Bank Charges - illegal?

carlih1

Hi

i wrote to them with the standard letter asking for the charges back and that was their reply, i already know how many charges from the statement, just wanted to know how i should respond, i will help you if you want.

Carli

Tabs_2

:wave:

First, I'll just give a summary of my case to you ...

• We wrote to Clydesdale Bank (trading as Yorkshire Bank) to request copies of bank statements. They returned our cheque for £10 and said we were not entitled to the information.
• We phoned the bank to discuss the matter but they just kept saying that statements weren't covered by the Data Protection Act. We said that if they didn't supply the info then we would be making a complaint to the Information Commissioner (IC). They said "fine, do that". She still refused to supply us with the information and said we were trying to "exploit the system" :rotfl: We asked to speak to their Data Protection Officer and they said they would get him to call us.
• We submitted a complaint to the IC.
• Around 4 days later we received a call from the banks Data Protection Officer. Again, he kept saying we weren't entitled to information and that their bank had had a meeting with the IC and a few other banks in December 2005 and it was agreed that they don't have to supply such info to customers. We asked to see a copy of the meeting minutes but he refused.
• We telephoned the IC helpline to seek their advice on this and they said that they weren't aware of such a meeting although he couldn't deny it had taken place. The IC confirmed that whilst we weren't entitled to copies of the actual bank statements in that format under the Data Protection Act, we were entitled to the information contained within the bank statements. Therefore they could supply us with a list of transactions applied to our account.
• We wrote back to them AGAIN and give them one final chance to supply information. Gave notice of our intent to file claim with Small Claims Court if they didn't refund all charges. Still not heard back from them and they haven't even returned our unbanked cheque yet!
• Heard back from the IC regarding our complaint and they said they would get in touch with the bank and make them aware of the guidelines. The IC told us to get back in touch if the bank hadn't responded within 14 days.
• We filed a claim via the Small Claims Court for the maximum sum of £4,999 inclusive of interest and court costs. We worked this out on the basis that we had a visa card and a current account and calculated the worst case scenario. We do not know how accurate this will be to the actual figure but we have given the bank the opportunity to give us that information.
• No response from bank within that period so we let the IC know.

Yesterday we received a response from the Information Commissioner to say that the IC is "of the opinion that it appears unlikely that Clydesdale Bank (National Australia Group Europe Ltd) has complied with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. Specifically, it appears likely that there has been a contravention of the sixth data protection principle, which requires data controllers such as Clydesdale Bank to process personal data in accordance with data subjects' rights. This is because the bank has not responded to your subject access request within the prescribed 40-day period. I have informed the bank of our assessment and instructed it to provide the requested copies of your personal data with immediate effect.".

The IC also states that they cannot punish a data controller but that they will seek a resolution to the contravention.

This morning, we have received a letter from Addleshaw Goddard solicitors to inform us that the Clydesdale have instructed them to act on the banks behalf and they have enclosed a Notice of Acting! So, it looks like we will be going to the small claims court over this :j :beer:

I am pretty confident that the way the bank has been acting can only work in our favour I know from this board that the bank has supplied statements to other customers free of charge, and even for the £10 fee in some cases. Why they refuse to supply ours is a mystery really!

Anyway, I'll keep you all updated with what happens.

Dchurch ... do I need to PM you via the Bank Action Group website to update my claim on there? Also, could you please give me some indication on what Addleshaw Goddard's involvement in this case may mean, and what we should expect? Thanks.

dchurch24

Their involvment means nothing.

(yes, please pm me over at the BAG,CAG whatever)

It won't make a blind bit of difference and it's just a scare tactic. Have they acknowledged the claim yet?

If so, then have they actually put in a defence?

If so, how many more days until the initial 28 is up (the date from which they were deemed served).

If they're daft enough to try and fight this in court, then you have nothing to worry about - you might just get costs for taking the day off of work out of them when they lose.

It's my guess that they'll be in contact soon (don't contact them at all) - probably around the time you recive the court allocation questionnaire.

...and yes, the judge is not going to look kindly on their inability to comply with other laws - notably the DPA. It looks just like what it is - a stalling tactic and an attempt to get you to go "oh well - nothing happened, I'll just accept it" - which is just what it is.

I hope they do go to court and get the spanking they deserve - which would happen in court anyway in my opinion regardless of their flouting of the other rules.

Like all the other cowards.

Tabs_2

We made the application to the court on the 6th March and they acknowledged this on the 16th. On the acknowledgement, it was signed by one of their corporate lawyers and we were not sure what happpened from here so have just been sitting tight waiting for the questionnaire.

It was to our understanding that the 28 days started from the 6th March and not the 16th so were hoping to get something either way before the 3rd April. We were not sure what this letter meant other than they have outsourced the legal representation and whether we had to do anything.

I am not sure what stage that leaves us at, could you try and decipher from the dates we have mentioned?

I will update on BAG/CAG asap.

Thanks for your response.

dchurch24

Yes you are right - 3rd April.

It's my guess that they will be in touch with you soon.

When the questionnaire arrives, just fill it in and send it back. It costs them more that way, and not you (unless the claim is over 1500 quid).

It's extremely unlikely that they are dim enough to want this to go to court - however if they do, then great news (as far as I'm concerned - I know it can be a bit daunting).

I have the name of a chap that says he will attend court (and possibly stand for you) if the case is heard in England.

It's my opinion (and that of his) that nearly every conceivable (and half-believable - they may come out with some mad defence) defence, we have an answer for.

It's not rocket science law, and as far as I'm concerned they know they are on the run.

Barclays have been known to settle at the gates of court - as have Abbey.

Aidenr

Hi guys,

Im a new member and have just signed up to the Consumer action group for help on claiming on all the charges.

In a nut shell (ish)
I relocated in sept 05 280 miles to manchester where i have never been before. applied for a £500 overdraft on my Current plus account to assist with the move and was declined.
went over drawn (unathorised) and subsequently incurred masses of charges. as a resolve at the time Lloyds gave me a "reducing overdraft" of £1100 which reduces £92 per month.
ever since then:
SALARY GOES IN
BILLS GO OUT
OVERDRAFT REDUCES
CHARGES SEND ME OVER MY OVERDRAFT and i re-establish new charges for that.
spoken to LLoyds who refuse to re-look into my repayment plan to resolve the never ending circle of charges. they think i should cancel my DD's and spend less, as if i'm stupid!!

Please dont get me worng, i'm a hard woking 26yr old account manager on good money that now has to work at ASDA to try and resolve this massive issue that has effectivly surrended me dead in the water as far as future credit is concerned.

so now im in the process of following the steps laid down here and consumer action group to sort this whole mess out.

feel completly out of my depth but hey in for a penny in for a pound (or whatever the saying is)

Wish me luck :rotfl: LLOYDS WATCH OUT

Aiden

Tabs_2

Thanks again for replying!

Just to let you know that, as we had no luck gaining the information from the bank, we put in a claim for £4,999 maximum as a pre-estimate based on some calculations that we made (not sure how close these figures are to the actual ones as we have no paperwork whatsoever from the account as we closed it three years ago).

Also, we were very specific to say that this was inclusive of any interest and court fees to ensure that we did not go over the £5k mark.

We were half expecting to receive a letter from the bank to say our actual charges were "x" amount and not the amount being claimed for, and whether or not they were prepared to refund these. Still not heard anything from them.

The Information Commissioner has told the bank to supply us with the DPA information immediately so we may have to amend the claim amount to accurately reflect the charges. However, as the Yorkshire don't seem very keen on writing to us, I won't be holding my breath :rotfl:

Tabs_2

Dchurch - just trying to send you a PM via BAG website but it says that you have exceeded your stored private messages quota and can not accept further messages until you clear some space ....

Shall I PM you via MSE instead? (or is that just as full? :rotfl: )

dchurch24

Dchurch ... do I need to PM you via the Bank Action Group website to update my claim on there?

Sorry, my inbox(es) are full everywhere - I got quite a snotty email from someone yesterday demanding to know why I had ignored their email.

It was the 1075th email I had received that day.

Could you PM Bankfodder at the CAG - he may have more time to deal with it than me.

Tabs_2

dchurch24 wrote:

Sorry, my inbox(es) are full everywhere - I got quite a snotty email from someone yesterday demanding to know why I had ignored their email.

It was the 1075th email I had received that day.

Could you PM Bankfodder at the CAG - he may have more time to deal with it than me.

Sure, no worries!