Hi there,

Im fed up of being overcharged, sometimes its by £2 and a £58 charge is appiled a one off £28 for the month plus £30 for paying my direct debit. Does the fact they paid the DD and then applied a charge make any difference???

Also how do you calculate your interest owed?

I'm going into my bank tomorrow to get the address to send the claim/letter into and see if anything can be done at branch level, they have charged me close to £600 this year!

Cheers

Morning all,

I am about to start the ball rolling against this bank and thought I would start a thread, I always keep all my bank statments and have them going back many years so hopefully there will be minimal time lost chasing the bank in the early stages. I moved to the RBOS after getting into financial difficulty from an unsucessful business attempt in my early twenties the Natwest charged me all the time and I grew fed up so I moved to the RBOS and then discovered their charges are hideous £28 if you go overdrawn and then £30 for each direct debit they pay which takes you overdrawn .

Imagine £58 for going a few quid overdrawn for a day. They actually took £118 for three months running. How on earth are you supposed to get yourself straight when they continually do this to you?? They offer no help whatsoever, their so called customer service staff might as well be renamed as sales advisors!

Anyway I'm missing one statement and when I phoned up to ask for they wanted £5 I told the advisor that I hadn't received it and she sounded get annoyed and said something like "right i'll send it out then" in a rather annoyed manner!? So as soon as it arrives (approx 1 week) I can send out a letter. I will be claming over £600 from the last year and including the contractual interest rate at whatever they charge for unarranged borrowing (will need to check) anybody want to walk me through the process at each step with any useful tips then please feel free to do so.......watch this space!

Got my one missing statement £88 charges on there, so I've now sent off my prelim letter and I've gone for the contractual rate of interest at their unarranged borrowing rate of 29.84% and why not thats what they charge if you borrow their money without prior written consent (although funny how they always let you go into the naughty zone!)

Decided to send the letter recorded so they know I mean business copy of the letter I sent is below FYI

Request for repayment of excessive charges

Dear Sir/Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXX

After receiving absolutely shocking customer services in response to my repeated requests for some help in refunding the hugely excessive charges you have levied against my account you have left me no choice but to research excessive banking charges to which I am now aware are unlawful in relation to common law.

I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges against my account over the last 12 months.

After a lot of research and advice I now understand that the excessive fees applied to my account in relation to paying direct debits that took me overdrawn and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. If you wish to dispute that they are not, then please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to in relation to the fees applied so I can be reassured that your fees reflect your costs.

The bank may only cover its costs when charging their customers for any breaches of the contract/agreement, anything over and above this is deemed a penalty and therefore unlawful.

Additionally, it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered unfair by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.

When signing the agreement to open an account with yourselves you agreed to act lawfully in such away to comply with current UK law.

After repeatedly charging these huge amounts of money you deceived me into believing the charges were fair and have taken them out of my account, money which I have worked very hard for and which has left me unable to do many things I would of liked over the past 12 months including afford to pay Direct Debits the following month.

Through a simple calculation to which I have enclosed documentation I am requesting that you repay me in full the amount of £XXX.XX I will not claim any interest on the amounts that took me overdrawn and endured interest. I will however be claiming from you interest on the amounts you have taken from me at your unarranged borrowing rate of 29.8% this is fair and reciprocates your charges.

I am hoping you will respond with the level of customer service and sincerity that to date I have not received from RBOS. I do not wish to have your standard letter and leaflets.

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I will also consider contacting the local press office and invite them to cover my case and offer their support and coverage.

After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim in the small claim court at the expiry of the second deadline.

Yours Faithfully

Well said! I didn't bother adding any interest to the initial claim, only interest accrued through overdraft interest (which I have only just realised can only be claimed if it was the charge that took me overdrawn, oh well, can always change it to interest on unarranged borrowing!!!

Whadya think?

Just resend the LBA with the revised amount others have done similar if you read around.

Opened my mail and low and behold a response already basically telling me to go jump from my local branch it would seem. Ah well looks like I better get a move on to the next stage........

Funny that, what makes them think that will stop us!!!!

Do you think I should also charge 29.8% instead?

Alison

If you are with RBOS then why not if you borrow there money without permission thats what they sting you with, what's good for the goose........

I got hold on one of their charges leaflets and they charge 16% of whatever you go overdrawn by, so have added 16% on every charge they took that took me overdrawn! Ha ha!

Have also said I want it to go to court as I can then claim another £440!

Ball is in their court!

Alison

LBA sent today recorded delivery so 14 days and counting people, 16% is an arranged borrowing interest rate, I don't have an overdradft so when I go overdrawn it is the highest rate they charge, regardless I could charge whatever I want, what about the compensation for loosing out on all the things I could have done with the money or the stress or the time wasted trying to get refunds??

Hi guys,

I'm curious about this interest issue. I take it you are claiming 16% interest at the preliminarly approach / letter stage?

Is this the standard rate that we can add at this stage. I was under the impression that we couldn't claim interest until a claim was submitted thru MCOL etc.

If this is the case, and we can claim at the prelim stage, I'll be adding it too!

You can charge 8% at once you submit it to legal stage, but I have charged them 16% as that is what they charge us for going overdrawn, so I am really only claiming money back they have took from me due to charges.

I have their charges leaflet and RBOS charge 16%.

Watch this space.

It is up to you whether you charge interest, or just use it as a threat if they don't pay out in 'x' days, you will add interest on which they have taken from you, you can then add 8% if it goes to court stage.

Hope this helps

Alison

I sent off the letter before action as detailed and recieved a response within the 14 days time frame offering a partial refund. I sent a reply stating I agree to accept their offer of a partial refund, however I will continue chasing the additional money through the courts and urged them to reconsider their position. My letter to them is shown below.

Thank you for your response to my recent letter. Whilst I am prepared to accept the gesture of goodwill as you put it, I accept it only as a partial settlement and I will seek the remainder of the settlement in the courts. I do sincerely hope that you will reconsider your stance on this matter to save both our times and further costs levied by myself and the courts. Please forward the full amount of £647.42 to my current account within 5 days. As the 14 day deadline has passed the next stage will be to serve papers on the court and a letter sent to the Consumer Credit Act 1974 as outlined below.

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

I am incredibly annoyed, greatly inconvenienced and out of pocket as you have operated my account in this way.

I calculate that you have taken £XXX.XX plus interest on this amount. I am not reclaiming the interest you have charged me however I will be charging interest at your own unarranged borrowing rate of 29.84%. Total £XX.XX.

I am enclosing a copy of the schedule of the charges which I am claiming. I have already sent you a copy of this in my original letter of the 18th October 2006.

I require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus all interest plus any costs since 18th October 2006 and without further notice.

Furthermore, I shall consider submitting a Consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT upon the basis that you have failed to comply with the OFT's direction of 5 April 2006 and are therefore not a 'fit and proper person' to hold a consumer credit licence under the 1974 Act. If you do not understand what this means then seek advice from your legal department.

Should a claim be filed in the courts then I will also be adding my costs to date totaling £100 and any further excessive charges you have applied since the date of this dispute will be put forward in a further claim. Once this money is refunded I will be in a much better financial position and have control back of my bank account avoiding the likelihood of going overdrawn in future.

Yours faithfully,

I received a reply today confirming they would settle in full for the principal sum however they have ignored all the interest that I have charged them, anyone got any advice for whether to accept this and continue claiming the interest through the court or to take it and walk away, please help!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, its fantastic they are settling in full but does this mean by doing this they are escaping the contractual interest I would be charging through the court? Please help quick I would love to be able to resolve this one before xmas..

does no one take an interest like they used to anymore, Ive read all the other threads and they seem to have a wealth of responses, where are all the veterans??

I have been offered full and final settlement of my claim however they have ignored the interest I have sent a letter stating I will accept it as partial settlement and they have not responded for 23 days should I just sign their form and return it to them or start a MCOL Im worried the court will not appreciate me doing this if they have offered the full amount minus interest in settlement. Any advice urgently please!

I think that because you are claiming contractual interest from the outset and they are only offering a partial settlement you would be ok going to MCOL....

It would be different if you were looking for stat 8% and they offer full settlement before court, then you could be in trouble.

does no one take an interest like they used to anymore, Ive read all the other threads and they seem to have a wealth of responses, where are all the veterans??

I agree there is an absence of experienced members here....2 or 3 very helpful members still post here but I think several of the most experienced that were posting here as little as 3 or 4 months ago have won thier actions...draw your own conclusions from that.

I sent a letter stating partial settlment and heard nothing the interest totals 100 at the contractual rate. I have decided to sign their letter and accept the amount minus interest I need the cash...again the banks win one over on me, typical but Im keen to act now. All the media attention this is getting could increase the chances of something being put in place to stop millions of bankers claiming.

Does anyone know if I can then fill in a form stating I accepted their amount as partial settlment as per my letter sent to the last month?