Very Very Pleased - Plus a Few Questions

Ex-Spendaholic

That is where it is interesting. For the first 2 accounts which were paid in full plus a bit extra it states that the complaint will be kept on file and reviewed after the court case to ensure that I am not disadvantaged. The conditions were that the money was used to bring the OD up to its limit, clear any CC and mortgage arrears with them and then any surplus paid to the account. All well and good.

With this letter it refers to the payment being as a gesture of goodwill and without admission of liability. There is no mention of it being full and final nor is there any mention of them reviewing the account again following the court case. So I'm a bit unclear there.

The acceptance form is slightly different too. The first 2 were just a signature confirming that I accept their offer of x amount of pounds.

This one has:

"I confirm that I accept a total amount of £1292.00 in settlement of my unarranged overdraft bank charges complaint" It then goes on to mention that the money will be used to bring account to OD limit, pay off any mortgage, credit card arrears etc (if appropriate).

Now this account doesn't have an OD nor is it overdrawn. Furthermore I don't have arrears with Halifax any more. In truth my financial situation is much improved since their other payouts ie I no longer have overdrafts, I no longer have credit card or mortgage arrears.

As I've said before I really am lucky to have had such success with this. Part of me wonders if I should phone Customer Relations on Tuesday to say that I want the whole lot and enter into negotiations to see what comes of it. The other part of me says take the money and run as I've done well and don't want to lose out on this offer.

Ex-Spendaholic

I think I may phone them in the morning and ask them to explain things ie does accepting the £1295 mean it is full and final settlement, will the case be looked at again should the court case go in the consumers favour etc etc.

Halifax must be sick of me by now. :rotfl:

thriftymomma

Wow you have done exceptionally well! Could you not sign their thing but write to them sayingyou will accept it as a part payment without predjudice?

Ex-Spendaholic

How glad am I that I decided to call before signing the form?

Phoned this morning and got a nice lady, here is the general gist of the conversation after the security details bit.

Me: I received an offer which equates to around half of my charges. I'm just wondering if you can explain my options. If I accept this is the case closed or can I pursue the other half?

Halifax: Well you can only claim a maximum of 6 years charges no further than that - you won't get anything more.

Me: Yes I know that and thats what I have claimed back to June 2002.

Halifax: Yes I see - you have claimed 6 years charges and we have offered you 6 years charges.

Me: You've offered me half my 6 years charges

Halifax: We request a list of your charges and base your claim on that.

Me: Well my list of charges is double your offer

Halifax: Where did you get that list?

Me: From the Halifax :rotfl:

Halifax: Oh something isn't right here

So she put me on hold and said she would speak to a colleague. The person who dealt with my claim is on holiday. She then came back and said she would get a colleague to ring me back. So true to her word 30 minutes later I get a call


Halifax: We have had a look and our colleague has made a mistake. :eek: :rotfl:

Me: Wow, I never thought the banks made mistakes :rotfl: - I just couldn't resist

Halifax: Oh yes we do make mistakes, we are very sorry that we have made a mistake on this.

Me: No worries, we are all human - even the Halifax. :rotfl:

Halifax: OK what we are going to do is request another list of your charges - that will take up to 24 hours but we will mark it urgent. We will then make you a new offer. Would you prefer us to phone you?

Me: Yes please

So they are going to phone me either tomorrow or Wednesday. She said that the offer will be made then they will put the offer in the post.

It seems that they request a list of charges from another department. That list is then scanned on the system. The person dealing with mine has recorded on the system that 6 years charges are £1292 and that is what has been offered.

Aren't I glad, I didn't just sign that form? Moral of the story if something seems strange check it.

natweststaffmember

Just as I was about to say congratulations I got stopped half way through!! Will save it for tomorrow

Ex-Spendaholic

Success! :j :j :j

Just thought I would update. During the past few days I've had a call daily from the Halifax to say that their systems aren't working and that they would be in touch asap when they got a proper list of charges.

I just received the final call. My charges actually total £2295. They checked and I have had a few refunded at different times and my calculations were a bit off too. The upshot of it is they are offering me that full amount. :j :j An offer letter is being put in the post today.


So once again a big thanks to Martin and all the brilliant folk on this board. I wouldn't have done this without you. Here is my success so far:

Halifax A/C 1: £2944
Halifax A/C 2: £3315
Halifax A/C 3: £2295
Halifax Visa: £650
Total from Halifax £9204 - all claims paid in full

Others:

Barclaycard: £151.20 - paid in full
Studio £112 - paid in full

GE Money A/C 1: Claiming £131 - they've paid £24 and I'm fighting them for the rest

GE Money A/C 2: Claiming £75 - they have ignored letter 1 and letter 2 has gone to them

Egg: Claiming £210 - they have offered £20 - Letter 2 going today

Cahoot: £220 - Refusing to pay up - sent to Ombudsman

Creation Finance (O+D) - £135 - Refusing to pay up - sent to Ombudsman

Argos Card - Still awaiting charges info and will be chasing :mad:


The best bit of all is logging on to Halifax online and having black figures instead of red ones. :rotfl:

marcb47

Well done ex-spend. :beer:

I feel more positive about my own charges now. :T

TheAnalyst

Amazing! That £10k must be some weight off your shoulders!!!!

WELL DONE!!!!!

bathgatebuyer

Wow! What an amount to get cut off your debts! I thought my £7K was an achievement!