Reclaiming Bank Charges Isn't Done Yet

If you are among the thousands of people that started bank charges claim in the country courts, most likely during the start of 2007 before the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) test case began, it's likely your case was stayed or suspended while the test case was on-going. In November 2009, after the OFT beat banks inside the High Court and Court of Appeal, an alarming technical rule from the Supreme Court overturned this and tried to stop the OFT's hopes in the test case; immediately after the OFT decided it wouldn't continue, even based on new arguments.

Sadly, this implies things happening with bank charges claims are now more difficult. To carry on, you'll most likely must use another piece of law for the one you previously tried and went to court with. These issues are among the reasons why those who are claiming bank charges often favor the Ombudsman over the courts in the immediate time prior to the test case. Now that the test case has ended, you may either hold off until the court contacts you; if it hasn't already, or jump start the claim process yourself.

Because you went along to court does not prevent you changing ship at this point and jumping to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is free, risk-free and doesn't rely on legal argument. Best of all, there had been reports of successful claims since the Supreme Court case, although success is far form guaranteed for everyone. Ombudsman will specifically only look at bank charges in three different cases which are financial difficulty, charges are unacceptable, and escalating charges.

If you are having a hard time to meet basic needs such as mortgage or utility bills, you're constantly living off credit, making credit cash withdrawals or have huge charges; you're likely to meet the requirements of the Ombudsman. If the bank charged you for your unauthorized overdraft by ??3.50 and incurred a ??40 charge, it's utterly disproportionate. The Ombudsman may look at your case, if you frequently do so, you're unlikely to succeed. Escalating bank charges takes the client in a situation of expenses over charges which drag the people so that they can't clear their overdraft before new charges are included on is a nasty thing. This is probably the main reasons why many people can get back thousands of pounds.

By: Virginia Shoshana

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David Jameswrites about Bank charges and other financial products for United Kingdom based company www.bankcharges.com. HE also tweets about unfair mortgage charges and the financial claims industry generally, as well as writing posts on personal finance, house sales, repossession and business finance.