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Frequently asked questions Am I certain to get all my money back? I cannot guarantee that you will win. However, virtually everybody who has claimed has been successful. Occasionally, claimants have had their cases thrown out by the court, not on the substantive issue of whether or not their claim was legally right, but on technicalities because they had not worded their claim clearly enough and the bank's solicitors fought aggressively on procedural points. If you follow the guidance and suggested wording on this website, this almost certainly will not happen. I have won every case that I have submitted. On no occasion has the bank actually gone to court to defend the claim. Could I be faced with a large legal bill if I lose? No. In the worst case, you would lose the court fee that you had paid. But the court will not award costs against you if you fail to win your claim provided your claim is for less than £5000 and it is, therefore, heard in the small claims track. If your claim is for more than £5000, in theory the claim could be heard in a different track and you might be liable for costs if you lost. However, even then, it is unlikely that the judge would award costs against you. Some people have claimed for more than £5000 and in these cases the banks have still conceded before the case has gone to court. I have a business bank account; can I claim back penalty charges on that? Possibly. The common law rules relating to penalties in contracts apply as much to business accounts as to personal accounts. However, you cannot use the arguments relating to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 – these apply only to contracts with consumers, i.e. personal accounts. See section "The Law" which explains it in more detail. At the moment, (November 2008), it is unclear whether or not business account claims will be successful in the future. Can I claim back interest charged to my account? Generally speaking, no. The interest that you pay on an overdraft is a core part of the deal between you and the bank and the law does not prohibit banks from charging virtually whatever they choose to in interest. However, you can claim back interest on the penalty charges at the statutory rate of 8% from when the charges were applied until the date of the claim. See section on "Claiming" and then "List charges". I live in Scotland. Do the same rules apply there? The law regarding penalty charges is the same in Scotland as in England. However, the court procedures are different. You probably need to sue through the Scottish courts using the Scottish procedures. You might be able to sue an English based bank in the English courts if you can use an address in England from which to launch the action. This is more difficult now that English courts have invoked a Civil Procedure Rule that says that the claimant can only use their own residential or business address, or the address of their solicitor. Unfortunately, I cannot take on any cases for clients living in Scotland. A good source of information on Scottish law is the Govan Law Centre – see links to their website in section "Links". |
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In this section |
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Published and promoted by Bob Egerton, TR2 4RS |
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