Reclaiming bank charges

[Harrison]

I was reading an article today about unfair bank charges and our legal standing.

Apparently the excessive charges banks make, such as £20 to send a letter, £20 for going over an overdraft limit, £30 for paying a bill when there are not enough funds in your account, and overdraft interest charges, are unlawful under the "Unfair Terms of Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999" charges act, and must reflect administration costs and cannot be punitive.

Have any of you ever tried to claim back such charges from your banks and if so were you successful?

Apparently you can claim back up to 6 years worth of such charges so I may go back through my bank statements and see if I can claim anything back.

[Tiago]

I work in a bank and in our case in Portugal, almost every charges are in the law. Banks can do it. There is a really small % of then that could not be legal.

The ones you just mention, in my country are legal. We have a central bank "Bank of Portugal" who is responsible for that laws.
In Uk am sure there is an some institution that make that laws, but not the goverment. The bank make the charges thru indication of that instituion, They just tell the minimum and maximum values you can charge and each bank chooses each charges.

[Bloodwych]

My brother did just that and got +£500 back! He must have been a naughty boy to get charged that much over the 6 years or whatever!

The companies usually charge a fixed fee or % of what they claim back (it's not too bad), but yes it's defo worth putting in a claim.

Can't say I've ever had a bank charge, so it's not worth me claiming.

[Tiago]

You need to pay attention what is your bank doing in your account.
Here if you have a "salary account" where you receive your salary, not a order deposit,
if you have that account, bank will not charge anything, i have zero charges for major operation, only if i transfer money to other credit institutuion.

So best thing to do, is read your contract/papers that you sign. then if the charge is not there, go and claim it, just like bloodwych brother did.

[Harrison]

In contrast to what you say about Portuguese banking, in the UK there is currently no set standard charges set out by law. The act that I mentioned states that a bank's charges must reflect administration costs and cannot be punitive. This is how customers are able to claim back such charges from the banks in the UK.

At the moment many UK banks are trying a test cast through the courts so that they enforce their own charges, but it has been going on for some time now and from what I've read this is really just a tactic from the banks to try and stall and dissuade customers from trying to claim back the charges as the banks don't really have any hope of winning this test case in the long run.

The UK government has already enforced a reduction in credit card charges because until recently credit card companies could charge what they liked for their charges, but now it is restricted to £12 per charge.

[Tiago]

ok, but anyway, they can only charge what is writen in your account or loan contract, or whatwever it is... it it says 10£ charge, they can not collect 15£.
If it does not say anythink about charge, then is by the law.

[AlexJ]

A lot of people I know have successfully reclaimed money by using this guide: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges