People that have sucessfully reclaimed bank charges.....?

Question

Once your charges had been refunded did the bank close your account? or treat you any differently?
I'm in the process of claiming back £4400.00, and because of my poor record have just discovered i cannot open another account with anybody else at the moment.
I just read that this can be a downside to reclaiming charges.

Answer 1

ok, firstly good on you for claiming back YOUR money. cant believe some people actually think its legal for the banks to charge these extortionate rates when it only costs thema few quid.

next thing is by you getting a refund and the bank closing your account its sort of them implying time for you to get lost. what you should have done was open another account before filing to claim your charges back "plan b"

but if you haven't done so or don't have another account elsewhere:
1: exhaust your banks complaints procedures and keep records of these. and if they still fail to budge
2: report them to the Financial Ombudsman as they could be breaking the banking code and the Ombudsman can rule in your favour. but you MUST exhaust the banks complaints procedure first. you can also claim additional compensation for the grief it will cause you. and i haven't a clue how long that will take

from what i've read, banks aren't allowed to do so but they will try. at the very least they could mark you on their systems as a difficult customer. however this nor you reclaiming your charges should not have an effect on your credit rating, so not quite sure why you're having difficulty opening another account elsewhere.

however if your credit score was poor prior to this, some banks eg halifax do credit checks before accepting to give you an account, maybe you should be looking for a more simple account like a cash card account rather than a current account. there's a range of accounts available

Answer 2

They cannot close your account legally but they may be able to black ball you under the table.