I work for RBS. Asked my manager more about it this morning. It was just a general fax we received yesterday, we get a good few of these a day with "important announcements" so unless someone came in and queried it we did nothing (as we had no idea who was/wasn't affected) I think the underlying message was to try and not annoy our customers. If our customers have a problem then do what we can but shift the blame to HSBC (Well it was their fault!) Unless the customers affected actually came to us yeterday i don't believe there was any manual intervention (ooh that old chesnut! ) involved and items would be paid or not as the system had already decided. If the customer came in to ask/complain about it we were to look back at the account to confirm there were regular monthly payments. Assuming everything was in order managers could authorise cash out, pay SOs etc etc and this is what they mean by "being sympathetic".

We were told about it in a fax and asked to "take a sympathetic view" when it came to paying DDs / SOs / cheques, whatever that may mean. If the customer had a query about charges caused by this we were to give them HSBCs address.

Let me get this right they have actually PUT £58 in your account? Not just said that they are going to but actually gone ahead and done it? What does it show on your statement? CHG +58.00 perhaps? Well done anyway! Anyone can key a refund of any amount on the system but we are not supposed to. Doing so without authorisation could mean disciplinary action or the sack :o Branch managers are only allowed to authorise refunds of up to £50 (I am not sure if Premium (rich customers) or Business Managers have higher limits). If you have had a refund of £58 in then my guess was either: (a) your manager referred it to her area manager who authorised the refund (b) your branch is covered by an "income manager" who authorised the refund © you are either a business or premium customer (d) your manager did a good deed but if anyone ever finds out they may get in trouble (who knows maybe they browse CAG too! )

Referal Charge = When the bank decides to pay an item on your account (SO/DD/cheque) that takes you over your limit. £30 a pop nowadays. Yes as Paul says they are also unlawful. Good luck & all the best! edit: they (referal charges) are applied on the sixth working day the month after the "offences" occured. Its not immediately obvious what they are for so you'd need to look back if you wanted to see what they related to. I wouldn't bother doing this though as regardless of why they've charged you, they're unlawful in any case. You can claim them all back anyways!

Thanks for that Loula! I'll give my Auntie a phone tomorrow and let her know. Do you work in the travel industry yourself? What you're saying is basically right, though I should have said that the trip has always included return coach travel to and from the ferry port. Relatives would have given her a lift to the ferry (its that close) and offered to drive her to Newcastle and this looks like what may end up happening as it stands. If they booked the ferry from Rosyth independently they could get to Europe and rendezvous with the cruise boat at the same port as the incoming Newcastle ferry (assuming timing works out ok) Will let you know how we get on.

A difficult one to call. At first I thought your wife would need to claim for anything back further than the two years it was joint. But the more I think about it the fact that it's now joint allows you to ask for statements as far back as possible so you could imply that you could make a claim. Hypothetical Situation: What if your wife asked to be removed from the account completely and you agreed? (note: i'm not suggesting you do this, just going off on a tangent that's all! ) The account number would still be the same but it would now be in your name only. Could you then still sucessfully claim back charges from when you were not even listed on the account? I'd say probably not but any legal eagles out there want to comment?

Nothings ever 100%. Its up to the individual, if they think the £10 subject access request fee and relevant court fees are worth risking on getting hundreds or in some cases thousands back then a lot of people will take it. There's not a single bank that's successfully defended its claim so far so I suppose that spurs people on to action. So far the only risk involved to the customer is if that they might lack the motivation / balls to follow through all the way, but I think this site is a great help in that department.

depends what its for... RBS has at least 4 different "unlawful" charges: Maintenace Charge (being overlimit) £28 Referal Charge (paying a DD etc when there isn't enough money for it) £30 Card Misuse Charge £35 Unpaid Item Charge £38 HBOS will be similar I'd imagine

Hello and welcome! I read something similar on another thread (had a quick look couldn't find it though ) a few days ago. Most of the advice seems to have been to claim against the original bank as they were the ones who issued the original unlawful charges in the first place. Hope that helps.

Agreed 100%. Like it or not in todays modern world a lot of people are living outwith their means as it is all too easy to live in a buy now pay later world. Current bank charges are unlawful so I'm 100% in support of customers getting them back. The issue of financial management is another issue but I'd say probably about 10-20% of the population need to stop and have a long hard look at the fact (even in an ideal bank-charge-free-world) that they're spending more than they're earning without making long term plans to pay off what they've borrowed.

Unfortunately its actually urban myth and was in some story published years ago. Still a funny idea nonetheless!

Its a decent film. Thought the V character was a good representation of what we're trying to do, though personally I'm not quite as crazy as him. (i hope! ) Good luck and all the best

If its a joint account it only requires one party to ask for copy statements so you can ask for statements all the way through the time you had the account. Basically for them to send you copy statements (if they still have this information!) you're going to need to send then £10 fee with your DPA request. I suppose as the statute of limitations is yet to be tested in regard to bank charges its unsure what the outcome of a small claims case against them would be, so you would be risking the DPA fee, plus any court fees. It depends how many charges you are looking to claim back - i think it may cost the bank more money to defend it than it would take just to pay you. Then again I doubt the banks would be happy if it were to become common knowledge that people could claim back as far as they liked without challenge from the banks. Also another note, in 1999 bank charges were nowhere near the level they are now. But they WERE still unlawful!

Just back from my Aunties and found out all the details: The company is called Travelscope, it was booked through a reader offer in "the Scotsman" (East of Scotland based daily newspaper) In the small print it does indeed say that they reserve the right to change the port of departure. My auntie spent about an hour or so on the phone to Travelscope explaining the situation and pleading with them to allow them to sail from the original port (Rosyth) but they are being forced to go to Newcastle instead. To give a better picture they have to first get a ferry across the North sea and then they embark on a cruise up the Rhine on a different ship. So they phoned the ferry company in Rosyth and asked if they had availabilities for that date. "Plenty" said the ferry company "and you can still book for that date if you wish" So much for the ferry being overbooked! My Auntie phoned Travelscope back, explained this and still no budging from them. She even said that she would pay herself at significant extra expense to book them all independently on the Rosyth ferry and then rendezvous with the cruise boat but again Travelscope said it was not possible. It does not sound true at all that they have overbooked, in fact by the sounds of it Travelscope do not have one passenger leaving from Rosyth, they are all being piled in a bus and packed off to Newcastle instead. I can understand problems can and do occur with lack of take up for trips and companies needing to take steps to address this but as i discovered this is not a one problem with Travelscope... Upon talking to other members of my family the same thing happened to another relative with the same company a couple of years ago. Also yet another couple in the family had their Travelscope cruise trip completely cancelled just last year! I don't think we'll be using them again! Thats three trips booked, one cancelled and two had the port of departure moved. I suggested going to Watchdog but my Auntie didn't seem interested in that idea... My Grans first thought when she found out was to cancel the whole trip but she has reluctantly decided to go as it is too late to organise something else suitable. Does anyone think they have any comeback on the holiday company or are Travelscope covered by the small print?? Also has anyone used Travelscope before and what did you think of them? Thanks

Ah right thanks for clearing that up jonni.

I don't understand, are you saying that you can record phone calls and them use them in court without the other party agreeing? I always thought that this was a breach of the data protection act or right to privacy laws (or both). You can't pass video footage of someone, phone calls with them etc on to another party without the original persons permission. This's what I'd always been led to believe but I'm willing to admit i could well be wrong being no law expert. Maybe it doesn't apply to recording phone calls with organisations as they are not a person?

Hello and welcome. You don't say if you're with BOS or RBS? RBS don't usually put a note about charges on accounts (I've never seen it done in branch) but we can look back 12 months and see a list of how much (if any) was refunded each month. If the manager sees you've had charges refunded before then they're less likely to agree a refund, that's pretty standard. Also you'd benefit from reading the faqs on this site, but to answer your question yes, they are still unlawful and you can still claim them back. Follow the help on this site and you will get your charges back.

It can take up to two weeks for the historic statements to arrive. That's obviously no excuse for the 40days you've waited already but just letting you know if they are ordered properly this time thats the sort of timescales your looking at.

I'll put the date in my diary and watch with eager anticipation!

Thats ok, don't feel bad about it. I just work for them, they don't own me even if they think at times they do Who asked for it to be transferred to your local court at a cost of £100, i don't understand? Were you given a reason for this or did the court just tell you they're doing it?

Mrsmorten is right the banks have until 31st May to respond. And they didn't say that £12 was a fair charge, just it was the maximum that should be charged. rema1979 again you have my backing - all the best!

By use the phonecalls i meant use them against the bank. The police chief in question was technically allowed to record them because the only use of them was helping himself make notes of important points in his calls (at least thats what he claimed! ). He is not legally allowed to share it with anyone without the other phone callers permission so anything on the tape could not be used in court either. Sure you can have the peace of mind of having a tape of a conversation where the bank has admitted charges are automated, but apart from listening to it yourself there's no real use for it. Thats what I meant soz if i confused anyone

Like bankfodder said earlier, did you post the £10 payment to them at the time of the DPA request? As far as I'm aware the 40 days starts from when they receive the £10 fee and the DPA request. So if you've not done this then I'm afraid you may have to go back to day 1... Regardless of whether you've sent the tenner you can always try phoning. Ask why they have failed to comply and tell them that you will go to the information commissioners office if they still persist in failing to send you the request. If they still don't play ball then go to the ICO, but it may take a while.

I didn't realise you finacial situation was like that. Just try and stall them then (tell them you can't afford £100 right now, are going to CAB to get advice on how best to deal with it, ask for more time etc etc) You ideally want them to delay any action against you until after you've won your money back (and then they won't have a case against you anyways)

I think once we see one or two cases go this far the floodgates will open. All the best Candice & rema1979