You CAN claim bank charges, you CAN’T claim bank charges…So which is it?  Well, there are still ways you can try to reclaim bank charges in the UK but its harder than before due to the fact that the OFT lost its battle over bank charges following a ruling by the Supreme Court.

Previously the High Court and The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the OFT but the Supreme Court then ruled that the OFT did not have the right to assess UK bank charges for fairness.

People in the UK are being charged up to £40 for things such as missed Direct Debits, unauthorised overdrafts and bounced cheques.  Banks seem to be charging the customers who can ill afford it and by making the charges, they are putting these customers further into debt.

When you open a UK bank account you are entering into a contract. So, technically, by bouncing cheques or going over your agreed overdraft, you are actually breaching that contract and thus the bank has a legal right to levy charges. However, the bank charges uksum that the bank charges you must reflect the actual costs incurred by the bank and not exceed damages the bank suffered. The argument from many people and the OFT is that the bank charges exceed the customers losses and are therefore not enforceable by UK law.  On the flip side, some banks say that the charges are a fee for a service.

You can still try to claim back any excessive bank charges including charges such as £30 for a bounced cheque or a missed direct debit or £20 charges for letters sent out to inform you that you have breached an overdraft limit.  If you feel like you have incurred these charges in the past you should review all your statements and tally all the charges that may be deemed overly excessive.

After you have got all the information together you should write to your bank and ask for the money to be refunded to you. To ensure that your letter doesn’t “go missing” you should try and send it recorded delivery to ensure you know that the bank has received it.  Keep a copy of all of the letter you send to the bank and follow up about a week later, with a phone call to check if it has been received.  The bank should send you a reply within 14 days.

On the first reply you get from the bank they are likely to dismiss your claim or offer you a partial refund of your charges.  Either way,  you should refuse it and write back to your bank advising that you require payment in full.

If, after this, the bank are still refusing to refund the bank charges you may want to consider legal action. It is unlikely it will go to court but if it does, and as long as your claim less than £5,000, it will be heard in a small claims court, so you will not be liable for any your bank’s legal costs.

If you need assistance there are companies online that can do the hard work for you.  Some offer no win no fee services for claiming back your bank charges and can be an option if you don’t fancy doing the hard work yourself.

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