Well, I've got all my statements, I've added up the totals, and I'm ready to make my claim. However, I'm not sure how much it should be!

I've got x amount of card misuse fees that I can claim. They seem pretty straightforward (though when you start adding them up, it's astonishing how much they come to!) However, I've got about the same amount in £10 `CHG to ddmmm A/C ********' (where ddmmm is the date and asterisks are the account number). These crop up very regularly from the opening of the account, then mysteriously stop (though they stop at about the time when I left university, became more solvent, and stopped going over my limit so often!). There doesn't seem to be any particular pattern to the dates on which they occur, or the balance on the dates which they are applied.

There's also one, but only one, `CHG to ddmmm A/C ********' for £32.55. The rest are all £10. There's not really enough information in that format to tell me what kind of penalty was being applied here though. Does anyone know if it's claimable? The kicker is, without these additional £10 charges, the total is going to be below any kind of level at which the bank would kick up a fuss, but with them it's going to be over the sort of amount where they'll start doing their own sums, so I want to get it right.

If in doubt, I guess I'll claim and let them sort it out.

You need to find out if they are fees for the account you had in which case you couldnt claim them back, if they are for when you went O/D etc then you can claim them, a simple call to the bank will clarify this.

It was a student overdraft, so I guess they could be charges for the account, but then I'd expect them to be more consistent in terms of dates etc. ... I'll try ringing them. I mean, you're right - they ought to know! Cheers.

Yes as you say if they were fees you would expect some sort of pattern with the dates but there is only one way to confirm it.

Hi Pipski,

I spent ages trying to work this out, I too had a student royalties account. I've put them in because when I looked into it they were only applied on the months where I had gone over my overdraft. I looked on the Royal Bank of Scotland website and the charge for unauthorised borrowing on a student royalties account is £10. Also I do know that on the Student royalties account they can only charge you £10 max in a month no matter how many times or days you are overdrawn. The charges look regular because they are taken out at the same time each month but they cant be legitimate account fees unless they are applied every single month, and you're saying yours weren't applied every month so I'd imagine they're charges. As far as I know there aren't any monthly fees on the student account anyway. So it makes sense that they are charges for unauthorised borrowing which you can definitely claim for.

Kat

As thought then Pipski claim them, great help there KittyKat83, thats what makes the site work.

Hi Pipski,

 

Words of wisdom!

 

Kat

Oh, you solid-gold superstar, thanks very much!

As far as I know there aren't any monthly fees on the student account anyway.

Isn't there such thing as a Student Royalties account that carries a monthly charge? I did read on another thread just now someone referring to a monthly charge on the SR account. They could have been misinformed tho?

Do agree with you though, as they're infrequent the certainly aren't an account fee. Just curious...

Hi,

I have a student royalties account. I don't pay any montly charges, but I am charged £10, plus a small amount of interest, each time I go over the free student overdraft limit.

The £10/interest charge is deducted the following month, and I usually get a letter entitled CHG to A/C, with my statements to inform me of the charges.

I recently claimed all these £10 charges back.

I've never paid any monthly charges on my student or graduate royalties accounts. I had a look on the Rbos Personal finance section of the website and they only appear to charge £6 for a Royalties, £12 for a Royalties Gold and £15 for a Royalties Premier. In the info about the Student Royalties there's no mention of charges.

Perhaps the person you're referring to T4FF had the £10 unauthorsied borrowing charge so regularly that they thought it was an account fee because that's what I thought at first! Rbos call their unauthorised overdraft charge a Maintenance charge when they write to you which is very misleading. Also, in all other accounts the "Maintenance" charge for going over your overdraft is £28 but it's only £10 on the student royalties and R21 accounts, which is maybe why it could get confused with a monthly service charge?

Perhaps the person you're referring to T4FF had the £10 unauthorsied borrowing charge so regularly that they thought it was an account fee because that's what I thought at first!

Highly likely this is what has happened!!

Cheers for the info kitty.