Abbey (merged)

imbutty

saraharrow wrote: »

Hi Imbutty
This chap dealt with my personal claim last year

alan.squires@abbey.com

We did a bit of negotiating and well settled on the full amount, it took 2 days from start to finish. the cheque arrived 5 days later.

regards

Sarah

cheers saraharrow, ive sent an email so lets see if anything comes of it!

Arizona

Hi,

I sent in a claim for £1600 to Abbey. I had two letters about the "we want to take more time, please give us another 4 weeks" malarky, and last friday I recieved a letter offering me £640. I don't want to accept that.

They have closed my account due to it spiralling so far out of control and have passed my account onto debt collectors. I have had at least £200 worth of charges since making the claim.

Can I just ask them to pay off the debt and leave it as that? And is there a template letter for that?
The overdraft is £850 but is -£1200 at the minute.

Thanks.

saraharrow

Hi Arizona,

Personally I would say give it a try, I cant see how it would hurt, after all they have started the negotiations by making an offer. When I did mine, I said I couldnt accept a partial refund as they didnt offer me 50% off the charges. Did they close the account in relation to you claiming, if so I reccomend in writing to the ombudsman to complain, rumour has it (although I have NEVER come accross any one who has receieved it all) they can have your charges refunded, your account reopened and you will be compensated for the inconvenience of it all.
I have had my account closed by Abbey when I requested the defaults be removed, its now with the Ombudsman, just waiting for the reply...

Sarah

Arizona

Hi saraharrow,

Thanks for the reply.

They shut my account before I started to claim. It was basically spiralling and none of my bills were getting paid because they were taking thier charges money first so I was stuck in catch 22.
I went to see a personal banker and she shut the account down and they gave me a cash card account. I have a very basic card with no chip so I can get paid into the account but I can't use it for direct debits or anything and I can't use it in shops etc. Quite humiliating at the age of 31 but hey-ho!

I've thought about going to the ombudsman but I'm not entirely sure what to do.
I think I will just ask them to cancel the debt, as it rises every month with charges, and see how that goes. If they then refuse that I'll go to the ombudsman.

Like you said, it's worth a go!

Good look with your claim!

lisa11

Just to let you know that whilst Abbey have put in a defence to my reclaiming of unfair direct debit fees on my account, they have sent me a letter today offering to pay me 65% of my claim if I promise to write to the court to drop my case.
What do I do next as I wish to pursue the case - do I have to acknowlege this letter and write back to them - if so which template do I use? and do I also enclose this letter in my court bundle? and can I start court proceedings earlier by submitting my bundle now to the courts?

Please help me. MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE

Beate

It's best to respond, otherwise they will think you agree and lodge the money into your account or send you a cheque. Actually, some banks don't even wait for your answer, they just do it.

Write them something along those lines:
I cannot accept your offer of £xxx as full and final settlement of my claim. I have made a reasonable effort to settle this claim before issuing a court claim, but you ignored my efforts to settle this. Seeing as I have now had to issue a court claim because of your failure to deal with my claim in a timely way, I will now settle only for the full amount of charges + statutory interest + court fee.

I don't know much about court bundles but I am sure someone else will be able to help.

tickb26

hi,

i got a letter today from abbey saying that as a good will gesturer they will be puting £255 in my acc in 10 days time got the letter today money went in on 8th do i have to acept it or can i use that as a starting point to get more or should i go to court now i can afored the £50 it will cost me.

any help would be great.

saraharrow

Hi Tickb26
It may be worth writing back to them saying you accept the money as part payment and will pursue the matter through the court, they have the option of paying thebalence within 7 days and then they will save themselves the 50 quid court fee!
As I have said before they wouldnt accept us paying just 50% of the charges so why should we settle for less? of course they could tell us what it actually costs when we go overdrawn by 30p for a day and we could pay that....

Good Luck

Sarah

TREACLE1961

i've just returned from holiday and a letter was waiting for me from our local court giving a pre hearing date on the 9 august.i haven't had to fill out an allocation questionaire or anything like that so does anyone know what the procedure will be?.....thanks in anticipation

saraharrow

Hi treacle1961

Can I suggest you give your court a ring and find out what a pre hearing involves? It may be where you have to prove that you have a case, I have come accross this before in tribunals but this is the first I have heard of it relating to bank charges.

Perhaps some other people have done this already and can advise.

Good Luck

Sarah