Bank Charges - illegal?

Pressleyno1

Hi to you all, I've recently started a claim against the halifax and bank of Scotland...

I sent both a letter - using the template in the library - last Thursday (9th Jan), I asked for all charges to be returned, and a list of all bank charges.

I've yet to recieve any kind of reply.

How long does it usually take for the bank to get back to you in any kind of way, I said I was giving them 7 days in the letter, or I'd start a court case. I'm wondering if I should send out a final letter, or keep waiting.

I sent these letters to the HQ's, however after speaking to my mate who is a financial advisior, he said I should have sent the letters to my branch, with CC at the bottom of the letter, and the address of the HQ. He said this would force the branch to take action as they know HQ is involved.

carlih1

Pressleyno1 wrote:

Hi to you all, I've recently started a claim against the halifax and bank of Scotland...

I sent both a letter - using the template in the library - last Thursday (9th Jan), I asked for all charges to be returned, and a list of all bank charges.

I've yet to recieve any kind of reply.

How long does it usually take for the bank to get back to you in any kind of way, I said I was giving them 7 days in the letter, or I'd start a court case. I'm wondering if I should send out a final letter, or keep waiting.

I sent these letters to the HQ's, however after speaking to my mate who is a financial advisior, he said I should have sent the letters to my branch, with CC at the bottom of the letter, and the address of the HQ. He said this would force the branch to take action as they know HQ is involved.

Halifax haven't replied to me at all since 21st jan, i am assuming u mean 9th Feb?. I am just waiting for my pay so that i can take them to court. I think royal bank of scotland is run by the same company as halifax so probably the same situation.

Carli

Switch

Pressleyno1 wrote:

Hi to you all, I've recently started a claim against the halifax and bank of Scotland...

I sent both a letter - using the template in the library - last Thursday (9th Jan), I asked for all charges to be returned, and a list of all bank charges.

I've yet to recieve any kind of reply.

How long does it usually take for the bank to get back to you in any kind of way, I said I was giving them 7 days in the letter, or I'd start a court case. I'm wondering if I should send out a final letter, or keep waiting.

I sent these letters to the HQ's, however after speaking to my mate who is a financial advisior, he said I should have sent the letters to my branch, with CC at the bottom of the letter, and the address of the HQ. He said this would force the branch to take action as they know HQ is involved.

The Branch in my opinion would have been a better choice to have sent your letter to.

Should the bank decide to take it as far as Court and had your letter been addressed to the branch the hearing(s) would have been held at a Court local to the branch rather than a Court local to the banks HQ. If you live near the banks HQ then great.

dchurch24

No, the way it works is: if you are a consumer taking action against a business, the the hearing will be allocated to a court nearest yo you. The only time this is different, is if the business can prove that it hasn't got the funds to get to that particular court.

I don't think the Halifax would be able to pull that one off ;-)

Switch

dchurch24 wrote:

No, the way it works is: if you are a consumer taking action against a business, the the hearing will be allocated to a court nearest yo you. The only time this is different, is if the business can prove that it hasn't got the funds to get to that particular court.

I don't think the Halifax would be able to pull that one off ;-)

I know if the defendant is an individual a claim will be transferred to the court covering the area where the defendant lives or carries on business. I was not aware that the rules were different when an individual takes a business to court.

Sorry for any confusion in the post above.

dchurch24

No problem - it's in the 'tutorial' on the MoneyClaim site - when the tutorial is working - which doesn't seem to be often.




[as a side note about a different issue - I will not be able to respond to any more PM's that are just copies of posts in this thread - my inbox fills up pretty much about twice a day - I try to get back to as many as possible, but I have to draw the line somewhere - there's little point in PM'ing me the exact same question posed in this thread - I read and post to this thread a lot - so do lots of other people posting excellent help too - it is much better just to post it here and get maximum help - I mean no offence by this, it's just that about half my inbox is just copies of what is here already.]

iman06

dchurch24, i have been reading this thread since yesterday so much so i have started writing letters to claim back charges on accounts i hold.

First and foremost thank you for sharing all your knowledge in helping people, its very unselfish of you.

One thing i'm quiet unsure about, i had a Monument visa card which was passed to debt collecter (cabot financial). i did a full and final settlement with cabot financial back in june 05.

My question is if i use the template on your website, who do i send it to..... Cabot Financial or the orginal lender who is Monument.

Thanking everyone in advance.

Turning_into_scrooge

Pressleyno1 wrote:

Hi to you all, I've recently started a claim against the halifax and bank of Scotland...

I sent both a letter - using the template in the library - last Thursday (9th Jan), I asked for all charges to be returned, and a list of all bank charges.

I've yet to recieve any kind of reply.

How long does it usually take for the bank to get back to you in any kind of way, I said I was giving them 7 days in the letter, or I'd start a court case. I'm wondering if I should send out a final letter, or keep waiting.

I sent these letters to the HQ's, however after speaking to my mate who is a financial advisior, he said I should have sent the letters to my branch, with CC at the bottom of the letter, and the address of the HQ. He said this would force the branch to take action as they know HQ is involved.

MIne is with LLoydsTsb. I actually emailed my first letter to them at approx 12.45am on turesday 14 Feb, i eceived a mail back saying they were concerened i wasnt happy and my complaint had beeen passed on to a higher dept, that came through at approx 9.15 am 14 feb. 2 days later i received a long mail stating their charges were basically acceptable blah blah blah but they would waive the £10 fee through DPA for 6 years worth of bank statement and also the £5 fee per individual charge, i also received a letter throught he post on the same day saying i would hear from them again within 2 weeks which i took to mean i would have my statements in 2 weeks (yes!! :T - let the fun begin) so if you posted yours i would imagine that if you didnt send them recorded delivery to possibly add an extra couple of days onto each of my timings but shouldn't be more than a week and good luck :T .

caroline1973lefty

Hi, thanks to everyone that's posted on here. Having read (quite a bit of!) this thread, I've been through my bank statements and my charges over the last 6 years total £1200. :eek: I did have the 'hmm maybe i deserve to suffer for my financial mismanagement' moment, but I got over it - especially as I also noticed a couple of blatant bank errors in there too.

Am just waiting for my basic bank account to be set up before going for it.

I just had a couple of questions which I haven't found on here (sorry if they are on here after all!)

1. The bank has already refunded me a few charges over the years, including a couple recently. They wrote to me recently saying they would do this just this once, but would apply charges normally after this. I didn't actually sign anything, so I assume that this doesn't stop me from reclaiming my charges? I am guessing the bank might raise this issue in their defence, so I should I raise it in my original letter to them?

2. More seriously, what do people think about the thread elsewhere on this board about the guy who's taking dramatic legal action against 8 banks? Some posters on that thread seem to think this case could put all current claims (and threats of claims, presumably) into a state of legal limbo for years and years. I'm no lawyer, but this sounds worryingly likely to me?

dchurch24

1. The bank has already refunded me a few charges over the years, including a couple recently. They wrote to me recently saying they would do this just this once, but would apply charges normally after this. I didn't actually sign anything, so I assume that this doesn't stop me from reclaiming my charges? I am guessing the bank might raise this issue in their defence, so I should I raise it in my original letter to them?

It doesn't matter how many times they decide to comply with basic contract law - the fact remains that they are in breach of it for all the ones they didn't give back.
To attempt to prevent you from from future legal action is also a breach of the 1999 Consumer Contract Regs.

2. More seriously, what do people think about the thread elsewhere on this board about the guy who's taking dramatic legal action against 8 banks? Some posters on that thread seem to think this case could put all current claims (and threats of claims, presumably) into a state of legal limbo for years and years. I'm no lawyer, but this sounds worryingly likely to me?

It won't matter - he's taking action against them using the 1977 and 1999 contract regs - if you take your bank to court for recovery, you should rely on the case law - and only use those regs to back up your case. A win for anyone on these grounds - or any other really, would just boost his case.

Indeed, any letters anyone has from banks where they refer to these charges as a deterent or punishment, or that the charges are anything but a reflection of their costs could also back his claim up - so if anyone has any........?

It won't stop current claims 'at risk' - you can ask him yourself if you like - he's a moderator in the BAG forum.