Frequently Asked Questions
What am I paying for and what will I get?
Your first interview with us is completely free of charge.
A member of our staff will make a cursory examination of your bank statements to look for any problem areas in your banking. If nothing shows up you have the reassurance of having had your accounts examined for errors and this will, hopefully, give you peace of mind.
In the event that a problem is identified with your banking or on your bank statements you will have the opportunity to discuss the various courses of action open to you and agree the way forward. All fees / charges will be discussed and agreed prior to commencement of any work we may do for you. If subsequent events generate extra fees these will be advised to you in advance and agreed as before.
What we offer is a complete review of all your banking costs including interest, transaction fees, commissions, excess fees, penalty interest and arrangement/renewal fees.
When the recalculation and reconstruction is complete you will receive a bound report showing the day to day movement of your bank accounts, the charges (including interest) levied by the bank, the charges as recalculated by BANKCheck and the compounding effect on the interest (interest on interest) all of which is taken into account to produce the final overcharge figure.
Will this harm my relationship with the Bank?
When our reports are complete it is again the client's decision on how best to handle the situation.
There are 4 choices:
1. Do nothing and consign our report to the back of a drawer.
2. Approach your bank with our findings and negotiate with them yourself
3. Request us to accompany you to your bank to explain our findings and help settle matters
4. Request us to act on your behalf and negotiate for you in your absence.
We are happy to follow whatever path our client decides on. We have clients who wish to approach the bank themselves, others who wish us to attend the meeting with them and some who ask that we negotiate with the bank on their behalf with the client not present.
We always deal with the Banks in a professional manner and in line with your wishes.
In our experience our involvement has never resulted in a Bank closing an account nor cancelling an overdraft or loan but they have always continued to deal with their clients on a professional banking basis.
Many of our clients report that regarding overcharging the Bank has been so embarrassed that relationships have actually improved. This is also the case where we have been negotiating for new or reduced fee and interest margins in that the Bank see that this client is very serious about their Banking activities and are taking professional steps to maximize their profits.
Always remember we will not get involved with any Bank unless we have the authority of the client to do so.
What documentation do I have to give to BANKCheck?
When you agree for work to be carried out for you BANKCheck need as much information about the operation of your bank accounts as possible.
This information will include:
1. All the bank statements for the years you want audited or report prepared for.
2. Bank facility letters, agreement forms and any other letters concerning your borrowings for the period being analysed.
3. Lodgement books and or credit ledgers showing a breakdown of all your lodgements for the period advising us of the amounts of cash and cheques lodged.
How long does all this take?
We usually have a waiting list and try to avoid it getting any longer than 3 months.
Once we receive your contract and deposit cheque this secures your place in the queue. The waiting list time gives us time to collect all the paperwork we need.
The actual process time once we have all the information is usually between two and four weeks.
Negotiations to claim refunds or renegotiate facilities vary in length of time depending on the amount of the claim, reason for it and the attitude of the Bank. This can range from a couple of months to in one case over a year before success is achieved.
Can I jump the Queue?
In exceptional circumstances, usually where pending legal action is involved we will take action on the case immediately.
We consider each request and will advise you accordingly depending on the problems involved.
What if I cannot afford the processing fee?
For work to begin we only require a 50% deposit of the processing fee. Our processing fees are very modest and we do not believe it is fair to our other clients to make reductions to our fee structure. We will agree however to accept the deposit in stages as long as you understand that the work will not be started until the deposit is paid.
I'm going to have to pay your processing fees - will it be worthwhile? It seems a little expensive.
Our processing fees are very modest on a per year basis when you consider that we have to set up a computer program for each client as no two bank accounts are the same. In addition to this we have to input each days balance, every banking transaction in that year as well as compare costs levied as against agreements with the bank and produce a report, with its findings advised to yourself. All figures have to be checked by a second analyst before releasing any reports as we must be definite our figures are correct and no manual errors have occurred in keying your data to our computers.
For longer audits with additional years obviously the processing fee is larger but this has extra benefits:
The annual cost per year decreases resulting in the average cost per year for the full audit also decreasing.
The more years we audit the more likely it is that we will discover overcharges therefore reducing your risk of having no return.
Due to the massive effects that compounding of interest can have (interest upon interest) a modest error say 10 years ago will now be worth a substantial amount of money. For example, an error of £250 in 1975 could now be worth over £17,000 today.
Unfortunately we don't know before we start an audit if your Bank has overcharged you - only that it is highly likely that it has.
Some clients, sceptical at the start, have benefited substantially with large refunds.