The hidden bank charge reclaim rip-off

The great bank charge payback of 2007 will surely go down in history as one of the greatest victories for the humble consumer. Before the recent stalemate, thousands of people got their money back. We heard success story after success story. If the regulator rules in favour of account holders following the current investigation, we will no doubt hear thousands more.

But what of those who haven't succeeded, and why?

Perhaps some people, buoyed by the news reports, tried to reclaim money that wasn't actually theirs in the hope of a windfall. Maybe some did not follow the correct procedures. It is likely that some just couldn't be bothered.

However I suspect that cases like my own, in which the bank is to blame, are more likely.

When I applied to The Royal Bank of Scotland for a refund in March, they banked my cheque for £10 (to cover the cost of administering old statements) but never sent the statements.

I contacted RBS this week to find out what had happened. I was told that: "As the account was already closed, the system rejected the order... Unfortunately it does not appear that the branch followed-up with other processes available to them to trace the account and the request was not actioned."

The bank apologised and assured me that my statements are now on their way - six months after I applied.

The bank will have been earning interest on that £10 - I still might not get my charges back.

RBS did not explain why it banked the cheque before the statements were sent out.

This is yet another example of banks acting slowly when doing something for you and yet managing to act quickly to their own advantage.

Has anyone else failed to obtain a refund for similar reasons, or indeed been refused? Let us know at Times Money.

Comments

[Jim Wilmer]

I applied to Halifax for a refund and was refused, but then £1700 appeared as a cash deposit on my account, with no explanation. Several weeks later, a letter arrived saying that if I kept the money, I was accepting this as a full and final settlement. They have not yet shown me how they arrived at their offer, and, consequently, I have denied their condition. Shortly afterwards they incorrectly returned a direct debit for £45 and charged me £39 for the action. They may be returning illegal charges, but they're still charging them.

[Andrew Lawden]

yes ,

in have filed against lloyds/tsb , and royal bank of scotland but they have frozen my paperwork as they say they recieved details after july 27th and i have to wait for court case. Given these details were faxed before this date , i await county court date to deal with them to get my money back