Hi, I went through the stages of reclaiming some charges with Natwest last year but action has been stayed by the OFT case. Natwest simply wrote to say I would be updated of the outcome. I have not heard back since and was wondering how the land lies with the OFT case right now. Is there a date its expected to finish? Just trying to get an idea of how long it may take to progress with this, although I appreciate it is going to be a lengthly process and there will probably be no answers just yet. Thanks

I would suggest a visit to your local CAB also.

Hello, Update: My husband returned to work today and spoke to his employer regarding the late wage/bank charge. His answer was simply ''What do you expect me to do about it? It's out of my hands' I don't see how it can be out of his hands for god's sake- it was his mistake! I have a bank statement which I printed out last night and it clearly shows the charge. It also shows the date the wages were credited- 31st December, this is TEN days from the last pay. not the usual 7 and as I have said- by contract they are paid weekly in arrears. It has never been paid any later than every Friday in the whole 5 years he's worked there. There is no defence, the wages were late and this is obviously due to poor organisation on the Payroll guy's part. He left it too late for them to be in on time. My husband has spoken to his supervisor who is going to speak to the payroll guy/director about this and has promised to give feedback tomorrow. However, knowing the company the feedback will be pure and simple 'We're not reimbursing you & if you don't like it, leave'. We are thinking this guy will probably blame the BACS system and say it was down to that, not a mistake made on his part. He may also blame the owners of the company- either way he will admit no blame on his part. He's a horrible man. My plan is to wait until we recieve this so-called 'feedback' tomorrow and then put in a complaint in writing to them and the owners of the company advising them that unless we are reimbursed, legal proceedings will commence against them. So what I'd like to know from you experts here before I do this, is if there is any defence this idiot can use. Any legal reasons why they should not have to refund? Any loopholes? In my eyes it is clear as crystal that they are to blame and I believe in a court of law, they would be made reimburse us. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Many Thanks for your help.

Thanks very much for your help here. I will certainly let you know what happens. Many Thanks

Thanks for that. Yes he does have a contract. I was looking at it last night. The pay date has always been Friday, but they have craftily put in the contract 'Wages are paid weekly in arrears' giving no details of an exact day in writing. On checking the bank this morning, the wages have gone in today (Saturday) & it's the first time in 5 years the wages have ever been paid on a Saturday. Not sure where this puts us now. Ultimately, we are still out of pocket because of them though.

Hi, My husband has been with his employer for over 5 years. It is a small engineering type company owned by some Americans who basically threw the company together after their last went bust. For the first few years they were reliable enough but over the last couple of years they have started to slack. Communication is poor, wages are paid different days of the week without notice when it used to be the same day for years running. There are 2 directors, one of them takes charge of payroll/wages. My husband broke up from work for Christmas on 21st December. Because he is paid weekly in arrears, they usually pay 2 lots of wages together on the last working week before christmas to account for the non-business days over christmas. However, this year they decided to pay only 1 wage the week he left. We were due another wage by yesterday (Friday 28th December) as Friday is his contracted pay day. However, the wages were not paid yesterday and as a result, a direct debit bounced, getting us an immediate £38.00 bank charge from Natwest and things have messed up from there, we are now in a pickle. Basically, everything was accounted for down to the last penny and because of the charge, we will be short- the direct debit that bounced has gone unpaid and we now cannot pay it because we are left short by this charge. We have a rental payment due first thing in January so everything was pretty 'tight'. My husband tried calling his employer and left a message on his phone and also sent texts to say that he had not recieved his wages, the payroll guy has not replied though. He is known for having a 'couldn't give a monkey's' attitude. I am wondering what our rights are here. In my eyes, the Employer has breached their working contract and if they hadn't, the payment would have been met at the bank and none of this would be happening, we would not be short. Therefore, I believe he is liable for this charge and should be made reimburse us. The workplace is not a happy environment to be in because the Company are having problems so they are basically taking it out on the employees and there is a very bad atmosphere. They didn't pay a christmas bonus this year after having done so every year my husband has worked there, I think this says a lot about the 'bad atmos'. My husband intends to produce our statement showing the bank charge and unpaid direct debit & request that they reimburse us for their mistake. I have a feeling they are going to be un-cooperative and respond with their usual 'If you don't like it, leave' mentality. What can we do here? Thanks in advance

Hi people, I am currently trying to recover £418.00 of charges from Natwest- all of which have been taken between May and October 2007. I previously recovered £280.00 from Natwest in May this year- all I did was sent letter 1 and the money was refunded 2 weeks later by customer relations. However, this is my second time. I sent letter 1 nearly 2 weeks ago (2 weeks next Monday) and since then I have recieved a standard photocopied letter informing me that Natwest will not investigate my 'complaint' until the test case is over. They have said that the standard time limits will no longer apply because they have asked the FOS and the courts to put a hold on all cases while they await the result and they have no idea when this will be. So basically in other words- 'You've got no chance'. I don't know how the land lies in relation to my rights as the whole 'test case' thing is new to me. I have no idea how to proceed with this. Now that the time limits no longer apply and the courts are supposedly putting a hold on bank charges claims, is there any point? Can somebody in 'the know' advise me please? Thanks in advance

Thanks for your reply, ah-ha, so this is the case! I suppose I'll have to see what happens & just wait it out. Has anybody here started the reclaim process with Natwest recently, or within the last few months? If so, what response (if any) did you recieve? Would be interesting to know. Thanks:)

Hi, I had an account with Halifax and reclaimed over 2k worth of charges from them in October 2006. I now have an account with NatWest which I opened last October as a parachute account and I ended up closing my halifax account as they were continuing to charge me after my settlement. I tried to once again reclaim the few charges that Halifax had taken from me (about £78.00) but they refused to pay up, claiming that because I'd already had a settlement, I would not get any more charges refunded. I then requested that they close the account which they did. From December to February, my new bank Natwest had charged me £280.00. I did the whole 'letter 1' thing with them and they paid up immediately. However, since March 2007 I have discovered that I have paid a further £418.00 in charges. I therefore sent 'Letter 1' by rec delivery to them yesterday and am now awaiting their response. BUT....... A lot of people have told me that the banks are no longer paying out. Apparently they have found a loophole so it's a waste of time. Is this right? One of my friends said they went into their bank to get the 6 years worth of statements and the cashier had told him the very same as above and refused to give him his statements. Can somebody give me the real deal? What do you think the chances are of success?

Abbey don't give you the questionaire- the court will write to let you know abbey's defence and enclose the questionaire, you should get it shortly.

Sorry- It also says have you enclosed the appropriate fee? I have already paid the £50 fee for using moneyclaim, do I have to pay any further fees now? As I say, I'm claiming £457.00, what will the fee for this be? I can't believe Abbey are stringing this out like this- it's costing us time, patience and more damn money grrrrr! All for £457!

Also I am unsure of what to put in these sections of the questionaire: E-Experts 'Do you want permission to use an expert's report at the hearing? If yes, what will the expert's evidence deal with? Have you already obtained an expert's report? If yes, have you given a copy of that report to the other party? In addition to using an expert's report, do you want your expert to attend the hearing and give evidence? If yes, give the reasons why you think their attendance is necessary? The court may order the appointment of a single expert who can be instructed by both parties. If you think this would not be appropriate, please say why. G- Other information

Hi, I am doing my mum's bank charges for her. She banks with Abbey and is owed a measly £457.00. Abbey put a written defence in against the court claim and the court have written enclosing a questionaire informing us that it's being transferred to the local small claims court. Abbey's defence is the usual photocopied trash about how their charges are 'fair' and part of their terms and conditions. They put £50 in mum's bank without her accepting the offer- just did it anyway and are now saying the £50 is fair and that they won't pay the rest full stop. I have the court questionaire in front of me but I can't make head or tail of what to do. I have 4 days to get it back to the court. Please help somebody? Thanks xx

Many thanks for this info. Do I basically copy this onto section G of the court questionaire? Never been this far yet. Cheers

Hi everyone, After my own success with the reclaim of my bank charges from Halifax, I am doing my parent's joint account for them and also my Brother In Law's. My parent's account is with Abbey national. It seems to have taken ages- on acknowledging the court claim they said they wished to defend the claim in full which I expected because mine said the same but paid days later. The thing is, they HAVE put a defence in- they left it till the day before their time for a written defence was up. I have read the defence and basically it's a lot of squit about how their charges are part of the terms and conditions of my parent's account and also that my parents have 2 accounts with them, but never said which one they wanted the charges back from- despite me putting account/sort code at the to of each and every corresspondance to them by ruddy recorded delivery! Surely the fools won't appear in court????????? So now my mum has been given a court questionaire to complete and return and it looks like court is going ahead. Is this known to be Abbey's procedure? It's only for a measly amount of £400 so why they're fooling about putting defences in, I don't know. Where do I go from here peeps? Any advice/info would be very much appreciated. Cheers