Bank Charge refunds have been declined. Can anyone help?

Question

Good morning.

Several weeks ago, I decided that enough was enough and I was going to do what everyone else had done and reclaim my unauthourised bank charges off my Halifax account.

I hold 2 seperate accounts with them, and both in the last year have received charges. An amount of around £800. I as many of you cannot afford this at all.

Along with a copy of all my bank statements and highlighted charges I sent a copy of this letter with my details corrected:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/12_12_06_bank_14day.pdf

Within about 2 weeks I received my reply from Halifax Customer relations categorically stating "I have carried out a full investigation of your complaint and I am satisfied that the charges have been correctly applied to your account".

So, what's next? Since I have received this letter I have incurred ANOTHER £60 worth of computer generated charges, I cannot afford this, and certainly think it is unfair as I am on going a few pounds over.

Answer 1

Ignore what the bank have said, its a standard letter they send to everyone. They can't admit their charges are unfair, so they deny it and try to put people off claiming.

Everyone who has successfully claimed back their charges have had similar letters, so don't let it put you off!

Just carry on with the next steps in the process, and you should get your charges back.

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!

Answer 2

Keep going!

Now write a letter that you will now commence a small claims against them from 7 days from the date of this letter. I would be very very surprised if they let it go that far.

I persoanlly have claim back from Halifax about a year ago and it was all done and completed in 2 1/2 weeks and i know other have too so dont give up.

But be prepared if they close your account (Halifax did not with me) so make sure you have another account opened somewhere and try to make sure you do not accumulate any more charges after the payout either.

Good luck

Answer 3

FOLLOW THE PROCESS exactly... do NOT deviate from it ..

Ignore the Banks response = it's all garbage in an effort to get you to drop the case .. they will :-

Phone you and tell you 'your case is being processed' .. when you phone back months later to complain nothing happened, they will deny ever speaking to you - SEND EVERYTHING IN WRITING
They will deny recieving paperwork - SEND IT RECORDED DELIVERY
They will ignore your 'deadlines' or write back saying 'your case is being porcessed as a priority' - STICK TO THE TIMESCALES
They will phone asking for additional or duplicate paperwork (if they really have 'lost' the paperwork, that's THEIR problem - DON'T get involved in finding & sending extra paperwork ... just press on)

Your ONE AND ONLY GOAL is to get to the Small Claims Court .. and their ONLY GOAL is to prevent that .. they may even offer you 50% and credit your account or send you a cheque ...

It's up to you to decide when to accept .. most Banks will offer you more and more money the closer you get to your day in court .. eventually (maybe the day before the case is due to be held) they will offer you 100% PLUS 8% Interest on all charges ..

Answer 4

Quite simply, you can push them and they'll capitulate, as all the banks are getting so much publicity over this at the moment.

However, I have to take issue with your statement "Since I have received this letter I have incurred another £60 worth of computer generated charges." The charges were not generated by computers, they were presumably generated by you spending money that was not yours and that you had not asked permission to spend. It is tantamount to theft, and the banks clearly state their charges in their contract with you. If you breach that contract how can you complain when they charge you for doing so?

Answer 5

of course they would tell you that,you need to ask them for a list of all the bank charges they have charged you for in the past six years which they are legally required to send you,then you send them a stearn warning that unless they pay you back with interest you will take it to court to get the money back,you will get the refund but they will find a reson to close your accounts as they do that alot

Answer 6

Take charge of you finances, Stop going overdrawn without authorisation and then you won't get any charges at all. If you monitor your account responsibly you can make arrangements for an overdraft if you need one. Don't just blame the bank you yourself have contributed to this.

Answer 7

Why do you keep doing whatever it is you're being charged for when you clearly know you're going to be charged? Get a grip on your finances and stop assuming it's okay for you to make withdrawals whether you have the funds or not.

Answer 8

keep going , if you go to www.moneysavingexpert.com it will give you all the template letters to download and print. You now take them to the small claims court, but they will pay up before they get there. I am just commencing this process myself because banks just take the P. that's why they're billions of pounds in profits, thanks to mugs like you and me!! also on moneysavingexpert it tells you what to do if they say they are going to close your account, threaten to go to the financial banking ombudsman and that will shut them up!

Answer 9

Ditto the previous answers, you need to be persistent and not accept their attempt at avoiding refunding the charges. Good luck.

Answer 10

Commence the claim in the court