Ombudsman investigating the case against the Abbey...anyone know my chances?

annievtaylor

To cut a long story short , the Abbey took over £1000 off me in 1 day in charges , effectively closing me down. I handed in all cards/books etc , notified them of any outstanding cheque written and also spoke with them on the phone and went into branch and signed to close the account.
They then proceeded to keep the account open against my wishes for 5 months...blatantly wracking up charges.They also sent me threatening letters demanding i return cards/books even though this was already done.
In november i sent them the Data protection act letter and my payment for 6 yrs of statements......they never came. I asked over and over and all i received was 11 months statements which showed over £2000 in charges. I went to the Ombudsman , sent off all my jazz....Abbey did not respond to the Ombudsman in the 14 days they asked for so I escalated the claim.I received an Abbey letter saying they would address and concerns within a month and the same day as i received a Moorcroft debt recovery letter about my abbey account saying i had to respond within 21 days....nice.
I finally got the microfiche records in an old brown paper package which was ripped all down one side and sent 2nd class mail. It arrived exactly 6 months after my first request.
I then receive a letter from Abbey saying that they were not in the wrong in keeping the account open and that everything was my fault. They did not mention the charges once , not once. The total I got to was £4125
I forwarded everything off to the Ombudsman and they have just updated me saying these things below:
As you and the bank disagree , I have written to the Abbey to ask for information about:
1.How their charges were calculated
2.How these figures constitute a reasonable pre estimate of the additional costs to the bank arising from your default.
3.If the bank cannot readily identify additional administrative costs incurred , how the charges arise and why it considers it fair to apply them.
4.Expected and actual instances of default during the periods to which the charges relate and about how the charges incurred by you reflect a fair apportionment of those charges among defaulting customers.
5. Internal records associated with setting and increasing the charges that were applied to your account during the relevant period , or with deciding the circumstances in which they would be applied and;
6.Any credit risk costs that the bank claims are included within the default charges applied to your account.

I am sorry to write such a long post , but it was important to tell you the facts so anyone can respond correctly and shed some light on my chances?
Has anybody else had such an Ombudsman letter and what was your outcome?
I just want it over now.
Sorry about the eye strain:D

mcillroy

personally I would have used the template letters to recover my charges as well as the ombudsman. All the financial institutions try to channel you down their prefered route of resolution. You dont have to be herded.Others might advise differently but I think I would start a claim straight away. As far as the debt collection agency is concerned I think you can tell them that the matter is in dispute and subject to an investigation by the ombudsman and they will put it on hold until the case is ruled on. As you already have the statements use the template letters and interest calculator on moneysaving expert site and you will be at stage 2. Stick to your timetables as suggested in these letters. Dont accept replies like we are dealing with and will be back to you in 28 days. After the fourteen days use the money claim on line website links to from Martins site and issue a claim. Keep it below £5000 which is the limit for small claims. They all pay up eventually. So Far I have won 8 in full with interest always refused any offers and still have 2 pending.
and I have started claims on behalf of family friends. Hope this helps

annievtaylor

I already exhausted all the template letters and used the interest calculator to sort out the total charges...Abbey never responded through the template letters with the requested details...after i had done all this , thats when i went to the ombudsman.

TITCH

I have a few friends who the ombudsman help and have got their money, only took about a month

upthewall_2

I done my claim through the ombudsman and got a full refund. It took 6 weeks from actually requesting the charges to be paid back to full offer.

My claim was for over £6k. Good Luck!!

annievtaylor

Thanks...I am so worried now...its been going on since last October 30th when i started sending them the template letters...Hopefully it won't be much longer.