Bank refund of charges - feeling brave, need moral support !

[Hal]

Hi, I have recently argued with my bank of 26 years over the fact that I should not have to tell them I am in financial difficulties. This fact should flag up on their computer system.
They argue that it does not so I have requested a DSAR to get a copy of all the letters that are sent out automatically about failed payments/overlimits etc.
In the course of the last 4 years I have been charged over £1000 for various failed payments / overlimit / authorised overdraft use.
I will be asking for these charges back as their computer system 'knew' the account was in difficulties.
Does anyone think I have a chance? Can I request 8% statutory interest too or is this being cheeky ?
Cheers.

[leclerc]

Re: Bank refund of charges - feeling brave, need moral support !

Hi, I have recently argued with my bank of 26 years over the fact that I should not have to tell them I am in financial difficulties.
The Lending Code, Section 9 tell you that it is not just their responsibility to KNOW you are in financial hardship.

This fact should flag up on their computer system.
Financial hardship is about household financial hardship so is it a joint account and how does the bank know if you have lodger's or other income to rely on?

They argue that it does not so I have requested a DSAR to get a copy of all the letters that are sent out automatically about failed payments/overlimits etc
Pointless waste of time in my opinion since you are trying to tell me you are in financial hardship so prove it to me?

In the course of the last 4 years I have been charged over £1000 for various failed payments / overlimit / authorised overdraft use.

See below for my comment on the above statement.

I will be asking for these charges back as their computer system 'knew' the account was in difficulties
Pointless and nonsense argument and you will not waste enough of their time in stating the answer of no.
Does anyone think I have a chance? Can I request 8% statutory interest too or is this being cheeky ?
From the above 0% chance of success. See below some thoughts on this from me. Amethyst who is site team might punch me for the harshness of the post but I am passionate beyond belief where the bank is screwing customers in financial hardship but you gotta get to grips with the arguments and read up on financial hardship here cos your argument is crap.
Cheers.

Who were the payments to? Prove you did something about this? How did the bank know you were in financial difficulties?

To be blunt, you need to read the Lending Code section 9 for what the bank has to do about it. The onus is not just on them to decide you are in financial hardship but for you to tell them and even if you are in financial hardship, they do not even have to refund one charge to comply with the lending code.

Sorry, THIS answer might not be what you are looking to hear but I worked my ass off during the bank charges test case to ensure that I knew what financial hardship was, what the financial ombudsman would act on and under what circumstances that they would do so and to dispel the myth that was espoused by some people that being in financial hardship meant that the bank AUTOMATICALLY had to refund ALL charges. They don't have to so let's start again.

Prove to me on here that you were in financial hardship because have £1000.00 charges does not cut the mustard with me because it equates to £250 a year and roughly one charge per month excluding interest on the overdraft. That's nothing unless you can tell me that there was a spike in charges and that you lost your job, had a reduced income and that the payment(s) were for mortgage/rent, utilities, tv licence and the impact the charges had.

You'll see from my basic calculation that I don't believe you were in financial hardship. NAIL down the crucial period in which multiple charging occurred and why it happened, then we'll fight it. If you want to argue with a piece of electrical machinery then forget it.

[leclerc]

Re: Bank refund of charges - feeling brave, need moral support !

Oooops, and a warm welcome to the forum(did not realise it was your first post :o)

[Hal]

Re: Bank refund of charges - feeling brave, need moral support !

A very full and precise answer, thanks. I will still go with my argument, lay down my thoughts and ask for a refund. So far the bank in their 'argument' have sought to hide behind the judgement of The Supreme Court in 2009. If I don't get some sort of redress, I will forward the compliant to the FOS. I have nothing to lose.
:reindeer:

[leclerc]

Re: Bank refund of charges - feeling brave, need moral support !

A very full and precise answer, thanks. I will still go with my argument, lay down my thoughts and ask for a refund. So far the bank in their 'argument' have sought to hide behind the judgement of The Supreme Court in 2009. If I don't get some sort of redress, I will forward the compliant to the FOS. I have nothing to lose.
:reindeer:

Hal, you'll lose with your argument 100% and it will be the easiest case that an FOS Adjudicator will ever have. It's good of you to not try and win. FFS!! What kind of DD's failed?

http://www.lendingstandardsboard.org...endingcode.pdf

Go to section 9:

To quote:

"178. Subscribers should be sympathetic and positive when considering a customer’s financial difficulties. Although there is an onus on customers to try to help themselves, the first step, when a subscriber becomes aware of a customer’s financial difficulties, should be to try to contact the customer to discuss the matter. This applies to both personal and micro-enterprise customers."

Why should the bank be aware that you are in financial difficulties? The onus is on YOU to help yourself. The bank telling you that you have returned items could be seen as them telling you information that can help you but you have not told them anything.

Are you simply going to argue that the computer didn't know you were in financial hardship?
FFS!! Are you actually taking the pi$$? two posts in and I feel you're wasting my time. Prove to me the bank knew you were in financial hardship? What items were not paid? What was the effect of this on you? At least try and come up with an argument better than, they should have known that my whole household which might include a partner who banks somewhere else, should have known this key information. Prove it to me?

You are wasting their time and you are wasting your time and I can save you the 62p cost of a stamp and say you have 0% chance. We can possibly change that variable but NEVER with the argument you have. When you want our help then we'll give it but the advice at the moment is don't waste your time.

[Amethyst]

Re: Bank refund of charges - feeling brave, need moral support !

Amethyst who is site team might punch me for the harshness of the post but I am passionate beyond belief where the bank is screwing customers in financial hardship but you gotta get to grips with the arguments and read up on financial hardship here cos your argument is crap.

Nahh I won't punch you, but I will slap your legs - what about Foster-Burnell v Lloyds ? - okay Hal's arguments may be weak as they stand, I do agree with you that the number of charges on this account don't really indicate hardship and aren't particularly excessive over the period, however we don't know how the charges built up, how they affected other payments whether the charging structure was changed during the period of overdraft and so on - so it's worth encouraging investigation into the right arguments rather than just dismissing the ones being attempted.