A&L - Don't give up, and thank you MSE

Mr_Mag0o

Today I received a letter from the A&L refunding all the bank charges I have accrued this year (nearly £500), so don't give up hope that the banks are rejecting every claim, stick at it.

I intially arranged an overdraft to cover the Christmas peak of presents and socialising, and despite being really good (I went into a DMP last October), I managed to overspend by about £20, which then caused a rejected Direct Debit (£25 charge) which then spiralled into numerous other rejected DD's due to these charges, and a £5 a day exceeding the overdraft charge.

I tried my best to get out of the debt spiral, but by the end of the first 28 days I'd racked up charges of around £225, which I was never going to be able to pay off in my financial situation, despite me selling everything of value that I owned and didn't use on e-bay.

I went into the branch, which was pointless, and I would recommend anyone having to deal with A&L to completely dismiss branch staff, as they are not capable of dealing with anything (just glorified sales people).
I then spoke to someone on the phone, explained my financial situation, and asked them to look at the charges, they gave me the "the high court decision went in our favour, therefore the bank charges are fair and we are sticking by them" argument. I did then get a letter stating the exact same argument.

I then researched a little on this site and sent a hardship letter, with details of my Incomings and Outgoings, and the ruling of the banks being responsible, and not putting people into a debt spiral that they couldn't escape from, threatening the Financial Ombudsman. I heard nothing.

I then called and they stated they'd never received the letter, so I sent another letter, recorded delivery. Waited another 2-3 weeks and telephoned again, they again stated they'd not received the letter (you have to be careful with Recorded Delivery, as according to the post office, my letter was still "out for delivery"), BUT, they did admit to receiving my first letter and said that I needed to also e-mail them on their letsworkitout e-mail address. So again, I attached all my previous correspondence in the e-mail, stated my hardship.

Today, I started investigating the next steps, and then the postman came with a letter from A&L stating they had reviewed my claim, and to help break out of my debt spiral they are refunding all the bank charges from this year, and any further charges up to the middle of May.

I am so relieved, as I didn't want to progress this any further, as each month it was getting worse and worse and the time it would have taken to go down the Ombudsman route may have been too late.

natweststaffmember

That is fantastic news. Can I ask you to post up the email address for A&L. Thanks.

Mr_Mag0o

The e-mail address they told me to use was:

letsworkitout@alliance-leicester.co.uk

Orford

Writing to Us: at Let's Work it Out, Alliance & Leicester plc, Carlton Park, Narborough, Leicestershire LE19 0AL; or


Emailing Us: at [EMAIL="letsworkitout@alliance-leicester.co.uk"]letsworkitout@alliance-leicester.co.uk[/EMAIL]

alliballi

Great news well done, I have preliminary hearing next month at small claims, hope I am lucky to.