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Press Release

Customers shouldn’t be scared of claiming back bank charges

23 March 2007

According to research carried out by Which?, nearly two thirds (64 per cent) of bank customers hit by unfair overdraft charges are yet to reclaim their money.

One in five people (21 per cent) yet to claim said that fear of how their bank would react was the reason they hadn’t asked for their money back. Twenty two per cent felt that it would be too complicated and a third said they wouldn’t know how to go about it.

Of those who had made a claim, a massive 85 per cent had been successful in getting at least some of the money refunded, although Which? believes this figure would be nearer 100 per cent if people persisted when their bank didn’t immediately reimburse them.

A quarter (26 per cent) of people who had made a claim said that their bank was unhelpful and unresponsive while a further third (33 per cent) said that they had to chase their bank for a response.

Emma Bandey, personal finance campaigner, Which?, says:

“Claiming back unfair bank charges is a simple process that won’t take up hours of your time.

“If your bank does not co-operate, you should refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) as so far the banks have chosen to settle all cases referred to FOS.

“It is terrible how poorly some banks have been treating some customers. It is bad enough that they have been levying unfair charges for all this time, but the response from some banks shows that they need to work on their customer service.

“Banks need to get their act together and deal with this problem. It can’t be good for the banks’ image that so many people found them less than helpful.”

Anyone who thinks they have been unfairly charged by their bank for going overdrawn in the last six years can access easy-to-use resources at www.which.co.uk/bankcharges including a step-by-step guide to reclaiming and downloadable template letters to send to their bank.



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