halifax bank charges (merged)

curlyboy

Im stunned after waiting 8 weeks trying to claim £941 with the halifax 4 phones call and to be told in the letter , im sorry to hear - bla bla bla - and they are refusing to pay up or even offer me anything, .....please advise me next step.......Court proceedings ??? whats the best way to go about it.....I also have my mortage with them, im absolutley stunned to be honest.........

Stephen_Leak

Welcome to the real world.

These days, your chances of getting all your charges back in response to a strongly worded letter are as slim as a size zero model. The first two letters are just to show that you have tried to settle the matter before you escalated it to the Financial Ombudsman or the courts.

If you don't think that you could successfully handle a court claim, or can't afford the court fees and aren't eligible for fee relief, then the Financial Ombudsman is an alternative. It is free of charge and handles everything for you. However, you cannot refer your claim to the Financial Ombudsman until you have been dealing with the bank for 40 days. They also cannot force the bank to pay up, set the level of the settlement or award interest like a court. Despite this, their success rate is good. Being financial experts, they can also threaten to ask the bank some very awkward questions. If the Financial Ombudsman is unsuccessful, you can still take the bank to court.

Send them the second “Letter Before Action” letter. As you are already past the 40 day deadline for referring claims to the Financial Ombudsman, give them 14 days to respond.

If you have not received an acceptable reply by your deadline, then refer your claim to the Financial Ombudsman or start court proceedings on Money Claim Online.

Please read the Reclaim Bank Charges Help thread for information and the Reclaimed Bank Charges Success Stories and Reclaimed Bank Charges Success Stories II threads for inspiration.

Twinkly

curlyboy wrote: »

Im stunned after waiting 8 weeks trying to claim £941 with the halifax 4 phones call and to be told in the letter , im sorry to hear - bla bla bla - and they are refusing to pay up or even offer me anything, .....please advise me next step.......Court proceedings ??? whats the best way to go about it.....I also have my mortage with them, im absolutley stunned to be honest.........

Dont worry this is common. The 8 weeks is the time they are allowed by the FSA to deal with a complaint and they take full advantage of this timescale to drag it out as much as humanly possible. You are quite lucky they didnt write and say they were still investigating and it would take another 8 weeks to be honest.

You can take it the court route but if you are nervous about doing so you may wish to consider the Ombudsman first. There is a guide to doing so here:
MSE Guide To Using The Financial Ombudsman

and the discussion thread is here:
Discussion Thread For The FO

Good luck whatever you decide

curlyboy

im sorry im a bit vague your reply is very detailed basically the bank are refusing to pay me anything what is the best step please

1. Send a letter stating that i would expect a parcial offer and say If they dont offer me a partial offer i will set court proceddings in motion ???

2. Go straight to the Ombidsmun ?? I have been dealing with the bank for more than 40 days ????

3 .Or just send them a blunt letter stating that im very unhappy and taking them to court

many thanks I appricieate your response

Twinkly

It depends on what you are trying to achieve. If all you want is any money right now then by all means send a letter stating you will accept £X amount but dont expect to get it. As previously explained, you can go to the ombudsman or court at this point and the choice is entirely yours.

Psychofly

I think the next step is to lodge a claim through MCOL or go to the Financial Ombudsman. From what I've read on these forums they tend to settle before a court date. In fact would be interesting to hear - has ANYONE ended up in court with Halifax or even got as far as the court date without a settlement being offered ?

hm71_2

out of interest have you phoned them and asked for it to be re-evaluated? they do send out a bog standard "we are sorry abut your complaint " blah, blah letter. Phone to have it re-evaluated and go from there. If you have already done that and they are still turning you down then it is time for mcol or fianacial ombudsman.

Psychofly

Yeah ... what hm71 said. I assumed when you said you'd received a 3rd letter from them that you'd already had it re-evaluated etc. but if you haven't then that's definitely the way to go.

curlyboy

no not re evaluated - 1st letter standard letter 8 weeks to deal -2nd letter - a reply as i called up to comaplain this letter just said basically sit tight and u will hear from us shortly - 3rd letter just basically turn my claim down as they said it was in my terms and conditions when i took out the account that if i go overdrawn charges will be applied - they said at the end if im not happy contact the ombidsmun ?????? so were next ? ?

hm71_2

morning curlyboy. everyone has had that letter! all you do is ring the 0845 number at the top and say you would like the matter re-evaluated. in 9/10 cases they will offer to do it as soon as you ring. it is a tactic designed to put you off. I started my claim back in May had the same letter within 2 days and immediately called it is being looked at at the mo. If you look back ove4r this thread and bank of scotland one you can get an idea of all the tactics and timescales involved. if you have already waited the 8 weeks then I know some peeps on here have had an offer quite quick after asking for the re-evaluation.
hope that helps.
xx