Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
I have been reading through everyone's comments and cases, very interesting!
I must say I am (as my username suggests) in 2 minds!! I am a case handler for one of the big banks and I am one of the busy people answering to all of the letters wanting charges back
I can see where people are coming from if they have been through a hard time for whatever reason, and becuase their minds are elsewhere, they have not had money in their account to cover payments give the charges back (and i normally do).... but when people simply mismanage their accounts and spend money they simply dont have then they should take the consequences... it really hacks me off when people come to us saying "I want all my charges back for the last 6 years " and when u look at their account they shop in harrods, use gambling shops, go out every weekend ( all of these I cant afford so I JUST DONT DO IT) and as a result they get charges... why should they get them back when they signed for the account and charges when they applied for the account?
However people who are genuinly trying to cover payments but fall short by a couple of quid... fair play have em back.
The bank I work for will take circumstances into account, so if ur going through a divorce or break ur leg they will help out.
everything is dispraportionate thats how people earn money, it doesnt cost a plumber £35 an hour to fix ur pipes, but its what they charge and you agree to it... 6 years later are you gonna go back to him and get ur money back?
Good luck to any people claiming, that really haven't just spanked money they dont have
why should they get them back when they signed for the account and charges when they applied for the account?
The bank I work for will take circumstances into account, so if ur going through a divorce or break ur leg they will help out.
everything is dispraportionate thats how people earn money, it doesnt cost a plumber £35 an hour to fix ur pipes, but its what they charge and you agree to it... 6 years later are you gonna go back to him and get ur money back?
The reason why somebody will sign an agreement to pay these ludacris charges is because they have no choice!!
Tell me a bank that doesn't have these extortionate charges?
People are being forced to have bank accounts, if you work you need an account if you get benefits you need an account!
So the people have no choice.
I agree with you that people who are overspending, shouldnt be and they should live within their means, but the banks should take some responsibility and if they decline a payment/transaction then it should be exactly that! they shouldn't let any money leave the account if its not there, instead they authorise the payment and charge you £35 for it!!
Again same thing with the plumber, no one wants to pay way over the odds for a job that takes 2 Min's, but they have no choice!
Well actually a plumber wont be able to charge like they do soon, because there are European plumbers that are coming over to the UK, who are charging a [b]fair[b/] price for the services.
The banks also need to take responsibility for lending money too.....
Natasha
Abbey-received DPA letter on 13/03, received some breakdown till 2004 waiting for the more recent ones(where most charges occurred)
sent reminder email on 17/4/06
called abbey on 19/04/06 to remind them
sent another email on 26/04/06
Approx charges £2500
received £500 refund in dec 06
sent LBA Capital one- sent DPA letter 17/03
Sent prim letter for charges of £260 14/04
Received a refund £109 awaiting further refund of £151
Settled IN FULL Barclay card- Sent DPA letter 17/03 sent reminder 14/04
received info claiming £120
settled in FULL
But equally why should a bank get away with charging unlawfully irrespective of the cause? The bottom line is that these charges are unlawful and should not have been taken in the first place.
I do agree that charges are excessive, but what isn't??? everything is designed to make profit, its the way of the world....
The fact that by twisting past cases it can be "viewed as illegal" is convenient!
Like I said if people genuinely need help then banks should help but if people are irresponsible maybe they should get a basic account with no facilities so they can't spend money they do not have
With the greatest of respects, 2 Minds, that is the biggest load of garbage I have have ever read.
You might attempt to use that particular guilt angle when you are speaking to your customers. Do not think for one moment that it will work here.
May I suggest that you read the recent report by the Office of Fair Trading. This will explain to you why people are claiming this money back.
The OFT has indicated that credit card charges that are disproportionate to their cost should be refunded. When is your bank going to refund ALL of these unlawfull charges to its customers? Lets not worry too much about the six years either. By deliberately levying unlawful charges, you have excluded yourselves from the statute of limitations.
I do agree that charges are excessive, but what isn't??? everything is designed to make profit, its the way of the world....
So that's ok then?
Natasha
Abbey-received DPA letter on 13/03, received some breakdown till 2004 waiting for the more recent ones(where most charges occurred)
sent reminder email on 17/4/06
called abbey on 19/04/06 to remind them
sent another email on 26/04/06
Approx charges £2500
received £500 refund in dec 06
sent LBA Capital one- sent DPA letter 17/03
Sent prim letter for charges of £260 14/04
Received a refund £109 awaiting further refund of £151
Settled IN FULL Barclay card- Sent DPA letter 17/03 sent reminder 14/04
received info claiming £120
settled in FULL
I do agree that charges are excessive, but what isn't??? everything is designed to make profit, its the way of the world....
The fact that by twisting past cases it can be "viewed as illegal" is convenient!
Like I said if people genuinely need help then banks should help but if people are irresponsible maybe they should get a basic account with no facilities so they can't spend money they do not have
I am not speaking as a bank worker or on behalf of any bank - I am speaking as me and my opinion... and I want the £35 back that I paid a plumber last month, he can keep the odd 64p for the washer
The charges are penalty charges that are disproportionate to the cost to the bank of the infringement.
No-one is desputing the fact that we shouldn't incurr these charges, as *most* of the time it is *mainly* the fault of the account holder, but that is not relevent.
I'm now locking this thread because I think you're trolling.
EDIT: THREAD UNLOCKED.
If you found this post useful, please click on the "scales" icon in the bottom left of my post and say so!
[B][FONT=Trebuchet MS][SIZE=3]The opinions of this post are those of monkey_uk and do not constitute sound legal advice. I am not a lawyer.
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Halifax Unlawful Bank Charges: S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) Sent 28/02/07 - CC Statement's rcv'd 18/04/07 Bank a/c statements rcv'd 19/04/07
I am not speaking as a bank worker or on behalf of any bank - I am speaking as me and my opinion... and I want the £35 back that I paid a plumber last month, he can keep the odd 64p for the washer
Ok, let us know how you go on, but please start a thread in the correct forum for this claim
Ok, you're being sarcastic, and to a degree, I can see where you're coming from. This doesn't mean I agree with everything you've said!!!!
If you found this post useful, please click on the "scales" icon in the bottom left of my post and say so!
[B][FONT=Trebuchet MS][SIZE=3]The opinions of this post are those of monkey_uk and do not constitute sound legal advice. I am not a lawyer.
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Halifax Unlawful Bank Charges: S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) Sent 28/02/07 - CC Statement's rcv'd 18/04/07 Bank a/c statements rcv'd 19/04/07
It kinda concerns me that if charges are deemed illegal where do we draw the line, are speeding ticket, parking fines, the cost if a loaf of bread illegal - after all they are all dispraportionate to the cost
The law dictates that a penalty fee has to be proportionate to the cost, to [in this case] the bank of the breach of contract.
I would say that £2.00 is about reasonable. Well, £2.00 is probably pushing it a bit, but I wouldn't complain if it was £2.00.
My estimate of costs, IF your bank sends you a letter to inform you of the charge (mine don't, it comes with my statement, which I'd get regardless of a charge being incurred due to me going overdrawn etc) is about 20p ish.
What you have to remember is that these people are sending out 100's of 1000's of letters, and so don't have to pay the same postage price as consumers. They get discounts based on a number of factors, a few of which include:
The quantity of mail
The sortation (i.e if they do some of the sorting, it costs them less in postage)
Whether they barcode the letters or not (barcoding makes it cheaper for Royal Mail to handle).
If you found this post useful, please click on the "scales" icon in the bottom left of my post and say so!
[B][FONT=Trebuchet MS][SIZE=3]The opinions of this post are those of monkey_uk and do not constitute sound legal advice. I am not a lawyer.
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Halifax Unlawful Bank Charges: S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) Sent 28/02/07 - CC Statement's rcv'd 18/04/07 Bank a/c statements rcv'd 19/04/07
Well none of the banks have been able to prove manual intervention...
How much CAN it cost for them to bounce a DD or Cheque?
If you were honest you would be able to say infact the cost is near to nothing.
Recently one of the Banks admitted that the costs for this were to cover the debt overall for the bank.
So if someone owes the bank alot of money I have to pay a proportion to the bank through my charges, to cover their costs to recover this from someone else!
Obviously its not gonna cost 30 - 35 to bounce a dd, but it is what customers sign up to, i should think if people maintained their own payments e.g get ur gas bill then got o the post office to pay it... if u add up ur man hours it would probably work out that a bank account is good value for money and if u make sure u have money to cover payments then its free
I got a parking ticket and it really hacked me off but I took it on the chin I knew I shouldn't have parked there so my fault, I paid it and wont park there again
2 minds
" and when u look at their account they shop in harrods, use gambling shops, go out every weekend ( all of these I cant afford so I JUST DONT DO IT) and as a result they get charges... why should they get them back when they signed for the account and charges when they applied for the account?
Re: 2 minds
Originally Posted by 2 minds
