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If you've read this far, you are
clearly serious about recovering the charges you've been hit with
over the last couple of years. As such you are probably aware of some of
the background to the present situation.
 The
'Unfair (Contracts) Terms Act 1977' and the 'Unfair Terms in
Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999' are designed to protect you
as a consumer.
This legislation specifies that in order for
a charge to be lawful it must represent the actual financial
loss sustained by the organisation.
Penalty charges are usually issued arbitrarily, so everyone pays the
same regardless of how much we went overdrawn by and regardless of the
actual losses sustained by the institution involved.
Consumers are forced to pay on average �25 and up to as much as
�39
for a typical unpaid direct debit. The actual cost to the organisation is
considerably less. How much less? It is interesting to note that not one
of the institutions, when questioned will divulge this information.
In short, charges of this nature, constitute a penalty to the
consumer. The penalty is illegal and unenforceable in law. It is no
coincidence that not one single claim has been seriously defended in a court of law.
The Office of Fair Trading has ruled these charges are unlawful
and constitute an illegal penalty. This ruling has not been challenged
by any of the financial institutions to date. |
