Recover your Money for Free: A DIY Guide

If you are confident enough to do it yourself, you do not need to rely on a fraud recovery service like CEL Solicitors to get your money back. You may be able to recover some, if not all your money by doing it yourself!

While many victims of fraud can re cover some, if not all their money without a detailed understanding of banking legislation and regulations, some banks refuse to act unless forced to do so.

If your bank refuses to help, you may need to progress your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

How to get your money back from a scam

Contacting your bank

The first step in recovering your money is to complain to your bank. How you do this will depend on the bank you use.

Different banks have different complaint procedures. Some only accept emails, some only list a telephone number, while others have an option for a live chat service on their app.

If your bank still operates on the high street, you may be able to visit your local branch and complain in person. If you do this, make sure you have written evidence of how and when you complained.

Submitting a complaint to your bank

Once you have submitted your complaint, your bank has up to 8 weeks to respond (15 days if the complaint relates to a payment) [please confirm]. Your bank should issue a final response stating their decision on the matter. If you are lucky, your bank may offer to refund all or part of your loss at this time and you can choose to close your complaint.

If you are unhappy with their decision, you can escalate the issue with the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Note: If you are unsuccessful in complaining to your bank, you can still choose to begin a scam recovery claim with CEL Solicitors. We can craft a compelling case before escalating your claim to the FOS.

See how we could help.

Take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service

The FOS was set up in 2001 as a free resource for customers with complaints against financial service businesses like banks or payment service providers (PSPs).

If you decide to progress your case to the FOS, you can submit a complaint using their website for free within 6 months of receiving the final response from your bank.

Initial Assessment

Once you have submitted your case to the FOS, the initial assessment of your case will be carried out by a case handler. They will examine your claim based on the evidence provided and their understanding of the situation.

The case handler will decide what money, if any, should be returned to you. If you and your bank are happy with the terms, you can accept the decision and close your complaint.

Ombudsman’s decision

If you or your bank refuse to accept these terms, the case can be escalated to an ombudsman for a “final binding decision”.

The ombudsman will re-examine your case and give both parties time to gather more evidence and make final representations before a ruling is made.

Once the ombudsman has concluded, both parties will be addressed in writing as to the terms of the decision. They must accept or reject the case by a specified date. If you are still unhappy with the decision, you will need to seek legal advice. The FOS will not be able to help past this point.

Why use CEL Solicitors?

As the UK’s #1 consumer law firm, we have a strong track record of recovering as much money as possible for clients who have fallen victim to fraud and scams.

We have helped more than ten thousand people recover over £70 million. Our excellent reviews on platforms like Trustpilot, Google and Review Solicitors speak to the quality of our work.

We know exactly what we are doing

We see hundreds if not thousands of scam claims every day. As a result, we have become skilled at understanding how scammers, banks, and the Financial Ombudsman Service operate.

We know exactly what tactics scammers use to extort money from their victims, and where banks are failing in their duty of care.

Our experienced team of fraud recovery experts are on hand to comb through the details of the case to find the best way of recovering your money for you. Regardless of how you lost your money to fraudsters and scammers – we can help.

We recover as much money as possible for you

We have helped many clients who have initially tried to go it alone with their bank. These clients may have originally been rejected or offered only a small portion of the money they lost. During our claims, we seek additional compensation and interest for our clients which may even leave them in a better financial position than before the scam occurred!