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The claims process

Until the OFT/Banks test case was initiated, the process of reclaiming penalty bank charges from a bank was relatively straightforward and, almost always, successful. The process followed by thousands of bank customers was:

1) Obtain all the information from the bank about what charges had been imposed on the account and put together a summary of the data.

2) Write to the bank demanding a full refund with a threat of court action if the bank did not refund the charges.

3) Submit a County Court claim.

4) Sometimes the bank would pay up in a short time; sometimes it would fail to respond in which case the claimant could get judgment by default; sometimes the bank would file a defence.

5) If the bank filed a defence, the claimant would complete an allocation questionnaire and send this back to the court. If the bank had still not paid up, the court would set a date for a hearing.

6) Before the court hearing date, the bank would inevitably pay up saying that it was not worth their while going to court.

However, once the Test Case was announced, the Courts put all claims on hold. When the test case was finally decided in late 2009, essentially the whole basis of recovering charges via the court system was ended.

The above information is just of historical interest.

Published and promoted by Bob Egerton, TR2 4RS