High street banks and investment banks will charges a range of fees to a client’s account for managing the account – or interest on personal and business loans and overdrafts.
Fee scales should be agreed beforehand so a bank customer or business client knows roughly what they will be paying – usually fees are added as a percentage figure to an overdraft or as a management fee.
In recent years, banks have added all sorts of charges to accounts as bank accounts diversify and banks offer customers “packaged” bank accounts. These might offer “perks” like travel insurance with a current account, for example – and a monthly fee might be charged for the packaged account, as well as interest on any overdraft.
In recent years there have also been fees such as PPI added to banking products such as loans – payment protection insurance. PPI was often mis-sold and bank customers have been repaid millions of pounds as a result of PPI mis-selling.
However, disputes between customers and banks can occur over charges on current accounts or overdrafts or loans. Often banks charge inflated fees for exceeding an overdraft limit or credit card limit.
The main types of charges a banking dispute might involve are:
Banks do make mistakes and errors – and it is important to take action immediately if bank charges appear excessive, accrue regularly outside the customer agreement, or are erroneous.
There have been cases where customers who might have stayed within a overdraft limit have simply been pushed over the limit continuously by bank charges or penalty charges.
It is possible for a customer to tackle their bank themselves – banks all have a complaints procedure and advice is also available from the Financial Ombudsman Service (BOS) and British Bankers Association (BBA) on how to complain.
However, for most customers, dealing with a bank can be a daunting and highly stressful process – especially if they feel disadvantaged by being in debt to the bank and having to deal with a bank charges dispute.
Duncan Lewis can advise bank customers on how to complain about bank charges – and have proven expertise in handling cases involving bank charges disputes where resolution has not been possible via other channels, or the bank has proved elusive in its responses.
The Duncan Lewis banking litigation team can handle all correspondence with a bank where there is a dispute over bank charges – and will consider the evidence and put a customer’s case clearly and succinctly to the bank to get answers and any refund and compensation due.
If a bank is taking action against a customer, Duncan Lewis can act swiftly to protect a client’s interests.
Being further in debt or out-of-pocket as a result of a bank charges dispute can take a serious toll on finances – acting quickly in a banking dispute can prevent the situation from escalating further.
For expert legal advice on Bank Charge Disputes, call Duncan Lewis Banking Litigation Solicitors on 0333 772 0409.