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You may wish
to write to your bank or credit company to provide them with an
opportunity to voluntarily refund charges. If they agree to do
so they will usually say 'we are refunding charges as a goodwill gesture'.
Below is a
letter in Word/PDF which you can use. You will need to amend
this to suit your own personal circumstances. Use letter 1
where your bank has charged you for declined or 'bounced'
transactions only; or letter 2 in all other cases, including where
transactions have been paid resulting in an unauthorised overdraft
and charges.
Make sure you
keep copies of the letters you send. (More
info - why two letters?) Please note: if the letter does
not download immediately, please 'rick click' and 'save target'.
You can then open the file.
Many people
have told us that their bank has refunded charges (in full or in
part) after sending the 'Step 1' letter. However, in some cases
banks have refused to provide any refund. The reasons given are
typically - you agreed to the charges; they are part of the terms and
conditions of your contract; our charges are no more than other banks
impose; or that the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract regulations
cannot operate to restrict the free market and agreed prices etc.,
Do not
despair. These arguments are ill-founded. If your bank refuses
a refund on one of these grounds, please consider sending our 'Step
2' letter (making the necessary adjustments to suit your
particular facts).
If you are
successful in getting charges refunded, let us know at: mail@bankcharges.info.
If you don't
get a response after 7 days, you should consider Step
3 - raising a small claims action for payment - Step
3 (England, Wales & NI); Step
3 (Scotland). However, if you do raise court
proceeedings you must be prepared to undertake all of the work
necessary to present your case - up to and including a full
evidential hearing.
Alternatively,
if you do not feel confident raising a small claims action, or you claim
is over the small claims limit (£5,000 in England & Wales,
£750 in Scotland, & £2,000 in Northern Ireland) you can
lodge a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman
Service. The Ombudsman can require your bank to refund your charges.
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