I can only speak for the UK here, but it may be true elsewhere.
High Street Banks have been ripping us off for ages. Nothing new there I hear you say...
The thing is, now, you can claim some of it back. If you have ever been charged for going into your unauthorised overdraft, writing a dodgy cheque or having a Direct Debit bounce, you almost certainly got charged ‘unlawfully‘.
In the UK, the law states something along the lines that the bank can charge you administration cost of sending you a letter to inform you of the misdemeanour.
The standard bank charges are usually between £10 and £30. Considering a computer automatically prints off this letter, and in some cases it can even put it in a franked envelope as well, these charges can be considered unlawful. Even if they have to pay someone to manually stuff the envelope, they will be a hard-up student earning the national minimum wage (I should know - i was that person once).
I have been reliably informed that if you write a letter summing up the above information, you can claim back the fees for the past 6 years.
There are 2 ways of obtaining this data - firstly, go through all of your old bank statements (if you still have them). Secondly (if the first option is impossible or just too much hassle), under the data protection act, you can write to the bank and demand that they furnish you with the information (although they may charge you for the admin costs).
Once you are armed with this information, you can write to the bank informing them that you are claiming back this money as it was taken unlawfully. Tell them that if they do not reply, you will take them to court (as is well within your rights).
Most of the time, the bank will tend to settle out of court fairly quickly. In the extreme cases, you may have to have the courage of your convictions and take precedings further by taking it to the small claims court.
Basically, most banks will probably settle by this stage, as their lawyers fees will not justify the amounts involved in the first place. Moreover, none of the banks wants a case like this to make it to the high court and set a legal precedent. Once that happens, the flood gates will open and everyone will be claiming it back.
I hope this is helpful to you all. For more info (and where I got this from myself) go to http://www.moneysavingexp ert.com
(I‘m not affiliated with the site whatsoever, just thought that people deserve to know)