Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges Discussion Area

jayanator

Mandy1980 wrote: »

Hi

The 40 days are up for Barclaycard to send my statements and they have cashed my cheque. Is there a standard letter i can send to them?

Thanx in advance

To be honest I wouldn't bother wasting your time sending Barclaycard a letter about them failing within the 40 day period.

I did and got nowhere and I also reported them to the Information Commisioner and got the response below.

"Complaint about the ‘Subject Access Request’ made to Natwest Bank for personal information relating to xxxxxxxxx.

Thank you for your correspondence dated the 20th of April 2007.

You have complained that, as yet, the information requested from Natwest Bank has not been received.

When we receive a complaint like this, we are under a duty to consider if it is likely or unlikely that there has been a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act). We will then decide what action, if any, to take.

Following a recent Office of Fair Trading decision about ‘penalty charges’ we are aware that the number of individuals making subject access requests to financial institutions has significantly increased. However, clearly these financial institutions are still required to comply with subject access requests within the statutory 40 calendar days.

As you may be aware under the Act there are eight data protection principles. These are sometimes known as the principles of good information handling as they set out the way organisations should handle personal information. The sixth data protection principle requires organisations to process personal data in accordance with an individual’s rights under the Act. Therefore if you have not been sent the information you are entitled to within 40 days, it is likely to be in breach of the sixth data protection principle

We would like to explain that due to the number of complaints we are receiving about failed subject access requests we are writing to financial institutions on a monthly basis, sending them a ‘batch’ of complaints.

We will be writing to Natwest Bank with the next batch of complaints at the end of May 07 and will of course include the details of your complaint in our letter. We will advise Natwest Bank to ensure that they provide you with the information you are entitled to as a matter of priority. Furthermore we will ask them to outline what steps they are taking to ensure their future compliance with the Act. Therefore although we will now close your case we would like to assure you that we will continue to carefully monitor this issue.

Finally, it may be helpful to explain that a breach of one of the data protection principles is not a criminal offence and we cannot punish an organisation for a breach of principle. Our priority is to get organisations to take steps to solve the problem and to ensure they handle personal information properly in the future.

However, it may also be helpful to explain that if you have suffered a loss because an organisation has broken the law, you may be entitled to compensation. We do not have any powers to award compensation and any claims should be made through the Court.

We would like to thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of the Information Commissioner.

Please quote the case reference number from the top of this letter in all future correspondence about this matter. Failure to do so may delay the processing of your complaint.

Yours sincerely

Sent on behalf of

Helen Raftery

Casework and Advice Manager

Although if you wish to make a complaint to the Information Commisioner then click the link below.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/data_protection.aspx

Hope this helps.

bsjwright

I have not had any statements back yet from HSBC. I first wrote to them in December last year, then had to go into a branch to change my address details. This was at the end of February. I've not had a peep out of them since, and have filed a complaint with the Information Commissioner. I understand that they can't force the bank to give me the statements, though so I was wondering if there's another way to get the information from HSBC? I closed my account with them in 2000, and would like to get charges back from around that period. I've got a feeling that they'll want to try to hold off as long as possible until they can say that they haven't got the statements any more (i.e. go beyond 6 years). If anyone's got any advice I would be most grateful.

blue_smarty

There doesn't seem to be many success stories on this thread.......which is a bit daunting.
Are there any other threads I can look at?
I am trying to reclaim my charges from Abbey

Beate

jayanator wrote: »

Well I meant 3rd letter...

and

I sincerely doubt they go through every claimants statements and check each individual charge relating to the account when they receive the first letter. They will just send out the standard "go away" response and only bother to check it once it becomes apparent that they may be going to court.

Unless they were willing to refund straightaway they would not waste the manpower or time checking all the charges for the thousands upon thousands that are claiming them back. They would much rather deny any wrong doing until such a point where they are forced to check them when they receive the forms from court, then they would check to make sure what you are claiming is in fact accurate.

ps. A less abrupt response would have been favourable than your previous response.

I can only speak for Capital One here but they must have gone through all my OH's statements. Why I know that? Because as he had got some charges refunded in the past by complaining about them individually on the phone, we only claimed for the ones that hadn't been refunded (while making a note to ourselves about the ones that had), and hey presto, when the rejection letter came back it said "because we have refunded you £xxx in the past, we cannot refund anymore". And the amount quoted was absolutely spot on. Gave me some satisfaction, to be honest, to know that we are costing them time to check each claim like that.

Rickybart

blue_smarty wrote: »

There doesn't seem to be many success stories on this thread.......which is a bit daunting.
Are there any other threads I can look at?
I am trying to reclaim my charges from Abbey

Hi Blue Smarty, I have just successfully claimed my money back from Abbey but it did get to the stage where the notified the court of their defense. they did back down a week before the court date as I think if they hadn't lodged a defense it would have gone against them in court, so they had to save face. don't let them bully you into anything, if the claim in your eyes is worth it then go for it.
Good luck

Rickybart

racool

Hi guys,

Im really stuck here and wondering if anyone can give me some advice.
In the past 2 and a half months alone my bank have charged me £1238 in charges for going over my overdraft limit. I have a student account with bank of scotland with an overdraft limit of £1500.

I am near breaking point as everytime i try and pay the money back they just take more charges off me (charging me for charges and so on) I would close the account but i can't afford to pay back the overdraft at the moment.

I sent them two letters, one asking for the charges back and the other stating that if i did not recieve a reply or the charges back I was going to take them to court but I have so far had no reply within the time alloted.

Because I live in scotland I cant go to the small claims courts as its only claims under £750 and they have charged me ALOT more than that. I am at a bit of a loss about what to do to be honest and I don't know if I should go to a lawyers and do it that way? is there another way?

I am also scared to open up a new bank account with someone else incase they refuse me because they see the history I have with this bank.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated...HELP!!!

jayanator

Beate wrote: »

I can only speak for Capital One here but they must have gone through all my OH's statements. Why I know that? Because as he had got some charges refunded in the past by complaining about them individually on the phone, we only claimed for the ones that hadn't been refunded (while making a note to ourselves about the ones that had), and hey presto, when the rejection letter came back it said "because we have refunded you £xxx in the past, we cannot refund anymore". And the amount quoted was absolutely spot on. Gave me some satisfaction, to be honest, to know that we are costing them time to check each claim like that.

Unfortunately I would think it is safe to assume that this was noted on your account so it flagged up when they checked the account. And any good database system would be able to pull out the charges at the push of a button. I just don't think they care at first and will just send out an automated letter trying to put everyone off.

IZZY01

Hi racool, I too am from Scotland and my claim is for well over the £750. small claims limit. I am also with the BOS and my situation was very similar to yours. eg. having an o/d and paying charges for exceeding it, which made the balance even higher and getting more charges and so on. I have asked for a refund and will wait for a reply, and if not satisfied I will go through the Financial Ombudsmen Service rather than the court. I already spoke to them and they advised me to request a refund and also they would write to the bank,and advise them that they were aware of my claim. I was like you and a bit scared to open another account,due to my history, however I have opened one with the co-op no problem. There is only one branch in Scotland (Glasgow) but you can use the Post Office to make payins etc. and the debit card can be used at any Link machine for withdrawals. I have had my account now for about 9 months and have never needed to go into the branch. Infact, the PO is handy, as it is open till 5.30 and also Sat. mornings. It also offers telephone and online banking

feedering

jayanator wrote: »

Well I meant 3rd letter...

and

I sincerely doubt they go through every claimants statements and check each individual charge relating to the account when they receive the first letter. They will just send out the standard "go away" response and only bother to check it once it becomes apparent that they may be going to court.

Unless they were willing to refund straightaway they would not waste the manpower or time checking all the charges for the thousands upon thousands that are claiming them back. They would much rather deny any wrong doing until such a point where they are forced to check them when they receive the forms from court, then they would check to make sure what you are claiming is in fact accurate.

ps. A less abrupt response would have been favourable than your previous response.

If my response was abrupt then I apologise.
However banks namely Natwest are at the moment settling claims on the Prelim letter, so they do check the charges on accounts from the offset. Remember its only the click of a button to pull up the charges on an account not sift through each statement.

carrieok85

Hi, to cut a long story short I have got to the final stages, we have gone through the MCOL (which cost £120). We have received a letter from the bank today saying they are sending us a cheque for £750 within 10 days which is a full and final settlement. We are not happy with this, the original claim request was for over £1000 (inc interest). What do I do now, somebody please help we are scared. Please can somebody explain in simple terms what to do next, it would be very mch appreciated.

Carrie x