Reclaim bank charges

If you're making a new claim, the first step is to find out how many charges you've had (and can therefore try to reclaim). We're talking about charges and related costs for going beyond your overdraft limit, or bounced cheques and direct debits.

Traditionally these were about £35 per transaction, but now many banks don’t charge fees for going over your overdraft limit any more, and if there are fees, they tend to be much smaller (around £2.75) with limits on the number of times the banks will charge these.

So, with bank charges, these days it’s often a case of reclaiming past charges rather than current ones as charges just aren’t heinous any more. 

Bank account monthly fees for packaged accounts are not part of this (but may be reclaimable under different circumstances, see the Reclaim Packaged Accounts guide). 

Here's how it works:

• You can make a reclaim even if the account is now closed. There's nothing barring you from trying to reclaim charges if you've since closed the account, even if it was a few years ago.
  
  
• You can make a reclaim from more than one bank. There's nothing stopping you trying that. This applies to any current account you've had.
  
  
• You can reclaim new charges even if you had a payout before. There's no bar on reclaiming again. However, the fact you've already been through this is a worrying sign of either severe financial problems or money mis-management. Read the Debt Help and Budgeting guides to try to prevent further problems.
  
  
• You can reclaim for years back - six years is a good rule of thumb. We're certainly talking years, not months, though there are varying views on how many, and you'll probably be asked to prove your financial situation for the full time you're claiming for. Don't worry if you haven't kept old statements, you've a legal right to access them (see below).
  
  The ombudsman suggests claiming as far back as you like, and it will decide whether or not all or part of your claim can be considered. We believe it's more common than not to only be paid part of your claim, though.
  
  Technically, the ombudsman can only help with claims within three years of when you realised there was a problem, so if you've been waiting, claim now. If you end up in court, normally the Statute of Limitations Act says you can only claim for something within six years of the event in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland.
  
  In many ways, this six years is probably a good rule of thumb for putting a complaint to the ombudsman. But if you had substantial charges before that, there's no harm including them.
  
  
• You can try to get interest back on top of your claim (but it's not a legal right). If you go to court and win there, you'd be entitled to add 8% flat interest (not compounded) on top of compensation from the date of each charge. Therefore, you may want to ask for the interest as part of the initial claim.
  
  But you're NOT legally entitled to interest, unless you win in court. However, if you do decide to push hard, consider it part of the negotiation process. It may mean you could offer to settle "without interest". Plus the ombudsman's view is it'll consider interest if it's asked for – and may even plump for the interest you were charged by your bank, eg, around 20%. So if you don't ask, you don't get. Here's a calculator to help you work out how much interest you may be able to get on top of your claim.