Bank Charger on benefits

[Boobarella]

I have recently been told by the DWP that it is illegal for my bank to charge me unauthorised overdraft charges, or failure charges for unpaid direct debits etc. Is this correct, can I claim the ones i have paid back and how do I go about this? I have paid out a fortune in charges over the years!!

TIA for any help!

[Celestine]

Re: Bank Charger on benefits

Hi there

Perhaps the DWP could tell the Supreme Court that fact!?

I can only assume they are referring to Right of Appropriation; which in theory means that banks should not take benefits payments that are intended for the benefit recipient only....however, generally the banks take little or no notice of this at all.

Until the Supreme Court decision last year and the OFT test case, consumers did manage to get bank charges returned, but currently this is not happening.
Credit card charges are recoverable though.

Have a read around the forum to get an up to date picture.

Welcome to Legal Beagles :beagle:

[freerunner]

Re: Bank Charger on benefits

I think it would be viewed a little differently in the case of an account which is only credited by benefits, under hardship rules the OP shouldnt have much trouble getting these refunded.
This happened to me while on benefits and a couple of letters later i got them back and havent been charged any since.

[scorcherrosie2000]

Re: Bank Charger on benefits

I think it would be viewed a little differently in the case of an account which is only credited by benefits, under hardship rules the OP shouldnt have much trouble getting these refunded.
This happened to me while on benefits and a couple of letters later i got them back and havent been charged any since.

that has happened to me also ,i am trying to get this back at min

[scorcherrosie2000]

Re: Bank Charger on benefits

im going to start to get my charges back from lloyds tsb they have took all my benefits and left me with nothing, wish me luck

[scorcherrosie2000]

Re: Bank Charger on benefits

got all mine payed back 2 weeks ago

[salsmoss]

Re: Bank Charger on benefits

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/...on/187/enacted

[leclerc]

Re: Bank Charger on benefits

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/...on/187/enacted

With all due respect to you newbies, this comes up time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time again. The Charges within the act are not referring to banks charges so therefore anyone saying that the charges are unlawful/illegal are incorrect.

HOWEVER, having said that, I would look at the Lending Code Section 9 which relates to financial hardship which is about the fact that the bank has taken the charges leaving you with nothing to pay your priority debts ie Rent/mortgage, utilities(excluding cable tv), HP on car that you drive to work in, etc etc.

We can go into the long discussion again but for almost 4 years or more this argument has been brought up based on information that is incorrect.

[jeetajoe]

Re: Bank Charger on benefits

how did you go about claiming bank charges? advice would be appreciated

[leclerc]

Re: Bank Charger on benefits

how did you go about claiming bank charges? advice would be appreciated

To be blunt, you do not due to the 2009 Supreme Court decision. You may be able to ask them to refund charges based on financial hardship which are outlined in the lending code section 9 but as such it would be refunded as part of wider measures to help you.