Reclaiming Bank Charges

Reclaiming bank charges from current or closed accounts specifically for busting your overdraft limit,  bounced cheques and direct debits was once an open door. You simply threatened to take a bank to court or the Ombudsman and it sent you back a goodwill cheque for six years' worth of charges plus interest.

While charges have dropped slightly to an average of around £15 in the past few years, it's still possible to be charged up to £35 a pop for going overdrawn. Yet it may be possible to get this back.
If the bank believes your complaint may be investigated by the Ombudsman it may offer a partial, or even rarely a full, settlement when you just write it a letter or two. After all, if it ends up paying out, it's better to do it sooner, and offer a bit less, rather than incur the expense of fighting it.
Therefore acting confidently and pressing your case if you think you've had unfair charges is crucial. If you've a strong case you could get some of your money back.
However of course, there are no guarantees. While in the early days of reclaiming banks never fought, and often gave a full payout, that's far less likely now. So if you are offered a settlement, think about taking it.

Reasons To Claim:
1. Your are in financial Hardship.
2.The charges are Disproportionate.
3.You are stuck in a cycle of charges you cant get out of.

When claiming back, first look online to see if you can do it there, if not the easiest way is to write to your bank and request a list of all the charges they have dealt out to you. You have the right to request this under the Data Protection Act. The bank has to reply within 40 days to you. Once you have the list of charges work though them and make notes on any you deem unfair. They write to your bank asking for them back, and drop in the fact you are going to contact the Ombudsman, with this they will write back to you and hopefully offer some or all of the money back. If not take your claim to the Ombudsman and explain the whole situation and they should help.

I understand this is a deep subject that i have merely touched on, any question please post in comments section and i will answer them.

A topic that people keep discussing with me is Premium Bonds. Are they worth it? Will i make more money than in a savings account? How often will i win? What will i win? Many questions people ask.

The simple answer to it all is in the long run you are unlikely to gain as much money as if it was in a high interest savings account. The way it works is instead of earning interest on the money you have in an account, you get entered into a draw where you can win money. For every £100 you have in your account you get one entry into the draw. So the more money in there the more likely you are of winning. You are allowed to have a maximum amount of £30000 in your account. Odds wise though if you work out the chance you would win and how much over certain periods of time, it is not as much as if it was interest.

I will give you some examples compared to a high interest savings account...


1. £100 over a year, you are likely to win nothing!
    Savings account you would now have £108 a gain of £8

2. £1000 over a year, you are likely to win nothing!
    Savings account you would now have £1080 a gain of £80

3. £10,000 over a year, you are likely to win £100 WOW!!!!
    Savings account you would now have £10,800 a gain of £800

4. £30,000 over a year, you are likely to win £400!
    Savings account you would now have £12,400 a gain of £2400

Now what about over more time...

1. £30,000 over 5 years, you are likely to win £1500!
    Savings account you would now have £44,080 a gain of £14,080!!!!

2. £30,000 over 10 years, you are likely to win £2500!
    Savings account you would now have £64,767 a gain of £34,767!!!!


I will let you make your own mind up if its worth it.....

Next up is Current Accounts!

The current account market is on fire at the moment, banks are so desperate to get new customers that the deals they are offering are awesome!

Just like with savings accounts you can rake in the advantages by doing research and switching to right account at the right time. Most bank accounts are now offering £100 or even more just for switching over to them!
There are lots of other benefits including higher interests rates usually up to 5% on a balance up to £2500. All you have to do is fill a form online and your account will be transferred automatically. The best thing is the banks understand that as it your current account it has a lot of activity, so they will also transfer across your balance, standing orders, direct debits and any payments going in like your salary. This makes it so simple and no reason not to do it. Some accounts will give you the money after a few weeks, some 3 months. Lots of accounts are also offering free overdraft for the first year. This is good if you are not always in the black.

If you want to make this really profitable you can keep on switching accounts as soon as you have got the bonus, this is only if you can put up with having a new card and pin every couple of months.
Lastly my warning is check all the details of the accounts as everyone is different and might not suit your current financial situation.

Hi there

First stop is saving accounts. Almost every person has a saving account, but also almost every person is using the wrong one!

The most common reason for this is once someone has a bank they tend to stick with it, weather through laziness, being unaware of whats out there or just through trust and knowledge of their bank. Whatever reason it is, it is costing them a lot of free money they could be making. All it takes is a little research and filling out a form and then Bang your making much more money on your savings.

First stop with savings is an ISA, this a special bank account where you are allowed to save £5100 tax free a year. They usually have a very good interest rate as well. The reason to start with a an ISA is in any other account you have any interest you earn will be taxed by the government. Which makes your savings less effective.
The government will not touch any money that you put into an ISA, but bear in mind you can only put away £5100 each year. If you can save more than this any excess on top of the £5100 should then go into a high interest savings account.

Now you should shop around for both ISA's and savings accounts as every bank offers different rates and benefits so you can decide what suits your lifestyle best. The majority of people will want to select whichever bank offers the highest interest rate in both situations. Although my warning to you on this is that a lot of banks now try to lure you in with a high "introductory rate" and then after 12months it drops to a much lower rate. Now there is nothing wrong with this, but if you want to be savvy and take advantage of this you need to keep jumping between the "introductory rate" each time it runs out. Then you get the best of both worlds! Also other things to worry about are accounts with withdrawal limits, which means you can only withdraw a certain amount of times per year. Accounts can have different levels of access, the normal and most common is easy access, where you can access your funds as many times as you like and when you want. Some accounts you have to give the bank a certain amount of notice which is defined by the account type, and some you have to lock your money away for a certain period of time which quite often a year or more!! There is a reward for doing this, which is usually the best interests rates available!

Even a few years ago doing all of this would of been a problem but now with everything being online it usually takes 5mins to fill out a form and the bank does the rest for you! So you have no excuse not to do it. So of you go!

Introduction

Hey!

I'm simon and I have decided after talking about money with my friends and how tough it is in the world that we now live in, to tackle the subject once and for all.

With all the press and the media going on about recession after recession it can get a bit depressing thinking about money, your finances and what to do about them that people just feel like giving up.

But don't! This is an ample opportunity to be financially savvy! Overhaul your bills, contracts, bank accounts, credit cards, loans and mortgages, shopping, transport, insurance and you will be surprised with just a few tweaks here and there how much you can save, and even make more money in some cases.

Ill be tackling each one in detail, and any news updates or money making ideas I am made aware of will be put straight on my blog! I encourage any followers to comment with there thoughts to ideas they have. Don't be shy! Lets work together to give ourselves a Pay Rise!!