For several years now banks have been imposing significant charges every time an account has gone beyond it's agreed limit or if a direct debit has been refused or a cheque bounced. Often these charges have pushed people into further difficulties because an additional charge would be levied for returning the cheque or refusing the direct debit.
The banks didn't care if it was in fact their bank charges that had put people in that situation. If the bank's charges were ever queried by the customer the bank just claimed they were entitled to charge the fees as they were in the terms and conditions.
Well, guess what. It now turns out that the banks had no rights to make these charges. All they were ever entitled to do was to claim back compensation for reasonable and appropriate costs involved. i.e. for writing a letter etc.
A website set up by Law Student Stephen Hone and Mike Sowden formerly within the Merchant Banking sector is now sweeping the banks before them by supporting and advising bank customers who have suffered at the hands of the banks. Their Forum at www.penaltycharges.co.uk is full of examples of successful claims against the banks.
The site has now been running for about a year, and yet they have already helped recover in excess of £ 1,500,000 in charges, with hundreds more cases proceeding. The assistance provided by the site is completely free.
Many of the Banks have initially resisted accusations of unfair bank charges and claimed they would defend them in court but so far not a single one has allowed the proceedings to reach court. They have, after making partial offers and insisting they were being very generous, made full settlements of the fees charged, interest charged on those fees and any costs incurred by the customer in taking the legal action.
This gives every indication that they are aware they would lose if it went to court and it would set a precedent which would show they had acted illegally by taking those charges from customer accounts. Whether they could then be charged with theft I have no idea but I wish it were so.
If you wish to claim for reimbursment of unreasonable bank fees then you can claim for them for the previous six years. You will find full information about this at the forum and they will support you throughout any action you decide to take.
There are example letters to send to the bank available to download.
In another development The Office Of Fair Trading have recently looked into excessive credit card charges and decided they may be illegal. Read more on this page ....>more
