Newbie here - What's the worse that can happen?

[domchesh]

Hi

Like half a million others I have found this site through Martin Lewis's money saving expert email. I guess thats why I couldn't access the site for about an hour when I got home from work earlier as everyone flocked here to find out how to knee the banks where it hurts

I will be sending my request for details of charges tomorrow.

Abbey cut my overdraft from £1200 to £200 with a months notice and I got hammered with unauthorised overdraft fees as a result. I had a job at the time, but it was paid in cash so I was only banking what I wasn't spending so it looked like I was earning less than £1000 a month.

What I want to know is this... If things don't go to plan, how much could this end up costing me?

Can Abbey charge me for details of charges over the last 6 years?

If I make a claim and Abbey decides to challenge it in court and I loose how much could that cost?

Great to see people throwing these outrageous charges back in the banks faces ... keep up the good work!

Dom

PS - could the law regarding fines reflecting the the cost of breach of contract be applicable to parking fines? ie does it really cost £50 for a traffic warden to slap a ticket on a windscreen?

[richardc]

The worst thing that could happen is that you would lose whatever it cost you to file the claim. It is not likely that you would be liable for the banks costs. They could also close your account so if you are considering action and are prepared to take to court, open another account elsewhere now. You need first to establish how much you are looking at. Get your Data Protection Act letter off now. Read FAQs which will give you a step by step guide. As regards parking fines, this is not really a matter for this forum.

[domchesh]

Sorry Mod, I should have read the FAQs first!

[Natasha]

PS - could the law regarding fines reflecting the the cost of breach of contract be applicable to parking fines? ie does it really cost £50 for a traffic warden to slap a ticket on a windscreen?

Some parking tickets are issued very badly but i believe most are issued correctly.
So if your getting so many parking tickets then dont park illegally, bank charges are a lot different from parking tickets unless they were issued incorrectly then you make an appeal! i havent done anything illegal to get penialised by the bank and thus leading to being a victim of the banks charges!

[comanche]

There may be all sorts of arguments about parking tickets but, unlike bank charges, they are not governed by contract law. The two issues are really quite different.

[richardc]

Yes. Lets keep parking, speeding, littering out of this forum

[domchesh]

Yes sorry to bring parking tickets in to this. It was just a thought - I have only paid £150 in parking fines - most of them completely legitimate. I was more concerened about taking on the huge multinationals and if I actually stood a chance. Looking at this forum it looks like I do, but I get the feeling the banks will soon find a loophole. Let's not let them get away with it.

[richardc]

There is no loop ho;e to acting unlawfully. If we keep up the pressure they will have to change their practices.

[Docubot]

I have thought about this long and hard.

Every time I think I can see how they can close this 'loophole' (it's nothing of the sort - it's just basic contract law) - I then see a way around it.

The fact of the matter is - banks (although people seem to believe it, including the banks themselves) are not above the law. I would imagine that they are happy that most people seem to have forgotten that they have statutory rights - this site attempts to redress that balance.

[Bookworm]

It's not just the banks, though is it?

Every time a shop thinks that hanging a placard saying "no refunds" entitles them to flout statutory rights, every time a store thinks that their own T&Cs replace statutory rights instead of being as well as, and if their T&Cs are less favorable then statutory, then statutory takes precedence... Every time a car is "sold as seen" and the car dealer thinks that protects him... Every time a company uses the Data Protection Act to protect themselves instead of the persons for whom it was designed, eg the consumer... And don't get me started on Local Education Authorities who persistently flout the law and get away with it so often...

Ooooh, I'd better get off my soapbox, I feel a full rant coming on...