HBOS aka Halifax Bank of Scotland

Morn

Hi Mark,

Your point is valid, the DD is a new one for something that I normally pay for by cheque in Jan hence the incorrect usage of the word 'Unexpected' where as its more of a case of 'Forgot'.

Any how, I have spoken to the customer care team and they have agreed to drop the £28 charge but will still be charging me the other one. This is not ideal and is still very expensive, but I guess that I have learnt my lesson.

Cheers

m.colak

AliceBanned wrote: »

Hi allI went straight to Moneyclaim online when it came to reclaiming from the Halifax. Will let you know the progress but like everyone, am not getting anywhere fast. I've already reclaimed from two other credit cards and one current account. Having started them all around the same time, about nine months ago, I am still at this stage with the Halifax! Only just got the statements through, so as it has taken so long thought I'd take them to court if no response to my request for repayment within 14 days, which there wasn't. The charges are only £136 including interest, all from two or three years ago, and arguing that the OFT's recommendation of fees not to be over £12, Halifax argue they are offering me the difference; without interest; only £32. As it cost me £25 to do the moneyclaim online there is no way I accept this. I want the full whack, just to be difficult because they have been so difficult.Incidentally, they've also sent a stupid defence to the county court re the test case, even though it is clearly a credit card reclaim. I think this is just a made up legal document to scare me. Not sure where to go from here; I will probably phone them tomorrow and say I don't accept their defence or their offer, and see what happens! By the way, I used the Leeds address for my claim, and they've written back from Dunfermline.

Hi just to let you know don't worry about the halifax defence as it is just a stalling method. They will usually pay out as the cost of taking your case to court will cost them more than paying out the charges. Shame is that what you should have done is taken the difference like they suggested then added 27.9% or 17.9% depending how you want to play it. I did 17.9% and i stated this would have been the interest added to the account on the charges that i should have not paid plus the mandatory 8% yearly interest this would have bought the figure quite close to the original amount requested anyway. But as i said don't worry as they normally pay out and will be suprised if you don't receive a letter of settlement on the claim.:D

m.colak

thebrookster wrote: »

Just a quick question. I sent of my first letter back in June, and recieved a letter stating that they were not going to refund charges etc. However, this was sent to my Uni address, and I did not get the letter for a while. In the meantime, my local branch (Penrith) informed me that my account had been closed. Now I know that when I first got into difficulties with this account they suggested that it may be closed once I had payed of the overdraft, however I had payed of the draft nearly three monthes earlier, and had since been into two different branches and had the staff confirm to me that my account was not being closed (they even rang various other people up to confirm this). Oddly enough, the account was closed around the same time that I would have recieved the letter from the bank overturning my claim.

Now as far as I know, this is a dubious action on their part, however what action can I now take? I have not had the time to deal with this sooner due to moving house and job, and have only now been able to settle down and try and finish sorting this out. Do I go to Financial Ombudsman, back to the bank, try and take the bank to court or what??

Any advice would be very useful, and many thanks in advance.

Just because they close the account doesn't mean that you can't claim back charges as they are irrespective to whether the account is settled or not. In fact this works in your favour as you have paid all money owing to them so you have a better case when you take it to the court (which i would suggest). The FOS could look into your case but will take about 6 months to settle where the court could be a lot faster. If you want the account re-opened its a bit tricker but would phone up the halifax complaints line stating dates and letters and times of phone calls (hope you kept noting them). I think that Halifax has the right to close your account at anytime if it thinks the account is not being used properly or abused as its the removal of a service/product. However if this is your only account i would take this to the FOS as bad business practices. Hope this helps.

PaddyM_2

Got one of those nice JD/HCALET5 docs on my account today (they don't even bother to snailmail them now, saves them a bit on postage I suppose) telling me I would be charged £35 for exceeding my overdraft limit.

I'd had a standing order for £4 go out of the account, which took me, in callcentre operative Darren's words, "a few pence over your agreed limit" (I reckon £2.30) for a few seconds as they process outgoing payments before incoming payments.

I queried this: Darren said that as I had an outstanding claim against them in the small claims court, all charges would be fulfilled and would be taken to court by HBOS for review once the court staying order is lifted. So in theory I could get all or part of the charge back.

I also queried the rise from the "normal" £30 to £35: Darren tells me that this is a matter of "internal policy" and could in theory be set to any amount, even £350.

Would you do business with this bank?

Have a Happy, Halifax-free Christmas

Paddy

AliceBanned

m.colak wrote: »

Hi just to let you know don't worry about the halifax defence as it is just a stalling method. They will usually pay out as the cost of taking your case to court will cost them more than paying out the charges. Shame is that what you should have done is taken the difference like they suggested then added 27.9% or 17.9% depending how you want to play it. I did 17.9% and i stated this would have been the interest added to the account on the charges that i should have not paid plus the mandatory 8% yearly interest this would have bought the figure quite close to the original amount requested anyway. But as i said don't worry as they normally pay out and will be suprised if you don't receive a letter of settlement on the claim.:D

Halifax' main tactic seems to be stalling. It must have saved them millions. They sent me a copy of a stupid legal document from their solicitors, which they sent to the county court about the stayed case, and lied to the court effectively in quoting this, because it is a credit card. Perhpas the court didn't look closely enough, didn't care, or couldn't distinguish between a credit card and current account reclaim. It is so sneaky of Halifax. So I wrote to the court using Martin's standard letter explaining that the stayed case is irrelevant in my case. Will wait to hear. I have also notified Halifax of this, (they did offer me £36, which I declined, as the MCOL claim alone was £25!!). I would rather wait for the whole lot, with interest, which they are claiming they will not pay. So now it all depends on what the court decide to do. Don't know where I go from here if it gets put on hold like the current account cases. Don't really want to go to Ombudsman and wait six months, and anyway, have lost the 25 quid if I go that way. I've been digging my heels in with Halifax for nearly a year already, so why give up now.Thanks for your advice about the interest; not sure I'm clever enough to understand it; I just followed Martin's tips and did it that way; as the claim goes back for a few years, about a third of the money is interest.

m.colak

AliceBanned wrote: »

Halifax' main tactic seems to be stalling. It must have saved them millions. They sent me a copy of a stupid legal document from their solicitors, which they sent to the county court about the stayed case, and lied to the court effectively in quoting this, because it is a credit card. Perhpas the court didn't look closely enough, didn't care, or couldn't distinguish between a credit card and current account reclaim. It is so sneaky of Halifax. So I wrote to the court using Martin's standard letter explaining that the stayed case is irrelevant in my case. Will wait to hear. I have also notified Halifax of this, (they did offer me £36, which I declined, as the MCOL claim alone was £25!!). I would rather wait for the whole lot, with interest, which they are claiming they will not pay. So now it all depends on what the court decide to do. Don't know where I go from here if it gets put on hold like the current account cases. Don't really want to go to Ombudsman and wait six months, and anyway, have lost the 25 quid if I go that way. I've been digging my heels in with Halifax for nearly a year already, so why give up now.Thanks for your advice about the interest; not sure I'm clever enough to understand it; I just followed Martin's tips and did it that way; as the claim goes back for a few years, about a third of the money is interest.

The interest is easy to work out just take your current interest generate by martins interest calculator divide by 8 and then multiply by the interest rate you state that you should receive back ie for 17.9% (which works out as 25.9% total when you add the mandatory 8%) do this:

Interest on Charges * 25.9

---

8

Hope this helps as found that in my case halifax diodn't not even dispute my working out on the amount i should receive back. As for the case stalling halifax have to ask your permission for more time at the courts. The courts should be well aware of the current case's. You're doing great just keep at it.

mcmac

hi all

a bit of advice needed back in july i successfully claimed back my bank charges from BOS at the time i was overdrawn and have been since hit with charges due to be overdrawn i have ask for the charges to be returned but they refuse saying that i already claimed back my charges my second lot of charges comes to about £140

should i start a another claim against the the bank start with the 1st letter etc

please advice

mac

m.colak

mcmac wrote: »

hi all

a bit of advice needed back in july i successfully claimed back my bank charges from BOS at the time i was overdrawn and have been since hit with charges due to be overdrawn i have ask for the charges to be returned but they refuse saying that i already claimed back my charges my second lot of charges comes to about £140

should i start a another claim against the the bank start with the 1st letter etc

please advice

mac

mac,

there was nothing in the writing perviously about you claiming these charges back as they relate to a different period and therefore equate to another case as far as i can see. The only problem i can see is that due to the halifax reducing their charges to £12 from jan they are more likely to either stall or fight as everyone is waiting on the decision of the court case to say whether or not the charge of £12 is excessive. You can try but be wary that if the courts say that £12 is acceptable you could be wasting your time. If you have sent several letters already i would attempt to take it through moneyclaim as fast as you can so as to bring through before the court case and the banks have any ammunition.

Matt

funkylala

Hellooooooo!! *waves*

I started here last June when taking Nat West to court and got stitched up three times when Nat West made a late claim against the online court procedure and got it, then I was first adjourned and by August, as you all know, the OFT shambles came about! *weeps*

THIS time I tried it with The Halifax. They agreed to half the costs being returned which we agreed to (one court case is ENOUGH!!) but then when I went overdrawn by £30 sometime later after my online statement information altered from the Friday to the Monday and I went through the usual claim back procedures, they sent me the standard OFT stay of claim letter but are now trying to take ME to court for the money that we left the account with after getting a parachute account and removing our salaries, including charges for Direct Debits that were left on the system accidentally from our new account that was supposed to be a quick changeover account. The amount they are after is £2901.10

I have sent a fax every month that they have threatened us saying can we be afforded the same rule that they're holding my counter claim by (i.e OFT test case) but they've not replied until today I've got a Notice of Legal Action including threat of attachment of earnings etc etc. I rang and spoke to some little oick who just said that we would not get the result that we wanted (ie to get a stay on their proceedings regarding OFT ruling)

Any ideas on what to do next? We've got a change of mortgage in April so I don't want anything on the credit file to jeopardise it as we've suffered at the hands of Nat West already on stupid interest rates for the last six years because of our credit file.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Smasher

So you have absolute faith that the 'little oik' can predict what a judge would say? You need to get your case together with all your facts & figures & be sure of all your arguments.
If you have a strong case, then let them take you to court & apply for the stay. I personally can't see a judge refusing a stay on any bank charges claim whether it is you claiming from the bank or the bank trying to claim from you.

What exactly are they going to put in their POC? We want to sue funktlala for non-payment of penalty charges..