WHY ARE THESE CHARGES RECOVERABLE?

Put simply, these charges are recoverable because they are unfair. All of the charges are applied where there has been an alleged breach of contract between the bank and the account holder.

The bank claims the account holder has breached the terms and conditions of their account by exceeding an overdraft or having insufficient monies to pay a direct debit for example.

The bank then penalises the account holder with a set fee or a charge of anything between £20 and £40. However, in UK Law, where a contract is breached by one party, (the account holder) the other party, (the bank) may only impose a remedy (a charge) which reflects the cost of the breach. In other words the fee charged by the bank must reflect the cost to them of the account holder’s breach.

How can a bank justify charging an account holder £40 simply because they exceeded an overdraft limit? The answer has to be NO. A £40 charge must be regarded as a penalty to the account holder, which is unfair and hence recoverable. Of course the law surrounding this area of law is more complex and the above explanation serves only to give a brief outline.

WHY SHOULD I INSTRUCT A SOLICITOR TO RECOVER MY BANK CHARGES?

Over the past several months the media have paid great attention to the recovery of bank charges. Those paying close attention to the issue will be aware that it is now highly recommended that bank customers seeking to recover their charges should instruct a solicitor. There are several reasons why this course of action is recommended as outlined below.

1. Bank customers who attempt to recover their charges by themselves tend not to calculate compound interest in addition to each of their charges.

2. Banks consistently ignore letters from their customers in relation to reclaiming their charges.

3. Where banks do correspond with letters sent to them by their customers, they continue to deny any liability whatsoever leaving the customer with little option but to sue the bank in the County Court.

4. In certain circumstances the banks make offers to repay the charges, but at a much lower level. Bank customers who are successful enough to recover money back themselves generally recover much lower amounts than if they had recovered their charges through a solicitor.

5. Where bank customers attempt to reclaim charges themselves through the courts, they often run into difficulties. The courts set rigid timescales which when not complied which can result in the bank having the claim struck out completely.

6. There are a number of companies in the market place at the present time who are recovering charges for their clients. As a firm of solicitor’s we are regulated by the Law Society and the solicitor’s regulation authority and as such provide a high standard of care. We do not accept lower offers on behalf of our clients to conclude cases as quickly as possible.

In addition, we do not ask clients to post their bank details over the internet and do not recommend such practice. We are experienced solicitor’s who can deal with such cases from the very beginning to what might be described as the bitter end should matters proceed to hearings at the County Court.

How Do I Begin The Process ?