I doubt there is much we can do for them. With a bit of luck the plan will back fire as people will spend Christmas around someone else's house to avoid the bailiffs . In fact I suspect that quite a few people will be away from home for quite a bit of Christmas day regardless.

I though there was a limit on how long a unpaid dept could be kept active? If orange hasn't contacted you about it I would ring up and query why.

Sounds to me like there trying to make you believe that they will come and take all your brand spanking new Christmas presents away ... trying to scare you into paying. Cant actually help except to say that unless you let them in they cant come in (unless they have been in before as I understand it) if they do turn up tell them to go away and If they wont phone the police.

Before you have signed up and accepted. At the very first stage before you even have an account with the bank. You would probably get told to take your business elsewhere but surely this in itself is a reason to start a claim in court. If a bank refuses to change its terms and conditions to suit UK law and as a result refuses you an account. Or is there some legal mumbo jumbo that I'm missing.

I think the main gripe about these charges are that the banks don't normally charge you for transfer's which they do complete but instead they charge you for transfers they don't complete. Also combined with that if your DD or cheque fails it means you have no money at that time or even sometimes that you are just a few measly pence short ... how do the banks help you ... they take even more money off you. On top of that the banks A) Wont just admit that its illegal and there sorry B) generally will reserve the right to continue charging you (illegally) C) wont go to court because if you win they will HAVE to stop charging you D) or they will close down your account in an act of what can only be called spite what do they actually achieve by closing down your account? you've already got your money back it just stop's you claiming back the charges that they apply in the future (illegally)

Looks like we got off on the wrong foot I was trying to explain why I though the the charges were unfair not whether or not there lawful.

Thats what Im saying If they are going to charge me for banking then they should charge me for banking I would rather pay £30 a month for banking costs then £30 each time a DD bounced for costs which should be included in my service.

But that would have been turned on anyway ... its part of mine and others banking service if there going to charge me for banking then they should charge me for banking. They don't just turn a computer on specifically for me every time I make a Direct debit payment ... do they?

I don't see how it can cost anything for a computer which would have been turned on anyway to decide that there isn't funds in my account and cancel the payment then charge me I very much doubt an actual person gets involved at any point they don't send me or the person the DD was going to a letter explaining what happened so where are the costs coming from?

the reason I would want to claim back my charge is simple 90% of the time my charges are incurred because the DD came out a day before a cheque was cleared ... the bank knew the cheque was in the system and close to being cleared but they witheld the dd payment AND charged me £30 when they could have just rang me and said you have insufficient funds in your account would you like to wait until that cheque has cleared or rushed the cheque through so it would be in in time for the DD ... or just cashed the dammed DD and charged me interest on the 12 hours I was overdrawn. It dosent cost the banks anything to bounce a DD or cheque yet they still feel the need to charge US £30 for doing it. As for your comment about people staying in there limits Ive never been out of my limit the bank simply bounces dd and cheques when Ive not got the funds ... I then have to run about repaying everyone who's money hasn't arrived (sometimes they charge me as well) this is what keep me as close as possible to staying within my OD limit.

IF the charges are unlawful why cant we state this when we sign up for an account? Read the contract and before you sign it take it back in querying the part which state you will be charged for blah blah blah. Ask them if this will be a charge of cost inured and ask for a list of the charges if necessary then go back to the bank and say this charges are unlawful and I would require the terms of the contract to be changed to comply with UK legislation. Has anyone tried this ....

Hello I'm new here I just came over on Ropeys suggestion Im interested in getting my bank charges refunded but will probably be finding the site usefull for all sorts of stuff. Do you guys have a members list Ropey wants me to PM him and I cant figure out how without trawling through all the posts to find one he made.