Just spoke to a banker

[MondeoST24]

Just had our business bank manager (barclays) here for a meeting, coming up to year end they do a review every 12 months.

 

I dont mind the guy to be honest, he's good humoured and we do get away with quite a bit on the account. Meeting mainly consisted of this is going up, thats going up blah blah blah.

 

Anyway towards the end I got on about charges, I said right our turn now, I want all these charges refunding. He said "bloody hell not you an all"

 

He agreed to refund them no problem, I asked him what he made of the recent publicity.

 

He said, well we've been told from above that the charges are perfectly legal, I said well why will they (the banks) not go to court with it.

 

He said, well it would cost us thousands in solicitors and pissing about so they've just decided that we cant be arsed fighting them. I said oh really, he just smiled and said draw your own conclusions.

 

He also said, to be honest we'd rather not have the income from charges and people run the accounts properly, I said it must come in handy though that 4 billion. He just laughed again and said see you next year.

[Spiceskull]

He sounds like a good guy - would he be prepared to stand up in court with those views, and present some of the corroborating facts and evidence?

[Che]

I would love to know where these Billions go to??

 

Its a question that has puzzled me for the last wee while, its certainly not on wages for staff as I saw an advert in the local paper for the Halifax and the salary bracket was between £10,000 - £13,000

[rivendale0506]

He sounds like a good guy - would he be prepared to stand up in court with those views, and present some of the corroborating facts and evidence?

 

Spiceskull - Would you??!! The guy might not agree with what the banks are doing but he probably still needs a job.......

[Spiceskull]

Of course he does - but he sounds like a decent person, and some people (even bank staff) have a higher moral stand...someone, somewhere WILL be prepared to do this...we just have to look hard enough to find that person...

[richardc]

I would love to know where these Billions go to??

 

Its a question that has puzzled me for the last wee while, its certainly not on wages for staff as I saw an advert in the local paper for the Halifax and the salary bracket was between £10,000 - £13,000

 

Bonuses and shareholders.

[seylectric]

He said, well we've been told from above that the charges are perfectly legal, I said well why will they (the banks) not go to court with it.

 

He said, well it would cost us thousands in solicitors and pissing about so they've just decided that we cant be arsed fighting them.

 

 

This is very true for smaller amounts. The big danger for the banks of course is that if they lost, it might set a precident. However, for amounts of, say, under £1000 it would cost thenm a fortune in legal fees and it is cheaper to simply settle up. Good business, if you like, as they would be unlikely to recover more than a couple of hundred quid's worth of costs in the small claims court.

 

Add to that the loss of business from the consequetial bad publicity....

 

 

I know from experience that small debts of say £500 or less rarely end up with a CCJ, because it simply costs the creditors more than it is worth to pursue it. I think the same applies in the case of banks refunding us, seemingly (from what I have read on this site), without putting up too much of a fight.

[cheddar]

This is very true for smaller amounts. The big danger for the banks of course is that if they lost, it might set a precident. However, for amounts of, say, under £1000 it would cost thenm a fortune in legal fees and it is cheaper to simply settle up. Good business, if you like, as they would be unlikely to recover more than a couple of hundred quid's worth of costs in the small claims court.

 

Add to that the loss of business from the consequetial bad publicity....

 

 

I know from experience that small debts of say £500 or less rarely end up with a CCJ, because it simply costs the creditors more than it is worth to pursue it. I think the same applies in the case of banks refunding us, seemingly (from what I have read on this site), without putting up too much of a fight.

 

I thought that the case would have to be held in the High Court or something before a precident, banks have taken it as far as court already and lost...

 

As for CCJ's I know many people (including myself) that have had got CCJ's for less than £500 so I'm not sure where you're coming from with that one!

[seylectric]

I don't mean a legal precident as such, but a precident in the way that if they lost a few cases in the small claims court and this was highly publiceised (as it would be), it might open the floodgates.

 

Re. CCJ's, it's my experience that most firms just don't bother fighting smaller amounts in court especially if you threaten them with a possible counterclaim. This is of course just my own experience, but I suspect many of those who have received CCJs for small amounts didn't fight back too hard before it got to court, though I admit I'm guessing here.

[MondeoST24]

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