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Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 2:23 pm
by TheRobster
This has 'nowt to do with paving (sorry Tony) but thought it might be of interest to some people.
http://www.bankchargeshell.co.uk
Have you ever been charged excessive amounts by your bank because you have inadvertently exceeded your overdraft limit, or written a cheque that the bank has bounced? Or have you been fined by your building society, your credit card or store card company for not making a payment on time?
In 2003-2004, banks across the UK made £3billion from charging customers for unauthorised overdrafts alone: UK banks' £3bn overdraft 'sting'
What’s more, even a senior banking regulator thought they were iniquitous: Credit card penalty charges indefensible, says watchdog
Do you think this is unfair? The writers of this website certainly do and that is why we want to show you why these fines are legally unenforceable and how you can recover them.
My dad's currently in the process of attempting to reclaim £4000 from the Halifax and £1500 from Yorkshire Bank.
See also:
http://www.bankcharges.info
and:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/v...141050760,24632,
Banks annoy me so I'm letting everyone know about this in the hope that they get a taste of their own medicine. 
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 2:28 pm
by Ted
I heard a phone-in on Radio 2 the other day about this. Apparently one guy got £19,000 back from his bank, this is the most yet for one person. You have to really take the piss to rack up 19,000K of charges!
Anyway, I'm just starting the process now - getting the banks to send me statements going back six years etc.
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 5:18 pm
by lutonlagerlout
most of the people i know that incurr these charges are sitting in the pub whining about them
they dont seem able to see the correlation between p**sing their wages up the wall and being skint
i know there are exceptions,but it is a basic economic fact that if you spend more than you earn ,then you are in the mire
and for those who say" i don't earn enough"
get a better paid job,
i was in the same boat a few times, and i went for better paid jobs and stayed in for months on end to pay off debts
as my old man said to me "it's called the real world son"
on a plus note moneysavingexpert is a great site,i noticed a while back that a lot of ppl still pay rental for telephones that they have never even had,this is hidden under service charges
capitalist rant over
LLL 
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 6:38 pm
by Ted
I'd agree for the most part LLL.
But banks charge £40+ quid these days for sending out an automated letter that a computer writes for people going 20p over their limit. It certainly doesn't cost the bank £40+ quid if someone goes over their limit by 20p for a few days even if a computer does write them a letter. In the old days charges were more justified as a bank manager would write to you and he had to charge for his time. Obviously some people take the piss and go £1000s overdrawn without authorisation so the bank does have to charge in cases like these. But going £1000s overdrawn is different to going 20p overdrawn.
One case on the radio was about a woman on benefits living a very hand to mouth existence. Her benefits got messed up and she had no income for a few weeks. A direct debit bounced and she was charged and she ended up in a vicious circle whereby she got charged so when her benefit came in it did not clear her account so she was charged again and again etc etc and she ended up with bank charges of £4000 until the guy interviewed on the radio sorted it out for her. Maybe she should have really starved herself for a week or two to get back in credit but maybe the bank should have been a bit more understanding?
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 7:02 pm
by TheRobster
lutonlagerlout wrote:most of the people i know that incurr these charges are sitting in the pub whining about them
they dont seem able to see the correlation between p**sing their wages up the wall and being skint
i know there are exceptions,but it is a basic economic fact that if you spend more than you earn ,then you are in the mire
and for those who say" i don't earn enough"
get a better paid job,
i was in the same boat a few times, and i went for better paid jobs and stayed in for months on end to pay off debts
as my old man said to me "it's called the real world son"
on a plus note moneysavingexpert is a great site,i noticed a while back that a lot of ppl still pay rental for telephones that they have never even had,this is hidden under service charges
capitalist rant over
LLL
As Ted said, it's not about spending more than you earn. It's about banks charging ridiculous amounts of money when people go overdrawn.
For example, there's been times when my dad's been overdrawn by a couple of pounds for a day or two and the bank have charged him £25 in overdraft fees. Now legally they can only charge you an amount equivalent to the amount it costs them because you went overdrawn...so for been overdrawn by a couple of pounds for a day or two, this costs the bank pennies, not £25.
What they are actually doing is using overdraft charges to cover other people's bad debt, not your own. E.g. if "Joe Bloggs" goes bankrupt and cannot pay the bank the £1,000's he owes them then they cannot get the money from him. So what they do is spread his debt around everyone else by applying unfair bank charges whenever possible. So the vast majority of overdraft charges don't go towards paying your own fees, they go towards paying off other people's bad debt which has absolutely nothing to do with you at all.
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:46 pm
by Dave_L
Which reminds me - I must pay my credit card in time this month! :0
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:42 am
by lutonlagerlout
yes i understand your point robster and very valid it is too,i am just sore because out of myself and my 3 siblings i am the only one who works, i hate not working i start going mad
now where is my medication?
cheers LLL