Reclaiming in Scotland

gordon39uk

some time ago i wrote to both my banks for my statements over the last 5 years. ( i live in scotland ).
Once i received my statements i added them up using the on site calculator and sent a claim letter to both banks claiming back my charges with 8%interest.
the totals amount to the following:
Clydesdale bank: £945 charges + 77.66 interest
Bank of Scotland: £961 charges + 199.01 interest

Ok, my problem is that i have now had my letters from both banks stating terms and conditions so my next step is court action. According to consumer action group interest should not be put on the letter to the bank, i have! also that summary cause is not advisable for individuals.
How do i get round this one! i would rather just claim £750 from each bank through small claims court but im worried that if i do that it will be thrown out due to the amount i have claimed in my letters differing from the amount i have claimed via small claims. im closing to just giving in as i am disabled and suffer from ME and my head is spinning trying to sort this out.

KellsBells

Hi there,

Persevere. I had no response from my bank to the first two letters, and then weeks after I should have started court action, we received a letter with an offer of £3126 (which we accepted immediately!!!)

I did charge interest on my first and second letters, so please do not worry about that. And don't worry about reducing the amount if you take them to court - so long as you can clearly show £750.00 worth of charges that you want to reclaim, you're doing exactly the right thing.

gordon39uk

thank you, i was just a bit confused because obviously you cant go above £750 at small claims in scotland and my charges are a lot more than that, i was worried that if i put for less than stated on the letters to the bank that it would give them grounds to have the case thrown out.
Can you claim the £750 in charges without charging the interest?

wifeforlife

gordon39uk wrote: »

thank you, i was just a bit confused because obviously you cant go above £750 at small claims in scotland and my charges are a lot more than that, i was worried that if i put for less than stated on the letters to the bank that it would give them grounds to have the case thrown out.
Can you claim the £750 in charges without charging the interest?

Yes you can claim without interest, alot of people do claim interest because the banks earn interest on the amounts and also charge interest on your fees. It's a very hard thing to do first time round, I have just been successful with my bank although it has taken me months to finally really understand how it all works and be very conciencious (sp)

Persevere, you can do it

Cate

Kurt_Hamster

I'm not sure why it would be urgent at 11pm on a Sunday night but...

If your charges come to more than £750 and you live in Scotland, it may be worthwhile trying out the Financial Ombudsman route. It means you won't have to forego whatever you claim is above £750, you won't have to pay court fees and someone else does the work for you. Should the FO not get anywhere with the bank you still have the option of using the court.

The downside is, of course, that you can no longer claim the 8% interest.

Flyboy_3

Have just been skimming over these posts.

BoS recently refused to refund me in their letter of 4 May. I followed this up with a letter of 10 May saying that if I have to take them to court, I will add interest; they have never responded.

Today, I wrote a letter applying interest and informing them of taking them to court. Now, I am seeing posts about submitting info to the FO. I haven't posted these letters just yet, but will hold off until I hear from anyone here. What should I do?

The contempt the bank holds for me is what annoys more than anything!!

Flyboy_3

BTW, I am in Scotland.

Hendrix_lennon

Woo-hoo.
Got my letter from the FO yesterday saying that my claim was waitng to be taken on by thier investigation team and they'd be back with more details soon.
I really feel like I'm getting somewhere with them on my side.
Let's hope I'm not setting myself up for a big fall.....

Anyone have any experience with the FO at this stage in terms of how long they usually take to settle ?

rikm12345

Flyboy wrote: »

Have just been skimming over these posts.

BoS recently refused to refund me in their letter of 4 May. I followed this up with a letter of 10 May saying that if I have to take them to court, I will add interest; they have never responded.

Today, I wrote a letter applying interest and informing them of taking them to court. Now, I am seeing posts about submitting info to the FO. I haven't posted these letters just yet, but will hold off until I hear from anyone here. What should I do?

The contempt the bank holds for me is what annoys more than anything!!

Hi, Just call the number at the top of the refusal letter and ask them for a re-evaluation, thay will send you an offer, probably around 50%
Once you recieve your offer you can either accept it or call back to tell them you were looking for more if the offer is not what you are willing to accept.

Hendrix_lennon

If you haven't started any court proceedings then yes you can contact the FOS and have them deal with your complaint.
That's what i did and I've found them really usefull and efficient so far.