First Direct - (merged)

sarahwato

I have just sent my bank (First Direct) a letter. Then I decided to check my past statements. I have relised that I have put the wronge amount on the letters. CAn any one help me with what to do.

The amount I asked for £630.12, I have found two statements I lost and it now totals £993

GPF

Little_Legs wrote:

I am about to send FD the template letter regarding bank charge refunds.

My only concern is that I have a loan with them that still has 36 months to run and an overdraft; are there any indications that they will require the account to be closed and the loan settled as a result of obtaining any refunds?

On the whole, I have been satisfied with their service, and certainly the 24 hours phone/internet has been working ok.

FD dont seem to close accounts once they have paid up.
Your loan should not be affected & the refunds are normally transfered back into your account electronically.

Send that letter!:D

sarahwato

I was with HSBC before the name was changed. Two years ago I dedcided I needed a more adult account and thought I'd try First Direct, being associated with HSBC and all. It was really easy to get an account with them and the first few months were lovely. Then my husband losing his job and other things, made me have to use my overdraft. It spiralled from there.

I must admit the company was very understanding at the begining and helped. But now they are not. I made no promises to them that the situation wouldn't happen again. (After all things happen). Now I am fed up, claiming charges back, (won't call them, can't understand the call centre reps), closing the account and moving back the very first bank I used at Infant school.

I feel let down down by the company. To top it off, the £10 a month charge if you don't take out a secong product with them. I have just come out of my job and can't get any of the products they offer.

Does any one else feel this way about them?

frugallass

We had a well managed bank account for a while until we moved house, and we ended up paying rent and mortgage and forking out for removal costs, living temporarily on one wage etc....the account got neglected and we quickly went into the red.....FD have been very unsupportive during those difficult times and I can't wait to close my account when I receive my claim money from them....(I received an offer yesterday but am not claiming success until I have the money)

sarahwato

Its great to know I'm not the only one. It seems bank accounts with FD don't consider the "what if's". Like redudency, unemployment, big upheaval. So I'm getting my charges back and closing the account. I have to back to a basic account but I'm glad. The place where I am going has lovely friendly staff, actually made me feel welcome and not a shamed of my bad credit history.

wallop_2

Inspired by so many others, I too have tried to reclaim bank charges on the two accounts I hold with First Direct.

I have been offered a refund, but not the interest - which seems unfair, as FD would be very quick to charge me interest if the boot was on the other foot.

The letter I received from them this morning reads as follows:-

"I am sorry to learn that you remained dissatisfied with our offer to refund £XXX, as outlined in our letter dated XX/XX/XXXX and I have taken the opportunity to review your concerns.

You have asked us to refund £45 to your A/C XXXX. As I have explained, these charges are arrangement fees relating specifically to your agreed overdraft limit and are non-negotiable.

In addition, your claim for £XXX has been adjusted to take account of a £20 refund on xx/xx/xxxx.

As additional interest is only awarded where a court case is successful, I am not willing to include it in our offer."

I have two questions:-
1) Is a £45 over-draft arrangement fee a reasonable charge and can I claim it back if it is not ?

2) FD will pay back most of the charges but not the interest.
Should I proceed to court and if I do, do I stand a good chance of winning or should I quit now ?

Good advice will be very much appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Edinburghlass_2

As additional interest is only awarded where a court case is successful, I am not willing to include it in our offer."

This is correct, Martin suggests in his article that you add the interest in your first letter to use as a bargaining tool but unless you end up going to court you aren't entitled to this.

If you won via the courts, you would be entitled to add 8% interest (not compounded) on top from the date you were ‘first deprived’ of the money (i.e. the date of each charge). Therefore you may want to ask for the interest as part of the initial claim. It's important to understand that you are not legally entitled to interest unless you win in court, yet all prior letters are a tool of negotiation; think of it a bit like haggling.

You may get lucky and get the interest on top, but even if not, the legal feedback I've had is that it’s one route to pushing the bank to settle quickly so it can offer to pay you without the interest. Of course there is a risk that asking for too much makes them less likely to settle too - sadly this is an art not a science. This isn't an easy concept so I've recorded a quick audio file which may help explain it.
For those who do want to ask for interest, I’ve had the calculator below specially built to work it out for you and included it as an option in the template letters later. However, if you'd prefer to play safe simply ask for the charges without interest in the early stages.

catwoman150

I have sent off my first direct letter (08/01/07) with all the information about the bank charges that I received over the past 6 years. This totals £550.00 excluding interest. Two days later I received a letter back saying that they are dealing with my complaint. Should hear from them 10 working days time, which is the 25/01/07. So we will see then
Keep people updated to see how I got on with them.

lmeehan67

Mmmm - In a dilema now. Was getting worried because hadnt had any offer from the bank and was getting ready to fill in the Court papers (something I wasnt very confident about doing). Anyway I phoned the bank to ask the date when I opened my account and was advised a letter was on its way out to me. I was claiming charges of £2197 (and the interest would be about £350). They said there was £50 of charges already refunded to me in the past (checked statements and theyre right). They said they have offered me £1825. So this is £300 less than the actual charges and obviously no interest. I said I wasnt sure what to do so I would wait til I got the letter and get back to them. I might try and get them to up it to £2000 then accept that. Has anyone knocked back a first offer and had a higher offer ??

Your thoughts/comments/advise would be appreciated.

PS timescale of things as I think a couple of people on here were round about the same stage as me


7/12/06 - SAR
13/12/06 - statements received
15/12/06 - first letter to them
21/12/06 - usual 10 day letter from them
8/01/07 - further 10 day letter from them
11/01/07 - my LBA giving 7 days
TODAY - my phone call to them as above.

cindyhove

Claimed: £420 plus interest
Received: £390
They had refunded £30 already, so received it all.
First Direct do not pay back the interest, but easily done following the letter templates. No hassle, no arguing, no problem.
Go for it! Anyone hesitating! Don't wait any longer!
Thanks again Martin & MSE!