Renaissance Easy Claim - Bank Charge Complaints
Frequently Asked Questions
How long will the process take?
What is your fee and how do we pay?
Is there anything to pay Renaissance upfront?
If I complain will it affect my credit rating?
Can I claim for more than 6 years of charges?
Do Renaissance have a minimum level of charges for the cases it takes on?
Is there a limit to the amount that I can claim?
My bank charges me interest for using an authorised overdraft. Can I reclaim this?
How much am I likely to get back?
Can I still complain if I no longer have the account?
What happens if the bank won't refund my charges?
Will the bank/building society etc. contact me?
Can I complain myself and if so why should I go through you?
What experience does Renaissance have?
Why can't you take my complaint on if I've claimed before?
Why do you need my account details upfront?
Once we have received your signed Letter of Authority and Our Agreement, we
will write to you to acknowledge receipt and confirm that you have 14 days to
change your mind. We won't do anything during that period but if we don't hear
from you during the 14 days then we assume you still wish to proceed. We will
then lodge your complaint with your bank/building society and if we need to get
copies of statements we will also submit a request for these. It can take 40
days for your bank to respond.
Once we have the statements from your bank or from you, we go through them all
to identify any charges which we believe we can recover. We add interest to
these and produce a schedule totalling all the charges and interest. We will
then notify your bank of the amount of your claim.
Should your bank/building society choose not to refund your charges, we will
refer your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service. For this we will need to
complete further forms for you, which you will need to review and sign. We will
let you know more details about the process from that point on when we contact
you.
When we receive an offer which we believe is reasonable we will contact you
with details of the offer which you will need to sign and return to your bank.
Payment usually follows a few weeks later.
How long will the process take?
We can't give you an exact timescale for completion of the claim. The time it takes can depend on the bank/building society/credit card company we are complaining to and whether or not you have the statements to determine how much you are claiming. However, on average, cases where we already have details of the charges take about 3-4 months and 5-6 months where we need to get statements. This is an average and whilst some cases can take much less, those which go to the Ombudsman process can take much longer.
What is your fee and how do we pay?
If we are successful we charge 25% plus VAT (only on the 25%) of any compensation we win for you. For example, if your compensation is £1,000 our fee is £293.75. The bank or building society we are complaining to on your behalf will pay your compensation directly to you (not us) and we will send you an invoice for our fee. This is payable within 10 days of the invoice. If the PPI premium was added to your loan and you loan is still running, it is likely the bank will repay you in part by reducing your loan balance and in part by cash. Our fee is payable on the total refund plus interest, less the amount you would have received had you cancelled the policy yourself.
Is there anything to pay Renaissance upfront?
No. We even pay the fee from your bank/building society for copy statements where necessary.
If I complain will it affect my account?
Or
Is it true that my bank/building society/credit card company can close my
account?
It depends on the bank but generally speaking it is possible for your account to be closed at any time by the provider by issuing you with 30 days notice at the bank's discretion. It is however extremely rare for a bank to apply this. Obviously this is not something for which we can take any responsibility. If you are unhappy about the charges and this is a concern for you, we recommend that you have a look at accounts with other banks and perhaps open one before proceeding with your claim. Banks are more competitive now and it is far easier to transfer accounts than it has been in the past so it pays to shop around. Why should you put up with a service which penalises you unfairly?
If I complain will it affect my credit rating?
No. It will not affect your credit rating in any way as you are legally allowed to make a complaint for a refund of unfair default charges.
Before we can proceed, we will need 2 signed copies of the 'Letter of
Authority' per account and a signed copy of the tear off strip 'Our Agreement'.
It's unlikely we'll need anything else but if you do have anything you think
maybe relevant (for example any correspondence relating to a failed attempt to
reclaim your charges), please forward this as well.
Can I claim for more than 6 years of charges?
No. You can only claim back charges from 6 years prior to the date of your complaint.
Can I reclaim bank charges even if it was my own fault for going overdrawn, for going over my agreed overdraft limit, or for a late payment?
Yes. You can because your claim relates to the charges made by banks being disproportionate to the cost incurred by your bank for taking any action and are therefore contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. You are not complaining about whether a charge should have been made or not.
Do Renaissance have a minimum level of charges for the cases it takes on?
Yes. This is generally £1,000 over 6 years which broadly equates to on average 4
charges per year.
This is purely a commercial decision made by Renaissance and doesn't mean you
are not entitled to reclaim your bank charges. We would urge you to contact
your bank, building society or credit card provider and complain about these
charges yourself.
Is there a limit to the amount that I can claim?
No. There is not a limit to the amount you can reclaim. There is however a restriction on the length of time you can reclaim bank charges and this is limited to 6 years.
The account in question is a joint account but my partner and I have split up. Can I still reclaim bank charges?
Yes. You can still reclaim bank charges, but we will need both parties to accept our Terms of Business and sign our Authority to Act. Please note that in addition any refund will be made payable to you jointly unless you jointly request otherwise.
My bank charges me interest for using an authorised overdraft. Can I reclaim this?
No. The bank/building society are within their rights to charge you interest for this facility.
How much am I likely to get back?
Our
average is over £2,000 and we won over £25,000 for one customer.
Can I still complain if I no longer have the account?
Yes. You can, providing you still have the sort code and account number/credit card number for the account in question. We can still only reclaim your bank charges for the last 6 years.
What happens if the bank won't refund my charges?
Then we will escalate the complaint by referring the matter to the
Financial Ombudsman Service.
No. We believe that in most cases complaints should be dealt with by the Financial Ombudsman Service and not through the courts.
Will the bank/building society etc. contact me?
They should not contact you as you have given us the authority to act on your behalf. They may however send some correspondence to you through the post. They should send us the same documentation in which case we will ask you to disregard what you receive directly as we deal with everything for you. If you are in any doubt whatsoever please contact us and we will be happy to advise you.
Can I complain myself and if so why should I go through you?
Yes. You can complain yourself and would follow the process outlined above.
There is also further information on our website (www.easiestclaim.co.uk
) and you may wish to search for alternatives.
We know from experience that people don't have the time or inclination to
plough through years and years of statements or complete all the paperwork.
Many other people are put off by the additional forms required by the Ombudsman
or court and find the concept of taking issue with their banks (particularly
via courts) quite intimidating. We are a specialist Claims Management Firm and
have dealt with thousands of financial services complaints to many different
firms. What's more we will complete all the forms and conduct all the
negotiations with the companies on your behalf. Renaissance takes away the pain
of paperwork and worry.
What experience does Renaissance have?
We are a specialist Claims Management Firm with a proven track record. To date we have been endowment specialists and have won in excess of £16 million from endowment companies since 2004. We plan to use this complaint handling experience and our significant expertise in the financial services market to help more people claim back what is due to them. We have invested a significant amount of time and money investigating this area prior to launching our offer to the public to ensure we can deliver results.
Why can't you take my complaint on if I've claimed before?
This is purely a commercial decision made by Renaissance and doesn't mean you are not entitled to reclaim your bank charges. We would urge you to pursue your claim through your bank, building society or credit card provider. If you feel you are getting nowhere you can refer your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Why do you need my account details upfront?
We ask for these details so that we can register the complaint with each respective bank/building society etc. We type these on to the Letter of Authority before we send it to you to verify and sign. Alternatively, when you receive the Letter of Authority you can hand write the details on yourself if you so desire.