- 26
- Nov
- 07
£30, £25, £20, £15 are all figures you might have seen if you have been subjected to a late payment fee or a returned payment fee.
Last year the OFT forced banks to reduce their credit card charges to no more than £12. Is this still too much? An anonymous ex-employee of Yorkshire Bank might hold the answer to this question as they revealed that it only ever cost £2 to recover the money from the account holder.
We at compareandsave.com are sure that you would like to know whether this new penalty is fair and where the money goes. First of all, let us explain to you why banks are allowed to charge a fee in the first place.
When you sign up for a bank account you are signing a contract to agree to use the account in a certain way. This contract is made up of the terms and conditions and within them are clauses that state, for example, that your account is not allowed to go into the red.
If you do happen to go into debt in your account then technically you have breached your contract. The bank could take you to court to recover their money but instead the charges are written into the terms and conditions. The bank has every right to get back the money that was borrowed without authorization plus charge you for the cost of recovering this money.
However, the law also protects the consumer and says that the bank can charge you for the actual cost of recovering the money but cannot add on a ‘penalty charge’ as well.
The question, at this point, is: how much does it actually cost the bank to recover their money?
The recent campaign to reclaim bank charges involves taking the banks to a small claims court to appeal against the amount charged. Money is usually awarded back to the claimant because banks do not wish to defend themselves. If they did they would have to provide details of the calculations it uses to come up with the amount to charge the customer.
At the end of the year, the OFT are set to announce what they consider to be a fair charge for dealing with these types of offences. Meanwhile, we would love to hear any views you have.
Last year the OFT forced banks to reduce their credit card charges to no more than £12. Is this still too much? An anonymous ex-employee of Yorkshire Bank might hold the answer to this question as they revealed that it only ever cost £2 to recover the money from the account holder.
We at compareandsave.com are sure that you would like to know whether this new penalty is fair and where the money goes. First of all, let us explain to you why banks are allowed to charge a fee in the first place.
When you sign up for a bank account you are signing a contract to agree to use the account in a certain way. This contract is made up of the terms and conditions and within them are clauses that state, for example, that your account is not allowed to go into the red.
If you do happen to go into debt in your account then technically you have breached your contract. The bank could take you to court to recover their money but instead the charges are written into the terms and conditions. The bank has every right to get back the money that was borrowed without authorization plus charge you for the cost of recovering this money.
However, the law also protects the consumer and says that the bank can charge you for the actual cost of recovering the money but cannot add on a ‘penalty charge’ as well.
The question, at this point, is: how much does it actually cost the bank to recover their money?
The recent campaign to reclaim bank charges involves taking the banks to a small claims court to appeal against the amount charged. Money is usually awarded back to the claimant because banks do not wish to defend themselves. If they did they would have to provide details of the calculations it uses to come up with the amount to charge the customer.
At the end of the year, the OFT are set to announce what they consider to be a fair charge for dealing with these types of offences. Meanwhile, we would love to hear any views you have.
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