Has anyone reclaimed bank charges via conkers or anyone else?
Answers:
I successfully claimed back over £700 from HSBC and i`m currently persuing a second claim. Users of my site have also successfully claimed back thousands from a range of banks and building societies.
If you`ve got charges of more than £100 its definately worth doing.
Theres no real horror stories, the worst than can happen is that you lose your court fees, but this has only happened to 3 people so far out of hundreds of thousands, and only happened because they made mistakes with their claims.
The bank can possibly close your account, so its best to be prepared and have a back up account at another bank. However, since so many people are claiming back their charges now, the banks hardly do this anymore as they'd lose too many customers, so it only tends to happen if you make more than 1 claim against the same bank.
Its not a quick process, it now takes around 3 - 4 months, but theres little actual work to do, its just sending letters to the bank.
Use the steps below, and the template letters on my site and you should have a good chance of getting a full refund of your charges. My site tells you everything you need to know, and sets you up to be in the best possible position with your claim.
The full process and timescales for claiming back your charges is:
1) Write to the bank and ask them for a copy of your charges for the last 6 years, or alternatively a set of statements for the same period. You do this by making a "Subject Access Request" under the Data Protection Act, enclosing a cheque for £10 made out to the bank. This by passes the banks normal charges for statements which is normal a large amount for 6 years worth. The bank have 40 days to send you the data.
2) Write to the bank asking them to refund your charges, giving them 14 days to reply, attaching a "Schedule of Charges" (a list of the charges you are claiming for).
3) Send the bank a "Letter before Action" giving the bank one last chance to refund your charges before you take court action. They have 14 days to reply.
4) File a claim online using the Money Claim Online web site run by the UK Court Service. The claim is served on the bank 5 days after its submitted. The bank has 14 days to acknowledge the claim. If they don't you can request a "Judgement by Default" and you win the case, and get your charges, statutory interest at 8%, and your court fees.
If they do acknowledge the claim, they then have 14 days to submit a defence (making 28 days in total from the date the claim was served). If they don't then you can again request a "Judgement by Default", and get back your charges, interest and court fees as above.
If they file a defence, then you and the bank get an "Allocation Questionnaire" to fill in. Some judges dismiss the case at this stage, as the bank can't win, so again you win. If this doesn't happen, a hearing date is allocated. The bank will most likely either back out before the hearing, or won't turn up in court. Again you win the case and get your charges, interest and fees.
Follow the correct procedures and you stand a good chance of getting your charges back! Its important to send all letters to the bank and courts by recorded delivery, so you can prove they were received, and more importantly when they were received (which you can find from the tracking section of the Royal Mail web site).
Also make sure that you send all letters to the banks head office, and not your local branch. Don't phone the bank either, as this can delay things and you have no proof of whats been said.
Have a look at my site below which has detailed step by step guides to the whole process of claiming your charges back. It also has template letters you can put your details into and send to the bank, and forums for one to one advice. We also have a guide to filing your claim in court online, which is unique to the site.
The site is free to use!
duno about horror stories but check out www.moneysavingexpert.com
Laney's right ! Go to Martin Lewis's website, as she says, and you will find information about how to go about getting your charges refunded. The Bank may well close your account after refunding your money but if you open a new account with another Bank first, that should not be a problem. Go for it. You WILL get your money back eventually and if it's a large amount, it will be worth the effort.
Don't be frightened off if it gets to the stage of going to court - that's what the Banks are hoping for but they will not defend their case in court as they believe they will lose and, if they do, that will set a precedent opening the floodgates for everyone to get their charges refunded.
Good luck and all the best.
Right, You can get your charges back from i think the last 3 years.
Basically what u need to do is show the bank that they've been overcharging u for things...
Like charging 30 quid when u go a few quid overdrawn.
Go to the GMTV (the morning tv show) website. Look at the financial section. Theres a draft of a letter u can send to claim back the charges.
This is the address for a step by step guide:
www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-...
I think the rule of thumb is they either have to give the money back, or prove that the charges levied reflect the work involved for them maintaining your account.
My other half did it on both her and my own account, and we got all our charges back.
im in middle of doing it... im just waiting to see how much i get from hsbc... at end of the day its money for nothing just open an account pre hand if your worried im not gonna bother like cos i got loans an everyhtinh wi hsbc so they can happily cancel my accounts ha ha... good luck. x
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