Hiya bfb, Basically, I think the banks are only concerned about reputations as portrayed in the papers. Since when has a bank practiced AND preached fiscal prudence simultaneously? I'm about to go slightly off at a tangent here with my thoughts, but will get back to the point in hand in a mo - As I've mentioned I am looking at my charges from when i was a student about 10 years ago. Certainly, BoS gave both myself and most other students I knew tacit approval to run up frightening overdrafts. An overdraft of £1500 was effectively granted without question and was implemented in £500 increments. I remember asking for a limit of £500 and being told that I might as well have the £1500 now to save me coming back later in the year! £1500 was the maximum you could have without consultation. That's a lot of money for a non-earner. Many more run up far heavier debt with the full approval of the bank. The student market is very competitive - you'll see this when the banks offer railcards, "free £25 in your account" and more recently, iPods etc to 18 year old kids who have never controlled their own finances before except in the most facile way. The flip side for said 18 year olds is on page 4 of a terms and conditions sheet which, rightly or wrongly, might never be consulted or highlighted, but the bank knows that all they have to do is penalty charge the person once or twice and that's the introductory gift cost recouped! And as for the charges....well, I think of them in the same way as banks withdrawing from "undesirable" areas and sticking in cashpoints in shops which charge you to get at your money. The people who can afford it least are the ones they'll do what they can to shaft without compunction - indeed they depend on it to an extent. It's cynical and morally wrong but some think that it's the fault of the person at the receiving end for not exercising "reasonable diligence" to get to the bottom of what these charges are comprised of. I had never considered claiming back / launching a claim against until a friend told me about this site a couple of months ago after I had said that my wife had been charged £30 for going a pound or two over her agreed limit for a day. I've found all my old statements and the original query was "is this within a statute of limitations?" 10 years might be pushing it, yes, but I'd feel so bl00dy justified in doing it!!!! Anyway, rant over. We'll sort out the wifes claim which chould be a certainty before trying my one out . Incidentally if anyone has had success outwith the 5 / 6 year period, please post to let me know!

Hiya bfb, Basically, I think the banks are only concerned about reputations as portrayed in the papers. Since when has a bank practiced AND preached fiscal prudence simultaneously? I'm about to go slightly off at a tangent here with my thoughts, but will get back to the point in hand in a mo - As I've mentioned I am looking at my charges from when i was a student about 10 years ago. Certainly, BoS gave both myself and most other students I knew tacit approval to run up frightening overdrafts. An overdraft of £1500 was effectively granted without question and was implemented in £500 increments. I remember asking for a limit of £500 and being told that I might as well have the £1500 now to save me coming back later in the year! £1500 was the maximum you could have without consultation. That's a lot of money for a non-earner. Many more run up far heavier debt with the full approval of the bank. The student market is very competitive - you'll see this when the banks offer railcards, "free £25 in your account" and more recently, iPods etc to 18 year old kids who have never controlled their own finances before except in the most facile way. The flip side for said 18 year olds is on page 4 of a terms and conditions sheet which, rightly or wrongly, might never be consulted or highlighted, but the bank knows that all they have to do is penalty charge the person once or twice and that's the introductory gift cost recouped! And as for the charges....well, I think of them in the same way as banks withdrawing from "undesirable" areas and sticking in cashpoints in shops which charge you to get at your money. The people who can afford it least are the ones they'll do what they can to shaft without compunction - indeed they depend on it to an extent. It's cynical and morally wrong but some think that it's the fault of the person at the receiving end for not exercising "reasonable diligence" to get to the bottom of what these charges are comprised of. I had never considered claiming back / launching a claim against until a friend told me about this site a couple of months ago after I had said that my wife had been charged £30 for going a pound or two over her agreed limit for a day. I've found all my old statements and the original query was "is this within a statute of limitations?" 10 years might be pushing it, yes, but I'd feel so bl00dy justified in doing it!!!! Anyway, rant over. We'll sort out the wifes claim which chould be a certainty before trying my one out . Incidentally if anyone has had success outwith the 5 / 6 year period, please post to let me know!

Well, I'll probably give it a whirl Robert, nothing ventured etc etc. The wife will *definitely* have charges to claim though, so if we don't get mine, there should be no issues with hers as they are all fairly recent - within the last five years anyway.

Well, I'll probably give it a whirl Robert, nothing ventured etc etc. The wife will *definitely* have charges to claim though, so if we don't get mine, there should be no issues with hers as they are all fairly recent - within the last five years anyway.

So, in summary, even though there is a 20 - year limit on claims in certain circumstances, because I have paid the penalty charge and was aware of this fact, I would have had to have lodged a claim very soon afterwards to try to recover the penalty charge? I'm specifically thinking about when I was a student in the dim and distant mid - nineties and going overdrawn by £10 or so from time to time wasn't unknown. The penalty charges sometimes (unfortunately) incurred would make it just that wee bit harder to get back on to an even keel and it becomes an ever decreasing circle. To cut a long story short, I have found the boxes in which all my BoS statements are kept and there's probably a few hundred pounds in there that I would feel justified in lodging a claim, more through anger than anything else . However, if the time limit is five years back from the date of claim then I can't do anything about it? Incidentally i don't bank with BoS any more as they managed to make a mess of tax on savings interest for me, resulting in 3 years of tax claims, where I had to pay inland revenue the princely sum of about £8 one year, £12 the next, and I got back a cheque for some pence on the third year!

So, in summary, even though there is a 20 - year limit on claims in certain circumstances, because I have paid the penalty charge and was aware of this fact, I would have had to have lodged a claim very soon afterwards to try to recover the penalty charge? I'm specifically thinking about when I was a student in the dim and distant mid - nineties and going overdrawn by £10 or so from time to time wasn't unknown. The penalty charges sometimes (unfortunately) incurred would make it just that wee bit harder to get back on to an even keel and it becomes an ever decreasing circle. To cut a long story short, I have found the boxes in which all my BoS statements are kept and there's probably a few hundred pounds in there that I would feel justified in lodging a claim, more through anger than anything else . However, if the time limit is five years back from the date of claim then I can't do anything about it? Incidentally i don't bank with BoS any more as they managed to make a mess of tax on savings interest for me, resulting in 3 years of tax claims, where I had to pay inland revenue the princely sum of about £8 one year, £12 the next, and I got back a cheque for some pence on the third year!