I want to claim back unfair bank charges?

I live in Northern Ireland and in the last 3 years my bank (First Trust) has charged me approximately Â£3000 in overcharged fees! Can I claim these back? If so do I need to know all about the courts, etc?

The following article might help:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632,

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632,

this will help

Depends.

Are the charges unfair or wrong ? If they are unfair ( in your opinion ) then no, they will be defined in your T&C's. if you think they are unfair thats irelavent. If they are in thier schedule of charges, they have the right to charge you.

If they made a mistake, then you need to adress it with the bank first, not the courts.

If you go on to the GMTV website, they have a Moneymatters expert who is campaigning about excessive bank charges. Apparently he has helped a lot of people get money back. Check out the site, and that should be able to give you more information on what action you can take.

I checked it out myself last week. Good luck with this, it is a nightmare!

Yes, you can claim these back. I am in the process of doing the same thing. Check out this site - I went on it only yesterday after a friend forwarded it to me and they seem to be very reputable so give it a go. I have already printed off, signed and sent the docs off in the post to this company.

Good Luck.

Write to your bank detailing the claims you are making.

The banking ombudsman has ruled that banks are allowed to make recover the costs for overdrawn accounts, bounced checks, etc, but they are not allowed to make a profit from these charges.

It has been estimated that a typical cost is about Â£3-Â£4, and typical charges in excess of Â£20 as detailed in the small print of the contract are excessive and unfair and should be refunded to customers.

Good luck.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632#step

This is the address to provide you with a step by step guide as to what you need to do.

We have just been successful in our claim. Don't worry if they issue documents for you to attend court....that always happens then they pay up.

Good luck. (You can claim for the last 6 years)

www.moeysavingexpert.com

martin money is the man!

by far the best site to go on is www.consumeraction group.com. i am currently claiming my bank charges back and this site has all the templates 4 letters u need to send and 1000,s of people doing the same all sharing their experiances and results.

moneysavingexpert.com

They even have some sample templates you can print off and adapt for your own use.

You can claim charges up to six years old, so your initial letter should ask for a full 'charges statement' for that time. This will give you your baseline to work from. Give 'em 14 days to answer and BE POLITE. Be sure to include your NAME, ADDRESS, BANK ACCOUNT NUMBERS and stop there. Don't fire all your bullets at once! Quote the 'I request this under the data protection act ......blah (as shown on the templates).

They will write back, giving you the information (They have to by law). This is where the fun begins. Now you tell them that OFT (Office of Fair Trading) has deemed these bank charges to be unfair (I KNOW it is CREDIT CARD CHARGES before anyone starts bleating - but play dumb). Add up every time you have committed a 'crime' against the bank and offer them Â£12.00 for it.
Write to them again, saying that you want to claim all the rest BACK from them (It could be anything from a tenner to thousands). Again, give the standard 14 days to reply.

They will then write back with some completely derisory offer, but STICK TO YOUR GUNS! Keep repeating your letters, change a little wording here and there and chucking in some of the recommended 'legal speak' off the moneysavingexpert website.

Every single letter that has come back to me has been A BETTER OFFER than the previous one - Â£58.00, Â£153.00, Â£244.00, Â£356.00, Â£470.00, Half the charges, Â£662.00 and I have just sent off another letter sticking to my guns. Don't give up. Be persistant. I am trying to claim back almost Â£1000.00 and to be honest, I'd rather it be in my *** pocket than theirs.

Banks are going to get so many of these that it's untrue. Get on the bandwaggon sooner rather than later and remember - NOT ONE CASE HAS BEEN DEFENDED IN OPEN COURT BY ANY OF THE BANKS THUS FAR. This means that when you start threatening them with small claims courts (about four letters in), or even slap them in a small claims court (possible) - it is UNLIKELY to even be defended and YOU WIN all your claim by default! Result!

I actually froze the account - (emptied it all but 0.01p) It was a bit different with me 'cause I had another account to operate from (Bills, DD's etc) and I continue to freeze it to this day. I couldn't give a flying frog if they close the account - it's no threat to me! I will STILL make my claim!

Best of luck - I'm really going for mine now! (Well my partners anyhow - I haven't started on my bank yet!)

BE POLITE, Repeat yourself...repeat yourself...repeat yourself...and I am, of course, presuming that all this OFT/Charges etc applies in NI!

Source(s):

Personal experience

If you had kept an eye on your account and not gone overdrawn the bank wouldn't have charged you!
I think you only have yourself to blame!
I work in a bank in Northern Ireland and am fed up of people like you. It is your account and you are responsible for it!!

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