Have the banks got 8 weeks to reply?!!!

Sarah_h_5

Hi Can anybody advise me what i should do next? I have gone through the 2 step process to reclaim back my charges which total £2333.00 without interest added and 8 weeks ago i recieved a leter from my bank stating that they would return my letter within 4 - 6 weeks, it's now been 8 weeks and still nothing recieved.
I did telephone the bank last week and enquired why i had not recieved any reply, the bank informed me that an offer letter had been made on the 21 june and that it took at least a week to send out, yet i have not recieved the offer letter what can i do next?

margymuggins

hi try phoning them again and again and again ask what their offer is tell them u have been patient ask when they posted letter to you which u still not received threaten with next stage (court ) if letter is not received within next 7 days from the date u phone them dont give up I AM A WINNER GOOD LUCK remember Rome was not built in a day

natweststaffmember

Sue them to be honest, that is what you threatened them.

Tonyb_2

Hi all,

I've just had a letter back from my bank after informing them what amount of money I am looking to reclaim plus interest. The took the maximum time (14 days) to respond to this letter and have now sent me another letter saying they are "currently considering my claim and due to the amount of work involved will take 6-7 weeks to come to a decision".

This to me seems incredibly excessive timewise and looks like delaying tactics, also I may wait 7 weeks and they could then just turn around and say no anyway.

Is this timescale typical of what the banks are taking generally or is there anything I can do about it?? Any advice/views would be much appreciated!

kellymundy

You hit the nail on the head! This is a delaying tactic that a lot of banks are now using hoping you will get fed u waiting and go away.
If you are planning on going through the courts to get your money back then i would ignore the time frame they are telling you it will take and stick to your own. You gave them 2 weeks to respond and not 2 weeks to fob you off (which they are trying to do). If you are planning on going through MCOL then go to the next step now and do with their time frame what they have done with yours...ignore it!
On the other hand if you are planning on going through the FO then i think i'm right in saying that they let the banks have 8 weeks to respond to your complaint, in which case 7 weeks isn't to bad.
I personally went through the MCOL way so every time my bank sent me a letter back trying to fob me off i sent the next letter from Martins' templates straight back, and i ended up settling out of court in less than 2 months from start to finish.
Hope this helps.;)

nickwright

I have had a reply from Abbey with regards to the second letter where I stated i'd be willing to accept 75% within 14 days. Their response is that they'll contact me in FOUR weeks with a reply, do I accept this time or can I write to inform them that this is not acceptable without interfering with the official legal letters.

Secondly, is there a template letter in place for this purpose.

Nick.

NoMoreExcuses

Abbey - bless them, have sent me a letter saying it is now 4 weeks and they still have not had time to look into it. They said they would write to me at the end of 8 weeks and let me know "how they were getting on".

I think this is really rea\lly cheeky.

Dont they have to give you a definitive answer within 8 weeks? I emailed them back and said I would give them 2 more weeks to "see how they were getting on" and if they were no further forward i would commence with a complaint to the ombudsman the day that the time period is up.

Blinkin cheek.

i have to say though, that i am gutted the Woolwich dont exist any more. They did the whole search thing for my charges, and offered to pay them before I even asked, and were very nice about it and I got over £800 in 2 weeks!

Helpme_4-2

Hi,

I am at exactly the same point with Baclays.

I sent them a letter requesting a full refund within 14 Days. I received a letter back saying they could not look into the query by that deadline but I would have an update in 28 Days. I have received a letter from them this morning saying I will hear by the 20th August.

Quite annoying really

jm_ah01

i sent my initial letter on the 22nd of June asking for my bank charges to be reclaimed. should i wait eight weeks before starting court proceedings or go an head and do this now?

Edinburghlass_2

Edinburghlass wrote: »

Under the FSA guidelines the bank has 8 weeks in which to deal with a complaint and they must let the complainant know if they think they can't deal with the complaint within this timescale and give them an approximate date as to when they will have completed their investigation.

If you receive such a letter giving a second "date" as to when they will be dealing with your complaint this is a holding/stalling letter.

By following Martin's step by step guide you give the bank 14 days to respond to your initial letter and if no response you can send out the letter before action on day 15 and give that bank a further 14 days or you will take them to court. If you decide to file court action at either court or via MCOL you can then expect the bank to acknowledge your claim and file a defence and should read Beate's post in the Reclaim Help Thread as to the timescale for this next step.

Should your bank send you a letter giving a definate no to paying your claim or indeed if the bank suggest you take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman you can go straight to the FO alternatively you have to have been dealing with your bank for 6/8 weeks before the FO will take on your complaint.

HOWEVER, personally, I would advise you to read the bank thread relevant to your particular bank, you'll find them all linked in the Reclaim Help Thread, as some of the banks when they say they are dealing with your complaint and will reply in 8 weeks they do in fact do this and will at that stage offer to pay the whole of your claim.

You'll also find in the relevant bank threads just which banks will take it to the wire and won't make any offer nor are open to negotiation.

As above. HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Natwest will send you an offer around the 8 week timescale so if you want to wait it becomes a hassle free way of reclaiming. You can of course phone them during this time and ask them how your claim is progressing, same with Halifax ask for your claim to be re-evalutated.