2 minds

[2 minds]

I have been reading through everyone's comments and cases, very interesting!

 

I must say I am (as my username suggests) in 2 minds!! I am a case handler for one of the big banks and I am one of the busy people answering to all of the letters wanting charges back

 

I can see where people are coming from if they have been through a hard time for whatever reason, and becuase their minds are elsewhere, they have not had money in their account to cover payments give the charges back (and i normally do).... but when people simply mismanage their accounts and spend money they simply dont have then they should take the consequences... it really hacks me off when people come to us saying "I want all my charges back for the last 6 years " and when u look at their account they shop in harrods, use gambling shops, go out every weekend ( all of these I cant afford so I JUST DONT DO IT) and as a result they get charges... why should they get them back when they signed for the account and charges when they applied for the account?

 

However people who are genuinly trying to cover payments but fall short by a couple of quid... fair play have em back.

 

The bank I work for will take circumstances into account, so if ur going through a divorce or break ur leg they will help out.

 

everything is dispraportionate thats how people earn money, it doesnt cost a plumber £35 an hour to fix ur pipes, but its what they charge and you agree to it... 6 years later are you gonna go back to him and get ur money back?

 

Good luck to any people claiming, that really haven't just spanked money they dont have

[monkey_uk]

Can I ask which admin gave you permission to post here?

[2 minds]

ddn't realise I needed permission from an admin

[Natasha]

why should they get them back when they signed for the account and charges when they applied for the account?

 

The bank I work for will take circumstances into account, so if ur going through a divorce or break ur leg they will help out.

 

everything is dispraportionate thats how people earn money, it doesnt cost a plumber £35 an hour to fix ur pipes, but its what they charge and you agree to it... 6 years later are you gonna go back to him and get ur money back?

 

The reason why somebody will sign an agreement to pay these ludacris charges is because they have no choice!!

Tell me a bank that doesn't have these extortionate charges?

People are being forced to have bank accounts, if you work you need an account if you get benefits you need an account!

So the people have no choice.

 

I agree with you that people who are overspending, shouldnt be and they should live within their means, but the banks should take some responsibility and if they decline a payment/transaction then it should be exactly that! they shouldn't let any money leave the account if its not there, instead they authorise the payment and charge you £35 for it!!

 

Again same thing with the plumber, no one wants to pay way over the odds for a job that takes 2 Min's, but they have no choice!

Well actually a plumber wont be able to charge like they do soon, because there are European plumbers that are coming over to the UK, who are charging a fair[b/] price for the services.

 

The banks also need to take responsibility for lending money too.....

[joneshousehold]

But equally why should a bank get away with charging unlawfully irrespective of the cause? The bottom line is that these charges are unlawful and should not have been taken in the first place.

[2 minds]

I do agree that charges are excessive, but what isn't??? everything is designed to make profit, its the way of the world....

 

The fact that by twisting past cases it can be "viewed as illegal" is convenient!

 

Like I said if people genuinely need help then banks should help but if people are irresponsible maybe they should get a basic account with no facilities so they can't spend money they do not have

[Tinkerbelle]

Welcome to the Forum!!!

 

Always great to have an "insider" on board!!

[2 minds]

thanks Tinkerbelle

[monkey_uk]

ddn't realise I needed permission from an admin

 

It is clearly stated that you do.

 

As a bank employee, by posting without permission, you are breaking the Computer Misuse Act.

[Seminole]

With the greatest of respects, 2 Minds, that is the biggest load of garbage I have have ever read.

 

You might attempt to use that particular guilt angle when you are speaking to your customers. Do not think for one moment that it will work here.

 

May I suggest that you read the recent report by the Office of Fair Trading. This will explain to you why people are claiming this money back.

 

The OFT has indicated that credit card charges that are disproportionate to their cost should be refunded. When is your bank going to refund ALL of these unlawfull charges to its customers? Lets not worry too much about the six years either. By deliberately levying unlawful charges, you have excluded yourselves from the Statute of Limitations.

[Natasha]

I do agree that charges are excessive, but what isn't??? everything is designed to make profit, its the way of the world....

 

So that's ok then?

[Seminole]

I do agree that charges are excessive, but what isn't??? everything is designed to make profit, its the way of the world....

 

The fact that by twisting past cases it can be "viewed as illegal" is convenient!

 

Like I said if people genuinely need help then banks should help but if people are irresponsible maybe they should get a basic account with no facilities so they can't spend money they do not have

 

Bullsh*t. It is not "convenient". IT IS THE LAW.

[2 minds]

I am not speaking as a bank worker or on behalf of any bank - I am speaking as me and my opinion... and I want the £35 back that I paid a plumber last month, he can keep the odd 64p for the washer

[monkey_uk]

The charges are penalty charges that are disproportionate to the cost to the bank of the infringement.

 

No-one is desputing the fact that we shouldn't incurr these charges, as *most* of the time it is *mainly* the fault of the account holder, but that is not relevent.

 

I'm now locking this thread because I think you're trolling.

 

EDIT: THREAD UNLOCKED.

[monkey_uk]

I am not speaking as a bank worker or on behalf of any bank - I am speaking as me and my opinion... and I want the £35 back that I paid a plumber last month, he can keep the odd 64p for the washer

 

Ok, let us know how you go on, but please start a thread in the correct forum for this claim

 

Ok, you're being sarcastic, and to a degree, I can see where you're coming from. This doesn't mean I agree with everything you've said!!!!

[2 minds]

It kinda concerns me that if charges are deemed illegal where do we draw the line, are speeding ticket, parking fines, the cost if a loaf of bread illegal - after all they are all dispraportionate to the cost

 

where do I start a thread for this chat??

[Guest Lueeze]

Well the government controls things like speeding fines so what hope do any of us have on that side of things?

 

What you are forgetting is that the Banks have made HUGE profit from these charges!!!

 

Think about the guys above you who run around with Millions in loose change because of these profits....

 

Its hardly fair IMO that a few people at the top a filthy rich while other 'normal' people generally stuggle!

[monkey_uk]

2 minds - We do not make the laws.

 

The law dictates that a penalty fee has to be proportionate to the cost, to [in this case] the bank of the breach of contract.

 

I would say that £2.00 is about reasonable. Well, £2.00 is probably pushing it a bit, but I wouldn't complain if it was £2.00.

 

My estimate of costs, IF your bank sends you a letter to inform you of the charge (mine don't, it comes with my statement, which I'd get regardless of a charge being incurred due to me going overdrawn etc) is about 20p ish.

 

What you have to remember is that these people are sending out 100's of 1000's of letters, and so don't have to pay the same postage price as consumers. They get discounts based on a number of factors, a few of which include:

 

The quantity of mail

 

The sortation (i.e if they do some of the sorting, it costs them less in postage)

 

Whether they barcode the letters or not (barcoding makes it cheaper for Royal Mail to handle).

[Guest Lueeze]

Well none of the banks have been able to prove manual intervention...

 

How much CAN it cost for them to bounce a DD or Cheque?

 

If you were honest you would be able to say infact the cost is near to nothing.

 

Recently one of the Banks admitted that the costs for this were to cover the debt overall for the bank.

 

So if someone owes the bank alot of money I have to pay a proportion to the bank through my charges, to cover their costs to recover this from someone else!

 

HOW IS THIS FAIR?

[2 minds]

Obviously its not gonna cost 30 - 35 to bounce a dd, but it is what customers sign up to, i should think if people maintained their own payments e.g get ur gas bill then got o the post office to pay it... if u add up ur man hours it would probably work out that a bank account is good value for money and if u make sure u have money to cover payments then its free

 

I got a parking ticket and it really hacked me off but I took it on the chin I knew I shouldn't have parked there so my fault, I paid it and wont park there again

[bram stoker]

Good luck to any people claiming, that really haven't just spanked money they dont have

Thanks, I guess that's all of us then. Because if the banks were responsible enough not to let us go over our limits, and also increase the problem with extortionate charges, half the disasters written on this site would just not exist, as the money would not have been "spanked!".

[joneshousehold]

2minds, you are missing the point. Penalty charges on any contract are unlawful. The party to a contract that breaches a contract can only be required to cover the cost to the other party. That is the law as it stands now. It is not illegal or unlawful to impose a parking fine, issue a speeding ticket or even to make a profit on selling bread. The law is the law no matter what you feel on moral grounds. This should not be a personal matter but you are in danger of making it so by accusing people of behaving irresponsibly. Whether they are or not is irrelevant, the law says the injured party can only recover its costs and nothing more.

 

If we took your analogy to its extreme we would end up not prosecuting someone for stabbing another person because the victim behaved irresponsibly by walking down a darkened alley. You cannot just cross legislation over like that.

 

Perhaps more importantly, your employer and every other bank has a well paid and highly qualified legal department. How come they didn't pick up the effect of the Unfair Contracts legislation? If we are to talk about taking responsibility and whether an action is immoral, I would have to question just what legal advise was given and why the Boards at these banks chose to ignore it. Mark my words, there can be no doubt that they were aware of it. The legal departments would be in no doubt because the legislation and previous cases were very clear in this matter.

 

Finally, a comment I have made several times before but it is worth repeating, I have asked my bank on several ocassions to listen to my plight and help me out. They have at times been very rude in their refusal. Aside from the fact that it is wrong to behave in that way, it would do the staff of most banks a lot of good to just look at some of the postings and think carefully about how they behave during their working day. I certainly have (and I don't work for a bank!) as I cannot believe how dreadful things can become at times.

 

Anyway stay with us, but try to remember when people feel a situation is out of control they will not always behave rationally. That does not make them a bad person, just someone in need of help.

[Natasha]

Obviously its not gonna cost 30 - 35 to bounce a dd, but it is what customers sign up to, i should think if people maintained their own payments e.g get ur gas bill then got o the post office to pay it... if u add up ur man hours it would probably work out that a bank account is good value for money and if u make sure u have money to cover payments then its free

 

I got a parking ticket and it really hacked me off but I took it on the chin I knew I shouldn't have parked there so my fault, I paid it and wont park there again

 

Like i said before, customers DONT have a choice when they sign up, they need bank accounts and the banks use this to their advantage.

 

All we are asking for is for the banks to be FAIR

 

With regards to the parking ticket, you have parked illegally so your going to get fined, you could have been putting someones life at risk because of your illegal parking,you cant compare bank charges to parking illegally..............

[Spiceskull]

I am not speaking as a bank worker or on behalf of any bank - I am speaking as me and my opinion...

So - after reading the numerous responses to your thread, as well as all the other messages and issues on the site, have you now made up your mind to be in One Mind, and to claim back your unlawfully levied bank charges like the rest of us?

[2 minds]

Natasha - People do have a choice they can spend money they have, or manage their own money (I hear keepin it under a matress keeps it nice and crisp!)

 

Spiceskul - I'd feel a bit of a cheat if I asked for my charges back, but really I do wish the best of luck to people who claim them back if its not through gross negligence that they got charged in the first place

 

Joneshousehold - if u have approached ur bank for help and they haven't then ur with the wrong bank and they deserve everything they get (I hope its not the bank I work for!)

 

Vampiress - when someone has £10 in their account and goes on a shopping spree - they know they don't have the money, if its obviously a genuine mistake I do think it should be given back