Abbey (merged)

nicola00

Cappacino, I'm very much in the same boat , i have charges totalling £2500 over two abbey accounts , last week got the letter from them on the 14th day the had to reply , saying it will take time and to give them 4 weeks, not to sure either what to do.
My partner challanged halifax on his account and our joint , the replied farily quickly saying to give them 4 weeks , but after two the ycalled him with offers, Got back £800 and £1200, so result in that respect , but i have been trawling through these threads and haven't seen to many Abbey National Succes stories
Nicola

Cappacino wrote: »

Hi there
I've written to the Abbey with the relevant letter and attachments asking for my bank charges to be refunded. They have responded within the 14 day period with a standard letter saying how sorry they are that I'm unhappy with their service. They profess to investigate my claim and come back to me within 4 weeks. Should I ignore this and stick to my 14 day 'respond with the refund of my charges or else' letter, threatening legal action, OR, do I wait for their 4 week period to be up before I respond?

Not sure how to take this further. Anyone had experience of Abbey's cunning ways? My charges amount to £4,010 exc. interest.

maz68_2

Hi i was just wondering if anyone could help me please basicially this may be a silly question but one that i am alittle confused about.

Im at the stage where i have recieved some statements from Abbey but was wondering if anyone could give me examples of charges i should be looking for on the actual statements in Abbeys "wording terms" - on the statement would it just say like overdrawn etc?

Really sorry for asking such silly question but i just dont want to mess up my claim!

Many thanks

jonnymagicpants

maz68 wrote: »

Hi i was just wondering if anyone could help me please basicially this may be a silly question but one that i am alittle confused about.

Im at the stage where i have recieved some statements from Abbey but was wondering if anyone could give me examples of charges i should be looking for on the actual statements in Abbeys "wording terms" - on the statement would it just say like overdrawn etc?

Really sorry for asking such silly question but i just dont want to mess up my claim!

Many thanks

Hi there,

Abbey seem to take out the penalty on the 28th of each month, so look for charges on that date. On your statements look for the words "charge" then it will tell you what the charge is for "Charge for clearing a visa payment" "Charge for an unauthorised overdraft" etc etc.. You cant claim for interest charges or regular charges anything that is a penalty you can claim for.

Also when you get the Microfishe statements, again look for the 28th of each month and the abbreviation CHG, this is what you want to be claiming back.

Abbey usually send back the statements in different batches, and will arrive on different days, but hold out and you should receive them all.

Just sent my "pay up or court" letter today!! Fingers crossed!!

So good luck everyone, please keep at it, seems like Abbey will try everything to stall and not pay up, so keep to your time frames and not theirs! It took me 20 mins to works out my charges NOT 4 WEEKS that they want! You work for me Abbey!!!

halphy

I am feeling the same about ABBEY, they are one of the worse banks ever!!! My charges total over £2000, i was given £240 after complaining, they just put it in my bank, think that must be normal to try and get you to back down! Yes right?? Filed mcol and had my questionnaire today with ABBEY'S letter offering half !! half, cheek! I have sent a letter recorded asking them for what i want, if not ill go to court, they are so unhelpful, cant wait to close that account!!

Twinkly

2gr82btrue wrote: »

I have been asking ABBEY for my charges since before christmas and they made excuses about investigating it. Excuse after excuse after excuse. Time passed and I was forced to take my case to court. Abbey filed a defence and I am looking forward to having my day. I am owed over £850 and was offered £250 I told them NO. Then out of the blue gave me some recent charges back without my requesting them to. Is this normal behaviour and do i have anything to worry about?. I'll be glad when it's all over. I'm going to open another account but can the bank's legally close your account. I'm sure the finanacial Omsbudsman will find this interesting.

If they only refunded recent charges and none included in your claim then I wouldnt worry it wont prejudice your claim. Not normal behaviour that I know of but probably a pre-emptive action against you claiming them as well.

The banks can legally close your account but the Financial Ombudsman is taking a very dim view of it being done as a punitive and retaliatory measure against people reclaiming bank charges. After exhausting the banks complaints procedure if they do this (or threaten to ) take the issue to the ombudsman. You may well be eligible for £200 compensation from the bank, ordered by the FO, its been done before.

Good luck with your claim

Bakeybadoo

Twinkly wrote: »

Then you make complaint to the Information Commissioner about the delay. The ICO are receiving thousands of complaints related to reclaiming bank charges and this is a popular one. It is also something they may face prosecution for according to media reports.

Write and advise the bank you are doing so, you may find your details magically appear

Is this the right site/section to do this?

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

Brickie103

Twinkly wrote: »

If they only refunded recent charges and none included in your claim then I wouldnt worry it wont prejudice your claim. Not normal behaviour that I know of but probably a pre-emptive action against you claiming them as well.

The banks can legally close your account but the Financial Ombudsman is taking a very dim view of it being done as a punitive and retaliatory measure against people reclaiming bank charges. After exhausting the banks complaints procedure if they do this (or threaten to ) take the issue to the ombudsman. You may well be eligible for £200 compensation from the bank, ordered by the FO, its been done before.

Good luck with your claim

Hi Twinkly,

Have been reading this nearly everyday as i have just filed a claim with MOL and am waiting for what i assume will be the next stage of receiving the AQ with a half of offer of my claim from abbey (yeah right!), you always seem to be very knowledgable of what procedures there are and have plenty of experience in the tricks Abbey are pulling! So thanks for your posts!
My question is (as this section of the site is getting very busy with info!) where is the help in filling out and understanding the AQ when it comes?
As this is the legal bit now that i'm at and dont understand a lot of the jargon used, so any advice at this stage would be appreciated!

On another subject, i have a Capital one credit card which has charged me £20 charges totalling approx £200 over the last few years. They have recently changed the charges to £12. Can i claim the charges back (or the difference) for the last few years where they have charged me £20 a time? I have ALL the statements so i could just write the 2nd letter and send it off.
What d'ya think? any experience of this?

Many thanks!

esmerellda

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/account-closure-adjudicationA.pdf

the #200 compensation case for info

mety

I was due to go to court with abbey on 5th april and am delighted to say they sent me a letter offering to settle yesterday. I got the cheque this morning. They put this down to my claim being so small it's not worthy of their time and money in court fees basically.

Hooray!! Just waiting to see if they wish to close my account now...

Thank you everyone esp Martin
:money:

:beer:

Lady_E

Well Abbey have finally sent me a copy of their defence which basically denies my claim was unlawful (£728).Apparently the fees are proportionate to the Defendants admisitrative expenses incurred due to my breach of contract , i.e having gone overdrawn without permission.
Abbey also say "The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to any charges alleged to have been incurred prior to 28th Feb 2001 by reason of the Limitation Act". Am I right in thinking that as I applied for my statements on 29/12/2006 , I can go back 6 years ( 29/12/00) ? I wont quibble over the £90 I cant have from November 2000 , that was my error , but I will fight for the rest !

What do I do now ?
Will the court contact me with an Allocations Questionnaire ?

Any advice please