My thoughts exactly, tiaposy. if anyone knows please let us know. Although, surely, if bank charges of the same magnitude are deemed unlawful and unjust then so must penalties and charges from all lenders be similarly regarded?

About sixteen months ago I bought a used car on finance from a local dealer. The finance was arranged through Black Horse at a rate, due to my less than sparkling credit rating, that still induces nausea when I think about it. I desperately needed a car at the time so I had to go for it. A couple of months after that and the Law of Sod kicked in and I was made redundant from my job. I immediately informed Black Horse and we agreed an alternate repayment plan accompanied by the usual cautions and threats of blood-letting. It was a pretty worrying time for me so I was prepared, in a childish 'if i cant see it it doesnt exist' kind of way, to overlook, or rather ignore, the extortionate charges and penalties they were charging me. As well as the high interest each month (this was compounded, i think!), I was also charged £35 each month as a penalty. Naturally they defaulted me as well, which I thought was unnecessary considering I had contacted them as soon as my circumstances changed. Fast forward a few months and I am back in work and normal repayments are resumed. However, I asked them to change the repayment date to fit in with my new salary date. A month later I received a letter telling me that the altered repayment date had cost me £58! Of course they did not mention this when it was being arranged. I asked them to send me a list of all the charges plus a statement detailing my repayments and the balance due. I have not received one even though I have asked several times. In fact I have not received any kind of statement at all. Is this normal practice? If anyone has any thoughts on the above I would be very happy to hear them. Are these charges reasonable? Are they lawful? Thanks for taking the time to read this post and many thanks in advance for any comments, thoughts, advice you post in response to it. James

hi all! just found this site and its like coming across an oasis in the desert! ive been frustrated for years by charges made by banks and other financial institutions. always felt instinctively that they were unjust. i have a few questions to post that i am hopeful you guys will be able to help me with. but ill leave that for a little later. right now i want to relate a little story concerning abbey (my bank). i recently missed a very small standing order because i misjudged the clearing of a cheque by one day. The bank promptly charged me £35 and withdrew it from my account. i thought this was excessive and i wrote and told them so. about two weeks later the full £35 was returned to my account! the very next day i received a letter informing me that they '...were very sorry i felt the need to complain...' etc., etc., etc., but '..after considering all the evidence...' and so on, they basically rejected my complaint and said the charge would stand! which i thought was hilarious, for about one second. then i began to think about how an institution of this size, handling billions of our pounds, could be so incompetent. worrying isnt it...