That wasn't meant at you, i appreciate any replies. It was more a general "all banks are a bunch of b*stards" b****x... I'll let you know what they say... although as you say, i already know what the answer will be. I'll keep complaining though and push this up to the ombudsman cos i do think this is rubbush! Nothing to lose...

That's b****x, how can they charge interest for a payment they didn't make... AS WELL AS charging £35 for returning the cheques unpaid. It left the account for a day, but then they returned it. If they were going to return it unpaid then they should not have taken the money out the account. Surely they don't need to take money out the account in order to decide that they aren't going to pay it? I'll write to them and await their reply. cheers

Hey all I was wondering if anyone knows whether Barclays are allowed to charge interest on "overdraft" for cheques that were returned unpaid? Since I can no longer pursue the £35 charges, I ahve to go after the interest. Basically 2 cheques were written out, but returned unpaid since they were for several thousand pounds (was expecting money, got delayed, got re-written few days later). The money appears to have left my account, then the next day "put back in" and returned unpaid. But then they have charged me interest for the 1 day that it "left my account". Are they allowed to charge me this (as well as the £35 unpaid fee)? thanks

Any more of a follow up on this, be great to hear if there's been any progress. This really bugs me. Without getting into some big debate over it, if like you there had been a genuine mistake in not paying, it goes to court and you get slap with a penalty. You pay it. No investigation needed. Why should you have to fork out for the 5-6 hours for someone elses case. You're only responsible for your own case, which was what, a couple of reminders and a summons, all issued by computers with no human input (apart from stuffing a few envelopes). And if it takes 5-6 hours to print off a statement, and i don't care how many years it us, then someone reallt stiffed you on the computer system!!!

Sweet, thats good to hear. Least if they don't repay the interest, I can hit them with this... having said that, I will anyway

Hey Slick Thanks for the response. I'm not sure why they charged interest even though the cheque never cleared. I mean, the cheque never cleared so the money never left the account right! Crazy!!! I been following the other thread. I will follow the same course of action if they don't accept the interest argument. The £35 they charged for returning the cheque unpaid, presumably that is reclaimable? Just reclaiming that puts the account back into credit as well. I'll try reclaming the interest first, and then the other charges. These are the only charges that have ever been applied to the account! cheers Jam

Hi Just seeking a bit of advice. My brother wrote out 2 cheques but they were cashed before he had a chance to move money into the account. Anyway, so initially the money "left" the account and his account went overdrawn. The next day he was charged £30 for paid referal, then immediately credited it again (dunno why). The next day they charged £35 for UNPAIDS OUT and both the cheques were returned unpaid (as to be expected since they were for a few thousand each). So he then rewrote the cheques and stopped using the account for several months. He had a few pounds left in the account (even having paid the above fee) and so never looked at the account for ages and the moved. Well about a month after the above, they charged "overdraft interest", it was about £9.50 or so but this was enough to put him overdrawn by a couple of quid. Since he didn't use the account it was like this for several months and the Reserve Fees amounted to £440 and he had his account closed and passed to a DCA. I'm chasing this on his behalf (mainly cos I have no job atm!) but is it correct of them to charge interest on money which they never paid out? You know what these DCA's are like, they'll say that it was! cheers Kam

Good luck mate and all the best. Let us know how you get on.

Thanks for the info Bookworm. Like I say I'm doing this on behalf of my brother, but fees of £440 is ridiculous for being £2.58 overdrawn. It infruriates me just thinking about it! If they don't drop the charges then I'm willing to take this to court. The DCA has already threatened this after my bro never replied to them. Bring it on I say. Will be following this thread with interest. cheers

This is quite interesting, I friend of mine is in the same boat, in that he forgot to pay his c/t and is now faced with with an additional one months council tax as "costs" Can this be right? Can we not challenge this cost as not being a true reflection of what it actually costs them to issue the summons? i.e. like what is being done with the bank charges? I mean can it "vary" how much it costs to issue a summons anyway, should this not be a fixed fee (regardless of how extortionate it is), i mean it doesn't cost more to issue just because you live in a bigger house right? Anyway, your thought on this would be appreciated. I mentioned the bank charges case to him and he wondered if the same could be done for this. thanks in advance

Hey guys I'm new to this forum but have been reading around the subject for some time now. Not in any debts myself, but family members are struggling now and so I've decided to take action for them, and also claim back my own bank charges from HSBC. This thread is of great interest, my brother went o/d by £3 (which was charges they applied to the account to send it o/d) and has had "Reserve Fees" of £440 added over a number of months. He doesn't use the account, moved house and so never knew anything about them till recently. Anyway, account closed, debt sold to DCA and now letters from solicitors. I've got the ball rolling by writing to them for a breakdown of the debt... delay tactics till i find out more info from here basically. Anyway, I was gonna use the unfair charges line, but have read here that reserve fees are excluded from OFT case. Why are these different from overdraft fees? Right, I'm gonna have to write to the FOS as well I think. cheers