Reclaiming bank charges - What now?

[Stanley]

This type of thing has been growing more and more popular of late so i thought id giuve it a go.

Ive just recieved the list of every bank charge i have incurred in the last few years.

How do i go about actually claiming them back? (Bare in mind i live in Scotland so soma laws are different)

I could well be in some luck if it goes through....

[peester]

you need to list these charges, best maybe using a spreadsheet or like a spreadsheet..?
Then write an accompanying letter basically saying these charges are the illegal ones - refund them instantly..
Google for letter 'examples'
Just remeber they WILL have you by the short n curlies; at best -
WHEN an actual 'letter' comes through post saying 'all you need to do is sign this and ?xxxx money is yours'.. dont sign it. Yet. Give it a few days. You'll probably find all the money has gone into ur bank anyway. This 'letter' is to kinda trick you into not doing this refunding again. This is a trap i fell for. The 'letter' came through on a 7th of december, i hadn't even checked my bank - it was all worded 'wooo here u go, as per usual sign here.. blah blag'
So i did; sent it back to them, then noticed is was a little 'you won't do this again' ruley thing.. and went the bank and the money went in on the 5th or 6th ,.. 2, 3 days prior..
All that effort and i still kinda eff'ed up. lol.

[peester]

I could well be in some luck if it goes through....

oh, its not luck.. its called being bothered. They shouldn't have took it in the first place.

[Stanley]

The amount of money im due, i class it as luck to get it back haha.

Large four-figure sum anyway.....:D

[Stuart]

feck how bad with money are you lol

[Stanley]

Very:wall:

[mowgli]

So where do you get the list from?

[General Baxter]

lol i worked this out before iv now been with my bank for 4 years, they have taken out over ?5K in charges

p.s im really bad with money lol

[draper]

i wasnt gonna bother with it but after the bank has charged me ?8 twice for a bounced cheque im gonna go in dry, or send baxter round to smack my bank managers kids untill they pay up

[Stuart]

iirc the letter templates are on moneysavingexpert.com

also if youre claiming back a lot, expect to have your bank account shut afterwards.

Ive only had 2-3 charges over the past 2 years even though im crap with cash.... I politey went into my local branch and asked for the money back, they put the money back in and appologiesd + gave me a better interest rate. You can only try :D

[Jack]

I've only ever been charged twice, on both accounts because Nationwide didn't pull their finger out and credit my account as quickly as they should have. But tbh I've never been bothered with claiming the money back.

As Stupot said though, make sure you're in a position to quickly move your money too in case they decide to close your account. Not so much a problem on current accounts as you can just shift the cash elsewhere, but if its a debt (overdraft, loan) then expect them to demand immediate repayment - and yes, most places have it written into the small print that they can demand full repayment at any time :(

...and in future, learn to manage your money (or debt) a bit better so you don't end up in the same situation. I don't want to have to end up paying for my accounts just because a bunch of monkeys kept getting charged lol

[dave.gsi]

if youve got a list of every charge theyve given you the next thing is open another bank account.

you prob wont need it but if they did close yours youd be up s.hit creek so its better not to risk it. only takes 5 minutes as long as you bring id and stuff and all banks want new business so they'll practically fall over themselves to give you an account.

then find a template letter on the net, just google 'bank charges template'.

it basically says 'blah blah you havnt acted lawfully when you promised that you would'
then list all chrages, the date, and what they were for (over overdraft limit for example) this is super important. dont put this in and they'll just send it back after wasting a couple of weeks doing nothing.
also you have to list what they were for as you cant reclaim certain charges (temp overdraft limit fees cant be reclaimed as you would have had to sign a separate disclaimer which is different to the usual)

once its done send it off and wait..............................


and wait.............


and wait. it takes weeks/months.

worth it though, hsbc paid up all mine after just one letter:thumb:

[peester]

worth it though, hsbc paid up all mine after just one letter:thumb:

took a few letters for me, about 3 months in total, but didn't close the account..

[dave.gsi]

yep, still got my hsbc account they never closed it.

but cos i opened a barclays just in case i now use that. hsbc can kiss my ringpiece!lol

[Matt2107]

<<< Never had any bank charges of any sort.

[hendrix]

me either, come close a few times though

[Novadex]

i didn`t realise it was that simple! Im going up to the bank next week to ask for a list of all my charges. Must be a few hundred there and i could do with that at the mo!!