CreditCards Blog

I'm not too sure if this has already been answered but I claimed back my charges 17 months ago from my bank and I've had an unbelievable amount of charges since then. The bank say I can't claim them back because I've already done it so all the charges I've had since then are just too bad. Is this right, or can I still claim them back?

OK. You ran up lots of charges, you got all your money back, and now you're running up more, and you want those back too? How about you learn your bleeding lessons not to go over your limits, rather than just expecting to be able to "reclaim" charges every so often?

They're under no obligation to give you back what is now their money. In fact, I'd imagine they're quite justified in telling you to go spin.

How much did you claim back before? Surely you could have used at least SOME of that money to reduce your debt/stay within your limits/make your min payments on time?!

ShelfStacker,

6 months ago I was £1.30 short in my account for £11+ TV License direct debit by only 24 hours. They didn't pay the bill and when my money did go in the following day they took a £38 charge then the same week another small direct debit was refused as all the money in my account is accounted for on a weekly basis. They took another £38 but left two bills unpaid and took £72 pound and since my money is widows/incapacity benefit it's not variable so there's no way I can replace what they've taken and pay the unpaid bills so in effect it snowballs from week to week. Plus at the end of the month there's £28 overlimit charges so over 6 months bank has taken over £600 and there was no sympathetic approach by them. You're lucky. You're healthy and employed. I've struggled to just survive. I hope you have a merry christmas.

Take yourself over to the Reclaim charges board (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=102) where someone will advise you on the 'hardship route' to getting the charges removed.

Then, do a bit to help yourself. If money is really so tight (and you don't/can't/won't budget for such regular bills) then you should cancel ALL your direct debits and live your life with cash...because it sounds like these charges aren't going to go away if you don't.

Thanks for the help YorkshireBoy. I've more or less done the second part. :)

yes, you can claim them back.

If they are credit card charges, anything over 12 per charge can be claimed back.

If they are bank charges, you can claim back. However, there is a stay (hold) on all cases until the situation is sorted with the courts so you can get as far as putting in a court claim, but it won't go any further until a ruling is made (possibly some time early next year, but could be later than that).

Your bank is just trying to put you off claiming.

Ah, right! Thanks a lot for that! :)

OP's bank may have made a 'can't claim again' condition when repaying the original charges.

How enforceable this would be I've no idea.

ShelfStacker,

6 months ago I was 1.30 short in my account for 11+ TV License direct debit by only 24 hours. They didn't pay the bill and when my money did go in the following day they took a 38 charge then the same week another small direct debit was refused as all the money in my account is accounted for on a weekly basis. They took another 38 but left two bills unpaid and took 72 pound and since my money is widows/incapacity benefit it's not variable so there's no way I can replace what they've taken and pay the unpaid bills so in effect it snowballs from week to week. Plus at the end of the month there's 28 overlimit charges so over 6 months bank has taken over 600 and there was no sympathetic approach by them. You're lucky. You're healthy and employed. I've struggled to just survive. I hope you have a merry christmas.

I live on Incapacity Benefit and DLA too but yet somehow I manage to budget for all my direct debits and not be hit by charges.

Good luck in your second claim though.

OK. You ran up lots of charges, you got all your money back, and now you're running up more, and you want those back too? How about you learn your bleeding lessons not to go over your limits, rather than just expecting to be able to "reclaim" charges every so often?

They're under no obligation to give you back what is now their money. In fact, I'd imagine they're quite justified in telling you to go spin.

If all their cashiers have such a 'sympathetic' attitude, I'm glad that I don't bank with HSBC.

If all their cashiers have such a 'sympathetic' attitude, I'm glad that I don't bank with HSBC.

Sympathetic would be when the first time it happens. After the first time you'd think people would learn from their mistakes.

It's a long time since i looked at charges (never had any myself).

From what i recall, it was a condition of the OFT agreement that the banks could not restrict customers to not make any further claims against unfair charges.

Also there was no 12 limit that made the charges acceptable. This was the value that the FOS said they would not investigate any cases where charges were this amount or less - they didn't say that this was lawful.

Not sure if anything has changed much since as we are still waiting on the judges to make a decision on the appeal case, but i would definately claim again, keeping anything in writing and if they refute your right to make a claim they can put that in writing for you to take to court and hopefully they will comment on what legislation they got that data from.

Sympathetic would be when the first time it happens. After the first time you'd think people would learn from their mistakes.
Dead easy when you have spare cash.
Sadly I can't help with the answer, but I hope you can resolve the unfair charges.