to open a new account somewhere else first ... just in case ... .

Gosh, only a tenner? That's fab - wish I did this ages ago! Thanks for all the advice!

Im lost here!
How does this whole thing work? If you've been charged £30 for overdraft the bank has to refund it to you? Hows that possible?

Go look at the thread titled moneysavingexpert.com and see my link there!

Im lost here!
How does this whole thing work? If you've been charged £30 for overdraft the bank has to refund it to you? Hows that possible?

Under law, they can charge you a fee to claim the cost of administering an authorised overdraft and the cost of informing you, but this charge has to be reflective of actual cost. As £30 is over the actual cost it is classed as a penalty rather than a charge which is illegal. So the banks know under the law they will lose the case in court which will have huge ramifications on the whole UK bank charging industry. They pay you back as its only gonna cost the banking industry a few hundred million rather than a few billion!


They would like to keep it this way as even if they know the charges will have to be paid back, whilst the money is their posession they can still make return on it in the short term markets like currency and even property !

The robber barons at HBOS keep trying to get us to switch to online statements.  I never do and never will.  For reasons such as this and a tax credit fracas I had a while back.  I even kept the letters they sent with the overdraft charge.

I keep bank statements for years, all filed in date order.

Those b*stards always try to pull a fast one on the little guy.