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The Banking Industry - Charging Malpractice


Ally
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You may have seen on the news that there is a march in London today campaigning against these illegal bank charges. What is illegal about them is that they do not reflect the price of the work done by the bank if a customer does exceed the overdraft limit, or bounces a cheque, or can't pay a DD, etc. This is not just a matter of opinion, it is the law, in both Scottish and English Law. Many thousands of people are now applying for and receiving refunds of these charges, going back to six years.

 

The website

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/

is excellent at guiding you step-by-step through the process of reclaiming your money that your bank has taken from you illegally in bank charges in the last six years. The steps described are important, as they provide templates of all the letters you will need to send, the wording you need to use, and the timescales which you need to wait between letters.

 

The site includes forums where people share their stories each step as they go through the process, and then they post when the bank does give them the refund. It is fascinating reading. At today's date (2/12/06), the site states that the

 

Total Returned: £4,456,042 to 3816 people

 

That is an average of £1167.72 each! Or over 4 million quid!

 

I encourage anyone with a history of bank charges to have a look at this site, and start the process of reclaiming the money that is rightfully yours!

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What pisses me off about this whole thing is the fact that these charges are still being levied. And that we still have to individually claim back our own money. It's high time the government called in the Chief execs of all the banks and ordered them to pay back all the money they have stolen from us since these charges became illegal on pain of being charged with theft and jailed if they do not comply.

 

I think I feel a letter to Tavish and Mcalpine coming on. :twisted:

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You're right - the charges will continue to get levied, and I for one wouldn't be surprised if they start to charge more to make up for the payouts they've had to cough up.

 

It's how banks work as we all know - they loose money, they pass on their losses to the consumer. They're GRRRREAT!

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Perhaps we are culturally at fault.

 

Some years ago in Norway i was informed by a prominent local businessman that banks were only used to move money and nothing more. All savings were in the form of investments organised by local investment groups, and the most impressive thing to me was that a large proportion of their investments were in local firms. Genius! Social commercial responsiblity in a nutshell, invest your money in your employer and those of your peers and reap the benefits of your labour and theirs, etc. I can only presume that debt is not a prominent feature in that region.

 

Perhaps we need more co-operatives, credit groups and investment groups to keep money in our own realm and not that of the quick and easy, ruthless and selfish banks. They are there to make money. :wink:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Watched the program.

 

Most telling point was that it appears that the maximum cost to the banks (according to the experts) were as follows.

 

Bouncing a cheque £4.50

Failing a Direct Debit £2.50

 

The most interesting aspect was that an entire community had been mobilised into claiming refunds and, apparently, were successful.

 

In addition, the OFT were keen to show that they were taking quite an interest in these practices.

 

Questions arising but, sadly, not asked during the program are;

1:

If the OFT finds in favour of the customers and fixes an appropriate maximum charge, will the banks then be obliged to refund excess charges for the full 6 year term allowed or, most likely, will it be watered down to the point that customers will still have to claim?

(OK, it's a no-brainer)

2:

Will the banks then be taken to court by the OFT and prosecuted to the extent that a full legal precedent is set?

(Will the Government allow it?)

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  • 1 month later...

If you have a business account that's where they really hit you with charges. I haven't had one for 10 years, but charges then were £1 for each £100 cash paid in (notes), and £1.20 for £100 of change (coins) requested from the bank. There was also a charge for each cheque issued but I forget that one.

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  • 1 month later...

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