First Direct - (merged)

BoingBoing_2

Forgot to also mention that firstdirect say they will pay me by cheque to my home address, I know lots of us wondered whether money would just go directly to offset our outstanding balances

BoingBoing_2

Sorry to keep posting this (It's in the first direct post also), but no1 seems to have any ideas as yet and I only have 8 days in which to respond.

Letter recieved yesterday...

Thankyou for your letter dated 29 January requesting a refund of £1026.50 bank charges.

In circumstances there you have authorised a payment that would, if met by us, lead to your account going overdrawn or to exceed an agreed overdraft limit, we have to consider whether to make this payment. A fee is payable for this service provided by the bank, details of which are clearly set out in our published tariff. The circumstances in which the fee will apply are clearly set out in our Account Terms and Conditions, a copy of which was provided to you when you opened your account. We are confident of our position and believe that if you clame for a refund proceeded to Court, we would sucessfully resist any legal challenge in relation to these fees.

firstdirect is, however, mindful of the management time and irrecoverable legal costs we may incure in relation to such a claim. For those commercial reasons alone, and without any admission of liability whatsoever, first direct is prepared to make a payment to you in the sum of £700.00, in full and final settlement of this matter, which I believe is a fair and reasonable sum offer. I am not prepared to consider a claim for charges relating to unpaid direct debits or for debit interest.

..........

Are they right in stating I can't claim for unpaid direct debits? I thought I could claim for those (£37.50 a time!).

Also their calculations are wrong. The total sum I'm claiming for unpaid direct debits is £202.50 so if you knock that off the amount I'm claiming (£1026.50 does not include interest!) that leaves £824 not £700, but if you knock the interest off of £123.03 then that leaves £700 but my original claim was for £1026.50 plus £123.03.

My account with them is already closed, and I owe them around 8k which I'm paying back through CCCS. I'm tempted to accept the £700, but I'm kinda mad at em cos if they'd not slapped £656.60 in charges on me in the space of 4 months, I would't have been in such a mess!

Any suggestions of what to do next?


Thanks

pigginsexy

Yes you can claim for these. These charges are non payment of DD/SO's. You can also claim for unarranged borrowing fees, if ever you where overdrawn etc.

This sounds like a standard letter.

BoingBoing_2

I thought I could claim too, but my ex bank doesn't seem to think so. Does any1 have any suggestions as to how to word my reply to the bank?

Thanks

SarahNeedle1872

pigginsexy wrote:

Yes you can claim for these. These charges are non payment of DD/SO's. You can also claim for unarranged borrowing fees, if ever you where overdrawn etc.

This sounds like a standard letter.

I agree, sounds like they're trying to get u to settle for less than you asked for. I would send them a letter saying that you accept what they offer as part payment, but you will continue to persue, thru the courts if needed, for the full amount. I have read these threads over and over and (someone please correct me if I'm wrong and have missed one) have not seen one where the claim has been successfully defended in court by the banks. If it got that far, they would have to prove that it physically costs them £37.50 to administer a bounced DD... Can't imagine it costs anywhere near as much! It's just another way of making money out of people who can least afford it.
Don't be bullied by the bank, stick to ur guns...

Oh and read the Success Stories Thread for inspiration/moral support.

Good luck

pigginsexy

BoingBoing wrote:

I thought I could claim too, but my ex bank doesn't seem to think so. Does any1 have any suggestions as to how to word my reply to the bank?

Thanks

If you go onto the CAG website they have several different letters to say no thanks for the "gesture of goodwill offer". I would use one of these.

Was this offer made on your 1st letter or 2nd letter. If it was 2nd letter, make sure you state in you reply, that they have a further seven days before court action (i think you will find that this is included in these letters anyhow).

Stick to your guns, these charges are the ones that started this all off in the first place. If they where realistic, like say £5 for returning a DD, then we would not mind so much.

Good luck and keep us informed.

H

BoingBoing_2

Thanks, their offer was in response to my first letter asking for repayment of charges.

I'll pop over to CAG and take a look at their suggested responses:D

lynn33uk

well after posting my last thread i recieved the information from first direct by courier the next day although it contained all the info of my account and it took a while to go through it all i am still quite chuffed that it has not taken long to start the ball rolling.
on my account it have 2 charge recall s/o - d/o for £37.50. can anyone tell me what that is and can i claim it back off of first direct. also how much should first direct be charging me for an overdraft fee and excess overdraft fee at the moment they are charging £30 for overdraft fee and £25 for excess overdraft fee so how much of that can i claim back
thanks in advance
lynn33uk

BoingBoing_2

Hi lynn,

recall s/o - d/d is for recalling a standing order, direct debit for which you didnot have sufficient money in you account to honour and they charge you £37.50. I've claimed those back from first direct but been told "I am not prepared to consider a claim for charges relating to unpaid direct debits" ?????? Still waiting for ppl's opinions on that lol.

As for the other charges, yup that's what they were charging me and I claimed for all of them.

Hope that helps

W x

BoingBoing_2

Also, I've got a name for those of you still to write to first direct...

Robert Kernaghan
Customer Relations Manager