Hello, I wonder if anyone would be able to help me? I have a Graduate Royalties account with Royal Bank of Scotland. It has a £2000 overdraft facility, which I am deeply into. I have not been in credit for some time, having previously had a student account which upgraded to the graduate account.

This morning I discovered I was charged on friday £105 for 'card misuse', which was a combination of a cheque and a debit card transaction taking me over my limit. (Even though I put in more than enough money to cover them the following day) Having suffered these charges regularly over my account history I am fed up of putting up with them and would like to take some action. I would estimate I have paid a few thousand in charges over the years (which would easily pay off my overdraft!).

I am worried however, that as I am currently well into my overdraft and my credit history is not good, I will not be able to get another bank account. Is it worth trying to claim back these charges, or will the bank simply withdraw my overdraft and close my account, consquently leaving me with no bank account and no money?

Sorry its all a bit long winded! Any help would be gratefully received.

Thanks. Lucyec

no, dont worry about your account being closed.

Thats very unlikely to happen.

start off by getting your statements and adding up your charges .

no, dont worry about your account being closed.

Thats very unlikely to happen.

I'm not so sure about that :-| It would be a good idea to get a parachute account just in case. NatWest do a basic account and so do Intelligent Finance I believe.

start off by getting your statements and adding up your charges .

Yes, you will probably be shocked to find out just how much you are owed

Thank you for your replies, I'm just worried I won't be allowed another account with bad credit history....will banks take on an existing overdraft?

I've sent the letter today requesting a list of charges, though not threatened any action. Softly softly to start off with I guess :oS

Hello everyone... have spent everyday for the last week on here reading all the threads I can! Still waiting for my statements at the moment. I know the bank had my request letter over a week ago as I spoke to somone on the phone the day they got it. Do they usually wait the whole 40 days before sending them out? Seems like forever!! I've checked my online statements for the last 6 months and they've charged me £653.30 during that time alone. How do they think I'm ever going to pay off my overdraft if they're keeping me in debt all the time, grrrr . Just because they are holding my money, what gives them the right to dip into it as and when they please?

Also, it amazes me how they can justify the length of time they take to clear cheques as well, there is no where else in Europe that takes as long to clear a cheque, whilst here in Britain the banks hold on to our money for as long as possible in order to make themselves as much money as possible.

Sorry for ranting....I'm soooo p***ed off today, I really, really need my money back and can't see the light at the end of the tunnel at the moment . I know everyone is in the same boat here and am grateful for support and guidance.

Best of luck to everyone x

Call them and tell them you are shopping around for a mortgage, and need to have all financials together in order to compare the best rates, your financial history ect;

therefore could they kindly fax or email statements to you asap.

They seem to drag their heels if they think its for reclaiming charges.. tell em its for something else I am sure you will recieve them asap

Oh, thats a good idea, thank you! Although I'm sure they'd just laugh at me if they thought I was looking for a mortgage with my credit history...any other good excuses?!

Lucy,

just call your Branch again aksing for an update, nost of us got our statements after a few calls. It will take them about a week to produce 6 years worth of statements, don't panic and don't try and rush things you'll only make a mistake. If you have some statements, start looking back at them and filling in one of the spreadsheets in the Library. Have a look through the library and copy all of the relevant spreadsheets and letters, you can put some of your details in them as preparation. I also found it useful checking through other threads and cutting and pasting useful paragraphs into a blank word document for use at a later stage. Do as much preparation and reading now as it will pay off later. Time is on your side but the RBS and their solicitors will do everything to make you wait until your deadlines are up. I started with my DPA Request on 19 Apr and Cobbetts have just entered a defence following my MCOL claim. You could expect this to take 6 months, but the interest and claim is just counting up in your favour!

BC:D

Thank you for your sound advice BigCol....I needed that to calm me down, and doing all you suggest will give me something to keep me focussed. I'm not good at sitting and waiting (probably why I got myself in financial difficulties in the first place!) It just all makes me so angry... *deep breaths*...

I shall give the bank a quick call now to check whats happening - remembering to keep calm and polite , hehe.

Thank you and all the best

No dramas,

I was exactly the same at the start, it's all new and you just focus on the end-state. Unfortunately it takes time, but you are acting in good faith and with the law behind you (as well as everyone else having a damn good go at the banks).

Every time I get a letter or some communication or a deadline looms i still get butterflies, I check on a few threads that I've subscribed to and see that the Bank, just like us, is sticking to its own timetable and standard responses. You will get a letter stating that the Ts&Cs are lawful, that the OFT ruling does not apply and that you have no recourse, you will send you next letter off at the designated time and get a standard response, you will more than likely have to start an MCOL (assuming you are in England/Wales) and you will get a defence filed at the 11th Hour by Cobbetts (they are making a packet out of the RBS!!). All of this has been seen before and answered, most of the info is there already, cut and paste now and get prepared but don't get tempted to move things along any quicker, you will only have an adverse effect.

You will get your money back, and that is all that you should concentrate on!!

Oh, by the way, I haven't had a stable address/credit history due to my job and I managed to start an on-line account with A+L that gives you a free £250 overdraft on opening as long as £500 passes through the account in a month. IF your partner wants to try that, you could PM me and I could send you details so that 'we' can get an extra £25 out of A+L too!!

Keep smiling!

BC

x

Lots of planning involved then - all will keep me busy in the interim. I'm already addicted to this site and am reading everything I possibly can.

Yes, I live in England.

That sounds fab with the bank account. May see if my partner and I can both open an account there. I shall e-mail him and ask now. I know if I could get a new account and not have to keep using my overdraft I'd be able to pay it off gradually and maybe be in credit for the first time in goodness knows how long! Its just a vicious circle of debt causing more debt which I cant seem to get out of. Hopefully this will be a new start for us all

I will pm you about the bank account thing shortly.....sure I can see a distant light at the end of that very long, dark tunnel, yay!!

OK, latest news is, I finally have my statements through and the charges add up to £5498.50, which increases to £6084.45 with interest. And this is only since I opened the account in November 2002. Obviously I've been a bad girl throughout studenthood and unexpected single-parenthood to run up all these charges

So with the amount being so high, presumeably this is going to cost me more to claim back?

Also, no other banks will touch me with a barge pole for any other sort of account, so I'm not sure if I sould go ahead with trying to get my money back at all.

What does everyone think, is there any point? I've lost hope

Not been on here very long myself, but defo recomend read, read and read some more. Like one of the other replies said I copy and save into blank word docs any info/paragraphs/letters I think will be useful later on. I have also done spreadsheets for all the credit cards we have ready in waiting whilst we pursue some other cases. Just done first moneyclaim against hubbies capone card very nerve racking lol.

We wouldn't have got an account with an overdraft with anyone or a "full" normal account because of our credit rating, but we were lucky in that we managed to pay off what we owed in the last year (been difficult but glad now)so didn't need an overdraft. We opened a basic "step" account with natwest as you can do it all online. We get a debit card (solo) and can control the account online,still do directdebits etc, just can't have a chequebook/chequecard and no overdraft. RBOS have taken back our chequebooks and cards after my initial letter, but so far haven't closed our account.

Best of luck with your claim!

ali

Lucy,

try the Post Office too!! They may be able to give you an account with nothing but basic facilities. It's a start, but DO NOT GIVE UP HOPE ON THE CHARGES!! Yes going as far as MCOL will cost you but not masses, I'm sure you would be able to fund it somehow. You may be able to get help with paying the charges.

Keep going, just think what difference that money would make to you, and you get your court costs back too!

BC:p

Thanks both ^^ Obviously I need a kick up the backside to get started...I have an old savings account to fall back on if worst comes to the worst. OK, think I'll get the first letter copied and sorted out today and post it off recorded delivery... here goes nothing!! Fingers crossed

Hi lucyec

May have mentioned this in another thread but if your main claim is over £5000 you cant go to the small claims court

if the main claim is under £5k and interest and charges take it over then the court fees will be £250

If I were you I would do it in two chunks, possibly from start of account to 2005 and then 2005 to now

Dave

Hi Lucy,

I'm claiming over 5K if you have any questions, been given a bit of a ruff ride at mo though.

Have a nosey through my thread. Tomba90 vs RBS

Dave,

So does that mean my initial letter to the bank should be split as well, or can I ask for the full amount back and then split it at the next stage? (sorry if this has been answered elsewhere but I've not come accross it). What would happen if I tried to claim it all at once, would it cost me thousands to do?

Tomba,

Thanks for the offer, been following your thread with interest so hope it all turns out ok. Our claims are different though because yours is under the £5k before interest and mine is over £5 before interest.

Cheers all, look forward to hearing your suggestions. L

hi lucyec mines over 5k before 8% ive already sent prem letter so i'm going to split it before it goes to court just waiting to see what happens next. good luck with your claim though.

No ask the bank for it all (you never know )... but when it comes to claim try to keep your main claim below the £5k threshold.

HOWEVER as stated if the claim +fees + interest is above £5k then the court fees jump from £120 to £250

hope this helps

Dave

I see, thanks both. Right then, I will send my prelim letter today, start the ball rolling and take it from there. Just a waiting game now I guess.

Will post back when I have some news.

Thank you. L

Hello all. No news on my prelim as yet, but I have been doing lots of research and reading and my confidence is growing. I'm ready for a fight! Found details of a BCSB Bulletin in July which helps me greatly in my case from http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legalities/20118-default-hell-11.html (pg11). Anyway, thought I would post it here incase anyone else is interested.

Banking Code Standards Board Bulletin No. 21 27 July 2006

Default Charges on Current Accounts

This note requires consideration of specific action by current account providers, but it raises more general issues of fair treatment for customers that are likely to be of interest to all subscribers.

In April the OFT published its finding that the credit card default charges were being levied at a level that it regarded as unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 ( UTCCR). Since then there have been widespread reductions in credit card default charges.

This is not a statement of a BCSB position on the fairness or unfairness of any particular level of default charges under the UTCCR, which is a subject outside our brief under the Banking Code and one where the courts have ultimate jurisdiction. [see – there are no rules for the banks to hide behind, why don’t they just give up the fight?! Courts are ruling in our favour every time so surely this would imply that the charges are unfair]

…..Another general point is that the unauthorised overdrafts, or items being returned unpaid for lack of funds, are in some although not all cases an indicator that the customer is in financial difficulties. The Code and Guidance impose a clear requirement on subscribers to treat customers in financial difficulties sympathetically and positively, and a dispute over the level of default charges should not override this obligation. [surely it must be in all cases. If we were not in financial difficulties don’t they think that we would always have sufficient funds and wouldn’t need overdrafts and the like??! How often are we treated with sympathy? In my experience we are not treated as individuals and our individual circumstances taken into account – everything is automated and there’s nothing ‘they’ can do about it, whether we’re on the breadline or not ]

i. Account Closures

There has been media coverage recently of a small number of subscribers [to the Banking Standards Code]that are, or alleged to be, operating a policy of automatically closing the accounts of customers who have brought court actions against them for the recovery of default charges. The account closures are, to the best of our knowledge, being effected after due notice has been given under the requirements of Banking Code section 7.5 and after the subscriber has refunded charges, either in out of court settlement or having had a judgement against it.

We ask subscribers to consider very carefully the fairness of closing accounts in such circumstances, taking into account the individual circumstances of each case, to ensure that it is not a disproportionate response.

Without deliberately using threat of account closure to deter a customer from pursuing a complaint or exercising his or her legal rights, subscribers should make sure that the customers are clearly alerted at an early enough stage in any dispute, if account closure would or will be a consequence of starting court action, and if this is the case this should also be made clear. We note that the subscribers concerned have explained the account closures as a response to the evidence that the relationship between customer and bank has broken down, with the customer refusing to abide by the terms and conditions of the account. [Funny how it never bothered them before that customers weren’t abiding by the Ts & Cs, when they were making loads of £££s out of it!]

Customers who are in financial difficulties must be treated sympathetically and positively in accordance with the provisions of Banking Code section 14. Even if debts are written off alongside default charges that have been challenged in court, such customers may have severe difficulties in finding alternative banking arrangements; this should be an additional consideration when determining whether it is appropriate or fair to close the customer’s account, or even to notify the customer that this is a possible consequence of court action.

Concerns have been raised with us at the possibility of adverse Credit Reference Agency reports being filed on customers whose accounts have been closed as a result of court action to recover default charges. We have not seen evidence that this has occurred, and we rely on the attention given by both subscribers and the CRAs to conducting fair processing] under the Data Protection Act to ensure that customers are not unfairly harmed in this way. [hmmmm]

Incidently, I still haven't got a parachite account yet, still in progress with Nat West at the moment. Not holding out a great deal of hope :-|

Mods - can I change the title of my thread please? I'm not 'new' any more!!

Cor Lucy,

you have been busy!! Welcome back, you sound well up for it now!!

Bon oeuf!

BC:p

Hehe, Cheers BC....no need to welcome me back though, I am here day and night, just not saying much as I'm am non-stop reading;)!! Can't wait for the bank to get back to me about my prelim (if they bother). I've since had more charges added on and the total is currently £5584.50 before interest. I have all my evidence, letters, charges, helpful threads etc neatly filed on my pcs at home and at work (thanks for the advice BC).....I'm ready for you RBS, so bring it on!!

I am definitely well up for it now and looking into all the other banks/companies/CRAs that have been taking the p**s out of me for many years - time to get my life back

Thank you to everyone who has helped with my first faltering steps, I'm sure I will continue to need help and support and will endeavour to offer the same:)

In the words of PJ and Duncan 'Lets get ready to Rumble'! L

If you split the claim make sure you read the small print - you don't want to be signing that you won't claim again!