Customer sends bailiffs in to seize bank's computers (arrogance gets its due)

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk ^ | 19.01.07 | Staff

[ChildOfThe60s]

A man who was fed up with paying massive bank charges decided to give one of the high street giants a taste of its own medicine.

When Royal Bank of Scotland refused to refund £3,400 charges that Declan Purcell believed he was owed, he sent in the bailiffs.

Stunned customers at his branch of RBS watched as debt collectors seized four computers, two fax machines and a till filled with cash.

The branch manager was told that the items would be sold unless RBS came up with the money owed to Mr Purcell.

Only when the manager gave an undertaking that the debt would be paid did the bailiffs leave.

Mr Purcell said: "I think the bank was pretty shocked when the bailiffs went in. But my view is that this is exactly what they would have done to me."

The move, which will raise a cheer from millions of other bank customers, is part of a consumer fightback against bank charges, which net an estimated £4.5 billion every year.

Every time a current account customer goes overdrawn by as little as £1 most banks will charge around £28, even though the administration cost is only about £4.50.

Then every cheque, direct debit, or card transaction that goes through or is bounced incurs another charge of up to £38.

The Office of Fair Trading is investigating whether banks have implemented these charges unlawfully.

The Daily Mail's Fair Play on Charges campaign and that run by the Consumer Action Group have helped thousands reclaim charges in the past year.

Like other customers Mr Purcell, 48, from East London, had warned his bank that he was prepared to go to court to claim back charges he believes were imposed unlawfully.

In June last year he demanded the refund of £3,400 charges he accrued during the previous six years while running a motorcycle dealership.

RBS ignored the claim so in October Mr Purcell filed an online application to get the money back through the county court.

After 30 days the bank had not responded and so on December 10 the court ruled in Mr Purcell's favour.

It ordered RBS to pay the charges and £120 court costs. When RBS again failed to respond Mr Purcell got the court to give him a warrant of execution, allowing him to order debt collectors to reclaim items from the bank equal in value to the amount he was owed.

Finally on Monday, January 8, a team of debt collectors walked into the busy Camden Town branch in North London, demanded to see the manager, showed their court order and announced that they were repossessing items.

Mr Purcell, who now works for London Underground, said: "I was dismayed by the bank's reaction when I made my claim for a refund – it was so rude and arrogant.

"They thought they were above the law, so it is great to know that customers can use the law in the same way the bank does to get money they are owed."

A spokesman for RBS said: "We are looking into this as a matter of urgency, but early indications suggest that unfortunately due to an administrative error, the bank failed to defend the claim leading to a default judgment being obtained on the branch and a resulting warrant.

"The confusion was cleared up at the branch."

Marc Gander, who set up campaign website Consumer Action Group, which helps consumers get refunds from their banks, said: "I am quite sure that Mr Purcell will not be the last person to send bailiffs in to his bank.

"The continued operation by UK high street banks of their unlawful charges regimes will see to that.

"The heavy-handed debt collecting approach is something that the banks have been handing out to their customers for years. Mr Purcell simply gave them a bit of their own back."

[ChildOfThe60s]

After 30 days the bank had not responded and so on December 10 the court ruled in Mr Purcell's favour

Hah! The mouse that roared. ROTFLMAO.

This, more than anything else defines bank's attitudes towards customers.

[GovernmentShrinker]

A spokesman for RBS said: "We are looking into this as a matter of urgency,

One would think . . . I imagine what they're really looking into is precisely which employees of the legal department are about to be unemployed.

[DugwayDuke]

Reminds me of an article I read several years ago about bank charges on insufficient funds. According to the article the banks had a policy that they would process al the drafts occurring on a day in decreasing order based upon the amount, the largest check first.

This has the effect of increasing bank charges for over drafts. Suppose a customer writes five checks, one for $1000 and four for $10 each. The customer has $1005 in his account. If the largest check is processed first, then there are four overdraft charges. If the smallest are processed first, then there is only one overdraft charge. At $30 a pop, the customer fees are increased from $30 to $120 all for the same situation.

[IronJack]

What banks apparently fail to realize is that the money they control belongs to someone else! NONE of those deposits are their own. So when they try to cut corners by restricting access to your own money, or by charging you fees to gain that access, you are entitled to be outraged.

Practically every bank I know has cut back on its services -- no more returned checks, no more reconciliation assistance, no stop-payment orders, no money orders, even a limit on the number of withdrawals and deposits per month -- unless you're willing to pay a fee for each service, or keep some astronomical balance in your account(s).

Somebody somewhere is going to open a bank that is less concerned with making money than with serving its customers. And he's going to corner the market.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Somebody somewhere is going to open a bank that is less concerned with making money than with serving its customers. And he's going to corner the market.

IMO, the concepts of making money AND serving customers are not incompatible. Just the opposite. One makes more money.

I live in a small town with (gasp) local banks. But I also use ING (an internet bank, no brick and mortar), quite impressive the interest I am receiving. Try 4.5% for completely liquid savings account ($250 min) and 3% for checking.

[Frwy]

Score one for the people.

[Sender]

My bank hopes and prays that people overdraft with their debit cards or checks. They charge $30+ for each occurrence. One day when I didn't realize my wife had paid a large bill, I stopped at the grocery store and overdrew by about $2. There is no notification, it just says "approved".

Later in the day I drove through McDonalds for my grandson and spent $4, then I later bought a coke for $1. All were approved with no notification.

When I got home I found my account $100 overdrawn due to $90 in charges. I asked the bank to change my account so that any overdrafts would be denied at the POS. They said there is no way to do that, all overdrafts will continue to be approved with no notification and I must pay all the charges.

Now I realize that it's my fault that I overdrew, but why can I not be advised of that fact at the POS? The system knows the funds are not in the account. There should be a question such as "If you continue with this transaction there will be an overdraft fee. Continue? Y/N".

I think the banks love this source of extra revenue.

[GeorgiaDawg32]

Somebody somewhere is going to open a bank that is less concerned with making money than with serving its customers. And he's going to corner the market.

Where, oh where is George Bailey when you need him..

[magslinger]

This, more than anything else defines bank's attitudes towards customers.

This defines most banks attitudes. In my experience the big banking conglomerations are all like this. You know the ones, you have problems keeping the name straight because they change it every few weeks. I refer to them generically as Nocturnalaviationbancorp. I used to do my banking with a couple of such.

I now deal with a small town bank. Their branch is a half mile from my home. They recently celebrated their 70th anniversary. I have no doubt that they will be in business for at least 70 more. The staff, from the branch manager to the newest teller is uniformly friendly and helpful. This is true even with the main branch. Many of the tellers remember my daughters from when I would bring them in while doing my banking. Those daughters are now customers there, too. Every other customer I have ever talked to is equally satisfied with their service.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Yeah, the same thing happens with credit cards. No more "credit limit reached" rejections. Major league cash cow.

Banks absolutely love debit cards, which I never use. I charge [literally] everything on my Visa and make one giant payoff each month. As long as one's credit limit is high enough to cover a whole month's spending, and you pay it off each month of course, it avoids that pitfall. And I like the idea of using their money for 45 days.

The best we can do is shop around for banking services. There are better deals out there. If you're willing to deal with a bank that may not have a physical presence in your town, you can do better.

[BluH2o]

RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) has been on a acquisition spree for some time now. One of their acquisitions, a bank where I've had my Mastercard account for fifteen years.
The card was not heavily used and the monthly balance almost always paid off ... my Mastercard was used mostly as a backup to my AMEX card ... not everyone takes AMEX.
Anyway, this past October I noticed a late charge (about $45.00) on my statement. I called to find out why the late charge. I was told it was 2 days overdue, the payment goes to an business address some 800 miles miles from where I live. Long story short, I was speaking to a rude female who acted like I was a deadbeat ... my credit score is top ranked. She would not drop the charge so I asked her what does it cost to bring a new customer onboard? Surely more than the amount of the outrageous late fee ... because, as we speak, I'm cutting up your Mastercard ... and after 15 years our business relationship is over.

[Revelation 911]

restricting access to your own money

precisely why I no longer bank at M&T

they were obligating me to have a copy of my wifes drivers lic when cashing a check made out to both of us that had been double signed, while another M&T branch down the road did not - the first branch claimed it was part of the patriot act

they were unyielding

They lose

[Bigh4u2]

"Banks absolutely love debit cards, which I never use"

My bank lets me use my 'debit' card as a credit card.

As long as I have the funds to cover my purchases, there is no problem and no charges.

BTW: If I try to charge something without enough in my account, the machine will say 'insufficient funds for this transaction'.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Seafirst banks in the PNW have a similar scheme.

If you have $30 in your checking account, say, and they're monthly fees add up to $6. When a check for $28 comes in, they first take their $6, which don't leave you enough funds to cover the check. They then bounce your check and charge you another $20 for the bounced check.

In order to get the check to clear, you have to pay the $20 then deposit the $28, because if you simply deposit the $28, they'll $20 out of that for the bounced check and the cycle continues.

In my experience, Seafirst was the most cold, ruthless and unreasonable banks to work with. There was no negotiating. The immediate buck meant more to them than years of being a customer with funds in their bank.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

And why can you not elect to have funds transferred from savings automatically if you are going to overdraw?

SeaFirst in the PNW ONLY allows this if you have their own issued credit card. Yes. You have to pass their credit check to have your own funds transferred from your savings account to your checking account in order to avoid overdraft.

We need alternative banks and alternatives to public education.

[ikka]

Somebody somewhere is going to open a bank that is less concerned with making money than with serving its customers. And he's going to corner the market.

It's called a credit union, and they are eating the various banks' lunch in terms of people switching.

[rocksblues]

I had a master card account with Peoples Bank, they were bought out by RBS. For no reason my interest rate went from 9.9 to 15.99. I paid it off and closed the account. Now they send me teasers at least twice a month.

[B4Ranch]

I wonder if he has closed his account at that bank.

[engrpat]

In the 1950's (don't remember the exact year) a judgment was rendered against the Southern Pacific RR in Tucson. The SP didn't pay so a order was issued to the sheriff and he went to the depot and handcuffed himself to the Sunset Limited. The SP had the check there in no time. Some times you have to do what you have to do.

[Bob J]

My mathbe off but it sounds like this guy bounced about a hundred checks.