Bank charges

[Naya69]

hi every month i get chrarged off my bank for going something stupid like 20p over draw and iam gettin so hacked off with it. today i checked my bank before i went shopping and they had took the whole of my shopping money out £100 for bank charges i was fumming i got straight on the phone and demanded it back

they have agreed to give me half back which is £50 but it wont get put in till tuesday which is no good i need shopping now!!!

anyway the point iam getting at is i hear you can claim all your bank charges back some how i know its true because a few people i know have done it but can anyone tell me the circumstances and how to do it please.

thanks xxx

 

[kirst1805]

Know the feeling, i got charged the other day for being 13p overdrawn.. its ridiculous. Thankfully my bank just charge £20 now.

If you don't mind me asking, which bank is it? £100 charge is shocking.

xx

 

[Naya69]

i bank with the natwest they have charged me once because i went over draw by a few pounds and an other because i wrote a cheque and i was about 20p short they charged me anoter 28 and a 30 on top of that its a joke this is all in the space of a month but its not the first time they are always charging me.

i know you can say its my own fault but sometimes when i spend money on my card the money ive just spent does not go out of my account straight away it takes about 3 days sometimes which is annoying because if you dont realise this and you have spent what money you have in your account when they do come to take your mney and it isnt there they slap you with a 28 charge this is always happening to me.

once i even went to morrisons did some shopping which came up to 40 paid on my card and it got declined which was strange as the money was in so i tryed again and it went through when i got home and checked on my online banking they had took two lots of 40 out of my account when i rang natwest they explained they had to do this and the second amount will be released in a few days so it left me skint and borrowing money.

i hate natwest they are shit

 

[amazed]

Im with the abbey and they have done this for the past 3 months... i was overdrawn by 13p they took £25 because i never knew they were taking it they put me overdrawn by £25 so now i will get charged next month aswell its shocking!!!!

 

[kirst1805]

i know you can say its my own fault but sometimes when i spend money on my card the money ive just spent does not go out of my account straight away it takes about 3 days sometimes which is annoying because if you dont realise this and you have spent what money you have in your account when they do come to take your mney and it isnt there they slap you with a 28 charge this is always happening me.

wouldn't say its your fault, its an easy trap to get into, especially when the bank doesn't send the money straight away... am sure they do it on purpose...

xx

 

[Abz1982]

I am with natwest and they have prob had about £400 in charges off me in recent years! What bugs is that it is up to the shops as to hen they want to send the request for money through to your bank. I once got petrol and at the time had about 5 times the amout in my bank, checked balance a few days later and it had gone down so I spent moey on shopping, then a few days later it was overdrawn as tesco had taken like 9 days to ask for the money for the petrol!

Some shops are really bad for doing that

 

[aimee-lou]

Hi hun,

We're in the middle of claiming back some charges (about £1200 worth over 2 years!) - unfortunately the case is going through the high court at the moment which means they're not paying out. Still, you need to get the templates and get it all sent off to your bank so that when the case finishes you're in a position to get your money back. Go on to moneysavingexpert.com and check out the advice on there.

Secondly, I would suggest you getyourself out of the 'debt spiral' which these charges can put you in. The charges in turn mean you miss bills, which cause more charges, so you miss more bills etc etc! I would have a look at swapping banks. We changed to the Co-op from HSBC about a year ago and we haven't looked back. In the final month of banking with HSBC we were charged £250 of charges! That's just too much. I got a basic account with the Co-op, got everything transfered and in the last year I've had £40 of charges, both of which were entirely my own fault (mis-read the calendar! )

I would have a look at the other banks that you can go to (don't go to HSBC!) and see about swapping to try to get yourself on to an even keel!

HTH and also, well done on getting the £50 back....but they MUST pay you straight away. Because you need the money for food they actually have a duty of care to make sure you have money. Call them back and demand that you have atemporary OD for the £50 until it gets paid in. They are quite capable of setting that up and they HAVE to help you!!

HTH hun xx

 

[aimee-lou]

I am with natwest and they have prob had about £400 in charges off me in recent years! What bugs is that it is up to the shops as to hen they want to send the request for money through to your bank. I once got petrol and at the time had about 5 times the amout in my bank, checked balance a few days later and it had gone down so I spent moey on shopping, then a few days later it was overdrawn as tesco had taken like 9 days to ask for the money for the petrol!

Some shops are really bad for doing that

I've been stung by that too....I'm now so anal about money it hacks my hubby off! I keep the receipts for everything, log it all onto a spreadsheet (if it's on a card)along with the current bank balance and work off the balance on my spreadsheet rather than trusting the bank/shops! I once had an electricity bill be delayed by 2 full weeks! It really can scupper you!

 

[mrsraggle]

We have the same issue with HSBC - I think they're all the same!!

 

[xJG30]

If you go over alot, i would personally be getting an overdraft if you haven't already got one..

 

[jenny82]

I used to have a lot of issues with the halifax about this, but have started to become a lot more careful about what my balance says, and drawing out the cash instead of using my debit card. I don't like them knowing what I spend my money on anyway...

The clinker was they charged me £48 for being overdrawn by £1 because a) my wages went in a day late and b) I had to pay £491 in vets fees (which I was claiming on pet insruance!). I was in ikea the week before and they took two lots of £200 out of my account, instead of one, leaving me with NO money that whole week. I couldn't understand how i'd overspent as I was trying to be so careful. When I tried to explain this to them, they kept saying that they couldn't see it on their system - basically saying I was lying!

I got so angry and frustrated, I was started crying down the phone and ended up hanging up, throwing the house phone across the room... never again will I give them the opportunity to make a fool out of me like that.

 

[aimee-lou]

If you go over alot, i would personally be getting an overdraft if you haven't already got one..

If you go over regularly the bank will probably not even entertain the idea in the long term. Plus more debt is not what you need. I'm telling you, the only way is to make a fresh start!!

 

[bev309]

Just got off the phone with Lloyds as they were going to charge me £57 for going 90p overdrawn - caused by a £1 'overseas transaction fee' they had charged me. The woman was really nice & more or less offered to refund the charges without me even asking!! I was shocked as I had put this call off until the last minute, as I years ago I had tried the same with Natwest who refused to budge. The only thing is because I left it so late, the charges are going to be taken tomorrow at close of business & I then have to call on Friday to get them refunded, but she said she put notes on my account so there will be no problems. I also made sure I took her name just in case!

 

[lesleyann]

My Oh has been in the - a few times but we have never been charged, some times we go into - the day before we get paid sometimes its like 5days before and never been charged yet

 

[lauraperrysan]

firstly get a small overdraft - even like £50.00. Then if you go overdrawn by like £1 you will only pay £1 back not £21!!
In regards to claiming back 'unlawful bank charges' I have copied and paste the link below which has template letters to write to the banks requesting the refund. At the moment the banks are fighting it out in court to decide if the charges are unlawful or not....most probably they will find them unlawful but the process is long....
However, if you are in financial difficulty - also explained on the webiste they will look at your claim now.
So in the mean time, write your letter, send it to them, they will reply saying they have received it and then one day...prob a little way away, we will all hopefully receive a letter saying they are paying it all back!!
If you dont write they letters they wont give you the money back so be sure to do it

Good luck

Here is the website - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges

Hope this helps xxxxx

 

[Rebaby]

When i was a student i banked with abbey- never ever go with abbey! That is my advice!

I would go over my overdraft limit by say, £1 and they would charge me £30, then because that £30 put my even more overdrawn i'd be charged even more. I regularly had say £90 per month of bank charges going out of my account, even when i hadn't missed any bills/direct debits or overspent that month, just purely because the month before one of their bank charges had put my overdrawn

It was so frustrating, and like someone else has said, upsetting too. I called them up once to query some charges and the woman, who could hardly even speak english just kept repeating the same thing, about them being "admin charges" over and over again, and i was like "you're not answering my question though are you?! Why have you taken all this money?!" Aaaargh! I ended up in tears from sheer frustration. I felt like i was doing my best to stay afloat as a student nurse with a pitiful income and they were just plain taking advantage of the fact i was living so close to my overdraft limit all the time.

I also made a fresh start and opened an account with smile (the online bank with the co-op) and although i have had a couple of charges from them due to me going overdrawn they have been reasonable (i.e. my fault and a one off charge), and i have had fewer in a much longer space of time.

I went through the process of claiming my charges back from abbey but they made me a settlement offer and i had to make a choice about whether to take it or pursue it further and with everything that was going on at the time (i was in my final year of nurse training and my dad had a stroke and we were about to move house) i just felt i had to settle and move on.

I really hope you can get yourself a new account with someone else and make a fresh start, i know how hard it is to get out of that trap, and it REALLY doesn't help when companies don't claim the money straight away and you think that your available balance is a true reflection of how much you've got left but then something you bought four days ago suddenly goes out and leaves you in a mess