10pm this evening BBC2, Money Program on Unlawful Bank Charges

[Enron]

Just thought I should let people know who aren`t aware already.

[Tigs33]

Oh this is really good!!!! well done BBC!!!!! just love the bit with the barrister

[Sp00ky]

yep, very interesting. not heard the one about the banks refering back to the ombudsman LOL !

[Enron]

..

[Enron]

Expert opinion of a former Nat West executive and two financial professors that the level of fees should be:

 

- £2.50 for direct debit refusals

- £4.50 for bounced cheques

 

Could be something to put past the mods, and yes I did record it.

 

Needless to say the banks representatives were very evasive when it came to questions of the cost of their charges.

[photoman]

Rock And Rooooooooooooolllll !!!!!!!

[walterliscious]

Its a shame they didnt mention why the banks refuse to take it all the way to court.

Do you think they can worm out of it? Or will they do the right thing and pay everyone back !!I made it just one percent of their profits

[killsville]

Well, I watched and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Seeing some of these top banking people squirm under intense questioning made superb television, especially the lady from the British Banking Association. At one point, I thought she was going to cry!

 

If only this could have been shown more primetime on BBC1! Watch now for another sudden influx of claims!

 

Bring it on!

[killsville]

Its a shame they didnt mention why the banks refuse to take it all the way to court.

 

In a roundabout way, they did.

 

Obviously, if one case went to court and the Bank lost, that would set a precedent and that would open the floodgates for thousands of consumers to start claiming. (Which hopefully they will start claiming anyway!)

[chiggins18]

Tonight's programme was music to my ears, as I'm about to file my claim at court with 2 of the banks.

 

Just as a matter of interest has anyone tried writing to the financial ombudsman and had any success...

[photoman]

BBC NEWS | Business | Are penalty charges bank robbery?

 

CHECK IT OUT ONLINE !!

[~*Cash Crisis*~]

Fantastic, well done the beeb for showing it!

 

A more prime time slot on BBC 1 would've been better though!

[skyap]

hey sp00ky, I was intruiged by the bit about the ombudsman too. Am I right in saying that on the prog it said that the omnudsman was advising backs to refund all the charges. I haven't submitted any complaints while doing my claims - should I be doing this and would it speed things up a bit if I did?

 

Good program though. I'm sure it will prompt a few more to join in. I've been trying to get the rest of my family to do it for ages!

[natwesttookmymoney]

Hi, Skyap

Yes, you did hear the Ombudsman right. Read all about it here (Financial Ombudsman News).

Someone has been putting stiffening gel in his backbone - which I am delighted about. For too long, the FOS has been teh banks' poodle.

Westy

[Thailand]

Anything like this is great to see on TV, the more the merrier!. I can't wait for the day when one goes into greater detail though - its so frustrating. For example, the Abbey was easy offering 2/3 and the Halifax was a pain in the bum - thats not the reality of it!. No mention of the interest charged on our errant ways.... In fact not a mention of alot of things... or am I asking for too much?

[JonCris]

Great TV Just loved the look on the banks mouthpiece You could tell she didn't believe one word of what she was saying.

 

The OFT peed me off jumping on the bank wagon. Sounding fierce for the cameras & acting like he was actually doing something when we all know he isn't by a longway.

 

Impressed with Financial Ombudsman. He's not prepared to take anymore crap from the banks & is going to take them to court if they don't sort it at 1st request rather than forcing consumers to go his or the legal route

[Enron]

More specifics on the panel they appoints to look into bank charges:

 

BBC NEWS | Business | The Money Programme bank commission

[Guest ian cognito]

And well done to those Caggers, particularly Vamps, who were shown at the protest.

 

I also think CAG had the best of the free advertising, name shown several times whilst most of the others just had bits of their websites shown.

 

The programme seemed to cover just about everything the banks have thrown in up to now, I loved the estimated £2 and £4.5 costs - take note OFT.

[natwesttookmymoney]

Which one was Vamps? And who were those other strange people?

W

[Guest ian cognito]

Vamps was the one in the cloak and she was surrounded by Caggers, most of the others shown were from two other websites.

[JonCris]

And well done to those Caggers, particularly Vamps, who were shown at the protest.

 

I also think CAG had the best of the free advertising, name shown several times whilst most of the others just had bits of their websites shown.

 

The programme seemed to cover just about everything the banks have thrown in up to now, I loved the estimated £2 and £4.5 costs - take note OFT.

 

Yes but some of the charges quoted such as bouncing a cheque costing £4.50 referred to the additional cost of a letter telling you they had bounced a check. They haven't sent out letters for ages as they include that advice in their T's & C's to (wait for it) save on costs

[Guest ian cognito]

Yes they did say they were absolute maximum charges for carrying out these 'services'.

[JonCris]

I know but they remarked it was to cover the cost of their letter & the problem is that they haven't sent out letters to say they have bounced your cheque or DD for ages.

[bathgatebuyer]

In honour of the festive seson, I let out a resounding 'booooooooo' when the woman from the British Banker's Assocation came on. "Service fee"????? Service my backside. It is not a service to be the subject of an 'unlawful' act. The brass neck of these people gets right under my skin, and every Xmas card I'm writing at the moment has the CAG stickers on the back to make sure everyone at least knows where the website is. That's the best Xmas present I can think of giving some people.

 

I hope that the people I work with now have the confidence to feel that reclaiming bank charges is not just something that I have been banging on about in my own eccentric way. This isn't a one man show, but it is perfectly justifiable in law to challenge the banks over this unlawful practice. I hope I get asked lots of quesions today about this. Well done to the BBC. It should hopefully give people the confidence and awareness to have a better 2007 by challenging their banks over this.

 

From my point of view, I've still got 2 accounts that I'm going to chase up right now. I have passed details of this website onto someone else who successfully got just under £5K back from the Halifax (before I got mine ) and have turned into a recharges bore.

 

Maybe from now on, people will start to listen and see the opportunities there.

[121o121]

The program was excellent, and like others wish it had gone out on BBC1.

 

Anything to raise awareness (not just for CAG) but the whole charging regime is great news.

 

What I found interesting though is how the program referred to the charges as "illegal" and not just unlawful.

 

I tried posting last night after the program ended but all I got was a "database error page". Hopefully lots more people joining the CAG.