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The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
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We have read with great interest about the bank charges [problem] that the banks are using on us all, and would like to join in with this assault on the banks.
We have two accounts with Nat West, one mine and one joint with my wife. We had no trouble and were model customers with Nat West until I gave up my job to become my wife’s carer and went on to income support and other benefits, after a while the lower income took its toll and we now regularly get charges for overdrawn and miss use of card. I estimate about £14,000 in excess charges over 6 years.
I have read elsewhere in this forum that it is advisable to take out another bank account elsewhere before taking steps to get a refund in case the bank decides to close our accounts, and leaves us account-less and unable to survive in this modern "electronic money" world. Although I have tried to open another account, the trouble is that with our now poor credit record no one will have us.
Is there a goodish bank any of you know of that will accept us and is there any useful advice anyone can help us with?
Thanks in advance for any help,
Best regards. . . .
EDIT:
Maybe only half the original guess of £14,000
It seems we were quite "good" a few years back. . .
geeze you guys really were stung hard. to get that kind of money back your going to need to split the charges into categories to reduce the individual claims to less than 5K each. ( to keep them in the Small Claims Court) loads of info available about how to do that. you will have to keep reading. esp the FAQs
as for new accounts, they are all pretty much as bad as each other! BUT check out www.uswitch.com and the Which website www.which.co.uk which will give you impartial advice about comparing rates etc.
really hope you succeed, which you will now you're here!
really hope you succeed, which you will now you're here!
Good luck
kate
Thank you for your reply,
As far as banks are concerned, comparing rates is not much help, its finding a bank to accept us with a poor credit record that is the problem. . .
About 15 years ago I lost about £5,000 to Barclays, when my business ran into difficulties, is there any chance of getting that back as-well?
Ahh...... yes that can be tricky. How bad is the credit record. Some banks offer a step account with no cards etc, pretty useless but better than nowt.
also seek further advice from which about accounts available for people with poor credit history.
However, dont get too stressed, it is pretty unlikely that they will close the accounts, read mountain of debts thread and rbrears, they got back alot and weren't asked to hand back cards or anything. good recent victories you should read. scroll down a couple of pages to find.
the 'parachute' account is a safeguard against having no bank account at all.
+ worst case you get back all your money and Natwest kick you out. with that kind of sum, i'm sure mr bank manager may rethink.........!;-)
kate
also check out www.gregorypennington.co. uk and www.payplan.com both offer specialised accounts for just such circumstances. payplan offer a basic account, pennington offer a bit more.
i'm not vouching for them but am aware they offer these accounts
kate
technically if both accounts are with same bank and same account holders then the bank should supply all data held about you for 1 £10 DPA request.
However if the account is business then you need to do it seperately.
They also refused to give me my credit card info and said i should approach card services direct for that info.
if one is sole name and the other is joint, they might make you request seperately.
Kate
That’s it now, no going back, two letters with two cheques going in the post today . . . it all seams a bit daunting now. . .
I see the bit about a 5% donation of funds returned to support the site/forum, that’s ok for a couple of hundred quid returned, but for us that 5% will be about £700 if we get it all back!!
I see the bit about a 5% donation of funds returned to support the site/forum, that’s ok for a couple of hundred quid returned, but for us that 5% will be about £700 if we get it all back!!
A donation is just that - a donation. 5% is recommended. I know someone who gave 33%. Any donation is more than welcome, and we are appreciative of them.;-)
Just think to yourself, the money was written off to start with, before you heard about this site, and how much would a solicitor have taken!! The amount is up to you, and it's confidential.
But a note to everyone - the site does NOT run without money, and there are very few donations being received.
(Sorry for the mini-hijack, please debate further in the correct threads, thankyou.)
One thing I notice in all this is, that once it’s all over and you have a full refund, sometimes even during the process of recovering the money more penalty charges are made against the account. What steps can be taken to prevent this? Could one of the reasons the bank will not go to court be, that once a judgment has been made against them then they cannot make any more charges against you? Perhaps it needs some brave soul to take them to court regardless and get a judgment against the bank banning them from making anymore penalty charges. . . . . .
With regards to further charges, obviously first try to avoid them, but if you can't, then make a further claim starting the process again with the prelim letter. Beware though, the bank may close your account.
We ARE trying to get the banks into court, but they keep paying up.
Its the £10 for both accounts. They recently sent me the same letter to send out all statements for 3 accounts for the one DPA fee. They returned 2 of my cheques and 2/3 of the statements have now arrived.
Crack on with adding up and send them your preliminary letter, which you do keep separate for each account.
best of luck
Statements arrived today by special delivery!! In a strong plastic wrapper over the weak brown envelope! My wife is now working thought the 5” high pile with a highlighter pen.
When working out how much the bank owes, how do I work out when the 6 years starts,
is it;
A; Six years before the date of the data protection act letter
B; Six years before the date of the request for a refund letter
C; Some other date, and if so what date?
I assume that once the date has been set then any charges after that point, over the couple of months before the bank settles are not added?
We want our money back Nat West *** WON ***
about the bank charges [problem] that the banks are using on us all, and would like to join in with this assault on the banks.
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Originally Posted by katesage
