This "bank charges refund challenge" thing....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6683363.stm


surely when you open an account you are given the charges (ie fees list), and sign up to agree to the terms and conditions etc...

so why is it people are winning, when I would have thought, You signed a contract agreeing to this etc etc..

Seems to me, people are trying another "blame culture" when they went overdrawn on there own accounts, seems to me people ought to be taught financial management skills rather than using this to get money out of someone else.

Fair do's, banks make millions, so what, that fact remains, the following to me should be stated...

"you knew what the charges were when you signed to open the account, you also are responsible for your own financial management of your account, as you are overdrawn (if not an agreed overdraft), then tough tit, you will pay the charge you signed up to...

how are people managing to win these cases????

 

Its all around the right to charge the fees.

Its costs the bank pence in costs (inlcuding time) plus the postage to send a letter out - and it has been deemed illegal for such extreme charges when interest is charged at the same time.

The banks know they have been overcharging - shown in the fact they are unwilling to follow through on any court cases.

My mate got £5,500, including interest on the amount for 6 years - and they just paid him up when he issued them with a court charge.

Whereas I dont agree with financial mismanagement resulting in financial gain - the banks make enough profit without charging extortinate fees that they have no rights to.

 

"Its costs the bank pence in costs (inlcuding time) plus the postage to send a letter out" - No it doesn't, it's actually in pounds.

 

Consumer Law

Says something like, when providing a service you can't impose penalty charges as part of that service that don't reflect the cost incurred by the company.

It means if it cost the banks £20 to tell you you had gone 50p over your overdraft, then a £30 charge might be reasonable.

However a EU enquiry found that it costs the banks very little to administer so the most they could charge should be £12.

 

thats the answer I was looking for....

I knew a bit about contracts etc and business law,

but didn't match the "providing service" bit into it..

(doh)

 

Got my cheque from the Halifax the other Day!!

The whole point is that the fees were deemed to have been penaltys rather than the banks covering their costs.

A case was won by Lloyds TSB a couple of weeks back but simply because the judge didn't look into things.

Only a county court judge so no precedent can be set. I believe that a lot of cases are been put on hold to be transferred into the mainstream courts where a test case can be heard. I think that it is likely that poeple will end up only being able to claim fthe difference upwards of £12 to whatever they have been charged in each instance.

In short if you want to claim, do it now before any ruling is made. Only real reason why this is stalling is because the banks dare not admit how little it actually costs to send out a computer generated letter!

I have had quite a few conversations with the banks on this.

 

does this then apply to just "current accounts" or in fact Visa's/loans etc or any other type of

account that attracts "penalties"

Cos this could get interesting!

 

It applies to credit cards as well

I've claimed mine back.

Tesco are canny though. They are currently charging £12, and not giving anyone any charges back. I think in the long run that will pay dividends for them.

 

They're not winning, that's the whole point! nt

 

and how long have you got to "claim", is it the usual financial 6 year rule thing nt