Alliance & Leicester (merged)

Rex_Mundi

bolo wrote:

This may seem like a simple question, but which court do i put in the template letter. I don't want to do something stupid and put the highest court in the land or something just for a £75 refund!!!

Check out THIS THREAD post number 6. Use the link to find your local county court, and put this in the template letter.

fragglepants

I am attempting to reclaim charges from A&L. I got a letter some months ago to say that they will be charging me for going overdrawn on my online account - an account I opened and never used - I thought it wa dormant. Apparently they have been charging me £5 a month for the pleasure of having account I never use nor log into to. When the £25 that was in there dried up I went overdrawn, then the penalty payments started. Eventually they wrote to me to say I was overdrawn. I called them up and argued - they offer to pay half of the £50 I was now overdrawn. I refused this offer.

I got a couple of (template) letters following more phonecalls to them - each ending with an invitation to contact the writer if I wanted to discuss it further. I took up the offer but was refused the opportunity to speak to the writer as they were in a department who didn't talk to customers!!!

Having heard about unfair bank charges I wrote to them using the first template letter, I took out the last paragraph which threatens legal action as I don't have enough information at the moment to enter a claim - they haven't told me how much I owe and how this has accumlated. In the same letter I asked for this information.

Quelle Surprise - I get a standard letter back saying that the OFT's ruling affected credit cards only, and not current accounts. Oh, and tehir charges were competitved compared to other banks - well they are all ripping off their customers so thats hardly a fair comparison to make is it?

I wrote back acknowledging their standard letter which failed to address any of my specific enquiries and kindly asked them to supply the information I requested and them to reconsider their position .... I await their reply.

I think I am now £210 in debt - before I wrote to them I received a letter asking them to take me to court if I did not pay within 7 days, so I have asked them to stop charging my account and suspend any action whilst they consider my complaint - i haven't heard anything about this yet.

Its just appalling. I hate to think how they shaft people who have no idea of their rights, of course this is how they win.

I'll keeo you updated ...... I hope someone out there is having more success?

Basil_Fawlty wrote:

Hi

My mother has managed to incur an overdraft charge of £25 plus an extra two overdraft charges (2 x £25) for going over the limit due to not transferring enough money in from an A&L savings account in time. And 8p in interest charges.

So, that's £75.08, for going £38 overdrawn

Anyway, she's given them a call and they've refunded half of one of the charges but I'm not happy about this, they have taken advantage of her and I'm planning on using Martin's amazing new article to get back her money. We are not an affluent family by any means and can not afford this.

I'm currently using the template off the article to get her charges back, but has anyone dealt with A&L before? I've done a search and not yielded much so if anyone can help we'll be very grateful. Are they good at giving all the money back or do they whimper and squeal before giving a decent reply?

Thank you in advance

fragglepants

bolo wrote:

This may seem like a simple question, but which court do i put in the template letter. I don't want to do something stupid and put the highest court in the land or something just for a £75 refund!!!

It will be the County fee - you want to file a small claim. ALthough I have the feeling that the cost of filing a claim may exceed £75 - it may not be worth it as your bank probably won't want to pay your costs back? I may be wrong

fragglepants

I got this reply too - it is correct. The OFT have looked into credit cards but, I now understand that they are looking into current accounts. Plus it has recently been in the news that a group of experts have estimated that it would cost well under £5 for an account to go overdrawn!!

fragglepants

I've posted a couple of replies to people's posts but, somehow have managed to reply to the wrong posts! See below for details of my story (and a little go at giving some advice)
Sorry, i thought I was doing so well actually managing to post!

nickmack

fragglepants wrote:

I got a couple of (template) letters following more phonecalls to them - each ending with an invitation to contact the writer if I wanted to discuss it further. I took up the offer but was refused the opportunity to speak to the writer as they were in a department who didn't talk to customers!!!

Having heard about unfair bank charges I wrote to them using the first template letter, I took out the last paragraph which threatens legal action as I don't have enough information at the moment to enter a claim - they haven't told me how much I owe and how this has accumlated. In the same letter I asked for this information.

Quelle Surprise - I get a standard letter back saying that the OFT's ruling affected credit cards only, and not current accounts. Oh, and tehir charges were competitved compared to other banks - well they are all ripping off their customers so thats hardly a fair comparison to make is it?

I wrote back acknowledging their standard letter which failed to address any of my specific enquiries and kindly asked them to supply the information I requested and them to reconsider their position .... I await their reply

From what you've written, it sounds like you've not quite followed the procedure.

Forgive me if you've already done this, but you need to put in a request under the Data Protection Act asking for a list of your charges. They have 40 days to facilitate the request. After this, you can write your initial approach.

There's little point in writing a letter to the bank asking for money, when you don't know how much it is. Also, the court claim part is important as you need to show you have tried to settle out of court, as it will probably get that far.

I believe the bank are not taking you seriously at this moment, so you need to get your claim back on track.

fragglepants

Today I got a letter acknowledging my letter and saying they are looking into it. The reason I haven't used the template letter to ask for my info under the Freedom of Information Act (I think that is the right legislation) is because I wondered what they would do in reply to my reasonable request for information - I thought that if they didn't comply with my request it would strengthen my case of them being unfair and unreasonable.

nickmack

fragglepants wrote:

Today I got a letter acknowledging my letter and saying they are looking into it. The reason I haven't used the template letter to ask for my info under the Freedom of Information Act (I think that is the right legislation) is because I wondered what they would do in reply to my reasonable request for information - I thought that if they didn't comply with my request it would strengthen my case of them being unfair and unreasonable.

You are making things more difficult for yourself by not following the instructions.

There are reasons why the procedure is documented the way it is and if you decide to ignore this and go your own route, you may find your claim is dismissed. At worst you could end up in court and be reprimanded for wasting the courts time.

Unless you are sure you know what you're doing, it could end up costing you money rather than getting your charges back.

You have no need to prove the bank is unfair for any other reason that the charges being a unenforceable penalty.

Rex_Mundi

I see Nick beat me to it.

Although I can sort of understand how you feel. This will have no relevence on your case. Ultimately, you are claiming because the bank breached your rights under certain laws. If/when you get to court, your case will be decided only on points of law. The bank can be as rude/awkward as they like, it will not count in court. The judge will decide the merits of your case purely on whether the bank has broken the law regarding your bank charges.

The process as laid out has been researched fully. It is designed to give you the best possible chance for reclaiming your charges. If you decide to deviate from the process without understanding fully what you are doing. You could ultimately damage your chances of success.

ps......It is not the Freedom of Information act that applies to getting your information. It is the Data Protection Act.

fragglepants

Thanks guys - I will take your advice and send off for the info under the Data Protection Act !

Really appreciate your help