Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges article discussion Part II

Jester

Jackswan wrote: »

I would like to share my experiences with Lloyds TSB and my credit card charges claim. I was originally a Scottish Widows card holder as I would never dream of being involved with Lloyds Bank.
It all began late December 2006 requesting my statements, in fairness they arrived well within the 40 day period.
9th January I requested repayment of £401.
19th January acknowledgement. Policy is fair etc.,.
23rd January having not received a reply I threatened CC action within 7 days.
6th February claimed on MCOL.
14th February - Acknowledgement of Service.
26th February - Defence filed.
26th February - Allocation Questionnaire requested back by 17th March.
5th March - letter from Lloyds offering to reduce the 22 charges in my claim
to the OFT suggested charge of £12 reducing my claim from £401
to £139 plus interest. They politely forgot my CC fee !!
I must add that there had been no attempt prior to the start of
Court proceedings to make an offer. They gave me 28 days to
accept their offer. I declined within two days.
7th March - as suggested by Courts, tried to deal with Card Concerns, spoke
to a human being who offered to place my claim for the full
amount before her Manager.
13th March - Allocation Questionnaire returned to Court.
28th March - Case transferred to Cardiff County Court.
23rd April - tried once again to get this resolved by writing to Team Leader
Card Concerns. To date there has been no response.

This is the part that really annoyed me. In their letter of the 19th January they quote the OFT statement of the 6th April 2006 where recommendations
were made to reduce the charges to £12, they have decided to effect these
changes even though they do not agree with the OFT's interpretation of the
law. That the OFT made no recommendation about charges prior to the 5th April 2006 and that there are no plans to make any alterations to these charges, as a result we are not in a position to offer any refund.
After the CC action had begun, they made the offer of the £12 against all 22
default charges even though their opinion over their charging policy has not changed. It is their final decision on the matter.
My total claim is £508.77, I did suggest in my letter of the 23rd April that it has probably cost them that amount in time/administration and legal charges to defend such a small amount.

Sorry to be so longwinded in this posting, but, Lloyds TSB Bank Plc are very much in the news recently.
The hearing is due to be heard beofre a Circuit Judge during August 2007.

...and I thought my claim had taken a long time !!

Out of interest, how did you find out who to talk to for purposes of trying to see if they would settle before the court date ?

I'm not claiming against a credit card, but am still interested to know how you came about this information.

I hope the courts make their minds up about the banks 'wasting court time' soon. I think that would benefit us all and hopefully give the banks a good kick in the gonads.

I'm about to take Smile down the same court route. In Smile's case, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and allowed them the 4 weeks to 'look into it'. However, last night I sent them a secure message thru online banking to remind them that their own 4 week deadline expires this Friday and that I have not heard from them. I also re-emphasized my previous assertion to them that I would be starting court proceedings against them should they not respond in the timely manner they promised. Looks like if I file an MCOL against Smile and they defend that this case would not be heard until September !!

LozBingley

jayneg wrote: »

CAN SOMEONE GIVE ANY ADVICE - NEED TO SEND COURT BUNDLE LATEST THIS THURSDAY!!

I have put the interest on charges up to the last charge claimed for ie 31 January 2007. How do I now calculate the up to date interest on top of that. I also have a further 300 charges since starting my claim. I have put this in letter to court/solicitors with bundle but havnt included interest or costs. Is there a further form I need to fill out to claim this? I have seen somewhere an order for "wasted costs". Is this something I should include with my court bundle. Need to get this out in next couple of days so would really appreciate any help JG

send me a private message (by clicking my name) and leave your email address and I'll recalculate it for you.

Alternativly the simple calculation is 0.021% per day
ie total claim before interest x number of days from claim x 0.00021

Rabjam2003

Hi All,

I am from N.Ireland and I am in the process of claming back my Bank charges. I have just got a letter back from my bank saying I am not getting my money back. So are far as they are concerned the charges are lawful and the case is closed. They also say that I have 60 day's to forward any queries to the Financial ombudsmen.

What do I do now ?????

Robert

pinkmoneysaver

I have been undertaking the claim process for 15 weeks now and I am so frustrated and upset and ready to give up as the £2000 isnt worth it anymore it seems (my phone bill will be that after the calls to them anyway).

I sent my first letter to HSBC on 27 February, received no response, send tmy second letter on 14 March (a settlement letter) and still received no response so went to MCOL and filed my claim. Still nothing. I called and called asking for them to acknowledge my original letter, which they did on 17 April, but I had already commenced legal procedings. Of course, they defended the claim and it has been transferred to Lambeth CC and I have now heard nothing from them, when they assured me it would be within 14 days (three weeks ago).

Today I have called LCC, and they have lost my court docs!!!!! And I have called HSBC SErvice Qual Team and they are not willing to help me with anything as it has gone to their solicitors. I called their solicitors to see why I havent heard anything and of course it went to an answering machine.

In the meantime, I am reading of lots people having success with HSBC and It has been almost four months for me!

I have called the Financial Ombudsman, who have said that as it has been past the 8 week grace period I can lodge a complaint through them, but I would have to withdraw my court proceedings (kissing my £120 goodbye), or the court have said that I can reissue my claim with a letter stating they lost it and specify that it is dealt with as a priority (I wouldnt have to pay for it again) and then wait to go to court.

Why arent HSBC calling me to settle? I just dont understand why this seems to be happening to me and I am just so upset. Is there anyone else I can call? I really just want a straught answer as to when this is going to be finalised.

Thanks.

Stephen_Leak

Rabjam2003 wrote: »

Hi All,

I am from N.Ireland and I am in the process of claming back my Bank charges. I have just got a letter back from my bank saying I am not getting my money back. So are far as they are concerned the charges are lawful and the case is closed. They also say that I have 60 day's to forward any queries to the Financial ombudsmen.

What do I do now ?????

Robert

Read the [URL=“http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=400981”]Reclaim Bank Charges Help[/URL] thread.

The letters saying that they are investigating and have 40 days to respond are little more than acknowledgements of receipt and attempts to make you give up and go away. The 40 days timescale only applies if you are going to escalate the claim to the [URL=“http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk”]Financial Ombudsman[/URL].

If you have not received a full reply by 14 days from the date of your first letter, send them the second “Letter Before Action” letter, giving them another 14 days to respond or else you will start court proceedings. If you have not received a full reply by 14 days from the date of your second letter, start court proceedings on the [URL=“http://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk”]MCOL website[/URL].

Jester

momisa wrote: »

Bank: SMILE
Amount Reclaimed: £205.19
Amount they paid: £205 will be placed in my account within next 7 days
The story:
I was lucky in that I already had access to all the statements I needed. Took some time and dissected what I believed I could claim and with Martins letter guides I happily posted my initial letter on 30th March 2007. I've not had time to follow the thing through properly but did receive 2 letters saying that my complaint had been received and they were working on it. I was going to nuckle down and proceed further this week but received the letter this morning saying they were going to refund £205 into my account within the next 7 days as a gesture of good will.

Do you guys reckon I should chase em for the 19p? LMAO

They've been slow but with little on my part I've got a result :money:

:beer:

Well done and congratulations. Not many stories are posted on here about Smile. It's nice to see a success story concerning them.

I'm at the stage of taking Smile to court thru MCOL. After my second letter asking for refund of charges or court, I got a reply (thru secure message) that the Financial Ombudsman allows them up to 4 weeks to repsond. That 4 weeks is up this Friday, so I sent them a reminder (via secure message) that I am still waiting, that Friday is the dealine THEY set and what I intend to do if they do not respond. Nothing yet so far, but your success story gives me heart that they may still settle before the end of the week.

droopy1

Hi all. I know there is no 'NORMAL' to the fiasco currently surrounding the banks claims...but....I began my claim officially mid March, against Barclays after they made a small offer to repay my fees..I have followed through after Barclays decided to defend..and since 29 April have been waiting for my local court to do something. I phone and they say its pending, last time they said the judge is waiting for 10 cases in his (Bank fee box) before he will hear them. This does not sound good to me! Aparently I will not have a questionairre, the judge will just call me in at short notice...that is when he gets around to it! Should I wait this long? I thought they had 28 days to sort this?? Maybe I am wrong! Anyone got any ideas? There are success stories on here, for many thousands..mine is £2100 plus £80 interest (not greedy), and I am getting no where!

Jester

Jester wrote: »

Well done and congratulations. Not many stories are posted on here about Smile. It's nice to see a success story concerning them.

I'm at the stage of taking Smile to court thru MCOL. After my second letter asking for refund of charges or court, I got a reply (thru secure message) that the Financial Ombudsman allows them up to 4 weeks to repsond. That 4 weeks is up this Friday, so I sent them a reminder (via secure message) that I am still waiting, that Friday is the dealine THEY set and what I intend to do if they do not respond. Nothing yet so far, but your success story gives me heart that they may still settle before the end of the week.

How odd !!

I answered this post in the 'Success' thread yet it appeared here !!

facesdown1982

Hi, just looking for some advice folks...

Got my statements, worked out I was due £1480.00 and sent next letter requesting they repay them... Week later received a standard letter saying they were looking into my claim and would be in touch... Two weeks passed with no response, so I sent the letter threatening court action and now, two weeks on, I haven't heard anything... It was only two weeks on Sunday, so i'm not sure if I should give them to the end of the week, or just crack on with the next step...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Gra

pinkmoneysaver

facesdown1982 wrote: »

Hi, just looking for some advice folks...

Got my statements, worked out I was due £1480.00 and sent next letter requesting they repay them... Week later received a standard letter saying they were looking into my claim and would be in touch... Two weeks passed with no response, so I sent the letter threatening court action and now, two weeks on, I haven't heard anything... It was only two weeks on Sunday, so i'm not sure if I should give them to the end of the week, or just crack on with the next step...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Gra

I would wait until the end of the week and try to call them again (who is your bank?). Just from the experience I am having with HSBC, they can no longer advise me of anything as I have started legal procedings and I am not getting anywhere fast - I have to deal with their solicitors and the courts. Give them a couple more days, but I would call them again and see if they are intending to respond and if you still have no joy, take it further. Good luck.