Bank Charges Campaign Continues

[maroondevo52]

Thats mine done and dusted

[caro]

[IdaInFife]

done and glittered

[caro]

That's the Scottish mods done and dusted then.

[Night Owl]

Just come off the phone to my local MP.

 

Have an appointment to see him personnally on a one to one basis on 25th August at his Local Office.

[citizenB]

Just come off the phone to my local MP.

 

Have an appointment to see him personnally on a one to one basis on 25th August at his Local Office.

 

Sounds interesting NightOwl

[Night Owl]

Might need a hand to hold CB!!!!

[citizenB]

Might need a hand to hold CB!!!!

 

Might be worth you drafting a list of questions you want answers to !

[Night Owl]

Might be worth you drafting a list of questions you want answers to !

 

Good idea.

 

Could be a long list!! Will narrow it down to the main points though!

[citizenB]

Good idea.

 

Could be a long list!! Will narrow it down to the main points though!

 

Have a word with Caro, I am sure she will be more than happy to help

[Night Owl]

Thanks CB.

 

Caro, your inbox is full!!! get out the hoover!

[caro]

I've PM'd you my email addy NO.

[Night Owl]

Cheers Caro

[Night Owl]

'termi your inbox is full too!!

[maroondevo52]

'termi your inbox is full too!!

 

You can pm me

[Night Owl]

PM sent MD

[caro]

Thinking of you and your family LL.

 

Life is difficult enough sometimes without the likes of Swift adding to the really important problems in life with their blood-sucking!

[caro]

I see that Martin Lewis has interviewed Treasury Minister Mark Hoban, and raised the issue of bank charges. Thanks Martin.

Section 4: Bank charges

Martin: We’re going to move off the mortgage and savings type issues for the moment and stick with some of the big picture stuff. Bank charges. We’ve spoken about this in the past. There are still a lot of people who have been burnt by this system that effectively cross-subsidies from the poor to the rich and penalises people,and they have snowball charges of hundreds and thousands of pounds. Then there was the Supreme Court technical ruling that said bank charges didn’t need to be fair, rather than that they were fair. Is that all closed forever from your perspective, for people getting back money that they’ve already paid out?

Mark Hoban: What we’re fixing on is how to tackle this problem going forward in the light of the Supreme Court case judgement.

Martin: Under one law?

Mark Hoban: Yeah, but the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, that was the view that they reached.

Martin: We have legal advice saying that under The Consumer Credit Act, there is a fairness duty. I don’t think we ever fully tried this out in court. It was just under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations that this ruling went and I do think there is still a large amount of doubt over this. Having said that, the banks got there, had their day in court and they won on that particular ruling, so I accept the point that the Supreme Court ruled on one point of law, but I don’t think we’ve ever fully tested all the law on this.

Mark Hoban: No, but I think what we should do is actually look forward and say what can we do to make this work for the better, to try to put the pressure on banks to reduce their charges and I think we’ve seen quite a bit of progress being made since that judgement to help tackle this area. I think the average costs have gone down from about £34 to £14.

Martin: And the structures have changed, in general I will accept it has. Certainly, the one thing that the campaign to reclaim bank charges did was pressurise banks and help politicians pressurise banks into lowering bank charges across the board, so what would you say to someone like the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, who still charge £35 per transaction, rather than many of the others, who now do it per day on lower amounts, do you think it needs to get its act together?

Mark Hoban: Well, I think that banks should look at their charging structures, I think that…

Martin: Because that hasn’t changed at all.

Mark Hoban: No, and I think that a lot of banks have made progress on this. I think what we’d like to see is more movement on a voluntary basis, having the banks tackle this problem, but we’ve made it clear that if that doesn’t work, then we will legislate.

Martin: And what’s the timescale on that legislation?

Mark Hoban: Well, we published a consultation document last year on a series of issues around consumer credit. We’ve been working with the banks to find a way in which we’ll take action on a voluntary basis, as happened previously. I think that there are some big challenges elsewhere around and obviously the Independent Commission on Banking is going to report in September, but I think that switching, that transparency costs are important disciplines to have. Banks show that they’re sharpening up their act to give consumers much more power and choice.

 

Full interview here.

 

http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2011/08/08/tackling-treasury-minister-mark-hoban-on-bank-charges-savings-mortgages-more/

 

Seems the government still aren't prepared to take the bull by the horns!!

[johnnymitch]

I agree caro ,, but when you see the constituency Mark Hoban represents (Fareham , Hants ) , I shouldn't think many of his constituents will be howling about Bank Charges rip-offs . He is quite safe in stonewalling the way he did with Martin Lewis ... i.e. let's move forward and forget the people who were ripped off in the past ... GRRR! .

 

btw I'm sorry I can't make the meet on Saturday ... but I wish you all a convivial evening ... regards to yourself Caro , Pete , PD ,Termi Tills, and anyone else who remembers me from two years ago ... family commitments mean I can't be there ...

Edited August 11, 2011 by johnnymitch
wrong day DOH!

[caro]

Sorry you can't make it too.

 

Maybe next time.

 

On the brighter side I see Mike Dailly is in court tomorrow representing Ms Sharp against Bank of Scotland. Rather surprisingly apparently the sheriff hasn't been named. Let's hope it's a judge with b@lls.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?248268-Sheriff-puts-Bank-of-Scotland-to-proof-on-bank-charges&p=3520169&viewfull=1#post3520169

[citizenB]

When will we hear what has happened ?

[caro]

Looks like it's a long way off yet CB. Seems it's a rule 18 hearing (whatever that means lol).

 

Civil Procedure in the Sheriff Court

 

Amendment

 

At any debate one or other party may appear and move the court to discharge the debate and to continue the case for amendment. In order to avoid being found liable for the expenses of preparation for any debate it is more sensible if the party who has resolved to amend does so well in advance of the debate, by enrolling a written motion seeking leave to amend. Amendment is regulated by OCR 18. Typically a party will enrol a motion seeking:

(a) discharge of a diet of debate;

 

(b) permission for their minute of amendment to be received;

 

© a period of time for the opponent to answer;

 

(d) a period of time for the parties to adjust their pleadings in the light of the minute and answers

 

(e) a

Rule 18 hearing

at which the court will in the usual course of things allow the record to be opened up and amended in terms of the minute and answers and deal with further procedure as well as expenses of the amendment procedure.

[caro]

Night Owl, I thought of something you might like to ask your MP about, although you might need to do a bit of homework on it first.

 

I was thinking about what the Supreme Court judges said about there may be scope for charges to be unlawful. Perhaps you could ask your MP if anyone is doing anything to look at what was said to further investigate if bank charges are indeed unlawful.

 

If a senior judge has said that they are, then surely it warrants further investigation.

[determindator]

Petition to: Stop unfair bank charges and return the charges retrospectively. | Number10.gov.uk

 

 

Just after the general election, the above petition which had in excess of 200 sigs on, was blocked by the new government. They gave some excuse of updating their systems etc and it was given g a long time to run. I'm going to look into this as it is the beginning of a Campaign I want to take forward.

 

http://www.hmg.gov.uk/

So, e-petitions prior to new government. I'm on a hunt now.

Edited August 21, 2011 by determindator

[Guest]

Just after the general election, the above petition which had in excess of 200 sigs on, was blocked by the new government. They gave some excuse of updating their systems etc and I gave it a long time to run. I'm going to look into this as it is the beginning of a Campaign I want to take forward.

 

http://www.hmg.gov.uk/

So, e-petitions prior to new government. I'm on a hunt now.

 

HI

Yes the Downing street service has been discontinued and replaced with this http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_066327

 

100000 signatures and they guarantee a hearing!!!!

 

 

Peter