Hi all,

Since April of this year I've been charged a total of just over £1,300 on my two RBoS current accounts. I've been reading on this site and a couple of others (possibly affiliated) about claiming these unfair charges back so I went to see my branch on Monday last week and explained that I felt the charges were unfair under the OFT regulations brought in in April this year.

I got a letter on Wednesday which said that they're not prepared to refund any of the charges, I quote:

We believe that our charges are fair, reasonable and transparent. We consider that the amounts debited to your Account have be applied strictly in accordance with your agreement with us and our published tariff, which we are satisfied, complies with all applicable laws and regulations. We are also committed to ensuring the transparency of the information that we give to our customers about the operation of our products.

 

We have considered and responded to the Office of Fair Trading's statement of 5 April 2006. We do not accept the Office of Fair Trading's findings in relation to Credit Card fees. We are concerned that the Office of Fair Trading has publicly called into question the setting of charges applied to other products, including Current Accounts. The Office of Fair Trading has restricted its investigation to Credit Cards and made no attempt to consult with The Royal Bank of Scotland or the industry in relation to other, entirely different products.

 

Consequently, against that background, we must differ with the views expressed in your letter and will not be refunding any of the charges applied to your Bank Account.

 

Again, thank you for taking to time and trouble to write.

Note that the grammar and punctuation mistakes in there appear exactly as they do in the letter! Something is a bit fishy about this. For a start, I didn't write to them, I went to see them in person. This makes the above look to me like a standard letter intended to put off the "have-a-go-Joes".

The other thing is that basically I wanted to ask here, is what they say about these regulations being solely for credit card terms true? If it is then I guess I have no case but I did want to clarify whether or not this is just intended to put me off pursuing this. In short, do I proceed according to the step-by-step guide, and if so, given that I've been to see them and raised a concern already, at what point on the guide do I start?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Niall

Standard letter. A list of charges will be coming on this site with amounts shortly as I have asked someone with a bit better knowledge than myself to do so. Also any charge is unlawful if it does not reflect the true cost involved. Start at the FAQ's then at the successes bit and all the info will make you a lot clued up and Good Luck

Thanks for your reply, very helpful!

I've had a look at the FAQs and at this point I have one further question. I read that by way of retaliation, the bank can close my accounts which may detrimentally affect my credit rating. I don't particularly want to keep my business with the RBoS and will seek to move my accounts to another bank regardless of any action involving refunding charges. In view of that, would I be as well to move my accounts elsewhere (i.e. find a bank that will move my overdrafts to my new accounts with them) before proceeding with a claim against the RBoS, with the aim of eliminating the risk of a damaged credit rating? If I do this, will that have any further consequences relating to my claim against the RBoS?

Thanks again and thanks in advance,

Niall