Reclaimed Bank Charges SUCCESS stories

165721

Best to follow the tried and tested route if I were you. Here you will find the letter before action. You may need to change a few bits around to make it right for you. You will have to register if you havent already!

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/92-3-letter-before-action.html

Get it in the post tomorrow (recorded delivery) and start court proceedings not before 28th October. Then it should all be wrapped up by the end of November!

Is this OK with you?

Jodi123_2

Brill, I will sort it all out on Monday, anf hopefully it will get the ball rolling!!

Thanks for your help and have a nice weekend

Jodix

Jo-to-let-u-know

Have today received my response from sending the intial letter asking for a list of all charges to my account.

The cheque for £10 was sent back to me and they have informed me that my statements for the last six years will be with me by courier in the next few days, their reason for the cheque being returned to me being due to the fact that they are obliged to give me this information and i will need to obtain charge information from all the statements myself, hopefully i will receive the statements tomorrow or monday of next week and i can then send my 'next you owe me letter!!!'.

So far so good - at least they have responded promptly and i'm sure they know whats coming next!

Edinburghlass_2

Thats good news that people are being sent back their £10 cheques and they aren't charging for the old statements :j

165721

It seems to be happening a lot, banks seem to think they are obliged to send out statements without the DPA fee. All good news!

andy_mcd

Bank: Royal Bank of Scotland
Amount Claimed: £2140.47 (including 8% APR, court and postage costs)
Amount Received: £2140.47

Steps:

Already had statements so entered details in spreadsheet.
Letter requesting refund of charges sent.
Standard letters received from bank.
Court action started on moneyclaim website.
Cobbett's Solicitors letters received but continued with court action.
Offer for £1100 recieved from Cobbett's.
Accepted as part settlement and continued with court action.
After my letter went missing (even though sent guaranteed delivery) sent another letter with proof of delivery of previous one.
Recieved confirmation of full amount settlement and cheque as described below:

I received a cheque this morning - the day after the court hearing date for the full amount.

I had a stressful morning on Thursday the day before the hearing was due at 12PM on the 13th October (Friday!). I had been tracking my first class recorded delivery letter to Cobbett's with Royal Mail and they said it still hadn't been delivered. I decided to phone Cobbett's just so I could explain that I had sent a reply in case it went to Court. As it turned out this was a great excuse (and time) to phone them (I didn't really want to phone them just to negotiate). Incidentally, I was in my car at work and I didn't have any details with me or a pen and I was trying to remember phone numbers that my wife was giving me over the phone while my battery was running out. I finally got through to the correct department and they said they were about to write to me offering me the full amount. They said they would be writing/faxing the court to ask that the hearing be vacated. They asked me to do the same. I agreed and soon after the battery ran out on my phone. Once I had found someone with a phone charger and got a pen I phoned the court and they said I could hand deliver the letter that evening and I should mark the hearing date and time clearly on the outside of the envelope.

I now have a notice of discontinuance form from Cobbett's that I need to send off.

Thanks to the Consumer Action Group and everyone who has given advice and moral support. Not forgetting Martin Lewis's fantastic website that pointed me in the right direction.

165721

A good story! Well done, I hope this can serve to reassure a few people on here who are wavering after the standard "the charges are legal" letter!!

Richiefitz3007

I have just typed my own polite letter to Lloyds TSB. (if you can use it, please feel free to use it)
http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=RF_Bank_letter.doc

My girlfriend is a solicitor and i posted it direct to my branch manager recorded delivery, so i know who exactly signed for it and when. I don't keep statements, so i called into my branch and asked for copies of the charges i have incurred in the last six years. I was answered with yet another money making fee of £10 a copy per statement of every month in the last six years! In the letter addressed to the bank manager, i have also included that the statement fee is also disproportionate to the true cost as with the bank fees! I looked on my online statement as far back as 2002(i could only go that far) and in two months i worked it out that Lloyds had taken £320!
I'll keep you posted on the outcome

:money: Thanks to Martin for making me aware of the unlawful charges Lloyds were charging me!! I was just putting up with it!!

Edinburghlass_2

Richiefitz3007 wrote:

I have just typed my own polite letter to Lloyds TSB. (if you can use it, please feel free to use it)
http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=RF_Bank_letter.doc

My girlfriend is a solicitor and i posted it direct to my branch manager recorded delivery, so i know who exactly signed for it and when. I don't keep statements, so i called into my branch and asked for copies of the charges i have incurred in the last six years. I was answered with yet another money making fee of £10 a copy per statement of every month in the last six years! In the letter addressed to the bank manager, i have also included that the statement fee is also disproportionate to the true cost as with the bank fees! I looked on my online statement as far back as 2002(i could only go that far) and in two months i worked it out that Lloyds had taken £320!
I'll keep you posted on the outcome

:money: Thanks to Martin for making me aware of the unlawful charges Lloyds were charging me!! I was just putting up with it!!

Have a read through again of Martin's article but the relevant part follows. You aren't asking for every bank statement over the past six years but a list of bank charges and for this information they are entitled to charge you a one off payment of £10, however recently people are reporting that this £10 is being returned to them.

• If you do. Send the letter in the library for a preliminary approach for repayment.
  
  
• If you don’t. Send the letter in the library requesting a full and comprehensive list of charges made on the account (including the date of the 'offence, the exact wording used - e.g. Unpaid Direct Debit, or Debit under advice etc... - and the amount) - the Data Protection Act disclosure request.
  
  Under the Data Protection Act - the information holder has only 40 days to provide this information. Don't worry about the extra wait - you can legally claim 8% APR on each charge for the full period, so the longer it takes them the more money you will have back. If they still refuse, or do not furnish you with this information within 40 days, report them to the Informationcommissioner for a breach of the DPA.

Silvafox

Bank: Halifax
Amount Reclaimed: £3917
Amount they paid: £3917 + £120 court fee
The story: I had to go all the way with Halifax. They were slow off the mark to begin with and made two offers in total. The first offer was £550 and the second was £1540. The first offer was made by letter and the second was made over the phone. I rejected both so they sent me a letter simply stating that I had exhausted their complaints procedure and I could now go to the Ombudsmen blah blah blah. I simply went on Money Claims Online, paid my fee of £120 and they acknowledged it within 2 days, I got a letter of their acknowledgement stating they would defend it, then 2 days later got the final letter stating "Although we do not accept liability and could well win if taken to court, it simply won't be worth us defending it and would be uneconomical to the bank. We will reimburse you the full amount of £3917 plus your £120 court fee within 7 working days"

Woohoo! Took about 2 months in total from asking for statements to settlement. If anyones got doubts then do it because my girlfriend has just done it for a similar amount too totalling just under £8k.