unfair UK bank charges

Charitable community controlled law centre in Glasgow, UK.  Charity no: SCO 30193.   www.govanlc.com

amount of bank charges refunded from your e-mails
£592,824

highest single refund
£13,660

step 1 - send letter to your bank

step 2 - refused a refund? - send a final letter

step 3 - raise a court action:
[Scotland]
[England/Wales/Northern Ireland]

ignored? - send this letter

Not sure how many charges have been applied? - send a Data Protection Act letter (PDF version)

mortgage charges in Scotland

benefits & bank arrestment in Scotland

resources

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If you use information on this site please let us know if it's useful.  E-mail: mail@bankcharges.info (we only publish first names to protect your identity).   

 

Law centre helps 1 million people battle banks over unfair fees (post your comments online to the Evening Times and support Govan Law Centre)

 

your comments & experience

all e-mails - date listed - most recent first

[679] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: PF
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 5:27 PM
Subject: Scottish Court 

> Hi
> Has anyone taken Bank to Court for non-compliance of Data Protection Act 
> (Subject Access Request)?  I am looking for advice/help ie which form do 
> I use to do so in Scotland.  My local Sheriff Court were unable to 
> advise me which form I did this on!!!!  Furthermore they have also 
> stated that fee exemption/dispensation does not apply to small claims 
> which I do not believe is so.  Any help/advise.comments welcome please. [GLC note: DPA non-compliance should be dealt with by a complaint to the Information Commissioner in the first instance, not the court.  For how to do this click here; separately, fee exemptions (for those in receipt of certain benefits, tax credits or civil legal aid apply to all lodging dues - you can download the Scottish Courts Administration exemption form here (there are similar exemptions for England & Wales; and Northern Ireland].

 

[678] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Patricia
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 12:22 PM
Subject: re bank charges

i would just like to inform you i sucessfully had £1,168 returned with no argument from rbs -motherwell branch. thanx 2 the information on your site.

well done

 

[677] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Emma 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 8:09 PM
Subject: RBS charges

Thanks for your website and offer of help.

I sent the attached letter and info to RBS on 20/1/07 detailing that I have been charged just under £3,000 within the last 2 years!!! I have had no reply or an acknowledgment from them.

What do you think I should do? Letter 2 isn't really appropriate as they haven't said no yet. From reading comments on your site, other RBS customers have had the same problem.

Your support would be greatly appreciated.  [GLC note:  If your bank is refusing to reply or correspond, try sending our new 'Ignored? - send this letter'].

Emma 

 

[676] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Russ
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 6:03 AM
Subject: Bank of Scotland

I received my statements for my account with the Bank of Scotland in November, totalled up the charges and it came to £747.00  Wrote letter one and 8 weeks later they sent me a letter offering £640.00.  I refused to accept this and telephoned the customer service number and I disputed this with the agent.  She finally agreed to refund all my charges in full.  Charges were reimbursed into my account last week. 

This website is invaluable and I have informed everyone at my work to do the same!!!!  

Russ

 

[675] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Barbara
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 10:14 AM
Subject: Halifax refund 

Hi 

Used your letter to request details of all my charges over the past 6 years, giving them 40 days to respond as I had not kepr statement details.

The bank called me after about 25 days and asked if I was going to persue a refund 

I advised them I was. They then asked it we could resolve it in a conversation on the phone. gave me all the details and advise me that I had had £1900 in charges over 6 years

They offered to send details told them It was ok I believed them. They offered £900 to settle there and then.

I refused and said while they probably had a right to charge me I though the charge was excessive at £39.00 so I offered to settle at 2/3rds (£12.00 as per the OFT )

Said I would accept £1300. They settled there and then on the phone, sent me a letter of confirmation in the post the next day which I returned same day and the money was in my account in 2 days.

I must say I feel they have been fair and I was happy to settle without having to go through all the letters.

It was £1300 I didn't have before so I am happy.

Barbara 

 

[674] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: joanna  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 5:34 PM
Subject: NATWEST!!!

Hi,We worked out that over the last 6 yrs NATWEST had charged us over £3000,thanks to this website we sent letters 1 & 2 but received no reply,so I rang the Ombudsman  and filed a complaint I have been told by the Ombudsman today that Natwest are offering us the full £3298 in charges in writing (we have yet to receive the letter). The Ombudsman also told me that anyone that has gone through them for their bank charges has so far received 100%. Court is a good option but for those of us that don't know how or cant afford the fee up front the OMBUDSMAN is there to help,they understand and are very helpful and FREE.Thanks for a brill website, without it we wouldn't have known this was possible.Goodluck to everyone out there still trying to BEAT the BANKS!!!

 

[673] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ken 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 4:17 PM
Subject: refund of charges

> HI, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR EXELENT WEB SITE,WE ARE CLAIMING OUR CHARGES BACK AS A FAMILY AND SO FAR HAVE RECEIVED £3500 BACK INTO MY ACCOUNT.(keep up the good work.) REGARDS KENNEY

 

[672] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Roderick 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 8:51 AM
Subject: Court Case against Abbey

I have filed yesterday a case against Abbey National for £3115 in bank charges. See attached the content of the filing.

I went through the whole procedure before this and was treated very badly by them. Loads of conflicting advice.  Some things I was told:

1. we dont have to sent you statements and if you dont have them you cant go to court

2. we dont have managers here you can speak to but we'll call you back (never did)

3. you can go to small claims court unless you first complain to the financial ombudsman

4. charges "that what you get for taking the banks money"

When I asked them for £3500 they "offered" me £385 as a "goodwill gesture". I refused it but they insisted on leaving it in my account. They then advised that because they could show I had already received a payment I couldnt got to small claims court.

From reading your site I had hoped things wouldnt be this difficult but Abbey do seem to be one of the worst banks for claiming refunds.

Roderick

 

[671] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stuart 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 9:15 AM
Subject: Alliance & Leicester Success

Procedure followed as per instructions, a full refund of £600 received after lodging a smalls claims action. Their letter contained a statement not admitting legal liability and also a threat of further action which created a smile as the account is closed. At the same time they have defended the court action.

Stuart

 

[670] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kellaway, Vicki - The Lincoln Echo
To: mail@bankcharges.info
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: RE: Media enquiry

Do you live in Lincolnshire? Have you received unreasonably high bank charges? Are you contesting them in court? Have you won your charges back from your bank? The Lincolnshire Echo newspaper, which covers areas including Lincoln, Gainsborough and Sleaford, is looking for people from these areas, and surrounding villages, who would be interested in sharing their experiences. Please call reporter Vicki Kellaway on 01522 804328 or email her on vicki.kellaway@lincolnshireecho.co.uk

 

[669] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Paul 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 7:18 PM
Subject: RBS Bank charges

Hi,

Thanks for your helpful information and your letters also. 

I sent letter 1 from your site and received a reply from RBS within a week asking me for more detail of the charges and sent me a reprint of my bank statements free of charge. I sent another letter detailing all of these charges and received another letter a week letter advising they would consider my request.

I received a final letter today (30/01/07) advising that while they don't accept my complaint, they will give me £940 as a gesture of good will. This is the full amount that I had asked for!!

Once again thanks!

 

[668] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: janet
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 7:11 PM
Subject: HSBC

thank you for your website.  what a result.  sent letter one on 6 Jan 07 claiming £3,000 from 3 accounts over 6 years.  received offer today, which we have accepted, for £2,925.

 

[667] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jim 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 3:39 PM
Subject: Excellent advice

Thanks to this great web site, I have been able to reclaim £720 from Halifax Bank of Scotland for a period from Nov 2001 to mid 2004.  As being in Scotland, you can only claim up to £700 in small claims court, but they repaid the fees charged and the interest calculated, and also paid the £39 filing fee.  I followed the manner of letters provided by the site.  They first offered £300 for the entire amount suggested of about £1400, but I refused. After the second letter, no response other than a phone call which I did not take and did reply to. Then filing the small claims court and made it for the period indicated. I still have approximately £500 still outstanding on charges from mid 2004 to present date, but will persue that a bit later.

Once again many thanks for your excellent advice and manner in which to claim back these charges from over zealous banks. 

Thanks Jim 

 

[666] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: James  
To: m@govanlc.com 
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 11:18 AM
Subject: bank refund- got it

hi I only contacted the Coop Bank 17 Jan with step 1 and 2 and also requested  6 years statements.  out of the blue today we received £769.50

this does not include debit interest or overdraft arrangement fees but we will settle

all I wish to do is thank you so much

I don’t know whether I told you before all this came from a really nasty trick the Bank did on one day in January

they let my switchcard through at lidl £11 and Halfords £8 and charged £35 each time, the same day they stopped a cheque for the newsagent £7 and charged £35 for that so a weeks papers, car shampoo and kitchen towels cost me £105

if this happened to everyone it would be a crime

so I cant thank you enough and hope that you keep up the good work

yours

James

 

[665] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Adele
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 11:49 AM
Subject: bank charges

letter sent off today (30/1/07) recorded delivery to the bank of scotland - I've only went back on charges over 5 years - the total os £3787!

Including over £1000 for last year - all sent via email! Which costs pennies and not the £30 a time they charged me - worst month was May when I was away with my son in hospital in England - they charged me £653!

Anyway I'll wait and see what happens - but thanks to the feedback on your site I now know - stick with it to the end!!

Adele, Glasgow

 
[664] (posted late) ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Andy 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 2:41 PM
Subject: Natwest Refund

I would like to say a huge thanks for information on your site, I recently used step 1 letter to request a refund of £2,795 from the Nat West Bank.  Although this can be a long process it is worthwhile.  I received an letter stating the usual that they believe charges were fair  blah blah blah but as an exceptional matter would offer me £1,400. I had a loan with the bank with a balance £2,650 which if settled would cost £2,228. As I wanted to pay off this loan I spoke to the Manager and stated if they refunded enough money to pay the loan I would not persue the claim any further and would use the funds clear the outstanding debt.  It did nt take long for them to come back to me and agree so I if you have outstanding debt and are willing to use the money to pay it off it can help you get more money back without having to send step 2 letter. Good luck to everyone trying, keep at it and don’t give up !!!

 

[663] (posted late) ----- Original Message ----- 
From: darren.
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 1:39 PM
Subject: Halifax bank charges refunded in full!!! £6174

> Dear Govan Law Centre
> A big thank you for your site.  Thanks to your information and the letter 
> templates which I hve followed to the letter I have just recieved £6174 in 
> my bank account from Halifax.
> I began the process several months ago with the first letter requesting 6 
> years worth of statements.  This was an ordeal in itself because they sent 
> me the last 2 years worth of statements twice before telling me that the 
> system couldnt handle such a request.  It had to be actioned manually.
> I then took a couple of months to compile the list of charges into the 
> first letter. and still did not send it for a few more weeks.  The first 
> letters, (one for honoured transactions and the other for dishonoured 
> transactions were sent on the 11th October 2006. A reply was recieved on 
> 14th October stating that Halifax disagreed with the the OFT's findings 
> and that I would not be offered a refund, and that if I was still 
> dissatisfied to go through the Ombudsman.
> Letter 2 was duly sent on 14th October with a similar reply being recieved 
> on 19th October.  No offer had been made as a gesture of good will.
> I sent a 3rd letter on 19th October stating that it would be innapropriate 
> to tadke my complaint to the Ombudsman, and that I would be submitting my 
> claim through the court on 20th October.
> Unfortunately, due to the Halifax levying a further £250 in charges to my 
> account in the meantime, I was unable to submit my claim to the small 
> claims court until 24th October.  I did this on-line.  It was so simple.
> I monitored my claims progress on line noting that it was acknowledged on 
> 3rd November.  This was followed by hard copy of the acknowledgement in 
> the post.  I was at first dismayed to read that Halifax would be 
> deffending the entire claim.  I was expecting to have to appear in court 
> in early December.
> However, On Friday 10th November I was ecstacic to open my on-line banking
> to discover 2 deposits had been made into my account, the first for £5924 
> (my claim) and the 2nd for £250, this being the court costs.
> I have yet to recieve any further communictions from Halifax regarding 
> closing my account, although I am expecting it.
> I must urge anyone who has been a victim such as I have to follow these 
> initially time consuming steps. The end result is difinately worth the 
> effort.
> I had a £500 overdraft with my bank, and on many occasions asked before 
> exceeding my limit if it could be temprarily extended to cover known 
> expenses until I could replenish my account. Every time I was denied, and 
> because of this it has been Halifax that has kept me down for so many 
> years.
> My initial demise was not through banking foolishness, but through a 
> matrimonial breakdown and an unscrupulous business partner.  So it would 
> clearly pay the big banking institutions to listen more closely to the 
> needs and requests of thier customers.
> This customer certainly feels like he is KING right now.
> Well done Govan, and once again a big thankyou.  Keep up the fantastic 
> work.   Darren 
> Worcestershire 

 

[662] (posted late) ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jane  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 11:01 AM
Subject: Royal Bank of Scotland

I have to amdit to being a bit sceptical when I first had your website link passed to me but thought hey ho nothing ventured nothing gained.  I graduated this year and while I was a student I had around £1500 of charges applied to my account for one thing and another.  I followed your instructions and sent letter one only to be told no sorry we worked within your terms and conditions and don't agree with the OFT.  I sent letter two and one week later received a no admission of guilt but as a goodwill gesture offer letter to refund £961.  I realise I could have tried to have this offer increased but decided to accept it and funds will be paid into my account within 5 days.

Thank you for your help and advice as I had actually previously tried to have charges refunded at branch level over a year ago only to be told no, so this was a major result for me.

 

[661] (posted late) ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Darren  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 10:44 AM
Subject: HSBC

Dear all, I must say a huge thankyou to my buddy wayne who sent me a link to your website and a massive thankyou to you for providing the templates and information needed to get MY money back. I sent your step 1 letter together with a £10 cheque to HSBC requesting a list of charges. Within 2 weeks they replied saying that this information will follow shortly and enclosed my cheque saying that there wouldnt be any cost.

After 2 weeks or so and 60 statements being posted through the letter box I ascertained the amount of charges and followed the step 2 letter. After 6 weeks still had no reply so I emailed and rang them asking for a response or I would seek legal advice and issue preccedings. Within 4 days I had the response I wanted, I asked for £1,750.00 to be refunded and they made me an offer of £1,500.00 on the basis that they were not accepting liability. So I am going to take the money and run! Thanks again!

 

[660] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sam
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 7:29 AM
Subject: Natwest 

Hi,

Thank you for your site, I used the first letter to Natwest and got a full refund straight away of £1700.00. A good will gesture they said but truth is that they know they have ripped people off.

Thanks 

Sam, London

 

[659] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Craig 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 10:57 PM
Subject: b of s refund

Just received £789 from Bank of Scotland after taking out a small claims court action. I am now taking out another to get more due money back. Thanks for the helpful website

 

[658] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Bridgette
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:42 PM
Subject: Cooperative bank charges

Hi I have just received £1120 from the cooperative bank today for charges they took within the last year from my accounts.

I will be going back 5 years to claim as I know they have charged me more.

Regards

Bridgette

 

[657] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rach 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:33 PM
Subject: Unfair bank charges

I would just like to say thank you for providing such a wonderful resource and the support to go after the "big" banks.  I sent a letter to Natwest 7 days ago requesting the refund of my unfair bank charges - and to my surprise I received a letter stating that they would be refunding the charges to my account!

The letter I sent was the first letter you recommended to send. I just added a little detail about how I had been banking with them for 15 years, always been in credit etc and sent it on its way directly to my branch manager with a copy to head office.

I have been so pleased with the result I just want to let other people discovering your website as I did - that it is possible!  I thought my amount was small and wouldn't be worth chasing - but believe me it is!!

Thank you - without your website and resources I still would probably be wondering how to word my letter!!

Rachel

 

[656] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Radigan 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 7:11 PM
Subject: charges back 

Many thanks we used the letter and sent it to our bank in December and on 27th January we had a reply. They are going to pay us a substantial amount back or as they put it a good will gesture. I would advise anyone who has been hit by these bank charges to send this letter and hopefully they too will receive their money back.

 

[655] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tom  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 6:49 PM
Subject: Halifax Hits Back - A Warning!

Hi,

Just to let everyone know Halifax Plc has just refunded in total over £5000 in charges covering the last 5 years.

It came at a price. As a Halifax customer for over 40 years and after being messed about I raised several complaints with the Halifax regarding treatment from telephone and branch staff. My account was suspended all my income for four weeks was snatched by Halifax. I was told, never written to, it was because I '..complained about charges'.

Why? Because I foolishly told them if nothing was to be done I would take my complaint to Financial Ombudsman Service. I am now in a position where I cannot pay mortgage or some bills because they only accept payment through Direct Debit.

So heed my advice open up another account with another bank before you declare what a bank now clearly sees as 'open warfare'.

Halifax may have given me £5000 on paper but have manipulated figures and caused me at least the same in damage to my creditworthyness as well as distress to my family.

If full refund which I got, was offered at start all distress would have been avoided.

These are people who don't care about you, or anyone else, they just want to make a fast buck.

Don't let them win but don't lose out either.

Tom

 

[654]  ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jason 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 9:43 PM
Subject: Bank charge refund.

Thanks for all the useful info on your site! I eventually got a refund of £190 off of the Bank of Scotland after a period of several months of letters. At first they point blank refused to refund late payment fees on a credit card, after a while I was offered £95 as a token of their commitment to me as a valued customer! A couple of letters later I was repaid all charges out of court as a further gesture of their commitment to me as a customer, although they refused to admit that they were acting in an unlawful manner. Thanks once again, I probably wouldn't have got the refund without your site. Well done!!

Cheers!

Jason

 

[653] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Russell  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 4:27 PM
Subject: Three succesful claims

Thank you for the help and advice on your website.  I have pursued three main protagonists:

Halifax plc - £2,200

Claimed a refund for all bank charges going back 6 years.  They made an offer of £1,000 in response to a letter before action, which I refused. After no further response, I issued an online claim.  Halifax filed a standard acknowledgement but paid in full before the end of the 28 day deadline to file a defence.

Capital One - £1,800

Claimed a refund for all credit card charges going back 6 years.  They made an offer of £500 in response to a first letter, which I refused. After no response to a final letter before action, I issued an online claim.  Capital one filed a standard acknowledgement but paid in full before the end of the 28 day deadline to file a defence.

"The Woolwich" as Barclays Bank plc - £2,800

Claimed a refund for all bank charges going back 6 years, plus their own penalty interest rate.  They made an offer of £1,000 after I issued an online claim.  Barclays filed a standard acknowledgement and then entered a very detailed defence, clearly designed to deter the faint hearted.  The claim was referred to my local court and I had to pay another £100 to have the a claim allocated to a particlur track.  I provided full claim details to the court and Barclays paid in full (including the additional court fees) a week before the first hearing date.

Halifax plc - £2,200

Three months after the first claim was settled, Halifax transferred £190 from my bank account to my credit card account without permission or notice before or after the event.  This caused a further raft of charges and interest to build up and they made derisory offers to refund small amounts of my own money in response to the usual letters.  I issued a new claim a week ago and have added full penalty interest at their own rate, plus my own charges of £12 per item for my won administration costs and inconvenience caused by denial of access to my own money.

Barclaycard, GE Money, Mint, Amex 

Have all refunded individual charges in response to one-off letters.

Yours Faithfully,

Russell 

 

[652] ----- Original Message ----- 

From: margaret
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 1:48 AM
Subject: refunded bank charges

hi there just thought i would let you know that i received a refund from my bank.last year alone i paid over £1200 in charges as i had been out of work for a few months,they gave me back £640 but i am writing to the manager again for a further refund on charges i incurred in 2005 as i have been informed that you can backdate a few years.

thank you 

margaret 

 

[651]  ----- Original Message -----
From: Paul
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 10:02 PM
Subject: Bank Charges

Still pursuing for some other friends and Family, but so far results have been pretty impressive.

SELF
Monument Credit Card (Barclays) £988.73 Settled in full
MBNA EuroBank £485.00 Settled in full
MBNA EuroBank £2500.00 Settled in full
Marbles Card(HFC Bank)£2300.00 Settled in full
Nationwide Buildind Society £3000.00 Settled in full

BROTHER: HBOS £1900.00 Settled in full

In Law: HBOS £1870.00 Settled in full

InLaw: BOS £617.00 Settled in full.

All paid out after receiving Courtletter. Not one went to Court!!

 

[650] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Marc
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 1:38 PM
Subject: Nationwide.

Claimed 6 years charges for 2 accounts, £3019. Paid full amount claimed in 1 month before court action. EASY.

Marc

 

[649] Original Message ----- 
From: tony 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 12:06 PM
Subject: un fair bank charges

I have just won an out of court settlement with lloyds tsb for £2000
i was supposed to go to court on the 30th of this month.
Lloyds will take you all the way and as in my case pay out when you 
decided to follow through with court action.

tony london

 

[648] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rachel
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 2:13 PM
Subject: unfair charges 

having recieved £1789 refunded in charges from NATWEST i gleefully accepted even though they stood firm in there FINAL decision which was no(HA) I took my case to the financial ombudsman who were very good in helping the NATWEST come to there (OTHER FINAL DECISION) which definetley helped out with xmas. thankyou so much for this site its been a god send.  .........please be aware of other sites who claim to help you get a refund for a percentage because tho financial ombudsman do it for free without going to court aswell..with lots of thanks rachel x

 

[647] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kerry 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 11:14 AM
Subject: Bank Charges

I have just received £3749 as a "full refund" from Bank of Scotland. 

Thank you. 

Kerry 

 

[646] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: dawn
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 8:42 PM
Subject: we got our money back 

thank you very much , we followed your advice and we have recieved an offer of £8204 . the full amount that we claimed for , all it took was two letters and a phone call to the halifax,bank of scotland telling them that i would not accept an offer that it would have to be the full amount or i would take them to court and would claim the interest on that amount . i didnt answer their calls to me i waited for a letter and it came with the full offer . so anybody out there doing this just keep at them . dont be nasty but be firm and you will get your money

thanks andy 

highlands

 

[645] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: stewart
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 4:06 PM
Subject: Got a refund.

> Thanks for the advice I sent letter one 2 weeks ago - heard nothing then sent letter 2 - 5 days after sending this I was sent a letter from RBOS offering me a settlement figure of £1816!! Amazing the full amount and not arguing!!
> Delighted with this - they also said in their letter they would offer me a different account if we ever went into more charges, but thats okay as I have opened another account for security.  Thanks for all your help.

 

[644] ----- Oriinal Message ----- 
From: Helen
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 2:07 PM
Subject: I got a refund

I sent the first letter to them and altho they said in their letter (RBS) they found their charges fair they would refund £114.00.

Thanks so much 

Helen

 

[643] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: keith
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 11:18 AM
Subject: bank refund

hi i recived an offer from barclays of £725.00 this morning this has been 9 days from start to finish,could you tell me if i should accept this offer or ask them for more as they owe a lot more than this amount or shall i just accept it [GLC note: see our comment to e-mail [163] below].

regard 

keith

 

[642] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Carol
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 10:39 PM
Subject: I won

Hi Guys, its Carol, again just thought I would say a great big thank you for this site and the advice and encouragement given. I can now confirm I have received £3,685 from my 3 RSB accounts, all I can say is hold your nerve it’s worth it the end I think brings my total to to nearly £5,000. So once again hang in there and thank you

Carol 

 

[641] ----- Original Message -----
From: Gerry
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 1:34 PM 
Subject: Unfair Charges 

Sir, 
I have just recieved £190 in refunds(full amount) from The Royal Bank of Scotland due in unfair charges as a result of declined transactions. Of course the 2 page letter from the bank did include the immortal phrase,'..we are refunding charges as a goodwill gesture..', but I will not hesitate to use the 'Govan Law Letter' again in the future , if the need arises.
I will also be spreading the good work that you do all my family and friends, and thank you for your public spirited effort to rid this pollution from our society.
Yours 
Gerry 
Coatbridge.

 

[640] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: daniel
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 12:23 PM 
Subject: HSBC refund 

I got my letter this morning refunding £350 for charges made when i went over my overdraft limit
I had no problems at all with HSBC refunding me the money. 
Thanks 
Dan

 

[639] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: HPW
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 11:23 PM 
Subject: HALIFAX REFUND. 

Just to say thank you for such a useful site.
I have just had a £1300 refund from the Halifax. I started the process in September 06 and it went as far the Halifax stating that they were going to defend the claim in court&ldots;
Today I received my money back in full with no explanation - as yet&ldots;I have had to use all the letters and issue a summons (£120) . I am now back in the black which is where I was before being charged ludicrous amounts for going an initial £5 overdrawn ( and being charged £58 for the privilege&ldots;..)
Do not be intimidated by the banks threatening letters. Just keep referring back to this site for information and other claimant's experiences&ldots;it's worth the effort&ldots;
Thanks again
HPW

 

[638] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: michelle
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 11:01 PM 
Subject: bank charges refunded!!!! 

THANK YOU SO MUCH !!! 
After following your advice and sending the first letter, I have just recieved a letter from the Bank of Scotland offering to refund the full amount of charges £617.00 as a goodwill gesture, although they stated clearly that any future charges will stand and they will close my account should I fail to manage it correctly etc etc.....
So I guess i'll be looking for a new bank very soon then as I have just recieved two new charges or would I be pushing my luck to try and claim those back too!!
THANKS AGAIN 
Michelle

 

[637] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Susan
To: m@govanlc.com 
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 7:52 PM 
Subject: unfair bank charges 

Dear All, 
reading the emails sent to you gave me the courage to go for my unfair charges, so it is only fair to tell my success stories to encourage others. I sent letter 1 to Bank of Scotland - £520, RBOS - £320 and Clydesdale Bank - £460. The first two sent me a letter saying they would look into the matter before settling in full although the RBOS says any further claims and they will not be willing to allow me to keep my current account. The Clydesdale bank have sent me a cheque for £260 and on sending the second letter have still dug their heels in, so it is off to court with them. I also sent a letter to Egg credit card who have threatened to make me pay my full amount of debt immediately if I pursue the matter, would appreciate advice on that one. However, keep reading the letters and go for it everyone. Also, when you receive a result please email to give others encouragement to do so
Thanks a lot 
Susan

 

[636] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Neil
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 5:48 PM 
Subject: Abbey

I sent your first letter in December and the Abbey said they needed 4 weeks to have a look. 
Today, when I checked my account, they refunded the full £280! 
Thanks for the great info and advice!

 

[635] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Prince
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 12:15 PM 

I claimed a refund from HSBC worth £ 580.00. After 15 days I got a letter offering £ 567.00. Result!
Of course, they stated that this was no admission of liability and that they are only settling for economic reasons.
Everyone should go for it&ldots; it only takes a few minutes of your time and a letter sent by registered mail.

 

[634] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: martin
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:58 PM 
Subject: (no subject) 

I would like to let you know that I was offered all of my bank charges going back to when I first open my account which is £3,266 I would like to take this opportunity to thank your company for the two letters I used in order for me to successfully get all of my unfair bank charges back.
Martin

 

[633] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dionne
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 3:06 PM 
Subject: Barclays & Woolwich 

Just a quick note to let you know I used the information provided on your website and I have received £350 from Woolwich and £300 from BarclayCard. In both cases, this was half of the amount of the total charge I requested to recover, as they claim they deducted the £12 they are legally entitled to charge. I sent the second letter to BarclayCard challenging the decision, however they wrote back stating that was the only amount I was going to receive and then they credited the money to my account even though I hadn't accepted. I'm not taking the matter any further as I don't have the time to do so right now. However, I am in the process of recovering the charges incurred on my MINT credit card. I will let you know how it goes. Just wanted to let you know how much money I have received so far and to say a big: 'Thank you!'.
Dionne

 

[632] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Colin
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 2:54 PM 
Subject: successful claim 

I too was successful in claiming charges back from Alliance and Leicester, although only a few hundred pounds, £560, the principle was the same. Alliance and Leicester tried every threat and trick in the book but ultimately they paid up, with my costs included as well. Never ever back down.More power to your web site
Colin

 

[631]  ----- Original Message ----- 
From: dale
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 2:05 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

Dear Govan 
thanks for all the info on bank charges, I claimed £1.350.00 from barclays on the 2 Jan 2007. then in todays post 17th jan 2007 I got an offer for £1.000 thats just after the first letter.
I am not exepting this offer, and i will be going for the full amount plus the intrest. 
thanks again 
Dale

 

[630] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Robin 
To: male@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 7:49 PM
Subject: refunded bank charges

After a lot of hassle the Halifax paid out the full amount of my claim £3100+£120 court fees on the 29 December 2006.  I started my claim in July 06.  The Halifax refused at first to make any payment, they then made a goodwill offer of £1100 which I refused.  They followed this up with some quite intimidating letters suggesting I contact the ombudsman etc, but I read your site again which gave me the confidence to see it through to the very end.  At the beginning of December 06 I issued court proceedings against the Halifax and on the 29 December 2006 the full amount of my claim appeared in my bank account.  A few days later I received a letter from the court advising me that the Halifax were going to defend the claim.  I then received a letter from the Halifax confirming they were going to defend the claim even though they had already paid out.  I then received a letter from the Halifax saying that they were not going to defend the claim purely for economic reasons.

I would advise anybody who is having second thoughts to see it through, you will get your money. Thank you for your invaluable information.

Robin

 

[629] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Graeme
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 2:51 PM 
Subject: First Direct 
My bank charges over 6 years were well in excess of the small claims limit of £5,000. I went to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is a free, easy to use system. After only 2 months, First Direct have agreed to refund £6664, my initial claim in full. Don't be afraid of the power of the banks, even they are subject to the law of the land. Thankyou for providing such a useful site, especially the letters, I've recommended it to many people, it just shows what people power can achieve, Many Thanks, Graeme

 

[628] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: THOMAS M
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 6:56 PM 

Thank you very much for all your advice. After requesting my bank charges of £532 to be refunded from RBS, they have offered me a full refund. That was after only sending the first letter. Thanks a Million. That's a total of £1500 we have had refunded in the last 3 months.
Thomas & Claire

 

[627] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: MORRAY  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 3:59 PM 
Subject: refund from barclays 
Wow, a friend told me about this site, but to be honest did not believe it would ever work. That was until i did all as per instructed and then received a cheque from Barclays for £470.00. So I feel it only appropriate to thank you, and to spread the word to all my friends, Morray

 

[626] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: John
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 8:55 PM 
Subject: Halifax Charges 
Dear Sirs 
Thanks for all the fantastic information on your website. Halifax have settled today for £1,408. This is only around 50% of the charges however more than I ever dreamed of getting back.
Thanks for your help 

 

[625] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: X
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 4:43 PM 
Subject: Rbs?First Direct/Lloydstsb 

Just to let you know I have recovered thus far the following as a result of following your advice; 
RBS £879 
LTSB £310 
First Direct £485 
Total: £1,674 
LTSB made an immediate offer in full following my second letter. First Direct made the offer in full following my first letter and RBS paid up after failing to acknowledge my claim filed in court and after judgement was entered......after a threat of the bailiffs and a member of the financial press present to witness the bailiffs entering the RBS branch. Almost disappointed it didn't happen. I am in the process of filing a second claim with RBS, they have entered a defence, but my its poor. RBS' solicitors (not the courts) have asked me to provide further info on the charges. As all the details were supplied on a spreadsheet with my request for a refund, I have told them in no uncertain terms that I will not assist them in their defence of the claim and that they need to recover all documentation from their client, including my correspondence. In all honesty I think they are banking on the defence looking intimidating - but trust me when you break it down, it boils down to them hoping to get it thrown out on a technicality - which I have ensured can't happen!!!
DO NOT ACCEPT 'gestures of goodwill' for reduced settlements. I work in banking and from an insider's point of view I can assure you, you will get your money. Banks are seeing these claims every day and in some instances have hired specialist teams merely to deal with the increased bulk of payments made as a direct result of bank charges claims. The majority of banks anticipate at some stage if the customer pushes hard enough, paying these claims.....it is cheaper than contesting them. Equally, the influx of claims and the investigation that is currently underway into bank charges by the OFT is as a direct result of the consumer's complaints. The British Banking Association has reluctantly agreed to assist in the compilation of the report......but the banks are unhappy as the reduction in these charges which is likely to be enforced following the report's completion, signify a substantial decrease in the banks' income......in a retail banking market that has become very competitive!!!
Well, I shall follow this up with an update on my second RBS claim when its all decided. 

 

[624] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Chris 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 9:39 AM 
Subject: Bank of Scotland Charges 
Thanks so much for your help. Please add another £1250.00 to your total. 
Chris

 

[623] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Derek  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 9:41 PM 
Subject: Refund of Bank Charges

Dear Sir 
Further to all the good advice available on your excellent web site I approached LloydsTSB for the refund of £250.00 charged to my account over the previous six year period. After the second letter relating to court action, the full amount was replaced into my account.
Thank you 
Jenny
Northampton

 

[622] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sarah
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 6:52 PM 
Subject: Thank you! 

I just wanted to say thank you for an excellent web site and advice. I sent the first letter to Abbey three weeks ago to reclaim charges of £220 incurred over the past three months.
I have just received full reimbursement of these charges from Abbey and can't believe how easy it was to claim this back.
Many thanks again. 

 

[621] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Angie
To: m@govanlc.com 
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 3:50 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 

Hi 
I hope you can help me. Your web page on bank charges is wonderful and thanks to you I received an offer of £4092 which I have accepted, however the Bank of Scotland that I have had the problems with and who have given me the money are not so keen on lifting the Defaults that they placed on my husband and I, defaults that were only there because of the amount of charges they were placing on the account every month. I have written to them further regarding this, can you help any as this is the only problem we have on our credit files and this was only placed on us due to the level of charges that were on our account. we spoke to them continuously and they did not at any time help us and they also did not inform us of the defaults.
Can you help??? 
Thanks 
Angie

 

[620] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: david
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 3:42 PM 
Subject: Refund!!!! 

> Thanks Govan law!!!!

> Got a letter from Bank of Scotland today to tell me that they will be 
> refunding all my charges.... A WOPPING £5000... yip thats FIVE THOUSAND 
> POUNDS :-) :-) ;-)

> Thanks so much for all your help!!!

> David

 

[619] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Peggy
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 4:54 PM 
Subject: Nationwide refund 

Dear all at Govan Law Centre 
Many Thanks. 
I recently used your letter templates Steps 1 and 2 in order to write to Nationwide. They had taken £120 from my account for 4 direct debits that were 'over limit', Nationwide did not inform us of this in any way - my wife noticed the money had been taken while checking our account online. I received a polite refusal from Nationwide and offers of their complaints procedure. Ten days after sending Step 2 letter I registered a Court claim online, this was issued to Nationwide officially on 4 January. I have just received a letter from Nationwide acknowledging that they have repaid £150 into my account (£120 returned fee and £30 Court costs), they did not mention the word 'Court' in their letter - presumably I am meant to believe that the Court action played no part in their decision to refund!!
Many thanks for fantastic site

 

[618] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Errol
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 4:16 PM 
Subject: step 1 

hi, 
I have just received a letter from Barclay's offering £430 for the past six years of charges incurred however they amount to £830 which is a bit of a difference. so I am sending them letter 2 to demand the full refund.
many thanks for this useful info, 
Errol 

 

[617] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: brendy 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 4:11 PM 
Subject: Result! 

Hi i emailed you just over a week ago outlining my intention to demand up to 12 years worth of charges refunding. Well today on the phone i managet to get £1067 dating back to Feb last year that department advised me to forward the letter onto another dept (concerns and queries team) regarding the previous 11 years.
Thankyou for the advice and If/when I get more refunds ill fire another email your way! 
Regards 
Brendy

 

[616] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: jehangir  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 12:56 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges - First Direct 

Good day to everyone.  By following the steps laid on this website I have successfully retrieved £735.00 back from First Direct in charges I have paid. I only recently became aware of this website via a friend and now recommend this website to everyone I speak to and state that I am proof that it can be done. I also show them the letter from First Direct that states that they stand by their charges and only on commercial basis credit this amount as the time and effort for them to go to court would not be viable.
To be honest I found that First Direct were very co-operative and that they even sent out the last 6 years statements free of charge. All I can say that to anyone and everyone is to carry on fighting for your money from unfair charges.
This whole process just took a few hours out of my time and now I can start 2007 with an extra financial boost.
Good luck 

 

[615] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: helen 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 7:01 PM 
Subject: HSBC bank charges 
Hi, 
I sent letter number 1 back in October 2006. I was able to do this quickly as i had a registered online account. I was able to go back 5 years and retrieve all of my statements. The charges amounted to £466.00. I did not receive a reply, so i sent the same letter again in November 2006 asking why they had not responded and could they please do so ASAP. I received a letter telling me they were looking into the case and i would hear back from them by 2nd January 2007. In December i received a FULL refund of £466.00 which they put in my account immediately. A great start to the New Year!!! Thank you so much for all your help.
Helen, Carlisle

 

[614] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Carol  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 5:36 PM 
Subject: Abbey National Refund 

I just had £340 refunded from Abbey, thank you so much for providing this service.

 

[613] ----- Original Message ----- 
From:  A
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 3:37 AM 
Subject: RE: Reclaiming from LLOYDS TSB -Successful 

Hi,

I have been pursuing Lloyds Bank, for my charges, amounting to
£935.06, I started this in Oct 2006, Today (04 Jan 2007)i have
recieved a letter from LLoyds (Paul Touff - Customer Service Officer)
that they will credit £750.00 into my account within the next few
days!! - Now.... I am considering rejecting this and demanding my
full claimed amount? I'll have to sleep on this!!

And this was before i actually sent the Court Claim Form!
I am now considering to attack my other banks/credit card companies.
I will keep you posted-----

 

[612] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Chelt
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 8:54 PM 
Subject: (no subject) 

Hi Big thankyou ..... your site has been so useful... I bank with RBS i went 
through all my statements and charges where just over £1600, i sent first 
letter, i had no response for at least 3 weeks i called them, it seemed they were 
constantly fobbing me off. At last 2 months later they have agreed to pay the 
whole amount back.... excellent and this was there first offer.... I am well 
chuffed.... thanks 

 

[611] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: DAVID  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 8:55 PM 
Subject: Royal Bank of Scotland 

Dear All, 
Many thanks for your invaluable advice. I Wrote to RBS using the template for the 1st letter just before Christmas claiming £310.00 from the last six years. Today I received a reply offering a full refund !! what can I say, just off to draft the same letter re my partners Halifax account, I`ll keep you posted.
Wishing you all a happy and prosperous New Year, ours is, thanks to you 
Regards 
Dave 

 

[610] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jacqueline  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 5:02 PM 
Subject: hi 

Hi, 
I received £750.00 from my bank. I was asking for £4,000.00 back from charges incurring over the last three years. In one way I am pleased to receive some monies but on the other it is a far cry from the amount I asked for.
Please advise me if I should one more time to see if I can get more of these charges recouped. 
With kind regards, 
jacqueline 

 

[609] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: C
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 6:12 PM 
Subject: Refund bank charges 
Bank charges claimed :£750 
Refunded: £750 
Last six years (lloyds tsb) 

 

THANKS to your website i received full compensation for my claim today.I sent standard first letter and recieved a knockback for charges.I then sent my own 2nd letter saying how can the justify £30 for sending a punched out letter from a computer telling me i was overdrawn.I received letter today telling me "as a gesture of goodwill" they will refund my charges.So people get claiming your money back.

 

[608] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Steven  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 3:05 PM 
Subject: Barclays 

Hi,
Many thanks for your help but I'm after one quick question.
I sent step one to Barclays and straight away got offered £1k! Do I accept and if not can they go back on it?
Thanks 
Steve

 

[607] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Leigh
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 6:18 PM 
Subject: HSBC Bank Charges 

> Hi,

> I just wanted to thank you for your assistance in recovering excess 
> charges from my bank. I sent off Letter 1 a couple of months ago to HSBC 
> head office to recover £570 of charges that had been applied to my 
> account. I recieved no correspondence since that time and was just about 
> to send another letter when I recieved notification from them that they 
> would be putting £430 in my bank. Fantastic!

> Leigh

 

[606] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: patricia 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 4:30 PM 
Subject: halifax/bank of scotland refund 

>A most sincere thank you for your invaluable advice as
> it has resulted in the bank finally offering me £2300
> .... They stalled and offered £600 but I refused so
> they said that was the end of the matter. I intended
> going to court but decided to ring the ombudsman and
> make a complaint too. Five days later I got the offer
> which I will be accepting. It has not been easy as
> the bank does drag it out but believe me it is worth
> it so if you are reading this and losing hope, don't! 
> Go for it. the site is marvellous and I tell everyone
> about it. You deserve a medal!!
> Neil

> Patricia 

 

[605] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Louise  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 2:16 PM 
Subject: Halifax

Hi 
I just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU!!! Halifax owed me £810 in bank charges over 3 years, I sent the first step letter off and Halifax got back to me within 14 days offering a Goodwill gesture of £552 ! As is it January I am obviously very short for money so I accepted their gesture and I have now received the money.
Now I know that banks etc will pay up, can I now do the same for all my credit cards and loans as well? Also can I claim for bank charges on closed bank accounts?
Thanks Again 
Louise

 

[604] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rebecca  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 10:45 AM 
Subject: Natwest Charges 

I got a refund of £4000 from Natwest literally 2 days before the court case! However they still applied charges from the date I issued the court case in May to the month of the court case in November. They are trying to argue because I accepted the £4000 I cannot claim for these charges but I clearly told them from the outset that any additional charges from May are a seperate issue as the claim was for 2002 to April 2006. As such they again are being difficult so I will be taking them to court using a solicitor this time as I will take it all the way if they do not pay the full amount. (I accepted the £4000 but this didn't include interest they had charged me on the fees or the court fees!).

I had an offer from Argos card services as a goodwill gesture of £120 when I am owed £250, which I declined. I also have Littlewoods Visa, Preffered Mortgages, Additions and Black Horse to chase too. All these charges were accrued when I had to stop work due to a neurological illness and although I explained my circumstances they all continued to charge me!

I will let you know how I get on.

Rebecca 
Northampton

 

[603] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Anthony  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 8:47 PM 
Subject: Intelligent Finance 

Thank you! 
Between 2001 and 2005, my partner returned to University; it was a struggle with only one wage coming in to the house and the banks gave us a 'hammering'.
Intelligent Finance 
I used the two pro forma letters provided on your website to which Intelligent Finance responded with the usual 'the charges were as per their terms and conditions' replies, so I issued a small claim from my local County Court. The bank failed to respond to the claim and as a result, I was able to secure judgement in default. I was in the process of having the judgement transferred to Scotland in order to seek enforcement in the Sheriff court (I have my mortgage with the Halifax, so I was reluctant to sue the Halifax directly) when the bank paid up in full. I recovered £496 (bank charges) plus £114.17(judicial interest) and £80 (court fee).
The Cooperative Bank 
I used the first of your pro forma letters to complain about the £2426.50 in charges that had been deducted from my accounts over the past six years. Two weeks later, I went to the cash machine and much to my surprise, I found that I had more money in my account than I was expecting - the bank had refunded the entire amount. Cooperative by name, cooperative by nature! I subsequently received a letter from them apologising for the charges and saying that they had been refunded as a gesture of goodwill. Perhaps they realised that if I took them to court they would have had to pay me a further £700 in interest and fees...
BarclayCard 
I used letter number one and after about a month, Barclays wrote back to say that they had reviewed the charges and they had refunded £141 (the difference between the charges that they had imposed and the £12 maximum specified by the FSA). I have since raised a small claims action in order to recover the remaining £424, but I have received notice from the court that the bank intends to defend the claim. I'll keep you informed about how it progresses.
Once again, thank you very much for your excellent website, without it the banks would still be 'taking the mickey' out of us consumers and furthermore, as the banks had been getting away with it for so long, in recent years I noticed that other companies (e.g., insurance companies, public utilities, telecommunications companies and so on) were trying to get in on the act and impose penalty charges of their own. I expect that they will be thinking again now!
Kindest regards, 
Anthony 

 

[602] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Carole 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 7:22 PM 
Subject: bank charges 
thanks to your letters my son has been offered £471 back from our bank HSBC it as taken since november for the offer but worth the wait.
thank you

 

[601] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: helen 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 1:06 PM 
Subject: success. 

Hi. Just thought I would let you know that I recieved a letter from the HBOS offering me a goodwill gesture of £1991 . The total amount of charges on my account was £3000 , so I am pleased to get the amount offered. Just goes to show you that they know they are in the wrong and that the little person in the street is no longer willing to put up with the big banks pushing them around. I have another account with the HBOS and will be pursuing that too, wish me luck will keep you posted.
Many Thanks to your company. 
Helen

 

[600] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Alexander 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 11:42 AM 
Subject: Co-Op bank 
I havent had my account with Co-Op for that long, however they refunded every charge (sans interest) taken off my account - to a total of £680.00
Thank you very much! 

 

[599] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Derek 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 8:48 AM 
Subject: Lloyds TSB - part refund of charges 

Dear GLC, 
I am pleased to let you know that Loyds TSB have refunded £750 to my current account after the 2nd letter (the max. small claims award). However, the amount of charges I am owed is £3500 and I intend to pursue them further. Thanks for such an informative web site.
Derek. 

 

[598] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Trevor
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 12:49 PM 
Subject: (no subject) 

Dear sir 
My bank has just offered me £700 for unfair bank charges as the total cost of charges is £1.500 im not sure what to do i don't want to be greedy but there is a big difference, can you please advise me on this and if possible send me a template letter to send to the bank turning down there offer. thankyou for your time
Trevor

 

[597] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: andy  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 11:26 AM 
Subject: re charges 

i want to say thank you so much for this website i got over £2000 back from the halifax after 3 years charges

 

[596] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lynn
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 8:56 PM 
Subject: Refund of Charges 

Hi, just wanted to let you know that I used your letters to get £322 back from Intelligent Finance and I'm now pursuing HBOS for £300 and RBS for around £1700.
Thanks for such clear and easy to read info. 
Lynn

 

[595] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Chele
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 5:46 PM 
Subject: charges 

> Hi

> Just to let you know, my partner and I followed the advice on the website 
> and sent through the first letter. My partner had a full refund of £500 
> within a week or so (Co-operative). I waited two weeks and got the full 
> amount I was asking for - £375 (Abbey).

> Thank you so much for running the website and helping so many people get 
> back the unfair charges which are quite rightly due back to us.

> Regards and Thanks

> Chele 

 

[594] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: kaz 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2006 5:18 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 

Thank you for your Web site.After contacting RBS we got a total refund of £1,126 
Thanks again Karen & John

 

[593] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Susan 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 9:15 PM 
Subject: Barclays Bank 

> Hi

> I sent off letter one thinking I had only been overdrawn three times 
> totalling £85 and received a offer of goodwill for the sum of £730 for the 
> past six years.

> I rang them up to see how much I had actually been charged and the total was 
> £1400, I accepted the second offer of £900 which has been put into my 
> account today. I would like to thank you site and encourage more people to do this. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

 

[592] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: david  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 7:26 PM 
Subject: refunds 

Hi all! Merry Christmas from a happy visitor to your site. I initially visited the site because I was a bit peeved at being charged £80 for being overdrawn by a few pounds for about four days, and lo and behold, your Step 1 letter resulted in an immediate refund from First Direct, along with another earlier fee of £25. Since then I have recovered another £55 from them and have now written for the last couple of charges totalling £60 from them, which doubtless they will repay shortly. My wife has also used your letter to recover £55 from First Direct.
Encouraged by the rank cowardice of First Direct (who have also backed down on proposals to charge my wife £10 a month for keeping her current account open for the heinous crime of earning less than £24K pa), I have now trawled through my credit card and bank statements for the last six years (who'd have thought my hoarding habit would come in handy?) and anticipate further refunds of about a thousand pounds.
You are providing a splendid resource to those who can spare a few minutes to read your advice and go through their statements. The downside is that the buggers will still find some other way to screw us - the credit card companies just jacked their APR up to make up for it - but it's nice to have the whip hand with them for once - the last time I had a serious complaint (against Halifax, now HBOS) it took the Ombudsman to give them the kicking they deserved, after two years of correspondence.
Keep up the good work! 
David, Haydock

 

[591] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Cat
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 9:22 AM 
Subject: Bank Charges 

>I put in a claim for £2250, I have had a response to my first letter 
> offering me £1752, should I accept or send in the 2nd letter stating I want 
> more - I am scared of losing this offer and end up with nothing??

> Cat

 

[590] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Mrs L 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 5:59 PM 
Subject: Bank charges refund 

> Hi there,

> Due to your helpful information & handy useful letter I got from your 
> website, I have been fortunate to have received a letter from my bank with 
> an offer of a 'goodwill gesture' of £895.00, their response was to the first 
> letter and have to admit was very prompt, all happened within 2 weeks 
> actually.

> I have accepted their offer which was sent to them last week, I havent 
> received the funds as yet, but its very positive & I am ever so grateful to 
> you!

> Thank you so so much, this will really help us out with all the costs of 
> Christmas !!

> Kindest Regards

> Mrs L

 

[589] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Robert  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 12:05 AM 
Subject: Successful bank refund 
In response to http://www.govanlc.com/step1_letter.html

I had received several charges totalling £130 for exceeding my overdraft limit of £0 by no more than £6.49 at any one time. I was unhappy and found http://www.govanlc.com/ using Google.

I followed the advice and I sent letter 1 to Abbey on 18 November 2006 and recieved a response a week after saying they would deal with my response and they didn't know the outcome of the complaint.

Today I received a new letter saying they would refund me £160. The extra £30 charge was pending whilst my complaint was on-going.

Thank you very much for all the advice and help. I have regained faith in Abbey again and i'm a very happy customer.

Robert 

 

[588] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: David  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2006 5:07 PM 
Subject: Halifax charges 

Wanted to thank you for the letters which we sent. We had to make a small claim against Halifax who refused to pay and we won receiving £1875.00 including Court cost. I am now helping my father-in-law pursue Abbey. Thank you.
David 

 

[587] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: G  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 3:11 PM 
Subject: Re bank charges Refund 

Dear Sir/Madam 
Following using your letters on your site i have just secured a £512 refund from the halifax. A great wouldnt you agree.
Grahame Long

 

[586] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gordon  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 11:22 AM 
Subject: Unfair Bank Charges refunded 
Hi,
I got charged £25 by the Clydesdale Bank for being overdrawn by £62 for two days. After sending your letter, they dropped the charges as a 'gesture of goodwill'. Well done and thanks.
Gordon

 

[585] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jamie 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 11:04 PM 
Subject: refunded charges 

> Hi
> I'm writing to say thanks for the advice about reclaiming unfair charges. I 
> received an 'administration charge' of £35 on top of a traffic fine from 
> Enterprise-Rent-A-Car. I amended your letters to apply to my situation and 
> got a full refund.

> Thanks
> Jamie 

 

[584] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jo 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 10:21 PM 
Subject: BANK CHARGES 

Hi 
Halifax have just offered me a refund of over £2,000. Just what I need before Xmas. 
I'm going to try with Barclays too!! 
Jo

 

[583] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Joseph  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 3:52 PM 

Dear Law Centre,
I have recently had £350 refunded from first direct and I am now persuing actions against two other banks I have accounts with. I must thank you for your kind help in this matter!
Regards
Joseph

 

[582] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: martin 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 8:30 PM 

hi, 
just thought i would let you all know that the rbos have just settled out of court for the sum of £2500, i sent the 1st letter away and within 2 weeks my local branch offered me £789!! i knew that i was owed more but was a little bit sceptical that i would get anymore so was tempted to take it.
after reading everyone else's story i said no way i'll get my money back so i went straight back to them with a court summons, 2 weeks after that i recieved a letter from a solicitor offering me £570?? i emailed her telling her i had already been offered £789 by my branch and refused it, i told her i was owed £2500 and due to the stress and time of work that these money worries had caused i was prepared to accept no less.
a week later i recieved an email back saying the bank was prepared to settle for the full amount. =)
i urge anyone who is having any doubts to stick with it beacuse you will get your money back as long as you follow the correct procedures.
best of luck to you all. 
martin

 

[581] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tony  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 6:04 PM 
Subject: A Refund 
I had to send the final letter to Yorkshire Bank, but they still insisted it was my fault but had decide to give me back half the charges. So thats another £156.00 to add to the total.
Many Thanks 
Tony

 

[580] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Colin
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 3:18 PM 
Subject: Full Refund of Bank Charges 

> Hi,
> Thanks to the resources on your website I have managed to get £2,903 back 
> from Halifax. They were a bit stubborn and after offering £672 as a good 
> will gesture (which I didn't even consider) they finally put the money 
> back in my account. I did have to take them through court but I would add 
> to anyone thinking about going through court, do it! It isn't that tricky 
> and thanks to the help and info on this site and the help from money claim 
> online I became really straight forward. How banks expect people to put up 
> with charges of this degree is beyond me, but thankfully I have the money 
> back now so thank you very much!

> Colin

 

[579] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: craig 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 11:12 AM 
Subject: Charges 

Hi,
I would just like to thank you for the information and letter templates on your website. By using your site I managed to recover £370 worth of charges from Bank of Scotland. I am very pleased, and would not of done it without your help. I would just like to say that your website is one of a kind and would like to thank the people who supplied the information on it. Thank you very much
Craig

 

[578] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ANGIE  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:40 PM 
Subject: HSBC 

Hi. 
Thanks to your website I have just recived £1041 from HSBC. 
Just before Christmas how goods that. 
If you are thinking about doing this DON'T THINK, DO IT!!! 
Angie

 

[577] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: D
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:22 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

thank you for you help i have just reclaimed my bank charges back from the halifax.i asked for a refund of £832 i reseived a letter after 1 week saying the have got my letter will get back to me within a month 7 day later got a offer .£1164 two years bank charges back so thank you .I am a single mum with 3 young childern so this money will realy help with chrismas.

 

[576] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Paul
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 1:17 PM 
Subject: Barclays 

>I had £4500 of charges over the last 6 years and today I have received a 
> offer of goodwill for the sum of £1000. Just like the post from Derek I will 
> now be sending them letter 2. Paul

 

[575] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jo  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 5:22 PM 
Subject: First Direct & RBS 
Just to let you know, success! 

First Direct refunded £412.00 after just the first letter - and this was the full amount outstanding! Hurrah!
I have submitted two claims against RBS, the first resulted in no acknowledgement by them and as such a default judgement. However no monies were forthcoming so in went the bailiffs - well almost! When they realised that I was about to push the button on warrant for the bailiffs, they decided to pay me.....today. A total of £879.00. Oh and the cherry on the cake? They were due to pay the monies on 30th November and as a result of them not doing so, I incurred a further £76 in charges - which they have now reversed!!
Please, please, please can I encourage you not to accept 'goodwill' offers from these banks. Off the record I spoke to a solicitor representing RBS and she indicated the banks will pay up if you persist down the legal route. Also bear in min that the OFT has just commissioned a further report into bank charges, in conjunction with the British Banking Association and it is likely to find in the same way as the report concerning credit card charges. Really this money is being unjustifiably taken from your accounts. I can tell you as an employee of the largest UK retail bank....BANKS DO NOT REWARD LOYALTY AND ARE NOT BURSTING AT THE SEAMS WITH COMPASSION.!!!
Good luck! 

 

[574] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: THOMAS 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 1:05 PM 

Over the last 18 months RBS have taken charges totalling £1010.00 from my account. I sent of the first letter and was told no chance. I sent of the second letter and was offered a good will gesture of £545, which I declined and threatened them with court action, 7 days later I received a letter offering the full sum of £1010.00.The full sum has now been credited to my account.
Thanks very much for all your help. 

 

[573] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ADER
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 1:26 AM 
Subject: Halifax bank refund 

Hi,

After following your examples for claiming my bank charges and learning from others who have posted their results on your website i am very happy to say i have just a day ago received all my charges and costs in full totalling £710 .

I would like to thank you and other users for helping me to claim this back and let you know how i went about it .

Firstly sent the letter requesting my last 6 years statements along with a cheque for £10. Following a number of phone calls and 4 weeks wait the statements finally arrived. 
I checked through all my statements finding the charges that i had been given and wrote the dates and amounts down and added them up at the end to £630.

I then sent a step 1 letter requesting a full refund of the charges (which i listed on a seperate peice of paper ) to my bank(HBOS).

Around 2 weeks later i received a reply with an offer of £160 which i promptly refused by sending back the letter as seen in step 2 along with another which i added myself saying i wouldnt settle for any less than the full amount or i would be raising court action.

A few days later i received another reply saying they were sorry i wasnt happy and wouldnt be offering me any more and telling me i should complain to the financial onbudsman bla bla bla...

At this stage i was determined to beat them and proceeded to go to the moneyclaim online website to raise a court action.

I thought this would be difficult and was slightly worried how far it would go but still went ahead with it all.   Raising the court action was very easy, all i needed to do was fill in both mine and the hbos's address along with a description (i only entered " i want to claim back my unfair bank charges") and that was it !, i payed my charge of £80 on line and printed of my claim form.

A few days later i received confirmation from the courts that the action had been filed.
I then logged onto moneyclaim website and checked the status every other day.

Then i received a letter from moneyclaim that the bank had had a response from the HBOS which stated they were defending the claim and filed an acknowledgment of service and had 28 days to gather their evidence .

Then days later i checked my account and found all my charges and the court fee were in the account !! i was so pleased.  A letter followed the day after from the HBOS stating they didnt agree with the claim but wouldnt go ahead with the case as they wouldnt be able to get their costs back etc etc.

The whole process was an experience and i would encourage everyone to hold out to the end as i did .

Thanks to all and good luck to anyone persuing a claim. 

 

[572] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dan
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 3:46 PM 
Subject: Halifax 

I wish to thank you for your helpful resources on your website. I had £146.00 in bank charges through Halifax. I sent them letter 1 and they declined, then letter 2 - they declined. So I called their bluff and began proceeding through money claim online. I recieved a letter 28 days later offering to reinburse me in full £146.00 plus £30 court fees!!!!
Now I am telling all friends and family to go to your website and do the same thing - if there are enough people doing this then maybe the banks will rightly reduce their ridiculous rip off charges.
Once again thank you very much, I couldn't have done it without you! 
Kindest Regards and please keep doing what you are doing. 
Dan

 

[571] Original Message ----- 
From: MASSEY 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 8:51 AM 
Subject: REFUND 

I have used all your letters and followed all your advice. 
The Halifax acknowledged the first letter and refused on the basis that they do not agree with the legal analysis of OFT statement.
They did not respond to my second letter. 
I went to County Court and issued a small claim against them. 
They had till 4th December 2006 for which they did not respond. 
On Tuesday the 5th December 2006, Crewe County Court issued a judgement against the Halifax ordering them to pay up.
Debt of £1036 and £120 Court costs equalling £1156. 
Many Thanks for your invaluable help. 

 

[570] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stark
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 2:35 PM 
Subject: Charges from HSBC!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Hello everyone, 
I had some difficulties with my finances a couple of years back, to much going on at once in my life, marriage, baby and having to move home. Dispite raising the issue with my bank, they could not offer any help, i.e. higher temp overdraft etc etc, to resolve the probelm. What a mess I got into. I went over my agreed overdraft limit by quite a bit, paid it back, paid a massive charge for doing so, went overdrawn again the following month because of the charge, paid it back, followed by another massive charge.
Then I was stuck in a visious circle, and started to go overdrawn every month and getting charged every month by the bank, so much so, that I just simply added thier monthly charge to my list of regular bills!!!!! This went on for just over two years until I finally managed to catch up and sort myself out.
Then I came across you guys and decided to give it a go. I worked out that within the last two years, my bank had seen me off for nearly £1,900. I sent Letter One in October and, zilch, not even a phone call. This was followed by Letter Two in November, which I thought would work, but again, no reply!! Then I rang them to see what was going on a couple of times, but was just fobbed off. Down-hearted by it all and feeling beaten, I decided to ring them on monday to complain about thier lack of response. I was immediately calmed down when the adviser apologised and said that a response had been sent out and I would recieve it very shortly. I reckoned that it would be a fob off letter written by some manager who has had a massive pay rise from the income of my charges, but here's just a little bit from the letter.
''If your claim for a refund proceeded to court, we therefore believe we would successfully resist any legal challenge in relation to these fees''
''The bank is, however, mindful of the management time and irrecoverable legal costs that it may incur in relation to such a claim. For those commercial reasons alone, and without any admission of liability whatsoever, the bank is prepared to make a payment to you in the sum of £1680.00 representing the charges applied in full and final settlement of this matter''
The banks are wrong, and they know it, but they will keep YOUR money unless you challenge them. So don't sit there thinking about it, take this websites advice and do it.

 

[569] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Neil 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 12:59 PM 
Subject: charges refunded 

I sent your letter to the bank of Scotland Halifax and received £923.

 

[568] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: add
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 12:23 PM 
Subject: Full Refund from Natwest 
Dear Sir/Madam

I would like to extend you my full gratitude and thanks for providing the letter in which Natwest recieved, consequently offering me a full refund. I had 2 charges totaling £65, one was for a bounced cheque and the other a default notice fee due to inactivity on my account. As a poor student I am extremely grateful for your help.

I am now sending your 2nd letter to Halifax to attempt to get a refund of £20 for a charge where the transaction was allowed to go ahead. I will subsequently let you know the outcome.

Thanking you muchly

Kind Regards

Addison 

 

[567] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rae 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 11:16 AM 
Subject: Success! 

Thank you thank you thank you.
I would never have been brave enough to take on the might of the Clydesdale
Bank without the support and information from your website. After the first
letter I received a nasty reply warning me if I continued them I would have
been in breach of contract with them and they would issue court procedings
against me. After the second letter they caved in and I have just received
a cheque for £850!!! What a fantastic service you provide. I will be singing
your praised to everyone!
Rae A.

 

[566] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: rob  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 3:52 PM 
Subject: victory 

Hi, just got back over £200 from Nationwide after starting court action. Have been given 30 days notice of account closure. Nationwide have broken all the toys and don't want to play with me anymore, boo hoo!!! I think T&C's excuse is an unfair one as by paying me out they must agree I have done nothing wrong, does anyone else feel the same way, is there anything to challenge this arguement the bank has for shutting you down, I would be interested to hear if there is.
Cheers Rob

 

[565] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jim 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2006 12:20 PM 
Subject: Paid in full 

Hi,
I have just come across you website. I have recently had £4150.00 refunded by the Halifax in respect of the charges made against my current account!
Wish everyone good luck with their claims from me.
Jim

 

[564] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: aeh
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2006 11:53 AM 
Subject: nat west 
well done for the info sent the letter 28 November and got a positive reply today 2 December! all charges to be repaid
thank you

 

[563] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: MICHELLE
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 11:46 PM 
Subject: halifax,barclays 

THANK, well can you believe this? i asked for £512 and Halifax gave me £576. first i asked for all my data and sent a cheque for £10 this took ages(8 WEEKS IS) as after lots of phone calls were made to Halifax ( one person saying they haven't received my letter another saying they have) i eventually got offer of £196 after sending letter 1, then sent letter and got offered more than i asked for. Letter and 2 were sent by recorded delivery and took 2 weeks in total to get cash in the bank, i strongly recommended RECORDED DELIVERY. so with Barclays i didn't ask for my data i just sent letter 1 (recorded delivery, where they have to sign for it) i have been offered £850 and am in the process of sending letter 2 as i don't know the total of my charges i don't know weather just to accept it also i have arrears with Barclays and the acceptance letter states that it will go in to my account can i ask for it to go into another bank or a cheque can some one please advise me?????? either way i am so happy with everything this site has done for us a big thank.Michelle

 

[562] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kevin  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 5:33 PM 
Subject: charges refunded Natwest 

I wish to thankyou for your help as I would not have known where to start , I sent all of your letters and was point blank refused a refund , I had to take it to the courts and they tried all of the delay tactics that they could, I then received a letter offering me a goodwill gesture payment of £950 as I was owed £1723 I turned this down and sent them a counteroffer saying I would accept £1500 in full and final settlement of my claim they jumped at it and paid it out straight away, I would like to advise anyone that is pursuing there charges to stick to it to the end and also make sure that when you detail your claim make sure that you put it clear your account numbers that the charges relate to and take the time to list all of the charges and dates as to when they were debited from your accounts as this was one of the delaying tactics that they used with me, saying that I did not give sufficient evidence of a claim.

 

[561] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Simon
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 5:20 PM 
Subject: Information Commisioner upholds complaints against Barlaycard 

1st December 2006
Reference RFA0138931
Dear xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Thank you for submitting your complaint and supporting information regarding Barclaycard. Please accept my apologies for the delay in my reply. Our investigation into this matter has taken longer than initially anticipated.
Complaints such as yours are treated as 'requests for assessments' under section 42 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act). When we receive a request for assessment, in most instances we have a duty to assess whether it is likely or unlikely that the processing in question has been carried out in compliance with the Act. However, we have discretion as to how we carry out the assessment and as to what action, if any, to take.
I understand from your correspondence that you made a subject access request (SAR) to Barclaycard and made specific reference to bank statements and to charges levied on your account. Barclaycard responded by confirming that it would supply you with information from your bank statements from May 2004 onwards; however statements prior to this date would only be provided at a cost of £3 per sheet. It went on to explain that this was because these older statements were only stored on microfiche which is not a relevant filing system for the purposes of the Act so did not have to be provided as part of a SAR.
It may first be helpful to clarify that although the information contained within your bank statements, such as details of transactions, is considered to be personal data under the Act so must be supplied in response to a SAR, the Act simply states that personal data must be supplied in an 'intelligible form'. This means that the information you have requested must be provided if it is held as personal data, but not necessarily in its original format i.e. as a bank statement.
As you may be aware, the Act only applies to 'personal data' i.e. information which is processed electronically and which relates to a living, identifiable individual. Information which is held in some manual (non-computerised) records can also be personal data for the purposes of the Act if it is stored in what is known as a 'relevant filing system'.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) produced guidance to help data controllers such as Barclaycard decide whether or not manual records were stored in a relevant filing system; however this was amended following a Court of Appeal ruling a number of years ago (Durant v FSA 2003). In light of the outcome of this case, the ICO revised its guidance and narrowed its interpretation of what constitutes a relevant filing system. This guidance suggests that unless the filing system is highly structured, it will fall outside the scope of the Act and led us to conclude that in our view most manual records fall outside the definition of personal data.
We recognise that the definition of a relevant filing system is open to interpretation and that not all parties will agree. During recent months we have once again been reviewing our interpretation of what constitutes a relevant filing system and intend to publish new guidance in the near future, although this is not as a direct result of the recent issues surrounding bank charges. The new guidance is likely to represent a significant shift in emphasis from our existing guidance and our view will be that many more manual records are likely to fall within the scope of the Act.
Following your complaint and others like it we contacted Barclaycard for a detailed explanation of its microfiche system, including how the information in it is stored and retrieved. It was not clear from the response whether or not the system was a relevant filing system; therefore Barclaycard invited me and a number of my colleagues to inspect it and see the system in operation.
Following our visit, we concluded that the microfiche system used by Barclaycard is a relevant filing system for the purposes of the Act. This means that in our view the information is personal data and should have been supplied as part of your SAR within 40 days and for a maximum fee of £10. As a result, it is our view that it is likely Barclaycard has contravened the sixth data protection principle, as this requires data controllers to process personal data in accordance with data subjects' rights.
As I explained above, we are currently reviewing our guidance on relevant filing systems and are placing greater emphasis on the types of systems that are covered rather than those that are not. This will be based on practical examples of non-computerised filing systems. Our decision in this case has been made with this shift in emphasis in mind and it appears that Barclaycard disagrees with us. In light of the Durant ruling and our subsequent guidance, it is difficult to maintain that Barclaycard has acted unreasonably in this matter and it could plausibly argue that its interpretation and subsequent actions were consistent with the accepted view. If this occurs it will be for the Information Tribunal and ultimately the courts to decide which, if either, interpretation of a relevant filing system is correct.
We have informed Barclaycard of the outcome of our investigation and I will now write to it under separate cover with details of your complaint. If it has not done so already, I will instruct Barclaycard to provide you with the personal data you requested as part of your SAR.
It may be helpful to explain that a contravention of one of the data protection principles is not itself a criminal offence and the Information Commissioner has no power to 'punish' a data controller. In such instances, the Commissioner will seek a resolution to the contravention and once satisfied that it has been remedied then in general no further action will be taken.
In addition, section 13 of the Act gives individuals the right to claim compensation if they have suffered damage as a result of a contravention of the Act. If this is something you are interested in pursuing, I recommend obtaining legal advice and pursuing the matter through the courts. The Information Commissioner cannot comment or advise upon any claim for compensation.
Thank you for brining this matter to our attention. Your case will now be closed.
Yours sincerely,
xxxxxxxxxx
Casework and Advice Officer

 

[560] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Doug 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 1:38 PM 
Subject: First Direct Bank Charges 

I used your letter no. 1 as a base to write to First Direct. I have been bankg with First Direct since 1993, during which time I amassed a total of £3,069.50 in charges. I wrote to them on 21/8/06, and received an initial reply on 24/8/06 acknowleding receipt of my letter and promising to investigate. Then I received a letter dated 7/9/06 explaining that under the banking code, they are required to keep records of customer's statements for 6 years. Based on this they agreed to refund all charges incurred during these 6 years, a total of £1.050.00. I accepted their offer on 25/9/06, and the funds were credited to my account on 27/9/06.
In my experience with First Direct I have always enjoyed first class customer service. In this instance they did not disappoint me.
Thanks for your work on my behalf - Doug.

 

[559] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kevin 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 12:55 AM 
Subject: Halifax Charges 

Just a quick note to say thank you. Over the last six years my bank has charged me £700 in charges, after reading the info on your site I contacted the Halifax in august requesting my charges details for the last 6 years they sent me 6 years worth of statements and charged me £10 for the privilege,
after checking all the statements I wrote to the bank with your first letter, saying I was prepared to pay £12 per charge and wanted the rest refunded a total of £380, they replied within 7 days and said they would get back to me within 28 days.
10 days later I hade a call from them saying I conducted my account badly and was not entitled to any money back and advised me check the banks terms & conditions but as a gesture of goodwill they would give me £150. I turned this down and asked for it in writing which they did.
I sent them the second letter they replied within 7 days and said "you agreed to the terms on your account and the offer of £150 was now withdrawn.
So I paid the £80 court fee and asked for all £700 of the bank charges, they acknowledged the summons saying they would defend the claim.
24 days after there acknowledgement they credited my account with The £700 + £80 court fee but I have had no correspondence from them, What a result and just in time for Christmas, So don't let them bully you TAKE THEM TO COURT&ldots;.. THANK YOU.

 

[558] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lee
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 10:11 PM 
Subject: ALLIANCE AND LEICESTER 

After sending of 2 letters to A & L and them sending me letters back to say they would not pay me back any charges applied to my account, I started court proceedings. Today (20/11/06) they sent me a cheque for £2870.00 stating the decision should not be regarded as an admission of liability on part of the company as they consider the charges to be fair and reasonable. A & L will contact me shortly to discuss the future of my account. I already have another account with a different bank set up and waiting to go. The cheque has now been paid into that account this morning. Thanks for you excellent info which has really helped me out a lot. Good luck to others who use this site
Many thanks again Lee

 

[557] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: TAMMI 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 7:20 PM 
Subject: Do I accept a goodwill gesture? 

Hello there. 

Today I received a letter from my bank offering me £784 as a goodwill gesture. I have incurred charges over that amount in the past year alone. Is it worth me attempting to be refunded ALL charges incurred over the past 6 years and if so what letter do I send next?
Regards 
TC

 

[556] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Helen
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 3:16 PM 
Subject: RBS and Co-operative Bank 

> Hi 
> Just wanted to say thanks for the advice on your website. I really thought I wouldn't get anything but thought what have I got to lose. So I sent letter 1 off to both banks and have had full refunds from both banks within three weeks. I can't believe it. So you can now add another £1,000 to your total.
> Helen

 

[555] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Simon
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 10:56 AM 
Subject: Barclays offer refund £730... 

> Thanks for fantastic advice.

> I wasn't able (or willing to spend the time!) to establish how much I had
> been charged over the last 6 years, but I sent a letter which combined a
> claim for a refund with a request to provide me with the details I needed
> (mostly cribbed from your templates). 

> They replied quickly with a holding letter saying I'd hear within 4 weeks,
> and then within another few days with a letter which said they disagreed
> with my claim on the basis that their charges were known to me when I signed
> up for the account. They failed to provide me with the information ( and
> returned my £10 cheque) but offered me £730 in full and final settlement
> (with no acceptance of liablity blah blah).

> I phoned them and said that I was unable to consider the offer without
> knowing the extent of the overcharge. They disclosed over the phone
> (without any indentity check!) that the charges totaled £1470, so it turns
> out they've offered me 50%

> I'm not really up for a more protracted battle for the balance - although
> my instincts say I'd get the rest if I bothered - so I'm going to accept
> it.

> This is defintely worth pursuing, and if enough people do it then hopefully
> they'll stop making these outrageous charges.

> Good luck to anyone else considering it.

 

[554] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: BERNARD
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 9:59 AM 
Subject: Return of charges 

Many thanks for all advice. Lloyds TSB have refunded my friend £5124.

Bernard

 

[553] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stuart  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 9:20 PM 
Subject: Bank of Scotland and the Alliance and Leicester 

Hi,
I recently found your site, and decided to give it a go. I had incurred charges on accounts from 2 different banks, the Bank of Scotland, and the Alliance and Leicester. The Alliance and Leicester had charged me a total of £271.00, so off I went, writing the letters. The responses to the step one and step two letters that I sent were expected, the usual 'it's written in our terms and conditions' etc. So I decided that I would raise a small claims action. After two weeks of filing this with my local sheriffs office, I received a letter from the Alliance and Leicester saying that as a gesture of goodwill, they would refund the charges in full, and therefore, the court action didn't need to go ahead.
As for the Bank of Scotland, I had incurred charges of £68.00, so I proceeded the same way again. This time however, it didn't need to even go as far as me filling out the small claims action. I received a letter today stating that I am to receive the money back as a refund.
I'm so glad that I learnt of this website, and now I'm telling friends and family about it so that they may get back some of the money that's illegally being charged by banks.
Regards
Stuart 

 

[552] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: glenn
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 6:12 PM 
Subject: Barclays 

> Over the past 6 years I was charged nearly £1000 by Barclays. Sent in letter 
> one, and behold £645 'gesture' of good will offer from the greedy swines.
> I am happy with this.
> I urge Everyone to do this, and see the banks off tho the maximum.
> Glenn repaid £645!!!!

 

[551] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dan 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 3:36 PM 
Subject: Got my refund! 

Just to say a big thanks for all the useful advice on the site, after working out my bankcharges (less the £12s) I found that I had accumulated £512 unauthorised overdraft fees from the Co-Operative bank since early 2005.
Sent away the letter 1, they said they'd deal with it within a month but after 2 weeks received the full refund of £511. Can't say how much you've helped me, thank you SO MUCH!
Dan

 

[550] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Mel
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 5:50 PM 
Subject: hsbc 

Hi there

just to let you know, i recieved a refund letter from HSBC after
nearly 2 months offering £800 for the £891 owed.

thanks loads bankcharges, just in time for xmas!!!

Mel

 

[549] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Mary
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 5:03 PM 
Subject: Bank charges - ABBEY 

Letting you know about my success with Abbey, thanks to your website. Posted letter to them on 3rd November 2006. On the 13th November I received a reply from them saying they were sorry that I felt that I had to complain about my bank charges and they would look into this and reply within 28 days. Today (27th November) received a letter saying that although the charges were correct and fair and they could not refund all the charges, as a gesture of goodwill they would refund £945. As my charges amounted to £1071 I am delighted! Money was also paid into my account today. Many, many thanks for the advice on your website and good luck to all.
Mary

 

[548] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sharon  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 4:50 PM 
Subject: Bank charges 

Back in July I posted off letter 1 to my Bank (Bank of Scotland) they cashed the cheque for £10 but did not respond to me, I called several times to be passed around but still nothing except a leaflet about charges. After more attempts I eventually sent off letter 2 in September where I got a response saying they would deal with me within 4 weeks! And another leaflet on charges. On Friday there I finally received my statements from the last 5 years, they totalled over 2.5k. They offered me my £10 back and "as a gesture of goodwill" £840. Oh, and a leaflet on charges! What should I do? Should I persist for the rest as they are more or less acknowledging the charges are wrong but I'm afraid I'll end up with nothing and look how long it took to get to this point! They insist the charges are legal and that its only credit cards that are questionable but why do they offer me cash then? Please, someone help!

 

[547] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stuart
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 1:38 PM 
Subject: Refund 

> Just a quick note to thankyou for your help in getting a refund to the sum 
> of £615 from Smile.co.uk I am now about to send off letters to Capital One 
> and Barclays, will keep you updated.  Thanks,

> Stuart

 

[546] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: samantha 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 8:20 PM 

Hey 
Sent letter one 2 weeks ago got a reply a week later saying that Abbey were looking into my complaint and would get back to me, then exactly a week later i checked my bank account online and to my surprise they had refunded over £500 in refunds then the next day i receieved a letter from abbey saying they were not in the wrong but as a gesture of good will they will refund £645! Have accepted this as i think its a reasonable offer!
Am so happy i got ym refund as abbye have been charging me for months now! So glas as well just in time for christmas!!!!Anyone else thinking of doing it well i would go for it you have nothing to loose!!!!
A big thankyou to this website its wicked!!!!

 

[545] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Steve 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2006 11:57 AM 
Subject: Thanks 

Thanks to you I have just had £1285 refunded from First Direct, it took two letters and about 4 weeks.
Thankyou so much for such a useful site, I will be recommending it to all my family and freinds. 
Steve.

 

[544] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: M
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2006 9:54 PM 
Subject: Refund of Bank charges 
Brilliant website - thankyou 

I have been battling with HBoS since April to get a £39 charge for not having enough funds to pay a Direct Debit that I had already cancelled (but not given 8 working days notice). Several letters to HBoS and Abbey who were the people trying to take the money and put it in a closed account!!! had proved completely useless with a joint "its your fault" response.
I sent your 1st letter to HBoS a month ago and today received a letter offering me the full £39 as a gesture of goodwill if I signed to say I would not pursue it any further.
Needless to say after 20+ years with BoS (now HBoS) and never having paid any charges before, I was astounded at their treatment of my original complaint and have moved my account elsewhere.
Thanks again

 

[543] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sue
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2006 4:18 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

I sent your first letter to HSBC, they took over 4 weeks to respond but I received back all charges I requested which amounted to £300.00. They even refunded £25.00 that I had not requested. Thanks very much for your advice it was really helpful.
Regards
Sue

 

[542] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jill
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 12:28 PM 
Subject: Refund success 

After months of misery caused by excessive charges by my bank the final straw came when I was charged £295 this month alone which then caused me to default on two loan payments. I worked out that I had been charged around £2600 in bank charges over the last 18 months. I sent letter 2 weeks ago and the bank responded by letter telling me it would take four weeks to investigate my case. To my surprise and relief the bank have now refunded £1080 of these charges. I'm thrilled!!

Jill 

 

[541] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ian 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 9:55 PM 
Subject: £1000 Refunded today, 

> After several letters to my bank (Woolwich) I have recieved and accepted an
> offer of £1000 which landed in my account today. Thankyou very much for
> your help and I will be passing on this advice to anyone who thinks it will
> help them. Together we can make a difference. ;-)

 

[540] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lee 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 6:53 PM 
Subject: ALLIANCE AND LEICESTER 

After sending of 2 letters to A & L and them sending me letters back to say they would not pay me back any charges applied to my account, I started court proceedings. Today they sent me a cheque for £2870.00 stating the decision should not be regarded as an admission of liability on part of the company as they consider the charges to be fair and reasonable. A & L will contact me shortly to discuss the future of my account. I already have another account with a different bank set up and waiting to go. The cheque has now been paid into that account this morning. Thanks for you excellent info which has really helped me out a lot. Good luck to others who use this site
Many thanks again Lee

 

[539] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Steve 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2006 11:07 AM 
Subject: refund of bank charges 

Sir 
I have over the last few months as a result of using your site been pursueing my bank (halifax) in regards to excessive charges.
I recently received one thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds from them in settlement of my claim.
they offered me £1250 but i declined. they then increased their offer to avoid the prospect of me going to court.
I have no doubt I could have got more but I decided to settle having recliamed 50% of charges incurred.
I thank you for your efforts in supplying the information that allowed my success. For all out there wavering go for it, they will pay out. Yes they will try to put you of but follow the advice given, let them know that you are determined and willing to go through to the end. believe me you will win.Of course the will refer to it as a good will gesture, to be honest they can call it what they wish we all know what it is and the most important thing ai the money is back where it belongs.
Good luck and thank you once again. 
Steve

 

[538] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jim  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 1:14 PM 
Subject: RBS Refund 

Sent a letter to RBS reclaiming £1800 of bank charges over a 5 year period including spreadsheets showing all the transactions and charges to show how I had come to the figure. Received standard reply of "don't agree with OFT", "OFT never asked us", "OFT findings only apply to credit cards not bank accounts", etc etc. Wrote second letter pointing out that the findings were based on non negotiated consumer contracts not just credit cards, and they replied with a goodwill offer of £900 with no liability on them, and asking me to sign a document that stated all future charges must stand. Rejected this offer and said I would accept £1400 but reserve the right to pursue further action on charges. They replied agreeing to the £1400 but again asking to sign the clause on future charges. I changed the document to accept the £1400 but still reserve the right to challenge in future. Money has been paid into the account! Excellent
I am sure that if I took them all the way, I would have got the full amount, but for the little effort that I put into it, I am delighted with £1400. Some action needs to be taken against all these organisations to stop them doing this permanently. It's about time we had real competition in this business
Jim

 

[537] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jake
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 12:24 PM 
Subject: HSBC 

Hi,

Received an offer of £812 out of £900 from the first letter. Which I 
accepted. Not a very interesting story perhaps but thanks! This was only for 
2 years so I might now go back further. Keep up the good work.  Yours,

Jake.

 

[536] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ian
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 6:36 PM 
Subject: big thankyou!!!!!! 

> I slightly adjusted the first paragraph in your Letter 2, got 6 years 
> of statements and before i had chance to work out what they owed Barclays 
> offered £700 which i accepted as it so near to xmas.

> Thanks a lot Merry Christmas ( I will with an extra £700!!!!!!) Ian

 

[535] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Katherine
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 6:04 PM 
Subject: Refund of charges 

> Hello,

> I contacted Barclaycard and Capital One about charges totalling approx. £130 
> and £70 and both refunded the charges after the first letter.

> Natwest have so far refused to refund the charges made to my current account 
> with them.

> Regards,
> Katherine

 

[534] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: SeF 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 5:34 PM 
Subject: overcharging 

just got post today and HALIFAX offered me £847 as a goodwill gesture out of about £1700 charges from last 3 years so gonna take it and tell everyone i know to send your letters.thanks for the help

 

[533] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Chris  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 12:00 AM 
Subject: Refund 

I used your letter and got back £486 from HSBC and am now onto Lloyds TSB to claim back charges from them! thank you very much! Although I do think it's only a matter of time before banks start charging to use current accounts to recoup their losses!

Regards

Chris

 

[532] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Anthony 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:33 PM 
Subject: HSBC 

Many thanks to your great site! I have just had £615 refunded back from HSBC since May this year. They originally offered £285. I looked at what I had been charged since and what was pending. They agreed the full amount of £615.
This has come at a great time in my life after hitting debt problems for the first time in my life. 
I work as a Credit Manager for a living but no skills were necessary as I used your letter templates.
Please, anybody who has been hit with these charges, use the templates on this site, its worth half an hour of your time!!!!!
Good work guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[531] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: D 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 1:55 PM 
Subject: Halifax bank charges refunded in full!!! £6174 (fwd) 

> Further to my email yesterday, I have now recieved a letter from Halifax 
> dated 8th November2006 but recieved today (14th November 2006), confirming 
> the amount they have refunded to me. 

> However, where I was expecting to be asked to close my account, quite the 
> opposite, they have only stated that should any further charges be applied 
> to my account that they reserve the right to withdraw my banking facility. 

> I have attached a copy of the letter I recieved. I thought perhaps you 
> could use it on your site. Please blank out my account details if you do. 

> Kindest regards
> and once again a big thank you. 

> D

 

[530] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gordon 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 5:25 PM 
Subject: Success 

Hi, 
Thanks, I used your letter to the Bank of Scotland over a recent charge of £39. Although it took about a month and a half for their decision they have offered me a refund of £218.00 as a "goodwill gesture". This is the charges over the last few years. They have advised future charges will stand and threatened me with closing my account etc but I had already prepared for that by opening an account with another bank just in case.
Thanks again 
Gordon 

 

[529] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ali 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2006 10:07 AM 
Subject: Bank Charges 

We used the letters from your website and the bank sent us 6 years of statements without charge. This week we heard that we would have a refund of charges amounting to just over £1,000; almost the total amount of charges made over the 6 years.
Many thanks 
Alison 

 

[528] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: dean&gail
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 6:00 PM 
Subject: BANK CHARGES 

> After reading your website 3 weeks ago I decided to write to FIRST DIRECT for the last 6 years of statements showing my charges. Couldn't believe that they amounted to £1411.75! Sent both letters asking for refunds on charges for declined & monies paid. 4 days later received offer of £1200! Obviousy accepted this & will now be going for my partners account at Yorkshire bank. Fantastic - just in time for Christmas.

 

[527] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Scott  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 9:57 AM 
Subject: bank charges 

Guys i heard about you from a friend looked it up and thought what have i got to lose. asked for 1 years charges returned to me on 1st letter and recieved a letter today offering me £302, below what i asked for but i'm not grumbling
Its great to see people can still stand up for the consumer in the 21st century, many thanks once again, you just helped me pay the bill on my cars service!
Scott

 

[526] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: m
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 6:54 PM 
Subject: The Co-Operative 

Hi there,
Have just used one of your letters. Bank has refunded the full £78.00 to my bank account. Many thanks for your help.
J

 

[525] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Yvonne
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 10:22 AM 
Subject: Bank Charges refund 

Hi,  I would like to start by saying what a great site with exellent information you
have put together.

Over the years i have been subjected to many bank charges but always had the
opinion the bank had the 'right' to do this. Recently i found myself being
charged yet again for being 32p overdrawn for 1 day!! I decided that this was
intolerable and surfed the net for some help and advice. I came across your
site and browsed it fully as it seemed to be very informative and gave me the
confidence to act.

I printed off the 1st letter to reclaim the most recent £30 charge only. So
imagine my surprise and pure delight when i received a letter this morning from
Barclays Bank stating that they were going to refund a total amount of £415.00.
i know that i could follow this up with letter 2 and probably get more but as i
was only after £30 then i consider this to be a excellent result.

I would like to thank you for your help with my situation and i will certainly
be recommending your site to everyone i know that has suffered unfair bank
charges.  With thanks,

Yvonne

 

[524] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Samantha
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 8:14 PM 
Subject: Refund of bank charges 

Hi
I am writing to thank you, due to the advice on your website I have managed to get a refund of £1225 for bank charges from Natwest Bank.
I used the letters you have provided on your website. I had a negative response from the first one saying they believed the charges to be fair, reasonable and transparent and they would not be refunding any charges. I then sent them a copy of your second letter and received a much more positive letter asking me exactly which charges I was referring to and that they would look at my account again. I asked for a total of £2101.06 which was the total amount of charges applied to my account over the last three years. They offered me £1225 as a 'good will gesture but without admission of error or liability'.
Many thanks again
Samantha (Warwickshire)

 

[523] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: DAWN 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 7:27 PM 
Subject: charges 

Have you heard any more from Derek since 30 Sept 06, as I am pursuing refund from Barclays also and they have offered £1,000 against paid charges of £2,500. I note Derek says he is going to refuse first offer so iI was wondering how he has got on?
Dawn

 

[522] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Steven
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 2:39 PM 
Subject: RBS Scotland Bank Charges 

I requested my statements for my current a/c from the Royal Bank of Scotland for the past 5 years. They charged me £5 for this. To my amazement I totalled up a sum of £1535 worth of bank charges.
I sent letter 1 - they responded 2 weeks later stating that as a "goodqill gesture" they would refund £350. I sent letter 2 rejecting this. 2 weeks later I got another letter (this time from their customer relations dept) offering me £1060.
I phoned the customer relations department stating that I would reject this claim and would proceed court action immediately if they did not settle. The Customer Relations Manager offered me £1500 - I accepted. This will be put into my account witihin 2 working days.
This is an invaluable website and I have forwarded the link to all my friends. I urge people not to accept the first or second offers from the banks.
Regards 
Steven

 

[521] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: joanna  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 7:43 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

Hi thanks for all the help,HSBC had overcharged me by £310 in the last 6 years,didnt get any response to first letter so changed the wording of the second letter to say that I was taking their lack of response as a refusal to refund any monies to me.IT WORKED!,within a week I had a letter offering me £303 which I have accepted-although on the receipt of my bank statement the next day I realise that they are about to charge me £100 for going over my overdraft last month the only reason I went over my overdrat was because of fees that they had applied had took me over my limit so they will be receiving another letter.We are working on Natwest at the moment who owe us £3500. It looks like court action is needed for this bank though.Will keep you informed. good work and thanks again.

 

[520] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kath  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 1:45 PM 
Subject: Refund of Bank Charges 

Thought I'd let you know that having sent the stage 1 letter requesting a refund of £240.00 from Abbey, we've just a letter offering £300 as a goodwill gesture!
Many thanks for providing the information and letters on your website enabling us to achieve this!!

 

[519] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: albert
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 1:10 PM 
Subject: barclays charges 

After sending your first letter Barclays agreed to a 'goodwill gesture refund of £975 even though the charges amount to £1983.I have declined their offer and started court proceedings and await the response
albert

 

[518] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Maureen 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 10:29 AM 
Subject: Success 

Thank you - Halifax have reluctantly agreed to refund charges of £58.
Maureen 
Bangor

 

[517] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Luise  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 9:31 AM 
Subject: Bank of Scotland.. 

You're doing a fantastic job!!!! I sent the first letter to my local branch, with a reply stating that they would be in touch within 28 days. I then received an offer to settle of £496 for bank charges that totalled £580. I decided to accept.
Thanks again for all your help. 
Luise

 

[516] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dee 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 7:28 AM 
Subject: Refund of charges from Mint Credit card. 

Hi 

Sent Mint Credit Card letter no. 1, asking for refund of £368 in charges. Received the usual reply, "our charges are fair and reasonable...blah blah.. in your terms and conditions...blah blah", so told me I'd get nothing.. Sent them letter no. 2, ditto, nothing, nada.
Filed small claim online, for £420 inclusive of court costs. Received a letter via the court saying Mint would be defending my action.
Then a week later, a letter from Mint arrived stating it would be too expensive for them to defend my action, a cheque for £420 was enclosed, and I was not to speak of this to any third party.

Thanks heaps for your help. I had previously negotiated a refund of charges with GE money on a storecard, of £600. So my refund total currently stands at £1020. Together with my partner we have refund requests outstanding that add up to over £10,000 jointly from bank and credit card accounts. First Direct have just refused us on letter no. 2, an amount of £2,597, and Bank of Scotland credit card offered £300 on letter no. 2 , after we requested £1098. So they will both be receiving notification of small claims action. Will keep you posted. 

Dee 
London

 

[515] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tobias  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2006 10:13 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 

Thank you so much for your website and letters! After seeing an article on TV I did a search and found your website. Since july I have had the following refunds:
HSBC £210 (the most helpful so far as they paid me only a week after your 'Letter 1' was sent) 
Alliance & Leicester £700 (They paid me but then closed my account as I 'didn't agree with their terms and conditions')
Barclaycard £60 
Capital One £56 (They deducted the £12 from each charge before they paid me back) 
Style Card £40 

I have been doing the same for my mum and am pleased to report the biggest amount paid back so far, £5500 from Natwest! They are really difficult and keep sending you letters to say that it's all your fault and you can't have anything back. After 'Letter 2' I raised a court action against them. This resulted in a letter from their solicitor saying that she would receive nothing and they would fight it all the way. However a few weeks later she received another letter saying they would offer us £2000 as a 'gesture of goodwill'. She wrote back declining and surprise surprise received the full refund this morning.
Don't let the banks bully you into thinking you will lose. It is definately worth fighting them as you can see from my success above.
Good luck everyone and thank you again GLC! 
Tibs

 

[514] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: dave
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 2:34 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

I had £ 887 of charges with marbles they offered to pay half as a goodwill payment i declined their offer wrote back saying they had seven days or i would take them to a small claims court and a week later they offered to pay the full amount. Now im trying to get back £850 from my halifax credit card and over £2000 from my halifax current account.
dave 

 

[513] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tracey  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 1:57 PM 
Subject: Halifax Bank 

Hi I would like to thank you for the useful information provided on this sire I did a Data protection letter to Halifax asking for my Bank statements which I received 10 days later worked out my charges over the last 6 years which horrified me to see that these were just over £4000. I then did step 1 letter of which they replied saying my fault Blah Blah Blah and as a good will they would reverse any charges for the month of September I sent letter 2 saying not good enough 10 days later they offered me £2035.00 being full and final offer! I was extremely pleased with this offer and accepted 1 week later my account had been credited.
Thanks

 

[512] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Roger
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 12:58 PM 
Subject: BANK CHARGES 

JUST GOT £1500 for my bank charges over the last 4 years from hbos great website a big thanks roger

 

[511] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: keltik 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 10:54 PM 
Subject: RBS refund 

hey, your site was great thanks! i requested £1054 from RBS, they were actually quite good, sent out my statements no problem, at first they refused to refund it, quoting T&C's, but i used your letters, they eventually made an offer of about £540, which i refused, and then about a week later, i happened to call the bank and a couple days earlier, they had made a refund into my account for the full amount! freakin sweet! :D
thanks again! 
Keltik

 

[510] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: neil  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 9:31 PM 
Subject: Unfair charges 

Hello 

After a total of 2 months HSBC have offered me 1980 pounds, this is after sending the first letter with 6 yrs worth of bank statements with charges highlighted, which came to a total of 2600 pounds.

This website has been a godsend! 
Thanks 
Neiil

 

[509] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rebecca  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 3:01 PM 
Subject: Natwest Bank 

Thanks to your site, I have had 60.00 refunded from the Natwest. They charged me twice within a couple of days for going about 1.26 overdrawn!
I'm now going to go for the big one - charges for the last 6 years from my husbands and I joint account. It might be a good christmas afterall!!!
Rebecca

 

[508] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Nigel  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 12:12 AM 
Subject: Halifax Bank Charges 

Dear Sir. 

I went into branch and requested 6 years of statements which were supplied within days (in 39 envelopes!). From that I worked out a claim of £671.00.
After sending letter 1, I received an offer of £95.00 as a goodwill gesture. 
I then sent letter 2. This brought an offer of £280.00 as a further goodwill gesture amounting to 6 months refund.

I rejected this and issued a claim through the county court small claims track. 
Within a week I received a full refund plus costs on the grounds that the case was too expensive to defend but like others this letter contained the threat of curtailed banking facilities should I go overdrawn again. This did not worry me as I had already moved my account to another bank.
Thank you very much for your web advice and letter templates and good luck to all others who follow your advice.
Nigel

 

[507] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ali
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 7:35 PM 
Subject: A&L REFND CHARGES 

THANKYOU FOR THIS SITE AND INFO I DID WRITE A LETTER EARLY THIS YEAR TO MY BANK BEFORE I FOUND THIS SITE BUT WROTE IT IN MY OWN WORDS AND WAS REFUNDED ABOUT £80.00 WHICH WORKS OUT ABOUT TWO CHARGES THIS WAS A GOOD WILL GESTURE I HAVE BEEN WITH THIS ACCOUNT FOR 6YRS SO HERE GOES MY FIRST LETTER IWILL KEEP YOU UP TO DATE

 

[506] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Nicola
To: <m@govanlc.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 3:42 PM
Subject: Royal Bank Result

Received full amount of £1,651 today! After 1st letter I was offered
£130, the 2nd offer was £1,000. I threatened taking my statements to
the ombudsman and was offered the full amount in a week. Many many
thanks for a brilliant service.
Nicola

 

[505] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Bernadette
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 2:37 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

Dear Sirs

I am writing on behalf of Mr A Grant who approached our organisation for assistance with regards to bank charges applied. We forwarded your letter to Halifax, who in turn have refunded the total charges applied, this being £67. Mr Grant wanted to let you know of the outcome.

Thanks

Bernadette 
Money and Debt Advice Worker, Glasgow

 

[504] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: daniel
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 9:31 AM 

Hi 
Big Thank you to you!!! Thought we had no chance with the bank of scotland as they are soooo unhelpful and not very understanding. Sent off the first letter to them and they sent us a letter stating that they were looking into it. I thought we really had no chance as a month and a half had passed and that we werent going to receive a penny back. How wrong was I???? We sent the letter and at first were claiming only 1 years worth of charges on 2 accounts which totalled to about 400 quid. Received a letter on Friday offering us 982 quid final settlement!!!!!!! I cant get over it!!! I would strongly advise anyone to challenge their bank and reclaim back whats rightfully theirs!!!!!

ONCE AGAIN A GREAT BIG THANK YOU!!!!!! 
Regards 
Daniel 

 

[503] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ANN-MARIE  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 10:58 PM 
Subject: Succesful 

I advised my sister in law of the campaign and she contacted her bank with the first letter and within 14 days was offered a full refund of £110.70 in full settlement. As she did not have a total list of bank charge she was however to be able to get this back and is now very happy.
Regards,
Ann-Marie 

 

[502] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ANN-MARIE 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 10:58 PM 
Subject: Refund of bank charges 

Further to advising my friends of this campaign for unfair bank charges and giving them the details we have so far managed to reclaim a total of £370.70 across three people. We (including myself) still have claims outstanding with Capital Bank and Abbey National who have both had a second letter sent to them claiming a total of £490.
So 50% success and waiting for the response.

 

[501] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Adam 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 10:42 PM 
Subject: RBS Refund

Hi
Thankyou very much for the advice on your site. After a bit of trouble getting my statements, I sent off the step 1 letter. After a week I received a standard letter stating they were looking into the complaint. Roughly a week later I received a letter offering around 70% of what I had claimed as a goodwill gesture.
I then sent off a slightly amended step 2 letter, refusing to accept the partial refund (sent recorded delivery). Within 2 days I had a letter back offering the full amount (around £700). Brilliant!
Thanks again,
Adam

 

[500] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Claire 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 9:37 PM 
Subject: Refunded in full 

Thank you so much for your brilliant website. 
I was charged £118 by Halifax back in August and searched the net for help.
After finding your site I sent off the first letter and was offered £30 as a
'goodwill gesture'. I then sent the second letter and received the full
amount back by the beginning of October!
The second letter looks a bit scary, but I can only advise you to send it
and get what's owed to you. I am now telling all my friends, so hopefully
we'll have even more victories to add to the list!
Many thanks again,
C

 

[499] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Hilary
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 1:28 PM 
Subject: Refund Alience & Leicester 

Hi have followed all your procedures sent for the statements (6 years) done the sums, wrote one letter (your template varied a little) and received an offer of £2,000 .Within a week! Replied doesn't reflect the loss of £6,000 . The A & L stuck to their £2000 offer so I accepted a bird in the hand ---
Many sincere thanks for enabling me to achieve this via your website. 

 

[498] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tracey
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 10:22 AM 
Subject: Abbey Bank Charges 

After reading the wonderfull info on your website, I sent letter 1 off to Abbey and after almost a month suddenly received £215 bank charge refunds into my account I received no letter advising me of this untill after finding the funds in my account. I then sent off letter 2 as I was claiming back all charges I had incurred from Abbey since opening my account 5 years ago (they only refunded 12 months) after they received my second letter they said I should have taken up these charges at the time of receiving them. I have now started court proceedings against them totalling £4000 I will keep you updated, Fingers crossed !!!!!!!!

Thanks Tracey - Leeds

 

[497] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dawn 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 9:00 AM 
Subject: Abbey bank charges 

Hi 
Sent second letter to Abby asking for my bank charges of £2236.93 to be refunded, I was very surprised when I received a letter, as a gesture of good will, the bank would refund £472. I promptly contacted the bank, recorded delivery, explaining If I don't receive the full refund. The next step would be Court.
Thanks for all your help and advice. Will let you know if I have success with stage three. 
Dawn 

 

[496] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: PAUL  
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 5:29 PM 
Subject: Halifax charges 

Thanks for all your great advice and to everyone who has contributed 
with their comments.

I was finally offered £266 by Halifax for charges of £815 after 
sending letters one and two. I wasn't happy so raised a small claims 
action for £744 ( just under £750 limit) Today I received credit into 
my account of £744 and an extra £151 for costs and interest. They 
didn't even try to contest it.  Power to the small folk!!!!!  Thanks Again

Paul.

 

[495] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Robert 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 5:26 PM 
Subject: I WON I WON I WoW I WON 

I just want to say a massive thank you to this site! With your templates and help I have just managed to get back £4071.50 from the Alliance & Leicester. Before starting this process I really didn't believe it was possible but I was so mad with the bank I thought what the hell.
I started the whole process mid September and received my cheque today. I went through money claim on line via the link on your site on the 6th Oct and it was acknowledged on the 10th Oct. I noticed at work they filed a defence online today and I started to panic. I didn't need to as I had a wonderful surprise when I got home (a cheque for £4071.50). I rang Money claim online and they explained that the defendant did not accept liability however agreed to pay me my money rather than appear in court.
Anyone out there not sure whether to take the plunge I can only say ARE YOU MAD GET YOUR MONEY BACK..
WOW WOW WOW sorry I am just so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! £4071.50
Regards
Richer Robert

 

[494] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: John 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 10:10 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges- Smile Bank 

By using the letters on your web site I have successfully obtained a full refund of £255 bank charges from Smile bank.
Many thanks 
Neale

 

[493] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gary 
To: 'mail@bankcharges.info' 
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 3:42 PM 
Subject: RBS Bank Charges 

I have been offered £178 for £400 worth of charges as a gesture of good will! Oh... but that's not all I've also been asked to sign a letter stating that if I get one more charge my maestro card and cheque book will be taken from me....
And to add to it... I've been offered a re financing loan from bank to pay back my overdraft and guess what.... They are wanting my card back!
I'm feeling very much bullied - any advice on this one would be gratefully received! 
Regards 
Gary 

 

[492] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gary 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2006 7:13 PM 
Subject: bank of scotland 

Hi
Just looking for a bit of advise. Bank of Scotland have charged me £4500 over the past 5 years in unlawful bank charges. Have sent the first letter and got offer back of £375 as a goodwill gesture. Refused and then offered £1096. also refused this offer. Bank wrote saying this was final offer. Due to the higher value of the claim where do I take this to and how do I go about it. Would greatly appreciate your help as feel as though ive hit a dead end.

 

[491] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Nikki 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 5:05 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges! 

A big huge thank-you to your site for bringing this to our attention, without your help in claiming back what is rightfully our money we would still be in debt! I wrote to the Woolwich to claim a refund of £744 for 1yrs charges and within 2wks received a letter back to say they were looking into our claim and would reply within 4wks. Two weeks later I received an offer of £350!! Not satisfied I phoned and explained that on no account would I except this amount as I had been charged £180 within the space of 3days on my account one month which is disgraceful, only to be told that they have no set minimum of which they are allowed to charge within a space of time, but would pay me the full amount £744 as goodwill gesture. The money was paid into my account in a couple of days without any problems, i am still trying to claim a huge amount back from HSBC for charges over the last 6yrs but after sending numerous letters STILL WAITING!! Small claims court here I come....
Cheers! 
A very happy bunny, 
Nikki

 

[490] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Nichola 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 12:18 PM 
Subject: Bank of Scotland charges 

> Over 5 years I had been charged by B O S over 800.00 for direct debit 
> returns etc and was informed about your site so decided to do something 
> about it. After my first letter I was given a 4 week date upon which they 
> would contact me and they kept to their word and I received a letter saying 
> they would be in touch again by another 4 weeks with the outcome of my 
> letter as they still needed to investigate it. After 3 weeks to my delight 
> I received a letter from them offering me 546.00 as a goodwill gesture. I 
> know from reading all your other letters that if you persist you can get the 
> full amount refunded but I have decided to accept their offer as it would be 
> extremely handy for xmas and am unsure of exactly how long it would be to 
> get a response from them again and it could go on for months and months. 
> Thank you very very much for your site and all the information provided as 
> it has done me a good turn and am sure will continue to do so for many many 
> people.
> Thanks again.
> Nichola.

 

[489] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Paula  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2006 3:03 PM 
Subject: Bank of Scotland VISA Refund 90% of charges 580.50 

Hi

A BIG thanks to everyone who created and maintains this website!!
The little people are taking on the banks and winning!
To every one give it time! I started the process on the 3/7/06, by requesting all my statements, I sent letter 1 on the 13/07/06 requesting £645.00 of charges since Nov 01.
On the 3/8/06 I received an offer back of £50.00. That day I sent a letter saying it was not satisfactory and requesting a full refund.
My reply on the 19/08/06 was an offer of half £332.50 - I refused on the 4/9/6 and sent a mesh of letter 2 but advised I would be willing to accept 90%, otherwise I would be taking it to small claims and claiming interest also.
On the 20/10/06 I received a letter saying that for an "amicable resolution" they would refund the 90% £580.50.
So.... HAVE PATIENCE, it pays off! 
Thanks again! 
Paula

 

[488] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: paul  
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2006 9:26 AM 
Subject: bank charges refund 

>i had £2302 in bank charges over the last 6 years (£1542 halifax £760 co-op) 
> i used your letter for both banks so far i have been offered £975 from the 
> halifax and yet to hear from the co-op. i wasnt sure that these letters 
> would work to start with, but i tryed it anyway and they do.i am going to 
> write to the halifax again to see if i can get a full refund not just part, 
> i will write again when both banks have replyed again. but to anyone who 
> is not sure just send the letters, i did and i am on my way to getting what 
> i deserve. but could not have done it without the help of this website 
> thanks paul

 

[487] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: gareth  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 11:04 PM 
Subject: barclays bank 

Thank you very much for the information provided on your website. I used letter 1 and have been made an offer of £750 as a gwg to resolve my complaint. My total charges were just over £2000 but in my current financial situation £750 will go a long way. To be honest for the price of a couple of stamps and a couple of phone calls I don't see this as a bad result. It was money that I had originally written off and never thought I could get back. I did try sending letter 2 but the bank didn't want to raise their first offer. I'm quite sure that if I could have held out another few weeks and taken it that step further I would have got the lot back.
If any one else out there is deliberating over whether or not to challenge the charges, I say go for it, the worst they can say is no. I would highly recommend sending any correspondence with your bank as special delivery, it took me three attempts to get the original letter to them.
I'm now going to sort out my wife's account with HSBC and hopefully get a similar result. 
Again, many thanks. 
G

 

[486] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: David  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 4:03 PM 
Subject: RBS Bank charge 

Hallo
RBS wanted to charge me £28,- for overdrawing my overdraft by £2.98!! I sent the first letter and "as a gesture of goodwill" they are going
to refund it as soon as it is taken off my account!
"However, our Terms & Conditions will continue to apply and any charges that accrue in the future must stand"!
I lived 31 years in Germany and there are no such charges like here. I'm now going to get back the charges from the Bank of Scotland.
They charged me three times because of failed direct debit payments, one because of £1.50!
Thanks
Dave

 

[485] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: janc 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 9:41 PM 
Subject: Halifax 

My husband heard about your site on Radio 4's moneybox, xome time ago. 
Like most people, I dithered, and dithered and eventually (yesterday) sent the letter to the Halifac by hand. I was hoping to get a refund of £18 a charge - the difference between teh £30 they charge and the £12 in the letter.
This morning, I had a phone call, pointing out that the case referred to was credit card charges. I said I thought there was a possibility that the regulation would also be applied to banks in the future.
Result - a complete refund of all charges since April this year has been promised. 
Thank you. 
Jan

 

[484] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lisa  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 5:34 PM 
Subject: Halifax refunded half 

I followed your first two steps with the halifax. For one year I had been charged £900. Their first offer was half of the money back, so I accepted as full and final settlement. They did also add in the letter off offer that as a halifax customer it is my responsibilty to keep track off my account and it is their right to close my account if I do not keep to my side of the contract. But I got £450 refunded. RESULT for the customer.
A big thanks 

 

[483] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Carol  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 2:17 PM 
Subject: Abbey bank charges 

I just wanted to say thank you for all the information and help you are giving because I just would not know have known where to start.
In my particular circumstances I also had to go through the humiliation of having to draw out cash (amount dictated by the abbey) over the counter every week as the bank charges had taken me over my overdraught limit.
I am a full time carer for my son who has cerebral palsy. I used to work full time but my son's health took a turn for the worse and I had to give up working to look after him. I informed the bank but incurred many bank charges resulting in my overdraught going over the limit. In one month alone I was charged over £400. I am still paying the bank back 4 yrs on! I cannot put into words the stress I have felt as well as coping with the problems at home. I am sending your suggested letter to obtain details of all charges and will follow this through!!!!! I will let you know of my progress.
Thanks again!!! 
Carol

 

[482] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: harriet  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 1:46 PM 

Hi 
I sent a step 1 letter to my bank, Halifax. 
I have received a respose and they have offered me £608. 
I was actually expecing around £1400. Would you suggest I persue it further or be happy with what I have got?
Kind regards, 
harriet 

 

[481] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kris 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 12:36 PM 
Subject: unfair bank chages 

I followed the guide on your site and sent both letters adapting them accordingly. After the first letter to the Royal Bank of Scotland, they refused any liability, I then sent the second letter which then pushed them to offering half the amount, I then set up the claim online and after a week, they sent me a cheque for the full amount but still stated that there were not admitting liability! Ive got my money back now and I am very grateful to the organizers of this site!

 

[480] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Michael  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 10:59 AM 
Subject: Refunded charges from the Bank Of Scotland 

Many thanks for setting up this excellent website. Just a quick note to say that i have been rebated £600 from the Bank Of Scotland by using the letters provided by you.
Many thanks

 

[479] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Geoffrey  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 8:49 AM 
Subject: Success 

A big thank you for your very useful website. Natwest decided to charge be the total sum of £210 for exceeding my overdraft limit by £33 for 2 days and (as they claim) exceeding it by £207 for 1 working day even though I had paid money into my account on the Saturday morning, because this was not an "official" working day they still decided to charge for all the direct debits going out even though the bank statement never actually showed me being over my limit.

Today, success, just by sending the first letter and pointing out the facts they have refunded me in full all charges. Never again will I just sit back and accept these ludicrous fees which are obvious money making penalties (why charge £35 for letting a £4.25 payment through by debit card, what is the actual loss there?)
Thanks again
Geoff

 

[478] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: John  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 10:12 PM 
Subject: victory over Lloyds TSB 

I've recently had £1042 plus £120 court costs paid into my account by Lloyds TSB.
In March, I sent the following (abridged) letter to Lloyds TSB. I wasn't sure if this would have any success: As far as I know nobody seems to have had any success yet with Lloyds yet.

Dear Sir/Madam,
Re Penalty & unfair charges - request for refund for Account Number: 
The following charges were applied to my account during the period 2000-2006:
2000: Unauthorised borrowing fees: £220
2001: Unauthorised borrowing fees: £80 Fees for unpaid items: £310
2002: Fees for unpaid items: £112.50
2003: Overdraft excess fees: £140: Unpaid cheque fee: £60 : Unpaid D/D £60
2004: Unpaid cheque fees: £60
By my calculations, these charges amount to a total charge of £1042.50 
I am of the view that your charges represent etc...... ( standard letter)
..................................................................
A few weeks later, I received a standard letter back, saying that I entered into a contract, and it was all fair enough etc. So I put a claim into the Small Claims Court, paying £120, which was then transferred to the "Mercantile court". I paid another £200 towards court costs, then in September the whole amount, plus £120 court costs, was paid into my account with no warning. When I rang Lloyds, nobody in the call centre could tell me where the credit came from! When I said I thought it was actually from them, they still couldn't confirm it! I still have had no correspondence from Lloyds about this payment, and wonder if they will ever admit they have paid me it.

So in answer to the query a few weeks ago on this email list, yes, go for the whole lot because as I understand it the whole lot is classed as fines, which are illegal.
I'm absolutely amazed at getting this money and now intend to go on to the many other banks and credit card companies that have ripped me off over the years. I'll also publicise it anywhere I can. One thing I don't understand is that the banks haven't persuaded the Government to change the law, so that they can keep their crazy profits. For a Government that bows to any demand from big business, whether it's invading Iraq to nick the oil, or flogging off every public service to the highest bidder, I would have expected Blair and his dodgy, spineless, corrupt cronies to cave in to this by now.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. While our actions won't exactly bring down international capitalism, it feels good, and gives us the very rare opportunity to get back a bit of what is ours.
Thanks very much Govan Law Centre for all your work. Youn are providing a fantastic public service. If you are ever threatened with closure (it seems to happen with Law centres, especially good ones) you have a ready made network of supporters who you just need to email.
John, E17

 

[477] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Alison  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 7:03 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

Hi 
Have just settled for £3120 out of Court (against charges levied of £3880) from Abbey. Thank you!

Alison 

 

[466] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jeneti 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 3:05 AM 
Subject: A big thank you 

After using your template letter 1 to Barclays, l got £700 back out of £1400 for the charges incured for the past 6yrs.Your website was so useful and the process only took 3 weeks. I have started spreading the gospel around, its been tried and truly works!!!!! A big THANK YOU!!!

 

[465] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jones, 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 3:26 PM 
Subject: RBS Money Refunded 

Just to say a big thank you, I followed your advice and requested details on all charges to my account with your first request for information along with cheque for £10, they just sent me duplicate copies of all my statements since I've been with them. I had a total of £500 in charges and after sending the first letter they sent me a letter saying that although they believed the charges were fair and what I had signed up to they were offering me over £300 to be refunded. I have taken it and it is paid in my account tomorrow morning. I didn't think this would work but they are obviously paying out in a bid to avoid further action against them by the majority. I have passed this on to all of my friends so hopefully word will get round. Thanks again for your help.
Oli 

 

[464] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Simon
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 1:39 PM
Subject: Halifax Success! Myself and girlfriend have got £7830 in total

> First of all, thanks to the people who make sites like this available to 
> everyone.
>
> My girlfriend and I have just successfully claimed all our charges back 
> from Halifax totalling £7830 (+£240 court fees).
>
> Below is a brief explanation of my experience...
>
> Bank: Halifax
> Amount Reclaimed: £3917
> Amount they paid: £3917 + £120 court fee
>
> The story: I had to go all the way with Halifax. They were slow off the 
> mark to begin with and made two offers in total. The first offer was £550 
> and the second was £1540. The first offer was made by letter and the 
> second was made over the phone. I rejected both so they sent me a letter 
> simply stating that I had exhausted their complaints procedure and I could 
> now go to the Ombudsmen blah blah blah. I simply went on Money Claims 
> Online, paid my fee of £120 and they acknowledged it within 2 days, I got 
> a letter of their acknowledgement stating they would defend it, then 2 
> days later got the final letter stating "Although we do not accept 
> liability and could well win if taken to court, it simply won't be worth 
> us defending it and would be uneconomical to the bank. We will reimburse 
> you the full amount of £3917 plus your £120 court fee within 7 working 
> days"
>
> Took about 2 months in total from asking for statements to settlement. If 
> anyone's got doubts then do it because my girlfriend has just done it for 
> a similar amount and she had to fill out the online money claim also. Both 
> of us got our £120 back. Do not accept any offers and go all the way with 
> Halifax. Just my opinion of course...
>
> Thanks again for the help and guidance that this site and other peoples 
> comments offer.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Simon

 

[463] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Susan 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 8:28 AM 
Subject: RBS Unfair Charges 

I just thought I would share with you that RBS has agreed to refund £4,000 to my account as a "gesture of goodwill" without admitting liability. I had claimed for over £6,000, but as this is greater than what I can pursue via Small Claims in England, and I cannot afford to pursue any other legal avenues, I have decided to accept.
Thank you so much for the advice that I was able to use and whilst the initial letter to the bank was dismissed out of hand by them, the offer of the settlement came by return of post!!
Thanks again. 
Susan 

 

[462] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Bird 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2006 5:14 PM 
Subject: HSBC 
Success! 

I sent your 1st Letter and HSBC refused to pay. 
I sent your 2nd letter and HSBC referred me to the Financial Ombudsman Service. 
I wrote to them. 
They wrote back and told me they would investigate. 
A few week later they sent me a letter saying they had negotiated a settlement of £1,640.00. 
This was nearly all the money I was disputing, so I told them to go ahead. 
I expect payment in 4 weeks time. 
Many, many thanks for your help. I will pass this this on to anyone who I know has a similar bank charge issue.
Jeanette

 

[461] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: HELEN  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2006 2:37 PM 
Subject: Refund from First Direct 

Many thanks for your help - I have just received a refund of £2600 from First direct (HSBC) after two bank letters and one complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman. That was certainly worth three stamps!
Helen

 

[460] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Coral 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 12:41 PM 
Subject: Refund Bank Charges 

> SUCCESS !!!!, may I say a big thank you to your website, just had all my
> bank charges of £764.00 plus court fee of £80.00 paid back to me. Sent off
> the first letter, was refused a refund, sent second letter was still refused
> a refuned then filed a claim in the small claims court to which (the
> Nationwide) replied by refunding all the charges.

> my advice to anyone wanting to pursue the banks for unfair charges is to go
> for it .

> Thanking you again.
>  
> Lisa

 

[459] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rob 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 8:57 AM 
Subject: Bank charges 

I received £450 from HSBC which was a full recovery of a number of excess overdraft charges from 5/6 years ago. They claimed they were perfectly entitled to make these charges but as a gesture of goodwill............
I also claimed £160 from MBNA - a similar story - fully entitled to make these charges but as you are valuable customer................
Rob

 

[458] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ange 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 11:50 PM 
Subject: I HAVE WON 
After reading this sight in July i decided enough was enough being ripped off Got my bank statements and the shock of my life when i found that my bank had taken £3,331 in charges
i went through the usual palaver with them but anyway i have been offered the full amount back and im delighted and it was pretty much stress free thanks to this wonderful site x

 

[457] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jim  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 5:35 PM 
Subject: WON 

Dear Govan Law centre,
I have started various actions with Banks and credit card companies. The first to settle was MBNA. Claim was for £550 in charges. I rang a guy called Paul Miney in Chester and he offered me £260, the difference between the old late payment fee of £20 and the new one of £12, for the number of charges made. I refused but he then offered me the full £550.
I had been told on the consumer action group site to ask for compound interest as well, which I did. He rang back 15 minutes later and told me the compound interest was £590 (I had no idea of how to work that out). The total claim was then for £1160, I accepted and it was deducted from my balance within 48 hours.
GE Money (Laura Ashley) paid the full £96 calim.
Barclaycard paid a £48 goodwill payment against £120 claim
Mint has paid a £56 good will payment against a claim of £140
Less success so far with the Bank of Scotland, we have claims for £1800 altogether started in July and today they offered £922 in full and final settlement. We will have to take them to court now.
Regards,

 

[456] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kieran 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 5:25 PM 
Subject: Halifax folded, £1032! 

Halifax have decided that it would be too pricey to challenge me in
court and have agreed to pay me back the full £752 in charges, £250 in
interest and £80 in court fees (total £1032). Woop!

I filed against First Direct a few days ago for a similar amount and
am waiting to hear from them. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for setting up such a helpful site!

 

[455] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: jamie  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 3:10 PM 
Subject: bank chargers 

hi to start of with a big thank you. i had allsorts of problems about four years ago lots of direct debits was returned in one month leaaving me with chargers of 180.00. this had a snowball effect as i paid these chargers it left me short over a 3 year period my chargers was over £1500.00.  i then got a better job and was sorted but bitter about these chargers. about 2 months ago i then saw your web site and thought nothing to lose i sent your first letter to the bank (lloyds tsb) i got there bog standered letter back refusing to refund me. in went letter 2 they replyed saying sod off do not contact us again (not in these words)so i toke them to court £120 costs no defence was entered so i entered judgement by default give them a week to pay up ,they never did so i sent in a warrent(£55 costs) and am now £1729 better of so a big thank you for the web site

 

[454] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jackie 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 2:19 PM 
Subject: RBS REFUND 

I would just like to firstly say a big thankyou to you for your very helpful website.
After learning about your website from a newspaper, I went about requesting my bankstatements for the last 5 years. I then highlighted all charges made to my account ,referral charges , unpaid direct debit charges and account maintenance charges.To my horror it totalled £662.00. I sent my first letter requesting a refund on 31/07/06 and received a reply on 15/08/06 basically saying they were not going to be refunding any charges. I then sent another letter on 26/08/06 your refusal to refund bankcharges and heard nothing back so sent another letter on 25/09/06 to which they responded on 05/10/06 refunding the total amount which i requested which is great.
It can take a while to get a refund as i have found out but it is well worth the wait.
I have also an ongoing complaint with the BOS Halifax, I sent them a letter requesting a refund of bankcharges on the 31/07/06 they have sent me 3 letters apologising for not giving me a conclusion to my complaint . I saw red with the last one and sent them a letter stating that i wanted a reply to my letter of 31/07/06 not letters apologising for not dealing with my complaint. I then received a letter dated 05/10/06 offering me £174 which I am not accepting and have sent a letter to that effect today. Will keep you posted, and thanks again for your help.
Jackie 

 

[453] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Shelley
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 9:55 AM 
Subject: Refund Sorted 

Just thought I should let you know that your website is fantastic. I used
all your letters and received a full refund of £2744.44.

Thanks
:-)
Shelley
Scotland

 

[452] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: wes 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 1:23 PM 
Subject: ABBEY 
SENT OFF LETTER 2 REQUESTING REFUND RECIEVED A LETTER AFTER 9 DAYS SAYING THEY WOULD INVESTIGATE MY CLAIM WHICH COULD TAKE 40 DAYS
PHONE NEXT DAY JUST TO LET THEM KNOW I WASN'T GIVING UP (AND HOPEFULLY RUSH THEM ALONG) WAS TOLD STILL BEING INVESTIGATED 1 HOUR LATER RECIEVED A PHONE CALL LETTING ME KNOW I WOULD GET A FULL REFUND £195.00 IN NEXT FEW DAYS
THANX (GREAT SITE)

 

[451] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stuart 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 12:13 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 

>i have used ur letters to recover 4 charges from my current account with the 
> halifax, totaling £156.

> first they sent me a letter within 7 days saying that they were going to 
> look into the matter, which could take up to 4 weeks.

> 2 weeks later i got a letter from them saying things like they had the right 
> to recover their costs ect. and that any future cahrges would stand, but 
> also offered a full refund for all the charges i complained about.

> thank you very much for the help.  i have also given other people with bank charges your site and they have  said it looks helpful, hopefully they will have the same result as me!!

 

[450] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sharon 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 8:11 AM 
Subject: Halifax... 
Hi 
A very big thank you for your excellent guide and advice on reclaiming bank charges. I sent your first letter to the Halifax on Wednesday 4th October. On Monday 9th October they said that they were sorry that I was unhappy with the charges that had been taken from my account since May 2006 and that they would deal with my complaint within 4 weeks, I was willing to give them two. On Wednesday 11th October I received a letter to say that they would reimburse me the full amount of £548. I am over the moon with the result. I have struggled so hard these last few months and I was getting so upset that I couldn't give my twins the Christmas they deserve. Ok we lost out on our holiday but I'll make it up to them at Christmas. Many thanks to your excellent website, I have already forwarded your e-mail onto everyone I know.
Thank you very much 
Sharon

 

[449] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Brown 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 7:28 AM 
Subject: thank you 
I have just followed your very simple steps and have just recovered £2,300. 
regards

 

[448] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Caroline  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 7:28 AM 
Subject: HSBC - Refund of charges 

I would just like to say a huge thank you. I have just received £1,000 paid into my account as a final offer of the £1140 that they owe me in charges over the past 6 years. It only took the first letter, along with some prompting letters and a phone call, as they took nearly 2 months to make an offer. Their first offer was substantial though, so for the sake of £140 I took it! Surprise, surprise they did not admit liability and offered it on the basis that they would not recover their costs if it went to court!

If it wasn't for this site - I would not have realised that the banks were acting illegally and would never have got this money back. So thanks for the invaluable information and advice. I just think it's disgusting that they still get away with it, as so few people know their rights. I am going back for another £175 that they have charged me since - so wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks,

Caroline

 

[447] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Helen  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 5:31 PM 
Subject: RE CHARGES. 
Hi I had an old account with the abbey which was overdrawn by £2.50p .I never really bothered with this account as I had not used in such a long time. Then I got a statement from them in july 06 the debt had now risen to £192 . I sent off the first letter to them and got the standard reply , they decieded to give me a refund of £200 as a good will gesture , day after that I got another statement from them amount now up to £218 so I have decided to send of 2nd letter to see what kind of response I get, I will keep you posted on outcome.
Helen 

 

[446] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jackie
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 1:17 PM 
Subject: clydesdale bank 
Thanks. I was looking for a refund of £420 from Clydesdale bank. Today I received a cheque for £366 after sending the second letter 12 days ago.
Jackie

 

[445] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ALEK
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 12:55 PM 
Subject: Clydesdale Bank 

Well, it took some time and perseverence but today a cheque for my partner arrived to the tune of £2056 ! It's a wee bit short of what we claimed but we want nothing more to do with these legalised thieves and are accepting the cash.
I'd love to meet these managers who send out letters such as we received along with the cheque. According to a certain Mr. McKirdy, my partner could in theory be taken to court by the bank as it " would have a claim against you for damages suffered as a result of your breach of contract in failing to adhere to the terms and conditions of the account". Unbelievable !
Not a word about the excessive and possibly illegal nature of the bank charges. No admission in any way, shape or form that the bank was in the wrong - " This cheque is tendered without admission of liability." " The bank charges debited reflected the operation of the account."
Anyway, my advise to everyone who is still waiting for a satisfactory response from a bank is - DO NOT give up! You are in the right and the banks know it.
Good luck, I feel a holiday coming on ! 
Regards, Alek. 

 

[444] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Derek
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 7:35 AM 
Subject: Barclays 

Dear All 
Having been offered £975 in response to my first letter, this is out of the £2650 i was claiming from Barclays for the last years. I first decided to go to court, then like I am sure many others I felt it may be more hassle than it was worth.( I am sure that is the wrong attitude)
I spoke to Barclays again and they increased the offer a little bit to £1125 which I accepted, so you can add that to your running total.
Good luck everyone, stick with it,it really is worth it. My advice is make sure you follow the steps to the letter, have patience, and send everything recorded delivery.
Great website, little donation on it's way to you. 
Derek

 

[443] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: BEV 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 10:50 PM 
Subject: Abbey Bank Charges 
Claim - £1137 bank charges plust £158.05 interest - Abbey 1999-2006 

Thanks for your extremely useful website. I have sent step 1 letter to Abbey - who replied their charges were not unfair, but on sending step 2 letter they have offered a goodwill gesture of £310.

However they state that these charges were correct as I had insufficient monies in my account to cover payments and that the history on the account showed it was not the first time.
They have sent me copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service Booklet if I am not happy with their investigation.
I am determined to take this to Court to recover charges, but feel intimidated at this last letter. Is this the Bank's usual ploy making the customer feel guilty ?
I would be grateful for your comments. Many thanks.

 

[442] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Vicky 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 4:44 PM 
Subject: halifax charges 
I have sent the first letter off, and had a standard letter back saying it is in their terms and conditions to charge £30 for bank charges. Then i sent a second letter and they offered me £1000 on the phone, I refused that offer, they then offered me £1500 within the same phone conversation,which i refused. Now they have offered me £2512.87 in writing, as my charges are in the excess of £14000 do i take them to court on but as the limit is £5000 do i do this 3 times. Can anyone advise me on this please. Thanks Vicky

 

[441] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Douglas 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 11:00 PM 
Subject: RBS 
I used your first letter in the two forms (charges and referrals) and after the seven days I got a letter stating that although they disagreed with the OFT they were willing to make a goodwill payment of the full amount - £646. I got it three days later. They did state that this goodwill payment is only that and any future charge must stand. I see about that if the occasion arises.
Nice one and thanks.

 

[440] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: joseph
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 5:55 PM 
Subject: Refund of charges RBS 

> After sending standard letter to my bank, I have now
> received a full refund of my bank charges from RBS
> which came to £152. The refund came with conditions,
> this has already been mentioned, RBS don't recognize
> OFT ruling on bank charges, I had also to sign
> declaration that I make no future demands on bank
> charges. In time I will leave the RBS and open a new
> account

 

[439] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: CLARE 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 10:14 AM 
Subject: halifax bank charges 

Thank you! thank you! Last week the halifax paid all my bank charges in full £2688.00. I had to take the court action and they paid the court fees so that cost them an extract £120.00. So now I am on with the abbey they've made me an offer of £360.00 so far but I don't even know how much the charges are, on my account has they still haven't sent even through I requested them 3 months ago. I am telling everyone I know about your site its amazing how much the banks have being stealing from us all. I am off on holiday with my kids! YEE AH!!!!!

 

[438] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Andrew
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 10:10 AM 
Subject: Halifax Bank Charges 

£3,700 accumulated bank charges over a 3.5 year period. Letter 1 to the Halifax resulted in an offer of £250 in full and final settlement, which was increased to £780 after sending Letter 2. Making an online claim through the County Court has resulted in full repayment of the £3,700 plus the £120 court fee.
Thanks!
Andrew

 

[437] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jay 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 9:33 AM 

Hi 
Thanks - I just got an 'administrative fee' of £30 cancelled after sending my bank your first letter.
Regards 
Jay

 

[436] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Priya  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 6:09 PM 
Subject: Refunded Bank Charges 

Hi, 
I have recently been successful claiming back bank charges of £660 but I am still unhappy about this as I am sure that over the years I have paid out thousands of pounds. Can I still pursue my claim?
Thanks

 

[435] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: anne 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 3:30 PM 
Subject: refund 

Dear Sirs 
Just writing to let you know about a great result against the Alliance & Leicester. 
We wrote them 2 letters and then applied to the court they told us that they would defend the case, but in fact paid all the charges of £5319.56 as a goodwill gesture.
Well worth the time and effort to get what is rightly ours. 
We are also in the process of reclaiming charges from Abbey who today have offered us half of the £8400 that we are applying for. We are not going to accept so watch this space.
Keep up the great work. 
ANNE

 

[434] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Elaine 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 2:52 PM 
Subject: Bank of Scotland 

Thanks for the heplful info on this site. I have notification of a full settlement of my claim (£240). Without needing to go to court and only 5 weeks after sending letter 2.
Elaine

 

[433] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stephen  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 1:58 PM 
Subject: Woolwich/ Barclays 

Hi @ Govan Law Centre 
You are doing a great job, your specimen letters really cut to the chase and the banks realise the game is up.
I challenged a number of charges with The Woolwich dating back to 2002 and the sum was £120 pounds and they paid up in full. I had challenged the charges at the time and The Woolwich were very snippy. Their attitude has now changed.
Thanks again. 
Steve D. 
Findhorn.

 

[432] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sandra 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 7:24 PM 
Subject: HSBC Bank Charges 
I have used your site & standard letters and am so grateful for the help - I have now received a refund 'without prejudice' from HSBC who said they would be win any court case as I was fully aware of their charges but in an effort to save time and costs would repay me £1250. Thank you again

 

[431] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lee
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 6:00 PM 
Subject: Refusal of refund from NATIONWIDE 
I obtained a list of statements from Nationwide and worked out over the last 5 years they have charged me approx £2500. I have sent them letters 1&2 and both times they have refused to accept any liability stating I signed an agreement when I opened the account that I would undertake any charges they deemed suitable.My next option is court action.Has anyone else had problems like this with Nationwide? I,m also having the same problem with Barclays were my bank account disappeared when I sent the letter in and is no longer on their records after closing it 2 years ago and they refuse to reply to any letters I send now.On a good note Capital One did refund £200.
Thanks for all the advice 
Lee

 

[430] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dave 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 5:51 PM 
Subject: Success Vs Halifax 
Firstly, thanks to this great site without which I would not have triumphed over the previously untouchable bank. To summarise, here's how it went;
10 Sep - Requested details of charges, enclosed £10 cheque.
13 Sep - Details provided, cheque returned uncashed.
14 Sep - Initial letter sent requesting £1397 charges
23 Sep - Reminder sent
25 Sep - Reply received, they did not agree, but did say they would waive the £28 charge due on 30th.
26 Sep - Letter 2 issued
30 Sep - £28 charge taken out !!
2 Oct - Phone call received offering me £200, I turned it down, they increased it to £649 in the next sentence, again turned it down. Lodged court proceedings with MCOL.
5 Oct - Letter received confirming the £649 final offer
6 Oct - Letter received, although they don't admit liability, purely from a commercial point of view, they will not be defending the case and will be refunding £1425 (initial amount plus the £28), plus £92 interest, plus court costs within the next 7 days.
So there you go, a full refund in under a month. Thanks once again to this site and as others have said, stick with it, you will win in the end !

 

[429] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: david  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 2:37 AM 
Subject: bank charges 
Hi; 
Heres my situation in may i succesfuly got £ 693 refunded but at a price they said i could not ask for refund again I told them i am not happy with it.
Now I am back to square 1 they managed to charge me with ove £650 in the space of a week (just before pay day) they refuse to refund of course and I have to take then to court.
They actualy own me after calculation over £2600 and have now put me in a very bad situation. 
I would appreciate any input on how to correctly proceeding to get hopefuly succeful. 
thank you 
david

 

[428] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Matthew 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 3:25 PM 
Subject: Refunded charges 

Hi,

I used your first two letters and had £560 worth of charges refunded from Halifax PLC.

Lloyds TSB have not given me such an easy ride however, I will be taking them to court regarding this and hopefully allowing people to quote precedent off the charges.

Thanks
Matt

 

[427] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: mark
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 1:21 PM 
Subject: unfair charges 
i was charged £39 by the halifax as i had gone slightly overdrawn,they told me this amount would be debited a week after the date of the letter and if this £39 charge left me overdrawn they would charge me a further £28 plus an unauthorised overdraft interest rate.i sent them a letter asking them how many people had phoned me to discuss my account,how many people had written letters to me regarding the conduct of my account and as your sample letter states its simply another way to get more and more money out of their customers,the vast majority of these customers are just trying to obtain and manage their own money.
i got a letter back saying it would be investigated by their customer relations department,its part of the terms and conditions of my account etc.2 weeks later i received another letter saying nobody likes to pay these charges etc,the usual stuff that we have all heard before but as a gesture of goodwill they were willing to refund me £78,then they ended the letter with more threats,they reserve the right to close my account if it is not correctly managed and future charges will apply
after i had banked the refunded money i politely informed them there was nothing wrong with the conduct of my account,i wouldnt have been the first person to go overdrawn and i certainly wouldnt be the last,i asked them if and how they could justify levying unauthorised overdraft fees that in many cases are over20 times higher than the actual amount the customer has gone overdrawn,and lastly yes thats fine,if you want to charge me such a high amount again i will just have to write another letter again.
anyway,many thanks for a great website that contains some really valuable information,great work

 

[426] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: darren 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 1:19 PM 
Subject: Halifax 
Cheers for a cracking and informative website, took 56 days to get statements back, ended up with £1723 in charges, sent letter one and got offered £210 in full and final, phoned them up and told them this wasn't acceptable, and was told that the OFT findings weren't anything to do with banks but purely a credit card issue!!! Just compiled letter two and shall await outcome, fully prepared to take it to court, it certainly doesn't worry me!! Shall keep ya all posted, Darren

 

[425] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: andrew 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 8:33 AM 
Subject: Barclays 
I have just had an offer off Barclays for £800 (goodwill gesture) They owe me £1835&ldots;&ldots;&ldots;Obviously I want more,but I have just read this e:mail on your site:-From: Joanne
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:04 AM 
Subject: Bank Charges 
I have recently disputed my charges for the past 6 years with Barclays - totalling nearly £2000. Following Letter 1 they offered me an £840 'gesture of goodwill' refund, but I declined this and sent letter 2.
This was not effective so I had to raise this dispute with the local county court. Barclays had 28 days in which to either refund the money in full or dispute the claim. I have checked the situation today as their grace time has now ended and they have put in a defence against me!!! How can they do this when I know by looking at other comments from Barclays customers on this site that their amounts have been eventually refunded in full. Is it fair they can do this for one person, but not another???
Any advice on what I should do from here???
Any advice on which way I should go&ldots;&ldots;.?
Many Thanks
Andrew

 

[424] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: CATHY  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 9:46 AM 
Subject: success and thank you so so much. 

success! please add £760 to the total. I paid Nat west £5 for my historic statements going back 5yrs 6mths.Went through them with a highlighter pen. sent letter one and was made an offer of £96. Resent letter one, and was sent the offer. The whole process took under 3 weeks. I did make contact with the local branch manager( which is not where my account is held) Having a point of contact was v.v. helpful, and I believe speeded up the process.It was dealt with really well.I did however have to sign a letter agreeing not to question charges in the future. I do however believe that there will be some ruling on charges soon, thanks to amazing people like all those who operate this site. Thank you so much, it has helped my family in many ways. Not just financially.Alleviating the debilitating stress of the cycle of debt, charges, debt, has made such a difference to our lives. cathy

 

[423] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ellen  
To: m@govanlc.com 
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 5:12 PM 
Subject: Bank charges 
I have a friend who has a bank account to receive benefits. He is disabled and has a mobility car for which he pays insurance through the account.
Unfortunately due to bad timing his account was empty when the insurance payment was applied for, and the bank has taken charges from his account this week leaving him with only £15 to live on.
Are there no agreements for the banks to be lenient in cases where people have to have their money paid through the bank for benefits. One bank charge can be half of a persons living allowance, leaving them with no money to live off.
Regards

 

[422] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ALLY  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 7:14 PM 
Subject: charges refunded 
Followed your instructions to the letter. Total charges over 5 years of £764. 
Initial "goodwill" offer of £350 refused. 
Received letter today refunding total charges. Best bit is that the bank had already refunded £220 of these charges after I complained at the time.
Champagne and cigars time.
Thanks for your great website.
Al

 

[421] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Steven 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 5:30 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges - Part refunded 
I was looking for your help.
My girlfriend had been charged £1900 in total over the last 5 years in bank charges from the Halifax Bank of Scotland.
She received a letter last week offering her £575 repayment as a goodwill gesture from the bank.
What should she do next?
Steven

 

[420] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Victoria 
To: 'mail@bankcharges.info' 
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 2:07 PM 

Hi. First of all thank you so much for your incredibly informative website. I recently sent the first 2 letters (recorded delivery) to Natwest claiming £1022.00, they have come back with an offer of £410 with no liability etc. etc. I have phoned Natwest and said I would not be accepting their offer (as its not even half the amount). They did not offer more and said I was entitled to pursue it through the small claims court. I have now raised the claim (paying £120 in the process) and I will let you know of the outcome. Thanks a lot!

 

[419] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kim 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 1:50 PM 
Subject: DPA Letter 

Hi, 
I have recently sent a DPA Letter to my old bank, Lloyds TSB, they replied promptly but only gave me statements with charges on for my current address, informing me that they did not send statements from previous addresses. As I had banked with them for a number of years spanning over three address moves. I will have to write to them again and ask for statements from my previous addresses. I thought it worth telling anyone wanting to claim back their charges that it might be worth putting your previous addresses on your initial DPA letter.
Thanks for all the information on your web site, I have found it very useful. 
Kind Regards 
Kim 

 

[418] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Peter 
To: m@govanlc.com 
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 4:11 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

Hi There,
I have been trying to claim back bank charges amounting to £1700 from the Bank of Scotland. They maximum they have offered to refund is £750. As they wont budge any further I am going to take them to a small claims court. As in Scotland you can only claim up to £750 in a small claims court could you advise if I can lodge 3 separate claims against them i.e. claim £750 from 02-04 and another £750 from 04-05 etc.
Your bank charges site is very useful and I have already claims back over £800 in charges from other banks so thank you very much.
Thanks in Anticipation,
Peter 

 

[417] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Louise
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 8:10 AM 
Subject: SUCCESS! HSBC/First Direct 

I only opened my account with First Direct 8 months ago after moving away
from Barclays and their astronomical charges. I sent first Direct an email
last week and yesterday I received a letter in the post not admitting
liability and offering me £395! I went through my statements and can only
find £260 worth of charges! So of course I will be accepting this offer!

I have also sent the first letter to Barclays who my account was with
previously and my two credit card accounts - I have not heard back from
these as yet but only sent the letters last week. I will keep you posted!
Thank you!

Louise - Milton Keynes

 

[416] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ian 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 9:47 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

> Thanks, I sent letters 1 & 2 to Lloyds TSB but they were not interested and 
> told me to contact the banking ombudsman, however the Abbey were totaly 
> different and rolled over on letter 1 and refunded £407. Now thats what I 
> call a result.
> Thanks again
> Ian from Wales

 

[415] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: lisa 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 6:19 PM 
Subject: unfair charges 

>I have taken Nationwide through the small claims court having had negative 
> responses to the 1st and 2nd letter. The amount I wanted refunding was 
> £600.00 plus £80.00 court costs. Before their 14 days to reply to the court 
> are up, they have deposited £338.21 for unfair charges plus £80.00 to cover 
> court costs into my account. I didn't get any option on this just a letter 
> telling me what they had done! Having telephoned them I was told they did 
> not have to refund all the costs..... as I know this is not the case , where 
> do I go from here? I have told them I do not want to accept this, but do I 
> just continue on the original courts' 14 days or do I have to start all over 
> again now they have deposited something into my account? Would be really 
> grateful ffor some help here as we are on a 14 day countdown!!

> Lisa, Derbyshire.

 

[414] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Richard 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 6:28 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 

Dear Sir,
Following your advice I wrote to the Nat West Bank regarding charges made for presenting cheques when the banking system delayed transference of money rapidly. As a result of delayed transference which I should have checked I received charges amounting to £114 for the production of letters only.
They denied liability at first but on sending the second letter threatening court action they acted.
I today received a letter offering the sum of £152 in full and final settlement.
I would like to thank you for your guidance in this matter, please keep up the good work.
Many thanks 

 

[413] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Vicky 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 10:29 PM 
Subject: barclays bank 

As many of you might be aware&ldots;.there are hardly any refunds for Barclays customers, we are claiming a total of £1790 of which they offered £900 gesture of goodwill, of course we refused, however they have now filed a defense against us. Is anyone else in this situation or have gone any further than this?
We have to respond by 17/10/06 , are there any suggestions? Bit funny really that Barclays are the only ones taking us to court, all other banks are paying up

 

[412] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Helen
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 2:16 PM 
Subject: Abbey Charges 


Abbey recently charged me £50 for going over-drawn for 1 day by £4.99, when I called them a very rude woman they told me that as the fines had already been taken from my account there was nothing I could do and was told if I was un-happy I should change bank!!

I found your website and sent the 1st letter off and after 4 weeks they replied saying I agreed to the terms and conditions...blah blah blah.... BUT as a ' gesture of goodwill' they re-funded me the money. It just shows you that they know there are in the wrong and even if they had refused I would of proceeded with the 2nd letter out of principle.

Huge thanks to your very helpful site, I hope more people continue to stand up for themselves and take on these big banks that make fortunes out of our money
x



[411] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Nickie 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 7:44 AM 
Subject: Capital one 

I have recently received a refund of £156 from capital one after sending letter one. They were very quick to reply and I have now closed my account with them. Still waiting for a reply from HSBC bank who are proving to be not very helpful so here goes letter one again. I will be persitent on this one. Thanks for all your help!!!!

 

[410] Original Message ----- 
From: Derek
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 10:15 AM 
Subject: Barclays 
I had £2650 of charges over the last 6 years and today I have received a offer of goodwill for the sum of £975.
I will now be sending letter 2 as clearly Barclays know they are wrong in some way. 
I will keep you posted. 
Derek 

 

[409] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: paul f 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 9:11 AM 
Subject: bank charges 
Hi, 
I sent off your letter No.1 to my bank outlining the incidents of overchargin, they took two forms; Referral Fees and Unpaid Charges. They totalled £4000. The Bank replied stating that they would respond within 20 working days which I felt would have been deemed reasonable. They have now responded and say that the Senior Branch Manager and Local Branch Manager will be in contact with me. I would really appreciate some advice on what my next step(s) should be.
I live in Northern Ireland and I presently bank with the Northern Bank which is now controlled by Danske Bank.
Regards and keep up the great work and website 
Paul 

 

[408] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Pete 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 7:52 PM 
Subject: succesful refund 
Dear Friend! 
I wish to thank you for your effort in providing and editing your website. It's great stuff! 
I had succesful refund from RBS in matter of returned direct debit instruction. Charge was £38.
Ridiculous thing was that the means were available on the account on a day of transaction. Apparently bank requirements are ONE FULL day before DD instruction funds are needed on the account.
They ignored and turned me down on phone conversation and also ignored my first letter (your sample)
However they reacted on the second and offered me full refund of £38 providing that I won't be claiming back anymore charges from them. As I switched to Cahoot (which already presents as not very good...) I agreed. Refund came 3 days later.
Thank you for your help 
Peter H.

 

[407] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: M
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 4:24 PM 
Subject: refund of charges hali fax bank 
whoopee SUCCESS !!!!, may i say a big big thankyou to you and your website, just had all my bank charges from the last six years refunded total £2,787.00 plus court fee of £120.00. sent off the first letter , offer of £260., sent second letter , offer of £600. then filed a claim in the small claims court to which they replied by saying they (the halifax) were within their rights to extract these charges from my account but they were refunding the charges as it would be too expensive to defend in court and that they would not be able to recover their costs if they won.
my advice to anyone wanting to persiue the banks for unfair charges is to go for it . 
if i can do it then anyone can!!!!. once again thankyou for the invaluable service that you provide.
kindest regards 
melvyn 

 

[406] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: TONI  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 4:12 PM 
Subject: refunded money 

my name is rob reid my bank charges added up to £650 over the past 6 years from my halifax current account i was told the maxium i would get refunded would be £250 so i excepted. its better than nothing. thanks for your help in this matter great information.

 

[405] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ken
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 10:26 AM 
Subject: BOS 

Add £206.00 to your running total! Bank of Scotland offered full settlement 
of my claim without any need to go to court ( but it did take 2 months )
Ken

 

[404] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: paul 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 9:57 PM 
Subject: Nationwide 
Hi All
Ok where to start, well after checking my internet banking statements for the last 2 years as my account has only been with them that long, I found they have charged me a total of £938.76. This includes Judicial interest rate of 8%. After all the usual letters back and forth I filed a summary cause claim on them for this full amount, in their wisdom have not replied to me as of yet of their intent to defend the claim, but have paid the sum of £585.67 into my account. A few days later I receive the standard we are closing your account down in 30 days letter.
Dates as follows
They receive the claim 16th Sept
Part payment goes in my account 19th Sept for £585.67
I make a call and also send a letter asking for the rest, get reply saying NO this is all we feel you are owed.
Balance of £353.09 due.
My Question is this
The calling date of my claim is the 25th Oct, can I file for judgement before that date as they have made it clear by letter this is all they are paying, and if I can how do I go about filing for judgement.
Kind Regards
Paul
Dumbarton

 

[403] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Angi 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 9:35 PM 
Subject: A Huge Tahnk you 
I would like to say a huge thank you, I sent the 1st letter to Abbey around a month ago, then received a letter from them saying it would be fully investigated, then nothing until I logged onto internet banking tonight and WOW, they put £835.00 back into my account!
So for the price of a 1st class stamp it all changed! I just cant thank you enough, I was struggling to pay my rent and now I'm going away for the weekend with my partner.
Thanks again!! 
Angi

 

[402] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: H
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 11:48 AM 
Subject: barclays refund 
just received letter from barclays offering £1000.

 

[401] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Claire
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 10:47 AM 
Subject: HSBC 
I have had a refund of £900 from HSBC for charges that totalled £1100 in just one year. I have no written to them again asking for the charges that have been applied to my account previous to this time. What chance do I stand of also getting these back? It has been two weeks now since I wrote, should I write again?
I also got arefund of £73 from Capital One, for charges that totalled £120. 
It certainly looks like most banks are now giving in. 
Many Thanks 
Claire

 

[400] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: matthew 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 10:24 AM 
Subject: Repayment 
Hey, 
I recently used your site to question £400 of charges and within two weeks have been offered a settlement of £330 which i will gladly accept. I have futher discovered another £350 of charges which i shall also be writing about.
Thanks for a great site and all your help
Matthew 

 

[399] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Scott 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 10:50 PM 
Subject: RBS refund of bank charges 

I received a letter today offering me a full refund of my bankcharges of £2,374. Your website was very helpful. I started of by requesting my bank statements going back 5 years which cost me £10 . I went through them highlighting all charges referal charges account maintenance charges and returned direct debit charges, to my shock it totalled £2,374 which i requested back using first stage letter . About 2 weeks later received a letter offering me £792 , sent second stage letter refusing to accept and stating i was not prepared to accept anything less than the total amount of £2,374, to my delight the bank has offered me the full amount back but they do still say that this is a goodwill gesture and that they are not accepting liability or error. Thanks for your informative site and i am urging everyone i know who has been affected by this to reclaim their charges back after all its their money.
Scott 

 

[398] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Mark 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 8:03 PM 
Subject: Lloyds/TSB 
I am currently making a claim for a total of 80 unfair charges to my account over the last 6 years.
Total charges were £2766 against which I have offset the correct charge of £960 (being 80X£12)
Could you assist by advising whether I need to offset the £12's?
It may help you to know that the Financial Services Authority have a broad remit to fine Firms for failing to 'treat their customers fairly'.
Unfair charges would certainly fall within the scope of this requirement as would place an obligation on the Banks to pro actively identify and reimburse customers.
I have included the following statement in my claim letter; "You will also be failing in your duty to 'treat customers fairly' under the Financial Services and Markets Act, 2000 and this is also likely to result in my making a complaint".
Mark.

 

[397] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: renee
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 3:57 PM 
Subject: refund of bank charges 
Using your advice and letters on-line, the RBS offered me a 'gesture of goodwill' and offered £220, which I refused on the grounds that by offering this token amount they were admitting liability. I followed your guidance and sent the second letter. I have now been offered £1300 as refund on excess bank charges over the past 6 years! I note that they have reserved the right to continue to charge me at the same rate until they are forced to change under the law. Still, nothing ventured nothing gained. It leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth though realising that the bank you have stayed with as a loyal customer for many years have not been honest with you regarding their charges, makes you wonder what else they havent been honest with you about. I have yet to receive their refund and expect that they will deduct anything else they think I owe them before passing it to my account!!
Many thanks for your guidance and very useful website, I have already recommended you to others in the same situation.

 

[396] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Anne
To: m@govanlc.com 
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 3:20 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 
Just to let you know that Capital One has refunded £196 in bank charges and the Royal Bank of Scotland has refunded us £766 also. Many thanks for the sound advice you shared on your web site.
A&I Hood

 

[395] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kath 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 9:16 AM 
Subject: halifax 
I filed a claim against HALIFAX PLC for bank charges totalling £840. Received initial offer of goodwill for £140 along with all the BLAH....BLAH. Sent your letter 2 declining their offer.Received a 2nd offer of £413. I have now written to them to request a copy of their calculations as to how they have arrived at these figures as there is a considerable difference between the two. (or have they got a lucky dip bag that they just pull out a figure and hope for the best) I have informed them that this will be my final communication to them regarding this matter and the next step will be court proceedings........ Will keep the site imformed of outcome Kath.

 

[394] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: James 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 7:45 AM 
Subject: totaliser 
Hi there
You can add another £11,056.98 to your totaliser, RBS paid up a couple of weeks ago!
Many thanks
James 

 

[393] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: AW 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 9:02 PM 
Subject: More Success 
I received a cheque from A&L bank yesterday for £1594 pounds as an out of court settlement following stages 1-3 - lots of stroppy letters up to the brink, but they gave in at the end.
Thank you!!! 

 

[392] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: bally 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 7:45 PM 
Subject: Natwest Bank 
Hi,
I have been using your site to claim back 6 years of charges on my account with Natwest totalling almost £2,000.
Having sent out letters 1 and 2 Natwest have refused point blank to 1) admit that their charges are unfair, and 2) not made any offers to resolve this. I have decided to make a claim via the small claims court (processed online).
Recently, I have received letters from the court and their Natwest solicitors claiming that Natwest wish to defend the claim.
I am in the process of advancing the claim to go to court.
Watch this space.
Regards,
Balvinder

 

[391] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Pam 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 7:28 PM 
Subject: Sainsbury's credit card 
Many, many thanks. Having phoned and written twice to no avail last year I used your letter to claim unfair charges for a one day late payment on my Sainsbury's credit card. They replied with a very polite letter, justifying their charges but, as I was a "valued cardholder" they would refund all my charges.
I am very grateful - keep up the fight. 
Pam

 

[390] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: jason 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 7:07 PM 
Subject: bank charges 

> after checking your website out and surfing some more i've decided im going 
> to go ahead and process my claim.

> My only question to you is this:

> i've had my account for a few years now 1. can i claim for years gone by?
> 2. if so, how can 
> i find out how much im owed without having to pay the £5 for each monthly 
> statement my bank have asked me to pay (internet banking only covers this 
> year)?

> Many thanks and great work

> E J Roberts

 

[389] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stacy 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 7:02 PM 
Subject: Thankyou so far! 

This email is just to let you know my progress!
BOS charged me £837 over 1 year in unfair charges, and after the decline of an initial offfer of £165 tomorrow is the last day for them to contact me, so I wait in hope for that.
Halifax Visa (Credit Card) charged me £187 over 2years, and one week after sending letter 1 to them they agreed to take this amount from my outstanding balance.
GE CAPITAL (River Island Card) charged me £75 over 1 year, and just one week, and two polite letters (from them!) later they agreed to repay this in full.
Capital One charged me £25 and after a quick call suggesting I would take matters further they took this charge off of my account.
I wait to hear from the finance company behind my WAREHOUSE store card.

So there's another £287 to add to your total, and a hope for another £837 tomorrow!

Thank you so much for your valuable information, these charges were getting on top of me every month with their incurring interest levels so I feel a little less out amongst it!

Stacy
Dundee

 

[388] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: mark  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 6:27 PM 
Subject: Bank charges refund 
Hi, 
Like others I was very sceptical when I first heard about the possibility of reclaiming my bank charges. It just sounded too good to be true. I thought the stumbling block was the bank's terms and conditions re charges, that is, until I read the information on your web site. The letters you have produced here are authoritative and expertly written.

On going through my bank statements I calculated that Bank of Scotland had overcharged me by almost £800 over the last 4 years. Therefore, I sent off letter 1 in early July and 3 weeks later received a reply offering me £170 as a gesture of goodwill. I rejected this offer and sent letter 2 stating that if they didn't settle my claim in full within 7 days, I would raise a small claims action.

As I didn't hear from them within the 7 day period specified, I started the process rolling of taking them to court. This isn't as daunting as it might at first appear. I simply phoned my local sheriff court and was promptly sent a claim pack with the forms to complete and a guide. I restricted my claim to £750 to comply with the small claims procedure and returned the forms together with a cheque for £39 for the court fee. (Coincidentally, this is the same amount my bank had been charging me for simply sending out a computer-generated letter!) Shortly afterwards a letter arrived from the bank with an increased offer of £507 in an effort to settle the complaint as quickly as possible, as they put it. (This offer was obviously made before they received the papers from the court.)

I was about to send a letter to reject this offer also when, with a month to go before the case was due to be heard, I received another letter from the bank stating that they were prepared to settle my claim in full and would pay £789 into my account within the next 5 working days, ie the charges plus £39 for the court fee. The reason they gave for not defending the action was that because my claim was going through the small claims procedure, they would not be able (even if they won) to recover their costs!! The money was paid into my account almost immediately. The whole process, from sending off letter 1 to getting a full refund of charges, had taken about 10 weeks.

I was obviously delighted with this outcome. However, as a Bank of Scotland customer for almost 30 years I was also angry and disgusted with the bank, firstly because they had taken money from my account (by way of excessive charges) which I felt was tantamount to theft, and secondly because they didn't have the decency to at least come clean after they'd been rumbled and immediately offer to pay back what they had taken. Instead they added insult to injury by having the temerity to maintain that they had done nothing wrong, but were settling the claim simply because they didn't want it to drag on and/or it would cost them too much money to defend.

Flushed with success and feeling in control for once, I closed my account with Bank of Scotland after telling them exactly what I thought of them (although I'm under no illusion that they'll take a blind bit of notice) and switched to another banking group altogether.
I take my hat off to the Govan Law Centre, I really do. You are helping people who are probably the least able to afford these excessive bank charges to fight back and to win, apparently against all odds. It's a famous victory for justice and decency over excessive greed and mendacity.
Mark

 

[387] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sheila 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 1:11 PM 
Subject: Outcomes 

I write to share the successful outcome of my claims for charges using your advice against my two banks. Whilst one (The Cooperative) was most helpful and prompt in rectifying the problem the other (Alliance & Leicester) has issued a further threat! Punitive or what!

 

[386] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jess  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 10:31 AM 
Subject: Abbey 

hi there, 
i just want to say thank you so much for this web-site. i was really struggling with charges by Abbey. i sent the first letter and within 7 days had £457.00 in charges refunded (the total amount i asked for). This has been such a great help to me. i cant believe it really worked.
do you know if i can do the same with my credit cards?
thanks again.
Jessica

 

[385] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rebecca 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 7:00 PM 
Subject: HSBC sweet success at last!!! 
Thank you for all of your information and encouragement relating to unauthorised bank charges. I followed the 1st and 2nd steps on your website having battled with my bank for years to assist me with my account and have today received a letter from HSBC of course not accepting "liability whatsoever" but offering £1850.00 as a settlement against the £2064.00 claimed. For anyone who is in the process of claiming against your bank for these unlawful charges I definitely urge you to continue!
Good luck to everyone!

 

[384] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lee
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 6:36 PM 
Subject: HSBC refund 
Thanks for the invaluable help from your site.... 
After sending letter 1 and then a copy of the list of charges (again) that had been applied to my current account, HSBC have refunded £1,000 against a claim of £1,175 along with what seems to be their standard letter; not liable / would win in court etc.
I have to say, to their credit, they dealt with my complaint pretty well and pretty quickly overall. Problem is they are now about to charge me £125 in charges for the next month along with the same amount on my joint account. Two more letters will be posted to them today. Do they think we don't look at our statements ??
Lee 

 

[383] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: MIKE  
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 10:47 AM 
Subject: Bank Have Submitted 12 page defence 

> Hi,

> I have used the pro formas on these sites to reclaim
> charges totalling £1600. Natwest's solicitors have
> submitted a 12 page defence today, which is asking me
> to provide proof of charges (which obviously I have
> from bank statements) and to provide a defence to
> everything written in the pro forma letters.

> What should I do now? Clealy I am no legal expert.
> Should I reply at all, or leave it? Do I need to send
> them (the solicitors) photo copies of my bank
> statements detailing charges?

> Any advice would be fantastic.

> NB - I note that some websites says I should nothing,
> but the (court?) letter says I have to sumbit a
> defence by October 15th?

> Thanks 
> Mike, London

 

[382] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stephen  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 9:33 AM 
Subject: bank charges 
Just to say a big thank you for providing the information to tackle these unfair bank charges. Recently went on holiday and thought I had enough in bank but got back and found i had gone overdrawn by £1.11 and charged £60 for paying 2 DDs +£28 because I was £30 overdrawn which I was because of my charges . Its a con big time . Anyway I sent letter 2 got reply straight away - looking into it then 3 weeks later another letter still looking into it. Then this morning, 2 days later an offer of £241 came through my door, which I will accept as I did claim £281 . Thanks again. Val

 

[381] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sarah
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 9:07 AM 
Subject: business bank accounts 
Hi, 
Just to say a huge thank you for this excellent site giving so many of us the opportunity to reclaim our personal bank charges. I am currently waiting a payback of £244 from capital One and a response from Halifax which will be considerably more than this!
I have tried the same approach with HSBC on my business bank account as their charges are also £28 for every unpaid cheque etc etc. Today I have received a letter saying that a business account is not under the same OFT standards etc etc and that the case cannot be taken forward. Is this correct and if so do you have any info for reclaiming on business accounts. I am sure this is an area that many others would also be interested in. It seems unfair that we can challenge personal accounts and not business accounts when the charges are the same.
Kind Regards 
Sarah

 

[380] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Wayne
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 8:10 AM 
Subject: HSBC Refund 

I sent the first stage letter to my bank - HSBC, requesting the last six
years of changes (totalling £2255.33).
I did not get a response for 2 months & was starting to think about taking
it to the next level, when out of the blue I get a letter offering a "no 
acceptance of liability" payment "to close this matter" of £1830.
Needless to say, I'm chuffed and will be accepting this offer (as it would
cost me more than the difference in my time to take things further. 
So I just wanted to say 'Many Thanks' to 'bankcharges.info', & to all
readers - go for it and stuff the banks by getting back your money. 

Wayne 

 

[379] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: shona 
To: <m@govanlc.com>; <m@govanlc.com> 
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 9:29 PM 
Subject: bank charges Query 

Dear Sir/Madam

I have found your website really useful regarding the unfair bnk 
charges info and downloadable letters and subsequently sent one off 
to the Bank of Scotland. However they have written back saying that 
the refunding only applies to the credit cards and not current 
accounts. 

Is this the case or could I continue to pursue a refund claim?
I would really appreciate your advice,

Thank you
Shona

 

[378] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Arthur 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 9:13 PM 
Subject: ARTHUR V MBNA 
MBNA has agreed to return £674.85 for illegal bank charges. Iwas advised to write to MBNA and request the reurn of the monies to me ,not Link Finance. As you will see with the letter from MBNA they have refused to retun the charges to me although the credit contract was between them and me . Is there any other way I could force their hand or than going to court.
Please see attached letters. 
Thanks 

 

[377] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Indiya
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 2:51 PM 
Subject: Paid item & bank charges 

I was charged £25 for a paid item charge by Alliance & Leciester for 
exceeding my overdraft limit. The very next day I paid funds into the 
account and transferred £400 from another account into my account. I am 
also going to be charged an additional £25 for going over my overdraft 
limit. I wrote to my bank with the first letter you recommend to claim 
back my charges as I believe £50 for me going over my limit for a small 
amount for only 1 day is excessive. In response I got a letter from 
them, advising:

"The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has commented that they consider the 
level of late payment charges to be unfair, however they were actually 
referring to late payment fees for credit card payments, which are 
quite distinct from a bank's charge on current accounts. As yet, the 
OFT have not entered into any discussions with the banking industry 
regarding current accounts".

Then they went on about charges being in line with the terms and 
conditions of my account and so wouldn't refund charges, blah blah 
blah.

Can you confirm if this is the case and what would you advise my next 
step be?

Many thanks in advance,
Indiya

 

[376] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Syd  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 1:25 PM 
Subject: Royal Bank of Scotland 
Just negotiated a refund of £2000 (slightly short of claim but happy nonetheless!) with the wonderful Tommy McLean at Royal Bank of Scotland. From sending out DPA letter to talking to Tommy today - 3 months! It felt like a very long 3 months!

 

[375] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jamie  
To: m@govanlc.com 
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 11:09 AM 
Subject: Reverse Bank Charges - Questions. 
Hi there, 
Just thought I'd write an email letting you know I found the bankchargesfromhell.info pages that you showcase as part of your site.
Having looked all over the site the only thing you dont have is a note of the addresses to write to to send the letters?
I had to call up Abbey and ask where to send my dpa request letter and they said their "Banking Team" but the agent seemed to just wat to get me off the phone by saying they probably wouldnt reply.
I sent the letter on tues anyways with a cheque for £10 - can it really take up to 40 days to gather the information?
Should I just send the step 1 letter while I wait - and see if i get an offer? 
your quick reply would be appreciated :) 
Being a southside of Glasgow resident, would it be easier to make an appointment in person to discuss my other debt issues?

 

[374] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Helen 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 9:36 PM 
Subject: bank charges!! 
I have been going through so much trying to reclaim my bank charges from the RBSc. I went in personally to hand deliver to my bank manager, as the receptionist 'forgot' to hand this in when I had hand delivered it the week before. I was immediately offered £1,050, out of £4,600. I declined and have gone through sending all the usual standard letters.
I have had countless letters from their solicitors who say I have not placed sufficient information in the Particulars of Claim and apparently they can strike your claim out - so BEWARE!! DON'T FORGET TO PLACE AS MUCH INFORMATION IN THE PARTICULARS OF CLAIM BOX SHOULD YOUR CLAIM GET TO THIS STAGE!!! I have, under the instructions of the courts, now sent in copies of all the letters sent to the bank onto the solicitors, and am still waiting!
Any comments will be gratefully received!! 
Helen

 

[373] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: William 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 6:46 PM 
Subject: Alliance and Leicester get nasty 

I phoned up Alliance and Leicester today and asked them to refund £90
worth of charges. They told me that if I took court action against
them, they would settle the case and shut my account down. They said
that that would leave a mark on my credit file and make it very
difficult to get another bank account again. Can they do this?

 

[372] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: jim 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:29 PM 
Subject: abbey refund 
During june/July of this year, whilst moving house, the Abbey charged me £245 for breeching overdraft limit. I found out that some of these were because of an error by them. Feeling rather 'miffed' I turned to the G.L.C. and downloaded the step 1 letter and sent it off. A phone call got me a refund of £70, and two weeks later I received a letter from Abbey saying that they would take between 4 and 8 weeks to investigate. The very next day on checking my account I found that £425 had been refunded into my account. A few weeks after that I got another letter from Abbey saying that as a goodwill gesture they have refunded my charges from the last 12 months! I had no idea that they had taken that much from me in such a short time, even though they must have been aware that most of the deposits were from the D.S.S. my brother told me about your site, and I am very grateful, thanks.
If I had a question, it would be; could the same form be used for credit card companies as most of these are part of large banks.
Thanks again.
Jim 
East Dunbartonshire.

 

[371] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: R 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 7:06 PM 
Subject: Excessive Bank Charges 

Dear Sir, My name is R and i work as a General Advisor in Aberdeen Citizen Advice and I wondered if you could help me with a couple of queries i have.

At the moment i have a couple of clients who are going through the process of claiming back excessive charges from their bank using the letter response that you championed. Letter 1 etc.

My queries are as follows. 
If lets say a Customers bank account is closed by the bank as he had upset them by querering the charges and when you look at the amounts claimed by both sides then its in everyone best interest and the client is happy with the arrangement as long as the debt stops there.

(1) Is it the banks job to inform the Credit Agencies that this debt has now been finalised and should now be removed from from the agencies records
(2) Is it the clients duty to ensure this debt is no longer attached to his Credit record thereby given him an adverse entry against his name.
(3) Or as we suspect the debt can still be lodged against that persons record for a considerable time afterwards.

These question I pose to you can also be applied to a person who goes all the way and it is settled by the banks prior to going into court. With these settlements are the clients names cleared with the Credit Agencies.

I look forward to your response I feel you are doing a marvellous job.

Regards
R

 

[370] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: janet
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 8:04 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 

> Thank you so much for all the advice on your website. On 17th August I wrote 
> to the Halifax over my bank charges sending them the 1st letter on the web 
> site. I had worked out how much they had charged me over the course of 3 
> months whilst I had been trying to re arrange my direct debits from my 
> account (if they hadn't charged the amount they did I would never have been 
> over drawn) and asked them to refund to me the amount of 484.00. They wrote 
> back within one week to advice they would look into my complaint and be back 
> in touch with in four weeks. I had their reply within two and half weeks 
> offering me 234.00. I decided to respond with the second letter and got a 
> response from them within ten days (20th September 2006) offering me a good 
> will gesture of 701.00. As you can see this is a lot more than I had 
> initially asked for so it just goes to show how much money they are taking 
> from us under the heading of "charges". Thanks again I have given your web 
> address to all my family, friends and work colleagues the more people do 
> this the better maybe one day the banks will realise they cannot carry on 
> with the high charges they throw at customers if they want to keep us. There 
> final response letter also told me they can choose to close my account if 
> they dont think I am managing it correctly they needn't bother as soon as 
> the money has arrived in the account I will be closing it!

> Regards

 

[369] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Janis  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 6:33 PM 
Subject: Refund 
Thank you for your assistance, I have received back £110 which was taken for an overdraw of £47 over 2 days. Keep up the good work

 

[368] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: mairs 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 4:58 PM 
Subject: success 
Bank of Scotland refunded the full £80 bank charges within seven days of writing the letter. 
Thankyou! 
L. Mairs

 

[367] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Carol  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 1:44 PM 
Subject: RSB bank charges 



I have 3 accounts with the RSB and in total have been charged £4,075.44 without interest and with interest £4982.50 over 6 years.
I have sent the stage 1 letter to them recently after hearing the publicity and the advice your and advice. On 1 account I was claiming £1,27.50 although deducting £12 for every transaction it would be £815.00, they offered me £646.00, and just by chance this is the amount I am overdrawn at the moment. The one question I haven't seen asked or answered anywhere is, when claiming do I reduce my claim by the £12.00 for each transaction that is deemed to be reasonable by the Office of Fair Trading or not?
And my other question is should I accept the offer made by the RSB or hold out for the full amount (less the £12's) which is as I stated £815.00?
Actually I haven't requested any interest charges they have levied, so I will hold out for the larger amount, they have been greedy over the years I think maybe it's my turn.
They have replied and stated, I quote-: 
"And as an exceptional matter we have agreed to refund £646 as a gesture of good will. Acceptance by you of this payment will be in full and final settlement of all claims you may have relating to our bank charges. However, our terms and conditions will continue to apply and charges that accrue in the future must stand."
I must say the offer they have made will only clear the account it will not help with all the bills which have now gone into arrears due to these charges.
I am still waiting to hear about the other 2 accounts; I think maybe they are waiting to see if I accept this offer before committing themselves to offers on the other 2 accounts.
I also have about £2,500 in charges on creditcards which I am in the process of claiming back; I'm on a roll all thanks to you.
Brilliant web site by the way, keep up the good work.
I will keep you informed it's fingers crossed.
Thanks
Carol 

 

[366] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Brendan  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 12:41 PM 
Subject: Bank Changes and Interest 

Hi, 
I'm currently pursuing the RBS for the refund of bank charges. I have received 5 years of Bank Statements and have identified about £1000 worth of charges. I have also noticed however that for the years 2000 - 2004 that the bank have taken between £1 and £30 in interest charges on my current account. On avarage this is about £20 per month. Am I able to claim this money back as an unfair charge.
Thanks for you help in this matter. 
Brendan 

 

[365] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: dylan 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 12:30 PM 
Subject: Lloyds 


> Hi,

> I saw your website through "this money" website.

> I have paid thousands upon thousands to my bank in unfair charges, with
> threats of court action etc etc.

> I have a couple of questions maybe you can help me with:

> I have a loan with Lloyds who I bank with. I am worried if I claim my
> charges back they will demand immediate repayment of the loan, which is
> possible, as I am much more solvent now, but I'd prefer not to. Have you
> heard of this happening? Do you know what the FOS would make of them doing
> that?

> Also, some of these charges go back 5 years....any idea of any time limits?

> Thank you for your help and your excellent website.

> Warm Regards

 

[364] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kate 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 11:18 AM 
Subject: question regarding bank charges 

> Hello

> I would be most grateful if you could assist me with this query. I have 
> got all the details of all bank charges within the last 6 years. 
> However, I am unsure which letter to send (I have referred to the 
> website but am still unclear). My charges are a mixture of unpaid direct 
> debit charges and "referral charges", charged at the end of the month, 
> which I can only assume are for going over my overdraft limit. Should I 
> send letter 1 or 2 or should I split up the charges and send 2 letters?

> Thank you in advance for your help.

> Regards

 

[363] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: derek
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:59 AM 
Dear Sirs 
I am currently trying to claim back £3412 of charges from the RBoS they have sent me a letter back refusing to pay up but offering me £525. I am not willing to accept this but can't see how to take the next step as i can't take it to a small claims because it's over £750 i'm seeking.
Can you please advise on what i should do next. 
Many Thanks 
Derek 

 

[362] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Joanne 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:04 AM 
Subject: Bank Charges 
I have recently disputed my charges for the past 6 years with Barclays - totalling nearly £2000. Following Letter 1 they offered me an £840 'gesture of goodwill' refund, but I declined this and sent letter 2.
This was not effective so I had to raise this dispute with the local county court. Barclays had 28 days in which to either refund the money in full or dispute the claim. I have checked the situation today as their grace time has now ended and they have put in a defence against me!!! How can they do this when I know by looking at other comments from Barclays customers on this site that their amounts have been eventually refunded in full. Is it fair they can do this for one person, but not another???
Any advice on what I should do from here???

 

[361] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Anne 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 9:55 AM 
Subject: Bank Charges 
I am in the process of claiming back charges over the past 6 years. They total around £1,700 
I'm a little confused however. If I am successful in claiming it back, will I potentially receive the full amount or will they deduct the £12 from each transaction and refund me that?
Anne
Liverpool

 

[360] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: D  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 9:43 PM 

hi, i would like to say thanks to your site,i sent the first letter of last week to abby and they have refunded all the charges,at first they did not want to know but sending this letter proves they cannot get away with it.and they are willing to help then!!!its amazing that i got it back. banks should not take your hard earning money to save their own pockets.this is a brillient site thanks very much.from dawn

 

[359] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: julie
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 9:13 AM
Subject: Abbey bank charges


>I sent letter one to Abbey on 22nd August requesting £260 in charges. A 
>week later I received a reply that they were dealing with my complaint and 
>a copy of their complaints procedure. Two days after this I had a refund of 
>£295 in my bank but nothing in writing from Abbey. A week after tihs I 
>received a letter informing me that they could not agree to refund "all" of 
>my charges but as a "gesture of goodwill" they had refunded the last twelve 
>months worth. They had also cancelled £125 in charges that were due to be 
>taken on 22nd September. When I rang them they were unable to tell me how 
>many more charges had been made on my account so I have now sent the data 
>protection letter to see if it is worth pursuing. As it stands they have 
>refunded more than I asked for and cancelled more charges that I would have 
>requested back anyway and they have not closed my account so I feel that 
>they have been fairly reasonable howevr, if they still owe me a substantial 
>amount I will certainly chase them for it!
>
> I have passed details of this site on to friends, some are owed over 
> £1000! As yet none have received a refund but they are pursuing it. 
> Fantastic site and thankyou
>
> Julie

 

[358] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Greg 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 1:50 PM 
Subject: Co-op SMILE Account £860 refunded 
To all concerned at this fantastic site. 
I used your first letter template to claim back £860 in charges from the Co- op's online bank. After many letters telling me they were looking into the matter I received £860 into my account. Thanks for the help - now to go after the other's!
Greg

 

[357] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sophie
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 9:37 AM 
Subject: Barclays Refund 
Used your site last month to ask for £50 back from Barclays for two £25 charges - one in 2001 and one in £2005. Received a letter today saying they would refund me £70 as a good will gesture. This has roused suspicion on my part! I only asked to be refunded the two £25 bank charges that I identified after going through the bank statement print outs that they sent. Is it only these charges you are entitle to ask money back for or is it possible to ask for money back on the interest they have charged me on my account? Just wondering why they are offering more? Could it be likely they owe me a lot more than I have identified and they are offering me this so I cannot claim for anymore? Any advice would be appreciated!
Finally - thanks for the fantastic site! 
Sophie 

 

[356] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Anthony 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 3:00 PM 
Subject: Money back from the Bank of Scotland 
All I can say is thank you. 
I went through all of my old statements and was stunned to find that in the past 3 years I had racked up £760 in charges. I sent the first letter and received an offer after a short delay for £230. I decided this really wasn't enough (I'd set a target of at least £500) so went with the second letter.
I hadn't received any word for a couple of weeks and was planning on launching the small claims action - when another envelope landed at the door. This time they upped their offer to £690, only £70 short of the total amount I was claiming. This amount I have accepted without pushing things further - which means I can finally close the account as soon as the money is transferred.
Fantastic! 
Anthony

 

[355] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Scot 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 11:33 PM 
Subject: Unfair Bank Charges HBOS 

I have £321 charges over the last 5 years. After sending the first letter, HBOS offered £60. When i sent the 2nd letter, their reply was to offer £176.

Looks like I'll have to lodge papers, but it's good to know that they're taking this seriously. I'll let you know how court goes!

Thanks for your help,

Scot
Edinburgh

 

[354] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Emma 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 8:13 PM 
Subject: Bank charges 
I am currently in the process of claiming £3240 from Barclays Bank. I sent letter one and they offered me £1000, which I declined. Apparently they only make one offer and told me that I now have to take them to court. I have raised a claim in the small claims court but I am not sure what I need to take to court if it gets that far. I would appreciate any advice.
emma 

 

[353] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Victoria  
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 8:12 PM 
Subject: unfair bank charges 

>I sent the bank your template letter stating all the
> points you'd mentioned for a period from June 2005
> unitl the present-it totals about £1500!!! Got a
> letter back saying they were sorry to hear I was
> unhappy but I had agreed terms and conditions when I'd
> signed up with them. However they said they would give
> me £1000 as a goodwill gesture but they still accept
> no liability!!! Do I take the money and run or do I
> pursue it further?

> Vicky 

 

[352] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rebecca  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 9:47 AM 
Subject: Refund of Charges 

Earlier this year after 2 weeks of sending letter 1 to Capitol One I received £250 back to my credit card.
Natwest however who I am taking to court (Case is in Nov) have used every scare tactic and ignored my letters and continued to put charges on my account despite explaining I can't pay charges due to being on sick due to a disabling medical condition and asking them to freeze the account once I started the court claim so they now owe me over £6000!!! I haven't given up as there conduct has been terrible and has been going on since March!
Has anyone else had Natwest give them this much trouble as I've noticed they've paid fairly promptly to others !
I will update on the court case when it happens.

Rebecca Huggins
Northampton



[351] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Greg 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 1:50 PM 
Subject: Co-op SMILE Account £860 refunded 
To all concerned at this fantastic site. 
I used your first letter template to claim back £860 in charges from the Co- op's online bank. After many letters telling me they were looking into the matter I received £860 into my account. Thanks for the help - now to go after the other's!
Greg

 

[350] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Graham
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 8:42 PM 
Subject: Cheers For the info 

> After reading this site.

> I added up my charges for the past 10 years and have
> made a claim for £1000 from Bank Of Scotland

> After a little prodding they have agreed to refund
> £600 while still claiming that I am in the wrong, I
> have never known any bank to give money away when the
> customer was in the wrong so do chase the banks for
> this money back as they must be terrified of making
> this a big issue.

> I have accepted the money and changed my bank. Good
> luck to everyone else.

> G



[349] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: gareth
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:44 PM 
Subject: succesful claim 

> Dear GLC
> Many thanks to you at GLC for getting me £140 refunded bank charges from
> First Direct. I requested copies of statements from them which were provided
> FOC. I then gave details of the charges in your letter 1. Within 10 days
> we had received an offer of full refund without prejudice.
> Many thanks for the free advice and information
> Gareth 

 

[348]  ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Simon 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2006 4:33 PM
Subject: Abbey Rufund


I have had charges to my account ranging from £20-£35 over the past year or so and obviously went into further debt due to the bank penalising me.  So someone at work told me about Bank charges and web sites, so I did a search and found this one.  So simple to do, infact so simple that I only had to send the 1st letter and exactly 35 days after sending letter I have received a refund totalling £315.00 from Abbey National.  However the bank did not inform me that this was going to take place, the only correspondence I received from the bank was to say they were dealing with my complaint.  So today I checked my account just out of the blue and saw I was £315.00 better off, well more like I have received my money back.

The only query I have is will they continue to charge me such excessive rates for overdraft limits, cheques or debit card payments not clearing.  Do I have to send them another letter when this takes place. [GLC note: until there is law reform in the UK (see here) or banks reduce their charges to a fair sum then the answer is unfortunately, yes].

 

[347] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kimberly & Andrew 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2006 2:24 PM
Subject: bank charges

I have sent letter 2 with the data protection act claiming £1300 onto RBS after recieving all my statements, they have today sent me a letter saying that they do not accept the Office of Fair Traiding's findings in relation to credit card fees and therefor are not refunding any money to me at all.The 2 accounts that i am claiming over is my last account that is no longer in use and my current bills account any ideas on what to do next? [GLC note: you will need to decide whether you wish to raise a small claims action (step 3) - in that regard you should look at the experience of other site users - see for example here.  Remember when you raise proceedings the onus of proof and responsibility is on you).

Thanks for all your help
Kim

 

[346] Original Message ----- 
From: bren 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2006 12:55 PM
Subject: HSBC

Hi, many thanks for such an easy way to try and nail my bank to the wall. Have been banking with them for 10 years but that makes me nothing but a long-term earnings tool! Sent the first letter with dates and amounts for all charges applied to my account over the last four and half years totalling £2250 – three weeks later and have just received a letter claiming they are confident of winning any court case I may open against them but due to management and administration costs in order to do this, have offered £2000 directly into my bank if I drop this matter. So they’d win, but are paying me off to keep quiet!!  I got them, don’t give up – they blantantly know they are in the wrong and have no argument so make sure you persist. Thanks

 

[345] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: caroline 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2006 11:20 AM


> Thank you for your help with bank charges. I sent the first letter to The 
> Royal Bank Of Scotland, they replied with "in our terms and 
> conditions......" I sent the second letter and they have offered me a 
> settlement of £1,608 and all in less than 4 weeks.

 

[344] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Helene  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2006 10:15 AM
Subject: Good News/Bad News


I have just successfully claimed back over £4000 in bank charges from HSBC BUT their solicitor  has now told me that they are keeping a proportion of it back to repay the credit card account I have with them! Can they do this? [GLC note: a creditor who agrees to pay a sum of money is entitled at common law (in England/Wales, and Scotland) to off-set (or 'set-off') other debts the debtor is due to them, and pay over the net balance - see for example 'The Law of Set-Off'].

Helen

 

[343] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: joseph  
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 10:10 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 

> The banks to me are unaccountable, the quicker they are brought in line the better.

> I have just had over £200 in charges out of my account, paid referal charge, mainatance charges,service charge, all because of a mistake with credit card cheque, which they allowed funds to be drawn.   But what really disgusts me is I have just place £15,000 into my current account to clear all my debts, loan, credit cards overpayment tax credits. I have been contacted 3 times, Oonce by phone the other two in the bank by various tellers; they suggest that I invest the funds,I tell them I am not interested a the funds are for repaying debts

So all in all they are quick to take money out on charges, slowa tputing it back for any reason put forward, but quick to suggest any large sums of money placed into current account should be invested.

I am currently in discussions with my bank to reclaim all charges, and have highlighted to them the recent ruling from the Office of Fair Trading, and I have the right to make this ruling known in my local news paper, assume bank would not want this ruling widely known.

 

[342] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: jennifer
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 5:08 PM 
Does anyone know if it is possible to do this on a bank account you have already closed and also with a credit card? as Capital One are technically a bank. I'm sure Capital One have haken me for £1000 on my credit card. [GLC note: the fact an account has been closed is irrelevant.  You have 6 years in England, Wales, NI or 5 years in Scotland to pursue a refund - this is the short negative prescriptive time period for economic loss flowing from an alleged breach of contract].
Thanks. 
Jen

 

[341] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jeanette  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 12:33 AM 
Subject: Halifax Charges 

Dear Sir or Madam 
Thank you so very much for a fantastic website. I did go all the way and lodged the claim in £4,500.00. The Halifax settled last Friday, 8th September 2006 for £3,009.00. There is an outstanding balance of £1,500.00 which is for my credit cards.
After receiving an accident in December 2005, I received injuries to my neck and back. The bank stopped my Protection Cover because I was in arrears. They had letters and numerous calls from me updating them all the way. Being out of work for 3 months and not being paid sick, this of course was a very difficult time for me. They also took a tax credit payment which was owed to me in 2005 for £700.00. The Bank took £300.00 without my knowledge. When I rang them about this, I was told to go away and read my contract.
Do we have to accept this money back on the credit cards or can we ask for a cheque made payable to me? Reasons being the Halifax asked that I contact the CCCS which I have done and no longer use the cards.
Would appreciate it very much if it is possible to answer this query for me. 
Thank you so very much for the amazing help and could not have done this without you.
With very kindest regards 
Jeanette 

 

[340] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Langston Family 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 10:44 PM 
Subject: THANK YOU! 
I've just had nearly 2k put into my account from HSBC with a letter not admitting liability! I was only asking for £882 and they've gone through my accounts and over the last 6 years that's what I've been charged. No wonder I always feel tight and squeezed at the end of each month.

 

[339] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Marilyn 
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 8:50 PM 
Subject: Unfair Bank Charges 
Last week I read an article in The Mail regarding the Govan Law Centre in Scotland helping someone have charges on their account refunded to them. My daughter had unfair charges made on her account with the Abbey and they have refused to refund them apart from £90.00 which we refused to accept. We have now passed this over to the financial ombudsman who have been very helpfull but due to the volume of work have not yet been able to look at the case. Please can you tell me if there is a time limit after which we can not claim on a case and also would the ombudsman be able to tell the Abbey to refund the charges or would we need to file a claim at the County Court. I can give you more details about the claim if needed. [GLC note: there is a 6 year timebar in England & Wales for breach of contract claims - why have the Abbey refused?  Have you tried sending a modified Step 2 letter?   See the England & Wales section (Step 3) on how to raise a small claims action].
Yours sincerely,

 

[338] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Roberts 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 7:49 PM 
Subject: Another satisfied customer! 
Many thanks for your priceless information! After following all the steps and issuing Court action against Nationwide Building Society they have finally given in and refunded £719.50 plus court costs back to my account where it rightfully belongs.
Many people say that Nationwide are closing the accounts of successful claimants but this has not happened to me! Maybe they are starting to lose too many customers!!
Good luck to everyone out there claiming back their unfair charges!

 

[337] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: colin 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 7:18 PM 
Subject: bank charges 
WAT A WONDERFUL WEBSITE JUST GOT BACK £639 FROM NATWEST TOOK A WHILE,BUT USED YOUR TEMPLATE LETTERS AND I THINK THAT BANKS FINALLY REALISE THEY CANNOT CARRY ON TREATING US (THE CUSTOMERS) LIKE PROFIT MAKEING TOOLS MANY THANKS COLIN

 

[336] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Admin 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 4:03 PM 
Subject: Refund Success! 
I would just like to thank you for your help and advice regarding charges. We held two accounts with First Direct (HSBC) for a few years, but which were closed 3 years ago. However, we still used your letters to try and claim refunds from them for the charges we incurred over the 2 years that the accounts were open. Over this time, across the 2 accounts, we incurred just over £2000 in charges - we had to take out a loan with First Direct to pay them off! Admittedly, they refused to refund us the money, even after the final letter and we had to write to the Financial Ombudsman as a last resort. However, we have just received an offer of £1601.00 in refunds, which of course we have accepted! This has made such a difference to us financially and should be inspirational to anyone else out there. I also told a friend at work about the site and she received a refund of £850 from her bank. So don't give up, just keep pestering them and don't feel intimidated - they pay up eventually!
Amanda 

 

[335] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: VIV
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 10:08 PM 
Subject: halifax 
Halifax agreed to pay us 206.00 as full and final settlement which we are taking.
It took the second letter and a phone call to get this so thanks to the Govern law centre for providing the letters
Martine and Jon

 

[334] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: scouse
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 6:52 PM 
Subject: Refund Thanks to your letters 
Hi, 
Just thought I would let you know that I today received a letter offering me a refund of £600 against £665 of charges applied to my account by HSBC. We are obviously going to accept it.
I was a bit sceptical when I initially sent your standard letter. But sure enough it paid off. Thanks for the site.
One thing I would suggest is that you tell your readers to enclose a schedule of the charges they want to claim back. This will help speed up their claim.
Thanks again

 

[333] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jane  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 3:59 PM 
Subject: claim filed 
Barclays offered £180 in entirety - nearly £500 owed on a Woolwich account and £370 on another and refusing to up the offer. So I've merrily filed the papers at the small claims court today re the Woolwich account. Sitting here with a glass of white in pleasant anticipation of what is to come.

 

[332] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Holly
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 3:37 PM 
Subject: Bank charges 

I have recently written to the bank to reclaim bank charges and they have offered me £300 , my actual charges over the last 6 years are £655 . Should I accept the £300 or try and get the £655 plus interest i would have made ?

 

[331] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kerrie  
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 9:37 AM 
Subject: My third success! 

>I have written before with successes from Capital One and Clydesdale. 
> Clydesdale paid us £155.00 out of £310 or £320 (cant remember), but this
> week we had joy with Abbey Credit Card. My husband had a balance of £1300.00
> which was constantly being exceeded due to their charges. We were paying
> £52.00 per month which is all we can afford at the moment due to me being on
> unpaid maternity leave from work. They were then taking £50.00 per month
> from that figure for a late payment and an exceeded limit charge.
> After sending letter 1, despite not knowing the actual default figure 
> charged to the account in the last 6 yrs because they haven't forwarded 
> statements, we were credited with £550 as goodwill, there was no offer to 
> accept or decline, it was just placed back into the account. After phoning 
> that same day and asking about the other £672.00 still due to us (including
> 8% interest) we were offered an additional £680, £7.00 more than the 
> actually amount we expected. This was credited this morning, so overall they
> have paid £1230 back into the account leaving us a difference of £10.07 to
> clear the whole card!
> This has been one of our nightmare cards since day one so to have the 
> balance wiped out in one go is outstanding, we were overjoyed. thank you so
> much again.
> I am still pursuing one claim but will update in due course. Total amount 
> received back so far since we started sending letters on July 30th is 
> £2,040.00
> Thank you so much
> Kerrie

 

[330] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Denise
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 2:10 PM 
Subject: Thanks.I got a refund! 

>i would just like to express my appreciation for this quick & easily 
> accessible advice.
> The standard letters are great! After sending the first letter i received a 
> refund of £225.

> Thanks. Keep up the good work.

 

[329] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: L
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 8:11 AM 

Dear All,

I came across your website on the recommendation of a friend, and thought it
was worth a try-nothing to lose!! I've been banking with Natwest and thought
getting any omney off them would be like getting blood out of a stone!
Four weeks later I got a cheque for £3000! I didnt even have to take it any
further than sending the second letter!!
I would recommend anyone to do it!

Lynne 

 

[328] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Janes  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 7:42 AM 
Subject: halifax 
I have sent first letter and eventually got a response offering £95 good will payment and a veiled threat to close the account, what do I do?

 

[327]  ----- Original Message ----- 
From: DALE  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 1:00 AM 
Subject: Thanks 
I just wanted to say thank you for your extremely informative website. I have today received a letter from HSBC offering me over £1200 worth of bank charges as a full and final settlement without admitting liability.

Thanks so much! 

 

[326] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Fluffy
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 8:56 PM 
Subject: Refusal of account data. 
Hi there. 
After sending two copies of the Data Protection letter to find out how much I've been charged over the past five or so years by the RBS, each of them with cheques for £10 in, I haven't heard anything back from them. I know that the bank charges I've had taken out of my account are extortionate - I've totalled up (from looking at my online account with the bank - where details of my account don't go back any further than six months) £1297. Seeing as I've been with this bank for five plus years, these charges are probably the tip of the iceberg.
Now that I've not heard anything back from RBS after waiting forty days (twice) for my account information/details, I'm about to lodge a complaint with the ICO as instructed to by this very website (which is brilliant, by the way). How long will this process take?
I don't want to send letter one to the RBS as I really wanted to find out how much money they've taken from my account since I joined with them.
Because of these extortionate charges, I'm now currently £200 over my overdraft limit (not including the interest) and am recieving letters and phonecalls galore about repaying them with money that I just don't have. In June of this year, the bank took out £114 in just one day in their so called 'bank charges'. One time they even charged me £38 because a direct debit was short of just twenty seven pence.
After months of financial hardship, severe stress and many arguments with my partner, I've decided that now is the time to finally make a stand. I'm willing to go to court to reclaim all (or some) of the money that has been unfairly taken from us.
Thank you for the brilliant website and I hope that yourselves or your readers can help me with this problem.
Kind regards, 

 

[325] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jamie =M= 
To: m@govanlc.com 
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 6:10 PM 
Subject: RBS and Barclays 
Hi there, 
I would just like to say thanks for your wonderful site as I managed to get back £392 from the RBS after they settled out of court. As they dismissed the first 2 letters, so I had no option but to put a small claim in through the court.
So I would just like to say that people, they shouldn't be put off by going to this stage as they are more likely to settle out before it goes to court as the RBS left it till the very last minute.
I'm also about to start a claim against the barclaycard. When I sent them your letter regarding a request for charges.
They sent me back 2 years worth of statements and a letter stating that: 
"Statements prior to May 2004 are not held on a computer system or a structured relevant filing system as they are stored on a microfiche in date order and therefore, they do not fall under the Data Protection Act 1998"
But each of these statements costs £3 so to get the remaining 3 years statements it would cost £108. Is this lawful and can this expense be claimed back just like the charges?
As it seems very expensive for my statements. 
I will let you know how I get on once I start my claim. 
Thanks again 
James 

 

[324] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Iain 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 11:35 AM 
Subject: cahoot. Halifax BoS 
Thanks for a straight forward easy to use site! The letters you supply enabled me to reclain £90 from Cahoot, 1st letter and took 3 weeks. Thanks.
Now I am dealing with Bank of Scotland who have taken 4 weeks already and not even looked at my complaint, they say it is because of the "high level of complaints of this nature".Good. They've said they'll take no longer than another 4 weeks! 8 weeks is their agreement with the ombudsmen, apparently.
I'll let you know how it goes. 
Thanks again. 
Iain

 

[323] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Linda
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 10:43 AM 
Subject: Bank of scotland 

I heard about your website from a friend and sent off the letters. Today I received £3450 directly into my account from the Bank of Scotland as a refund for account maintenance charges and excess overdraft charges over the past five years. I sent letter 1 and they offered me £250 and then I sent letter 2 and they offered me £788. Not willing to accept their offers I went to court. The amount I had paid in charges was over the small claims limit so I raised an ordinary action against BOS in Glasgow Sheriff Court (this being my local court). They had 21 days to defend the action but they didn't lodge a defence and a week later I received a letter stating that their legal department had not received the papers in time to lodge a defence. They went on to state that as it would cost them more to defend the action they were willing to refund me in full without admission of liability! YIPEEEEEEE!!!!!! The money's great but the fact that people are fighting back after years of extortion is brilliant - go get em!

Thank you for such an informative website! 

Linda

 

[322] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ian
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 3:20 AM 
Subject: Bank charges 
Hi there I would just like to say a big thank you to you all. 
I have just received £175.00 back from the Clydesdale Bank , it was exactly how you said it would be, after the second draft letter my Bank told me that as a goodwill jesture and that they did not want the expence of going to court they would return £175.00 they even sent me all of my Bank statements and did not charge me the ten pound fee.
cheers

 

[321] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Martin  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 1:15 PM 
Subject: Co-operative bank - full refund £112.50 
Hi 
Just wanted to say thanks for a brilliant site. Used your first letter only and detailed all my charges at the start, and why my banking slip ups happened.
About a month after sending the first letter, I finally received a refund in full. 
It just appeared in my account yesterday, and I imagine I will get a letter from the bank soon. I'm worried they will cancel my student overdraft soon as a consequence, but I will deal with that later.
Just to let anyone else know, please stay polite with your bank, and offer credit where it is due in your letters as (from my reading around in the forums) it seems they pay up quicker if you a fair and polite with them.
Regards 
Martin - West Midlands

 

[320] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: GAYLE 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 6:32 PM 
Subject: Case won!! 
Just wanted to say a big thaks for all your advice about claiming back my bank charges. Here's what happened to me with my HALIFAX CURRENT ACCOUNT
1) Phoned HALIFAX and requested 6 years of bank statements they charged me about £6.00 i think. The arrived within the week.
2) Totalled all my charges over the last 6 years...came to a whopping £2650.00 
3) sent letter 1 
4) Got a standard acknowledgement letter within the week saying they would look into my complaint within 28 days.
5) 10 days later got a 2nd letter saying they would offer me £160.00 as an offer of goodwill.
6) Declined offer and sent letter 2 
7) Got a reply within 2 days offering £460.00. I sent them a letter declining their offer and informing them that i was taking court action.
8) Got a reply in 2 days saying that they were sorry i was not happy with the last offer of 6 months refund of charges if you want to complain contact the ombusman blah blah.
9) Filed a court claim online paid my £120.00 
10) Recieved a letter 4 days later from court saying that Halifax had acknowledged my claim and were defending the claim fully. they would now take upto 28days to engter their defence.
11) The next day i did some online banking and the whole amount had landed in my account plus the £120.00 court costs....what a shocker!!
12) The following day (today) i got a letter from HALIFAX saying that it would cost them too much to settle in court even if they won so they were without admitting liability paying the full amount into my account.
From beginning to end less than a month. Make sure you send your letters recorded delivery. I got responses within a day of them recieving my communication. A massive thanks to Govan Law Centre for their help. Couldn't have done it without you!!!
I have just managed to pay off our wedding and we have also just found out we have our first baby on the way so this is a lovely way to move into the future....thanks again!!
To everyone who is thinking of doing this....take it all the way!! 
Gayle 

 

[319] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tracey
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 3:34 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 


Just read your site and I first wrote Abbey national back in June they totally ignored my first 2 letters I then when into the branch to be told when on of the CSC telephoned the complaints dept that they could only refund the last 12 months bank charges which in total came to £241.00, I declined this offer I have since received my last 5 years bank statements and highlighted all the charges which comes to £2145.00.

I have copied and edited your stage 2 letter and sent them the letter with the highlighted charges of my account , will keep you updated thanks again for all your help.

Regards 

Tracy Liverpool 

 

[318] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: cath 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 4:44 PM 
Subject: refund of bank charges 
Dear All 
A big thanks for the use of both of your letters which have just resulted in me receiving nearly £1000 back from Abbey bank. After the first letter i received the standard response that it was all in my terms and conditions so there was nothing they could do, so i sent of the second letter not holding out much hope of achieving anything and on ringing the bank to see if they could reduce the £390 charges due to be taken out this month i was told that these charges had already been refunded so i checked my account on line and to my surprise there are nearly £1000 in charges refunded. This is only a fraction of what they have charged me over the last few years but it is a start. So once again thanks.

 

[317] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: ALDRED 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 10:01 AM 
Subject: halifax 
i have been charged 780.00 in a 4 yr period by halifax. 
after sending letter 1 i received offer of 185.00. 
do i accept or send letter 2. 
thank you ... i love this site!!!! 

 

[316] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rob
To: <mail@bankcharges.info>
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 12:10 PM
Subject: sucessful refund


> Dear Sirs,
Just writing to say that this morning we received a letter from the 
> Halifax back in reply to your first letter we sent them over unfair bank charges.
> After we had 3 direct debits returned due to me being off work sick, 
> they've offered to refund us £48 as a 'gesture of goodwill' as they 'clearly 
> outline our charging policy in the terms and conditions that apply to your 
> account' and 'we are committed to complying with the Banking Code'
> Needless to say the £48 offered just about covers one of their charges at
> £39 a time so we will be sending a copy of your second letter to them.
   I would just like to say thank you for pointing all of the facts out on 
> your website, without seeing it we would have just taken it as we would have 
> not known any different, now however we have the ammo to take it further. I 
> will  email again to let you know how letter two goes!
> Many thanks

 

[315] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Martin 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 7:19 PM 
Subject: Charges 
Cheers
Over past 6 years I have incurred £2808 of charges on my Woolwich openplan account.
Following an off of £53 from my first letter, I used the 2nd letter after coming across your site.
This week - following a slight breach of the data protection act after Barclays sent an £900 offer to my old address where my ex partner lives, I have had a full refund offered which I have accepted with pleasure.
Great site, thanks for your help, I have sent a link to a few friends so hopefully they will reap the rewards too.
Thanks
Martin (slightly richer).

 

[314] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Andy 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 5:50 PM 
I posted a few weeks ago thanking the site in helping me get £780 of charges refunded from HSBC.
I received a letter a few days ago stating that following a review of my account they hav made a commercial decision to withdraw banking facilities, under clause 12.4 of their terms and conditions. Happy days, this means they paid me up in full, and now they are going to lose my mortgage interest as I am taking my custom elsewhere.
Thanks again

 

[313] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Eileen  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 3:40 PM 
Thank you for your advice. I managed to get the full amount of £166 back from my bank - but only after I wrote to them telling them I was going to take them to the Small Claims Court. They were in touch with me the day they received this final letter.
Eileen 

 

[312] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: LESLIE
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 1:37 PM 
Subject: Partial Success 

> Hi ,I have used your letter 1 twice and Asset Link For First National have 
> gone back 6 years and agreed there was £350.00 in charges they are limiting 
> these charges to 10 x £12.00 =£120.00 so my refund will be £230.00 . Should 
> I except this ?? .They say that it is in keeping with the office of fair 
> trading.
> The 2nd one Yorkshire Bank I had to send letter 2.They require 4 weeks to 
> look at my account again.
> Regards Les  

 

[311] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: vicky 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 12:46 PM 
Subject: Bank Charges 
Hi, 
Just to let you know I have looked at your site and found it very useful. I emailed my bank the "Step 1" letter a few weeks ago requesting bank charges refunded which were around a few thousand pounds. I received an immediate reply saying that someone will looking into the matter shortly. Today I received a letter offering me an insulting £168.04!! I have declined this offer and have sent the "Step 2" letter via email. I will keep you updated woth any further coresspondence from my bank.
Many Thanks,

 

[310] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Harry  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 9:17 AM 
Subject: Bank Charges Refund Claims. 
For Mike Dailly.
I am well through the process of claiming in excess of £5000 from the Clydesdale Bank and, assuming they do not come up with a suitable offer in the next few days, I will proceed to court action. Having studied the info on the Consumer Action Group web site, I still cannot decide if I should submit a series of Small Debt actions split into date sequences or to go for a lesser number of the Summary Cause actions, again split into date order to keep within the £1500 limit.
My preferred course of action is to raise 1 Small Debt action per day over 7 working days as this will really hack them off and the total costs will be similar to 4 summary cause actions without the risk of further legal costs if they defend. [GLC note:  No!  you can only raise one legal action  concerning the same subject matter at anyone time - otherwise your opponent will request that they all be conjoined or struck out.  For discussion of this issue see here.] Any thoughts on the best, (simplest), course of action ?
Regards
Harry 

 

[309] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Anna  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 9:11 AM 
Subject: The Halifax 
While I think what you are doing is brilliant in helping ordinary people fight the banks, it does also depend on the bank in question. Two weeks ago the Halifax offered me £1537, which I have accepted. I have since had to ring up 3 times to see what is happening, as no money has gone in and 3 times have been told it would be in in a few days. I am about to ring up the 4th time now. Their deadline is up today with the court, and if I was meant to inform the court it was settled before receiving the money into the account, I was not informed of this. The Halifax are so busy trying to attract new customers that they neglect the ones who have been with them for years.
Thank you so much for the service you provide, 
I only wish the Halifax would do the same

 

[308] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: F 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Cc: www.chris77pine@yahoo.co.uk 
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 8:05 PM 
Subject: need advise 
barclays have offered me half of the amount they owe me 1,575 what do u reckon i do.

 

[307] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Carmel
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 8:01 PM 
Subject: Update bank charges 

> Hi All,

> Firstly I must Thank your wonderful site.

> After 6 weeks of sending letters and talking to the Halifax PLC I have 
> recieved a credit to my account for £1,200. After sending letter one to 
> Barclaycard Visa they have credited my account with £360.00. Still waiting 
> to hear from Abbey will keep you all updated.
> Thank you



[306] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Daniella  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 4:53 PM 
Subject: bank charges refund 
I have been waiting 6 weeks on letter or phone call my bank charges total to £676.00 and I have been offered £176.00 which is not even half. Do you think I should try for half.
Thanks

 

[305] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: cath 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 4:44 PM 
Subject: refund of bank charges 
Dear All 
A big thanks for the use of both of your letters which have just resulted in me receiving nearly £1000 back from Abbey bank. After the first letter i received the standard response that it was all in my terms and conditions so there was nothing they could do, so i sent of the second letter not holding out much hope of achieving anything and on ringing the bank to see if they could reduce the £390 charges due to be taken out this month i was told that these charges had already been refunded so i checked my account on line and to my surprise there are nearly £1000 in charges refunded. This is only a fraction of what they have charged me over the last few years but it is a start. So once again thanks.

 

[304] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Claire 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 5:06 PM 
Good afternoon,
I have recently received a letter from my bank (Halifax) following the submission of the 'first step' letter offering me £75 to compensate me for the charges over the past 5 years, which came to over £1000!
I am not sure what to do now, do I argue this or do I accept?
Please can you provide some further advise me as to what I should do.
Many thanks.
Claire 


[303] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Michael  
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 5:36 PM 
Subject: My story 
Hi, 
Can't tell you how glad I am that I have found this site. 
Our lifes have been dogged by bank charges for the last 4 or 5 years and have become so used to getting them that we look at them as part of our monthly outgoings.... ridiculous. We have an average of £90 to £150 per month deducted from our account meaning we cn never get out of the red.
My worst incident happenned just under a year ago when I had been developing a website for a friend. The site had a paypal payment option which I was unfamiliar with. To test whether the site was working, I made a series of nine 1p (one pence) payments to the paypal account to fine tune how the site worked. Three days later when the 9p came off my account, I was overdrawn again due to standing orders and BANK CHARGES etc. The Abbey charged me 9 x £30 in charges, one for each one penny transaction. I called their customer services call centre and complained bitterly but they refused to refund the any of the payments. I then demanded that I speak to a supervisor who also refused to make any refund. However, after writing to them they agreed to refund £90 as a good will gesture.
However, over the past five years I estimate that they have taken more than £6,500 from us and using the info on this site, will fight them all the way to make sure I get it all back. Have today sent a request for a list of all charges over the last 5 years and will then send letter 1.
Will keep you informed on my progress. 
Thanks again, 
Michael

 

[302] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: peter 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 12:14 PM 
Subject: refunds! 

Hi there,
Thanks to your great website i got £142 in bank charges refunded by the Royal Bank Of Scotland.
I am unemployed and was financially crippled by these fines. But as soon as i sent of the letter, they refunded the money the next day!
Maybe if everybody sends in similar letters, these banks can stop ripping people off and thinking they can get away with it!
Many thanks
Pete

 

[301] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: neil
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 10:50 AM 
Subject: Halifax Plc 
Just a note to express my sincere thanks to all who have put their efforts into creating your website.  Without it I would now be £148.00 poorer and Halifax would be £148.00 richer!  Having exceeded my credit limit for 24 hours, Halifax hit me with 4x £30.00 charges for direct debits honoured during that period plus £28.00 for exceeding the limit.
Luckily I found your website and, feeling suitably empowered by it I have finally managed to get all charges refunded. My first three letters (one to the Chief Executive) resulted in a derisory offer of £28.00. I eventually had to resort to the small claims court - it cost £30.00 but it was money well spent. Even though the Halifax wrote back saying they would defend the claim, in the next paragraph they stated their willingness to reimburse the £148.00, plus £30.00 court fee plus £1.39 interest (all without admission of liability!). Suits me!!!
Just a note to anybody planning to use the small claims procedure - TAKE THREE COPIES TO THE COURT. THEY KEEP TWO AND WILL GIVE YOU BACK ONE ENDORSED WITH THEIR STAMP.
Thanks again

 

[300] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Mhari 
To: <m@govanlc.com> 
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2006 11:20 AM 
Subject: very large thank you 

> Dear All,

> Thanks to the Law Centre's standard letters regarding unfair bank charges, I
> have just received an £80 refund from my bank.

> Please could my thanks be passed on to everyone who was involved in drafting
> them and in publicising them.

> I'd like to make a small donation as a token of my appreciation, is that 
> possible, please? [GLC note: Govan Law Centre is a registered charity, and although we do not actively seek donations, any donation would be gratefully received and should be made payable to 'Govan Law Centre' and can be posted to Govan Law Centre, 47 Burleigh Street, Glasgow, G51 3LB - many thanks)].

> Many thanks,
> Mhairi 

 

[299] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Michelle
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 10:08 PM 
Subject: Barclays 

Was referred to this site from another site; Motley fool, which has loads of info for people in debt or good advice re any money issues.
How glad I am that I took the time to purvey this site in detail.
I wrote to Barclays on 3/08/2006 re charges totalling £2065 in the last 4 years since my partner became disabled and unable to work. I received an immediate letter acknowledging receipt dated 8/08/2006.
I have now received a letter, 20/08/2006, offering £680.00 which I am not going to accept and have just drafted letter 2 adapted to my own circs.
I will let you know how I get on.
Piece of advice I'd send letters recorded so you know they have received it and they know you know you know. L.o.l.
Feel like Robin Hood, except I am the poor one having lost this to the rich bank moguls. Go get em everyone!!!!!!
Have you considered putting details on under each bank name? Would be great as then when researching can see easily what applies to you. Been telling everyone about this.
Loving your work!!! And hears hoping I beat the banker.
Regards
Michele. West Midlands

 

[298] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Richard 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 9:58 PM 
Subject: Over £3000! 

After a colleague told me about your site (and the fact it resulted in a refund of £1100 from HSBC), I fired off copies of the first letter to HSBC, Capital One, BarclayCard, and Monument Visa, back in June.
Following a few letters from the credit card providers assuring me they were looking into the matter, I finally received the following: £500 from Capital One, £240 from BarclayCard, and £348 from Monument. However, in the interim between sending the original letter and receiving the refunds, I paid off and closed these credit card accounts - so was surprised that, as I was no longer a customer, the card providers still readily agreed to reimburse me via cheque.
Already delighted with £1088 I never thought I'd receive, HSBC contacted me requesting a full itemised breakdown of the charges in dispute. Using your Data Protection letter, I requested they send me my statements dating back to June 2000. They did this and even waived the £10 fee required.
After totalling all the charges applied to my account since 2000, I requested £2487 in repayment. Never thinking I would receive anything approaching this amount, I received a letter last week offering me £1950 - which I of course have accepted, and am awaiting payment into my account.
So, within two months, and for the cost of about six stamps, I'm now £3038 better off, and so grateful to this site for providing me with the information required to successfully claw back the cash wrongfully taken from me over the years. I'd be the first to admit that I have mismanaged my accounts over the years and simply took the penalties as they came, without thinking anything could be done about it. I cannot stress enough to anyone what a help this site has been, and how it is possible to break a vicious circle and get back on financial track. If anyone reading this is any doubt whether it's worth the effort: IT IS.
One note: all the banks / credit cards do seem to issue standard replies, followed by a standard letter offering recompense. Most of these admit that any charges over £12 have been unfair, and that they are willing to refund the total difference. This should help anyone in working out exactly how much they should rightly receive.
Many, many thanks again.

 

[297] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Betty 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 4:42 PM 
Subject: Abbey refund 
Just thought you'd like to hear my Mothers story. She is a 62 year old pensioner who is undergoing treatment for cancer and still managed to fight for what was hers.
After finding your website, she found that for 12 months Abbey had charged her over £1000 in fees. Following your information my Mother has just found £780 worth of bank charges refunded into her account today. This was all acheived from sending letters 1 and 2.
We are still awaiting the statements that were archived to be sent to us and will keep you informed.
Thank you doesn't seems enough but THANK YOU. Keep fighting the fight.

 

[296] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stuart
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 1:57 PM 
Subject: Refund Success 

Hello there, 

Just a very quick word to you folk who provide this extremely useful website, which I found through the Govan Law Centre site at http://www.govanlc.com/index.html.
I had two charges, one for a DD that I has insufficient funds for, and another for card misuse, both in the same week, starting 21st August 2006. I had a quick look at your site before calling my bank to complain, and I am glad I did. The operator was only offering the advice to not let this happen again, and call them to arrange an extended overdraft if I was having trouble making payments in future. However, I was still left with charges for £34 and £37, totalling £71.
I then asked if the operator was 'aware of the Oft ruling earlier this year' and was immediately offered a 'goodwill' refund for the £38 charge. While this is only half the debt, I am more than happy with the result, more-so in the knowledge that the banks know that they are in the wrong over such excessive charges. I would now like to see the Oft ruling and its consequences being enforced throughout the bank and building society industry.
Also, the prewritten letter that you include on the website is very well composed, and more people should be made aware of this. Although I did not require to use it on this occasion, I would be very willing to send such a strongly worded document if ever I am in the same situation.

Again, many thanks and utmost praise, how the bank industry is not regulated I do not know, hopefully sites such as yours will help to slash the profit margins made by banks for unfair charges.

Regards and best wishes

 
[295] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gayle 
To: Govan Law Centre 
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 8:16 PM 
Subject: Re: current accounts 
Hi, 
Just wanting to know if I am on the right track. 
Sent letter 1 got back an offoer of £260, sent 2nd letter got offer of £461. They owe me £2650. I am now doing the whole court claim thing. Do i just do the court action or do i send them a 3rd letter? If i write a letter what do i say or will the court action be the next piece of paperwork they will get directly from them?
THANKS 
Gayle

 

[294] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Beverley 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 8:56 AM 
Subject: Abbey Charges totalling £1,700 

£1,700 of bank charges since October 2005. Ranging from £115 - £250 per
month

I tried time and time again to either get Abbey to not charge me just for 1
month but they wouldn't, they wouldn't even change the the date they took
the charges out (4 days before I got paid each month) which constantly put
my account over it's authorised overdraft which incurred even more charges.

After looking at the OFT website I decided to write to them with the 1st
letter and sent copies of all bank statements dating back to last October (I
could have gone back a few years more, but didn't have the statements).
They wrote back to me offering a good will gesture of £115 plus to reverse
the £55 charges set for that month (June), I phoned them and said if you
believe that "Abbey's charges are fair and I was aware of the charges when I
first opened the account" then why offer me a good will gesture of £115? I
said to them that I will accept an offer of them to pay me back £1,000 and
take the matter no further, and they duly declined.

I Wrote them stating that I am declining their offer of £115 as a goodwill
gesture and that many other customers of various banks have had most if not
all of the charges back and that they must have seen that the charges were
"unfair, unreasonable and unenforceable" and that I will give them 7 days
to respond to my letter letting me know if they will accept my offer of them
paying me back £1,000, if not then I will be taking the matter further and
going for the full amount of £1,700 and if necessary going to small claims
court.

Well to my surprise, I received no letter for a couple of weeks and
yesterday checked my bank and there was a long list of credited fees back
into my account totalling nearly £1,000. They never wrote to me saying they
were paying me this back, but I am happy that I actually won and got most of
the fees back. Now my account is in credit and I can now sort out my bank
account.........................and hopefully no more charges! 

If it wasn't for a television program about bank charges and the OFT website
I would never have thought of doing it and would never have thought I would
get any charges back..........A BIG THANK YOU!!!!!! 

 

[293] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Alistair 
To: m@govanlc.com 
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 10:25 PM 
Subject: Preferred Mortgages Ltd 
Good evening 
I am writing to you to question a company:
Preferred Mortgages Ltd
Oakfield House
35 Perrymount House
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
RH16 3BX
I have had my mortgage with them for some 18 months and never missed a direct debit payment until recent
Over the past 2 months I have missed 2 payment deadlines due to a change of employment payment dates.
I have incurred 2 x £30 charges from this company following payment declined because of insufficient funds in my account.
I wrote to them with your first letter (payment declined) and they replied as follows:
Conclusion (theirs)
'I acknowledge your comments with regard to the Office of Fair Trading and Consumer Credit Act 1974 however, this information is not applicable to the mortgage you have with us as this is a regulated Mortgage contract. I would advise that Preferred Mortgages is not a bank and as such is not governed by the Banking Regulations but by the rules laid out by the Financial Services Authority.' [GLC note: Preferred Mortgages have got it wrong - if they are charging £30 default charges in terms of the mortgage contract, then the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations will apply - see the actual OFT press release here - http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+releases/2006/68-06.htm
The relevant part of it is:  The OFT now expects all credit card issuers to recalculate their default charges in line with the principles set out in a statement published today and to take urgent action where needed to reduce the level of credit card default fees. The industry has until 31 May to respond to the statement. These principles also apply to default charges in other consumer contracts such as those for bank overdrafts, store cards and mortgages].
I wondered if there was any other recourse I could follow and I would greatly appreciate your guidance
I look forward to your response in due course
Kindest regards
Alistair 

 

[292] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Arthur 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 11:19 PM 
Subject: REFUND OF BANK CHARGES 

M.B.N.A. have closed my account and sold my account to Link Finance last year, after many letters going to and fro M.B.N.A. has agreed to pay the sum of £552 for bank charges also £122.85 in total £674.85. The only bad part is they have refused to send me a cheque for that sum, they stated they will deduct the amount from what I have to pay Link. Is there any way I can force M.B.N.A. to send me the cheque [GLC note: why do you need to pay money to Link?   Ask for details of the contractual basis of charges which Link believe they are entitled to].

 

[291] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lindsay 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 9:48 AM 
Subject: Bank Charges refund - success! 

Hello,
This is a fantastic site - thank you so much for your help!
...I used the information supplied on your website and your template letters to contact my bank (Bank of Scotland) and request a refund of unfair bank charges. The charges had been made on 2 separate accounts over a period of 3 years and totalled £579.
At first the bank dismissed my claims (their first letter might as well have read "get lost") but as I persisted by sending more letters (based on the letters on your site) they began to take me seriously. They firstly offered me a refund of £150. I rejected this and soon afterwards received an offer of £275. &ldots;Although I considered taking my case to the small claims I decided to settle for £275 on the basis that I thought the court might well recommend a refund of a similar sum.
I sent my first letter on 23.02.06 ...and received the offer of £275 (which I have now accepted) in July so this has been a slow process, but well worth it. Thank you so much for making these letters available since otherwise I don't think I would ever have got anywhere with my bank!

 

[290]  ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Emma 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 10:18 AM 
Subject: Capital One 
Hi, 
Because of this wonderful website I sucessfully claimed back all my charges from Ulster Bank, but now want to do the same to Capital One. I have asked them for copies of my statements which they said they would, but didn't. Can they refuse me? They seem to have taken an awful lot of money from me over the last few months as my balance does not seem to be going down. I need advise on this one as they are rude, money grabbing and in no way comprimising.
Look forward to you response 
Em

 

[289] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Paul 
To: mail@bankcharges.info 
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 12:51 AM 
Subject: refund 
Hello All, 
A big thank you to such a fantastic site. I initially sent Halifax the 1st letter and they wrote to me saying they would refund me £200 as full and final settlement.
They have used delay tactics constantly by not sending me copies of statements and me paying the £10 charge for the info.
When i contacted them they said their last offer was £610. With persistance, i went to small claims court and i just received a letter before going to court offering me the £2000.00 i asked for and the £62.00 court fee. In 8 weeks i went from £200 to £2000. I believe they owed me a lot more but hey i'm happy. May take them now for breaching Data Protection Act 1998. I wonder. Thank you sooo much for your advice. Good luck to all in their quests.

 

[288] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: paul 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 1:00 AM 
Subject: refund 

Hello all,
Many thanks to your website and by using your letters i have just secured a £2062.00 refund.
I paid quite a lot in fee's over the years, however trying to get the information from Halifax is almost impossible even after paying the £10 charge for the info. Anyhow they initially offered £200 as a final settlement and i refused. Then it went to £610.00 and again they refused.
I had enough of them and proceeded with the small claims board. I just received a letter saying they won't accept liability but it would cost too much at court to defend, so they credited by a/c with the £2000 + court fee reimbursed.
Please don'y give up, if you think you are owed more......fight them for it. Send them the court papers.
Thanks again

 

[287] ----- Original Message ----- 
From: Paul 
To: <mail@bankcharges.info> 
Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 8:39 PM 
Subject: Unfair Bank charges 

> Thanks to your help and others i have just received a refund of my bank 
> charges totaling £220. Although this is a small amount in comparison to 
> other people it is a lot to me and for this month at least i wont wander 
> into an unauthorized overdraft. I sent the step 1 letter in June and got 
> the usual response that the charges where fair and reasonable in 
> comparison with other banks (the fact that ALL banks where making unfair
> charges doesn't count!!). They also threated to close my account if i 
> continued with my threat of action, this if nothing else galvanized my 
> resolve into taking action and i sent the step 2 letter in July, to my 
> surprise their response this time was to tell me that they where 
> refunding my charges in full as an act of good will. In one sense i was