Andrew DEREK UK said:
There has been a note by moderators saying everything should be kept respectful on all the threads, so I choose not to post back on this, until now, but taking advantage of any situation is not correct in my personal view and we all have to be honest.
Many times I have seen mistakes, a shop undercharges me, maybe I am wrong but I point it out to them, if they overcharge I expect it to be put back to where it should be and will not take charge of the situation.
Exploiting a loophole when you know it wasn't meant to be used like that in my option is not honest.
There is a lot in the press about taking advantage of Banks, holiday companies shops etc., if you feel something is incorrect complain in a professional way.
If someone drops money in the road, its it yours or do you hand it in to the police, if a local shop or restaurant undercharges you, do you tell them or do you go without saying anything.
I am honest and I wouldn't consider making money out of any Loophole, or jumping on the bandwagon when the papers think they can run this country and tell you to exploit something to make money.
The papers wouldn't like it if someone said take them out of the shops for free, as the next day you can have them free with your chips???
Not a flame but this is a moral issue.
I certainly see where your coming from Andrew, if thats your moral stand point, then so be it. I do slightly disagree with what your saying though.
I am attempting to save for Florida next year, and also am currently re-claiming bank charges from an old account.
I agree, if im undercharged in a shop, i will tell the assistant. If someone dropped money in the road, of course i would tell them or hand it to the police. As far as these charges goes though, from my position I see them as fair game.
I managed to acrue £260 in charges when I was in a financial pickle some years ago, I was advised by the CAB to just pay priority debts for the time being and I explained to my credit card company the situation, but they still charges late payment fees and eventually over limit fees. When I got myself back on track I spoke to the card company who refused to help at all. I paid it, and got on with my life, a little annoyed, but thought it was fair game.
Now, comes to the present day.. I find a website who helps reclaim these charges and I thought i would have a go. Now what shocked me the most, was the amount of financial institutions that settled so quickly, unsure why, I looked into it and found that these charges are way over anywhere near what it costs the bank. Some financial experts even worked out the cost to be between £2-£3 per transactions, the OFT believe that a charge of £12 or less is fair. So, why do they need to charge so much?? Where are thier morals?
The reason why the banks do settle, is that they dont want to break down in court the £35 charge everytime an automated transaction gets bounced or refused. Its even made some credit card companies start charging £12 to sort of stay fair according to the OFT.
So.. my point, reclaiming bank charges in my opinion is not immoral. Exploiting loopholes in credit card deals is a little naughtier, but in my opinion fair game as long as its legal.
I hope I dont offend you with this post, I just feel that people read these and just judge rather than finding the facts out.
Ohh.. and i do agree with you that its diabolical the way the papers do try to run this country. I show my dissaproval by not buying any papers (especially tabloids) apart from the local ones.
Peace out