KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

YOU CAN CLAIM BACK OVERDRAFT AND CREDIT CARD CHARGES FOR UP TO 6 YEARS!

Excessive Bank Charges are illegal - Click Here for BBC Report

Please note this is primarily for UK customers due to UK law making it illegal for banks to charge overdraft fees excess of any actual loss. This has been estimated to be anything above £4.50 for an fees. Penalty charges can be incurred for the following: unauthorised overdrafts, unpaid items such as cheques, direct debits or standing orders. These are also known as returned or bounced items.

Write to your bank - to claim back more than one charge

Phone your bank - to claim one particular charge

SCENARIO ONE: YOU DON'T HAVE ALL YOUR STATEMENTS FOR PAST 6 YEARS

You can request statements for the past six years by downloading the letter below and sending off to your local branch. In most cases you will be charged for this (maximum of £10). This letter is provided by Which magazine:

Download Letter - asking for details of transactions for the past 6 years

Alternatively, you can also calculate estimated charges - See Below

 
You can submit an estimated claim if you genuinely believe you have been charged during a period for which you have no statements. Send this letter to your local branch:

Download Letter for estimated charges - provided by the BBC

Calculate all the charges from the statements you have and if you believe the missing statements would also record similar charges, then estimate the missing amount by doing the following equation:

If one year's statements show £70 of charges then you can estimate the total amount of charges for 6 years will be: £70 x 6 = £420.00

If you have 5 months of statements and these show that you have accumulated £150 of charges in that time, then you can calculate that you have been charged on average £30 a month. (£150 divided by 5 = £30). There are 72 months in six years so 72 x £30 = £2,160.00 (if your account hasn't been open for the past six years then only multiply the average amount by the number of months the account has been open).

Fill in the necessary details in the template for the "estimated charges letter" in the box below and post it Recorded Delivery to your bank/lender's branch address.

Your bank/lender will almost certainly work out how many charges you have actually incurred in the past six years. It may contact you within 14 days to either make you an offer, in part or in full, or to state that it has refused to refund your money. Alternatively, the bank may ask you to provide exact details - in which case you will need your statements for the past six years to calculate details with the corresponding date and amount. However, if even after you have given details of transactions and you are not happy with what your bank has offered or your bank has refused any payment or the full payment then, see Escalate.

If this letter doesn't work go to Escalate - Click Here
 

SCENARIO TWO: YOU HAVE ALL YOUR STATEMENTS FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS
 

Highlight all the penalty charges in your last six years of account statements. Download Letter below and send to bank:

Download Letter - This letter informs bank of illegality of charges and asks for refund - provided by BBC

"The bank/lender will usually respond to the letter by either refusing to meet your claim or by offering to settle in part, or in full. If the claim is small, the bank/lender may want to settle it quickly to reduce its legal and administration costs.

If the claim is large, it is more likely the bank/lender will do nothing - waiting until you actually go ahead and file a claim at court. Check online with the Post Office to confirm the date that the bank/lender received your letter and then allow 14 days from that date for it to respond.

If, after 14 days, you have received no response at all, or are unhappy with the bank/lender's response then the next stage is to file a claim at your local small claims court (see section titled 'File at Court' below). There is a fee to file a claim. If your bank pays up, this fee is refunded at the point of settlement. The bank/lender is then obliged to defend its case before the judge or else to pay the amount you are claiming against it. If it chooses not to defend itself, as well as paying the full amount of your claim, it will also refund your court fee.

So far no bank/lender, we are aware of, has defended its penalty charges in court." (see 'Escalate' below).
(provided by BBC)

If this letter doesn't work go to Escalate - Click Here
 

What they will claim:

You signed a contract and this is how much you get charged

The reality:

It is illegal to overcharge. UK law stipulates that it is illegal to charge penalty fees unless the company has felt an actual loss by your trip into your overdraft.
 

Here is what to say. If you have this in front of you then you will be able to back your case. Remember, banks thrive on customers that do not complain or feel they don't know enough about the banking industry to complain. :

• First things first, when speaking to a call centre employee, ask to directly speak to their line manager (these are the people with the power to reimburse you on the spot). Remember call centre staff are employees just like you and don't have the power to change anything.

• Be firm, always. Bank staff are trained to "talk you out of it" for the first 15 minutes. Most people give up during this time. Never allow bank staff to lecture you, keep interrupting them.
  
  Know Your Facts
   

• Charges are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Schedule 2 (e) of the said regulations gives a non-complete list of terms, which may be regarded as unfair, such as a term that requires me as a consumer who fails in his obligation, to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation. I believe that your charges are disproportionately high and therefore they are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999. In addition I believe that your charges are a Penalty. Penalty charges are irrecoverable at common law. The precedent for this was Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor co Ltd [1915] AC 79 along with Murray v. Leisure play [2005] EWCA Civ 963.

• The Office of Fair Trading, financial regulator, declared on 1 June 2006 that banks are illegally overcharging their customers — if your bank says it is reviewing its practices, tell them you're not interested and that you want to be reimbursed now.

• The Government has made it clear that it will not tolerate overcharging

• I have been a loyal customer since...

• Inform your bank that you have copies of all your statements and have worked out that the bank charges you receive is what is keeping you in the red

• Search to discover how much profit your bank made in the last financial year (type in 'HSBC profits 2006' into the BBC website for example). Repeat this to your bank manager. They may claim that this is nothing to do with them - Remind them that as a representative of the bank, they represent the bank's obscene profits.

• Repeat the OFT regulations, keep repeating yourself and threaten your bank that you will take them to the small claims court, newspapers and/or your local MP with copies of your statements. Ministers are very keen to side with consumers regarding overcharging.

If this letter doesn't work go to Escalate - (Below) 
 

Step Two: Threaten to take the matter to the small claims court
 

If your first letter or phone call doesn't work, a stronger letter might do the trick. Write to your bank and tell them that if they do not pay back your money you will either take legal action against them, or refer them to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This letter threatens small court action against your current account provider if they do not pay you back.

Download Letter
 

Step Three: Write to the Financial Ombudsman
 

You can refer your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service which is a free service. You will need to have attempted to resolve your issue with your account provider prior to an approach to FOS. You can use the above template letters for this process too, although you will have to reword the last letter a little to relate to the FOS as opposed to the small claims court.

For details on how to complain to the FOS - Click Here

Download the FOS Complaint Form for bank charges (Word file)

Don't forget to repeat the reasons behind your charges i.e. the Legal clause which specifically states that bank charges are illegal (this can be taken from this document)

Telephone: 0845 080 1800
 

Step Four: Taking Legal Action
 

Small Claims Court

You can take your bank to the small claims court to try to get your money back. The small claims court is easy to use and we have produced a simple factsheet (click here) which explains exactly what you should tell the court in order to try to get your money back, and how the process works.
 

BBC Special Report
A powerful insider breaks the banking industry's code of silence and reveals how the High Street banks deliberately target their customers and push borrowing. Read the report.