Bank-smart now charging me!

1…1314161819…23

Comments

  • 7yearnightmare
    7yearnightmare Posts: 13 Forumite
    I would follow up with the legal/financial ombudsman before parting with any money. These people are scammers and have targeted 1000's of unsuspecting and innocent people like you and I who are just trying to get a little bit ahead. The Financial Ombudsman has had a stream of complaints about them. Personally I would fight them and if nothing else drag it out.
  • magpiecottage
    magpiecottage Posts: 9,241 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    LittleAcorns wrote: »
    Yeah I thought it might be...

    Dangit. Oh well, looks like I'm £267 out of pocket (annoying when I have just been made redundant, but hey) :(

    Thanks for your help.
    If they have not specified what this supposed missing document is then you would seem to have grounds for complaint.

    However, you need to actually make that complaint to Banksmart before you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to intervene.
  • CG2015
    CG2015 Posts: 1 Newbie
    edited 2 May 2015 at 4:57PM
    Hello!
    I am writing on behalf of my friend who was approached a couple of years ago and is still 'harassed' by several companies about PPI. My friend is a manual worker and has never used internet. He hardly can write a letter.
    One of the PPI company who approached him is Bank Smart.
    My friend says that as for the other companies, the 'deal' was no deal, no fee. He filled a form for an alleged PPI he could claim with Lloyds.
    I don't have the whole record yet, but my friend says that after a while they sent a letter asking for loads of paperworks and my friend replied to them to forget the file if they could not obtain satisfaction, that he could not find the history anyway with Llyods as it was an old file, that he barely could remember and that after his partner had left him, she had taken away/destroyed many paper that he did not have any longer for sure.
    The thing is that BankSmart have kept harassing him by phone and letters. At the beginning he answered their phone calls but because they were persistent and my friend could hardly understand all the questions and why they were so fussy he has decided to not answer them any more.
    Yesterday he received a letter with a statement of account for £390.30 for breach of contract (invoice description). My friend says that he did not sign a contract with them, just talked to them and send the initial paper work, that's it.
    In the past year we sent 2-3 letters to reply to theirs and I wrote them on behalf of my friend as he could not write them but he signed them to say 'ok if you can't move forward with the file, this is fine, just forget it' but BankSmart has never replied to them.
    My friend works 1st job from 6AM to 15h00 and 2nd job from 15h30 to 22h00-23h00 so he had really… no time and does not know how to deal with it.
    I was thinking to go to the Citizen Advice Bureau. What do you think?
    I will get the correspondence (all letters he received from them and our replies) in the coming days and will try to get my mind round this.
    My friend says that the other people who called him about the PPI have never done that, and he did not get the money he did not pay them and they never chased. Is BankSmart a legitimate company I am wondering?
    Kind regards
    catherine
  • ricardo274
    ricardo274 Posts: 7 Forumite
    Hi,
    Does anyone on here have a copy of Bank-Smarts Terms and Conditions issued in July 2012. I would appreciate it if someone could provide me with a copy.

    Thank you Ricardo
  • 7yearnightmare
    7yearnightmare Posts: 13 Forumite
    Ricardo, I received a reply from Bank Smart yesterday. I am going to read through it this morning and speak firstly to the Financial Ombudsman to find out my next course of action. They have attached 3 pages of terms and conditions outlining service charges which I definitely have never seen before. I note that you say "issued in July 2012". The T&Cs that I have been sent are not dated. Unfortunately I can't get them to add to the message.
  • 7yearnightmare
    7yearnightmare Posts: 13 Forumite
    Hi Catherine,

    Please take a look back through this thread. Your friend is one of many that this has happened too. I myself am in the same boat with Bank Smart claiming charges to the value of £2164 from me for breach of contract. You should contact the Financial Ombudsman in the first instance to log your complaint. They will instruct you to make an official complaint to Bank Smart. Once Bank Smart reply you can then take it up again with the Financial Ombudsman. I would not recommend paying anything to Bank Smart for the time being. I will keep checking back on here so please let us know how you get on. If you need any help - please come back and post here again. Best wishes. Kerry
  • ricardo274
    ricardo274 Posts: 7 Forumite
    edited 11 May 2015 at 6:47PM
    Hi 7yearnightmare, I have also received a copy of their T&C which I feel are the updated version. Please let me know how you get on with the financial ombudsman. Regards Ricardo
  • magpiecottage
    magpiecottage Posts: 9,241 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    7yearnightmare wrote: »
    You should contact the Financial Ombudsman in the first instance to log your complaint. They will instruct you to make an official complaint to Bank Smart. Once Bank Smart reply you can then take it up again with the Financial Ombudsman.
    This is incorrect.

    You must complain to Bank Smart in the first instance.

    If the response is not satisfactory you can then go to the Legal Ombudsman - NOT the Financial Ombudsman Service.
  • 7yearnightmare
    7yearnightmare Posts: 13 Forumite
    Apologies - I did mean the Legal Ombudsman - BUT - I did go directly to the Legal Ombudsman myself who logged my issue and were able to put me at ease. They did tell me that they could not act until I had complained to Bank Smart and BS had been given time to reply but the call was logged and I had a reference number and the LO were already aware of my issue 4 weeks later when I did need to revert to them.

    Ricardo - were the T&Cs that you received dated?
  • magpiecottage
    magpiecottage Posts: 9,241 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    7yearnightmare wrote: »
    Apologies - I did mean the Legal Ombudsman - BUT - I did go directly to the Legal Ombudsman myself who logged my issue and were able to put me at ease.
    Perhaps - but their remit does not actually permit them to do anything until the firm has received the complaint and had an opportunity to respond to it.

    However, if the complaint is rejected, you do not need a dated version of any agreement to go to the Legal Ombudsman.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 343.1K Banking & Borrowing
  • 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.6K Spending & Discounts
  • 235.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 173K Life & Family
  • 247.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards