Frequently
Asked QuestionsPlease refer to
these common questions or ask our experienced team for further
information on how we can help you secure compensation of you
Why am I able to obtain a refund of
Bank Charges?
Why does my bank charge me £35 for sending a letter?
How can Victory Claims help me?
Is there anything to pay Victory Claims upfront?
How much will be refunded to me?
Is it true that my Bank can close my account?
Will any claim affect my credit rating?
How many years charges can I claim?
It was my fault that I went overdrawn. Can I still make a claim?
Am I able to claim a refund of the interest I have paid for using the overdraft?
Are there any limits on cases?
What if the Bank refuses to refund my charges?
How will the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) case effect my case?
Is Victory Claims Ltd regulated and how secure are my private details?
Why am I able to obtain a refund of Bank Charges?
Banks make charges to their customers for unpaid direct
debits, returned cheques and exceeding the agreed overdraft
limit for sending a letter informing the customer. Under the
Law of Penalties, the charges made for such items must be
proportionate to the cost of providing the service.
We believe that these fees are excessive and exploitative,
and we aim to assist our clients obtain a refund for these
unfair and unacceptable charges. The Law states any charges
banks impose on their customers must be proportional to the
actual costs they incur. The question we ask the banks is
the same question you must have asked when you saw the
amount your bank had charged you: “how can it cost £35 to
send an automated letter when you have gone as little as 1p
over your agreed overdraft limit?”
Are
Bank Charges fair?
The Office of Fair Trading ruled in April 2006 that credit
card charges were too high and should be reduced to £12,
which includes all their costs and a more reasonable profit
for the credit card company, which most providers have since
introduced. Many may still think £12 is too high, however it
constitutes precedence to the case for reclaiming unfair
charges from all banks, credit card and loan providers as it
makes all prior charges look too expensive to the point of
gross exploitation.
Why does my bank charge me £35 for sending a letter?
The bank is effectively fining you for going over the agreed
limit and the current charges are considered extravagant
under the Law of Penalties and unfair in Consumer Contracts
Regulations. A recent report by BBC2's The Money Programme,
gathered the opinion of a group of former senior bank staff
of the cost of sending an automatic letter with a stamp, and
they estimated the real cost to be between £2.50 and £4.50.
Customers faced with these exorbitant and exploitative
charges have strong justification for having them refunded
with interest.
It is not surprising therefore that British banks profited
by over £10 billion in the last 6 years from charges for
“unauthorised transactions” from their customers. The good
news is that we can help you claim back these unfair charges
over the past 6 years, plus interest. In many cases where
the charges occurred a few years ago, the interest payable
by the bank to you adds 20%-40% to the refund.
How can Victory
Claims help me?
Victory Claims Ltd helps consumers compile and pursue
complaints about unfair Bank Charges by investigating the
amounts due to be refunded and calculating the amount of
interest owed and constructing a case based on this detailed
information. Once we have assessed your case, we lodge a
written complaint on your behalf that comprehensively
addresses the specific laws that we believe make the charges
unfair. We ensure that your complaint is pursued with vigour
and professionalism, in order to increase the speed and
likelihood of a full refund.
Our knowledge of the process and experience in dealing with
the Financial Services Industry and the Regulator helps to
get our clients complaints heard and dealt with quickly and
satisfactorily. We pursue all complaints to conclusion by
driving the process with continual monitoring of the work by
the Banks claims team, ensuring that they comply with the
regulators deadlines and answering any questions raised
immediately. Finally we make sure that the offer satisfies
your requirements and where less than a full refund plus
interest is offered, we advise you of your options and the
likely timeframes for further action.
What is
the process?
Once we have received your signed Letter of Authority and
Client Agreement, we shall write to you to acknowledge
receipt of your documents and introduce the Claims
Specialist who will handle your case. We shall also provide
you with further information and confirm that you have 14
days to inform us should you change your mind and decide not
to proceed with your claim.
During this period we shall prepare your case and request
details of your Bank Statements if required. After 14-60
days where we have received details of the charges, we shall
submit your complaint with your bank. It can take 40 days
for your bank to respond to our request for details of the
charges.
Once we have the statements from your bank or from you, we
identify any charges which we believe we can recover. We add
interest to the charges and produce a summery totalling all
the charges and interest. We will then write to your bank
requesting they refund the full amount plus interest.
Should your bank decide not to refund your charges, we will
either refer your case to the Small Claims Courts or to the
Financial Ombudsman Service. In either case we will need to
complete further forms for you, which you will need to
review and sign. We will let you know more details about the
process, the risks involved and your options. In either case
you do not need to worry, even in the unlikely event your
case goes to court, and you require legal representation, we
will arrange this for you at no advance cost to you, only
deducting the costs when we secure a refund for you.
When we receive an offer which we believe is reasonable we
will contact you with details of the offer which you will
need to sign and return to your bank. Most banks make
payment within 28 days, although we continue to keep chasing
this where the bank delays for whatever reason.
What do you need from me?
We shall send you a Letter of Authority and Client Agreement
together with a copy of our FAQ’s for your information. Once
you have decided to proceed, signed and posted the documents
together with your Bank Statements, we are ready to start
your claim. If you do not have your statements, your bank
will charge £10 for accessing the information, so simply
enclose a cheque for £10 made payable to your bank with the
signed documents.
Is
there anything to pay Victory Claims upfront?
No. We offer our service without any upfront fee or payment
to our firm. If you do not have your Bank Statements you
will need to provide a £10 cheque made payable to your bank
to request this information, although we shall not make any
charge unless you receive a refund. Should we agree that it
would be prudent and productive for your case to be referred
to the courts, we shall pay the Court Fees and Solicitors
Costs until the case is settled, and in the unlikely event
we fail to secure a refund for you we shall not charge you
anything, regardless of the cost to our firm.
Can I make a claim on
my own?
As an alternative to using our professional services to
assist you in securing a refund, you may choose to proceed
with your claim yourself, or with another firm without using
our services. If you decide to undertake the claim yourself
and build a strong case of for a full refund, you may find
that this works relatively simply for you and you receive a
full refund. In other circumstances where a favourable
response is not received, you should maintain the pressure
on your advisor and if your claim is initially rejected or
responsibility denied, you have the right to refer your
claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), the
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) or the Law
Courts. The FOS and FSCS services are available at no cost
to you, although there are Court Fees to pay should you
pursue that avenue, however it will involve time and
communication costs to ensure that the correct procedures
are followed. You can expect your initial claim to take
between 2-6 months and further 6-18 months should you refer
the matter to the FOS and 6-12 months with the FSCS, with
Courts taking a further 6-12 months to reach their decision,
although these timeframes depend on the volume of work at
the responding party.
These options are available to all account holders and many
have secured a refund directly without using our services,
or that of another Claims Mediation Specialist, in the same
way that some people successfully defend themselves in court
without using the services of a solicitor. However, account
holders using the services of Victory Claims Ltd have
commented that they would not have known where to start
their complaints and vitally, that they would have abandoned
their complaints at the first hurdle in the absence of
advice we provide which is grounded in our experience of the
claims process. We believe that our explicit knowledge of
the claims process is the major benefit of utilising our
services.
How much will be
refunded to me?
We shall calculate the total amount of charges you have paid
and add interest at the rate of 8% per year. As we shall
request a refund on the basis that the charges were an
unfair penalty, the interest you were charged on the amount
overdrawn cannot be refunded. In some cases the Bank shall
offer a full refund, or even with additional interest in
response to our initial claim, although in most cases they
offer less than the full amount initially. In consultation
with our client, we determine whether this amount is
acceptable, and where we both agree that it will be both
prudent and productive to pursue the claims further, we
prepare further letter for the Bank requesting a revised
offer.
We review each offer on its own merits, paying attention to
the amount offered in relative and absolute terms, the time
and risk concerns associated with rejecting the offer, and
the whether the requirements of the client have been
matched. In the event that we both remain dissatisfied with
the offer, we shall advise the client of their options to
challenge their decision in the courts. Depending upon the
above, the amounts and Bank involved, the client can expect
to receive 70%-140% of the charges paid in the last 6 years.
What fees can be reclaimed?
We can help you reclaim penalty charges such as exceeding
your agreed overdraft or credit limit, unpaid cheques or
direct debits, or late payment charges. These fees are used
by banks to penalise a customer for having insufficient
funds in their accounts and are therefore subject to the Law
of Penalties. You cannot claim normal banking fees such as
ATM withdrawal fees, agreed overdraft fee, charges relating
to foreign currency transactions, monthly account fees on
certain accounts (that provide “free” annual travel
insurance) and normal overdraft interest charges. The Law
permits these charges as they are fees for a service you
require.
How long does it take?
We cannot give you an exact timescale for completion of the
claim, due to the numbers of complaints being received by
the major banks. It is also important to note that cases
where the client provides full details of the charges are
likely to be processed more quickly as we are able to
proceed directly to the claim stage. On average, cases where
we already have details of the charges take about 60-120
days and 90-180 days where we need to get statements. This
is an average and whilst some cases can take much less,
those which go through the courts or Ombudsman can take much
longer.
Is it
true that my Bank can close my account?
It depends on your bank and their approach to retaining good
customers, although it is legal for your account to be
closed at any time by the provider by issuing you with 30
days notice at the bank's discretion. It is however rare for
a bank to do this. It can however be useful for a client
making a claim to review the offers available form a variety
of banks and choose the best product for them. You may wish
to take into account the banks policy on overdrafts and
other charges before choosing a new bank.
Will any
claim affect my credit rating?
No. You are legally entitled to complain about these bank
charges and the bank cannot change your credit rating as a
result.
How many years
charges can I claim?
You are entitled to claim unfair Bank Charges dating back 6
years in England and Wales, and 5 years in Scotland. Charges
outside this period are beyond the statute of limitations
for the Small Claims Courts. We are however able to add
interest at the statutory rate of 8% per year, which can
significantly increase the refund on charges made several
years ago.
Return
to questions
It was my fault that I went overdrawn. Can I still make a
claim?
Yes. Most people have financial problems from time to time,
whether minor or more serious. Your bank is allowed to
charge you when you exceed the agreed limit for your
overdraft, although the charges must reflect the actual cost
incurred. Unfortunately, the fact these charges are often
over £30 per letter compared to the actual cost of
£2.50-£4.50, adds to the financial problem of their
customers and makes it more and more difficult for them to
clear the overdraft.
Am I able to claim a refund of the interest I have paid for
using the overdraft?
No. The Bank is within its rights to charge interest on any
amount you borrow from them. The may also charge you a
monthly fee for an agreed overdraft limit, which they are
also within their rights to do.
Return
to questions
Are there any limits
on cases?
No. There are no maximum or minimum amounts which you can
request to be refunded. Victory Claims Ltd shall consider
handling all claims over £200 as it is not worthwhile for
our firm to handle claims for less than this amount. We do
encourage all customers of banks to write to their bank and
request a refund, although we will be unable to assist you
if your claim is below £200.
Return
to questions
What
if the Bank refuses to refund my charges?
Should the bank(s) make no offer, or an offer which we both
agree is unsatisfactory, we have the option of referring the
case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) or through the
Courts. In many cases the bank will simply make a revised
offer to avoid the costs and possibility of establishing a
precedent, although they may delay until the court date
before tabling a revised offer.
Return
to questions
Will my case go to court?
A professional and well documented claim sent by Victory
Claims usually results in an offer without going to court.
If the Bank does not provide a satisfactory offer we shall
explain your options and provide detailed information to
help you decide whether to proceed. We only pursue cases
that we believe have a strong potential for high returns
with low risks in terms of Court Costs, Solicitors Fees,
time to conclusion and potential for added stress or
inconvenience for our clients, and we ensure the client has
considered these facts fully before proceeding with legal
advice. Should we both agree that it would be prudent and
productive to refer the matter to the Courts, we shall pay
all the Court Costs and Solicitors Fees and shall pass on
this charge to you only when we are successful in obtaining
a refund for you.
How will the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) case effect my
case?
On 27th July 2007, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
announced that a test case regarding bank charges is being
referred to the High Court. We agree with the OFT that the
charges for unauthorised borrowing and transactions returned
due to insufficient funds amount to penalty charges as
defined in the Unfair Terms of Consumer Contract Regulations
1999, whereas the banks believe that they are service
charges. The High Court’s judgement will determine whether
the charges you have incurred are service charges that the
banks are legally entitled to charge, or they shall rule
that the charges unfairly penalised their customers. Whilst
the case is expected to take several months to conclude and
the banks are allowed to wait for the decision before
dealing with its customers complaints, we are confident that
the High Courts ruling will be in favour of the OFT and our
clients, so it is essential you act now to avoid being
effected by statutory time limits or delays in receiving a
refund once the case is completed. During this period our
specialist will assemble all the necessary information
required to proceed, calculate the amount owed to you,
submit your claim and constantly review the regulatory and
legal positions.
Client here for the
latest update on developments in the OFT Test Case
Is Victory Claims Ltd regulated and how secure are my
private details?
Yes. Victory Claims Ltd is authorised by the Ministry of
Justice to provide regulated claims management services. Our
registration is recorded on www.claimsmanagement.gov.uk. We
are also registered with the Information Commissioner as a
Data Controller. We handle your personal details securely
and confidentially under the Data Protection. For more
details please refer to our compliance fact sheet.
How do I get started today?
If you have Bank Charges and you are interested in finding
out more about how Victory Claims can help you with your
claim, simply contact our Claims Assessors on 0800 011 2510
or email info@victoryclaims.co.uk. Our team is ready to
assist you with your refund after a brief discussion of your
circumstances.
Start your claim today
