Stop Press - View On Oft/bank Announcement

techspec

Len_Beach wrote: »

Excellent, thanks TS.

Will Halifax make the payment within their own 14 day timescale from the date the letter was written or will they add 3 days to account for delivery?

Just to add, I wasn't required to take any action to accept the offer. If I wanted to reject, I would need to return payment and contact the individual dealing with the case. I take it this will not affect things either?

I would allow a few extra days due to postal strike. Most offers require you accept, so just double check on that.

I would start chasing it up next week. There is a 2 month period to accept, so don't worry that you will lose the offer by waiting, as they have agreed to honour them.

jon_boy75

Conor wrote: »

If the banks win, those who couldn't handle their money will be charged the amount they were clearly informed about. They should be grateful. Once upon a time, writing a cheque you had no money to cover meant an appearance in front of a judge.

If the banks lose, everyone with an account loses, even those of us who keep our accounts in credit.



And do what? Be sensible.:rolleyes:

youre missing the point...do you think going overdrawn by 87p justifies £125 in charges, increasing every month by £50?
the problem is the excessiveness and the knock-on effect.

AndyLGR

In light of the OFT test case announcement and also Mr Brennan losing his appeal against Nat West, what is the general advice for those about to start court proceedings against banks and credit card companies?

Do we carry on as normal?

catwoman150

Quick question if anyone knows the answer. If this test case is going to take up to a year. What happens if you are waiting for an offer or rejection letter. I have been waiting a month for the HSBC. If this is going to take a year and most of our cases are on hold till the outcome. Would we lose the frist year of charges ie 6 years ago?

Little_Pickle

I accepted my settlement on Monday 23rd July - signed the offer accept form and returned - although not by registered post - although I did call them and told them it had gone in the post that day. I also photocopied the signed form which was dated.

Will they still honour this or not pay me now?
LP

IZZY01

felix1 wrote: »

Just recieved notification today via financial ombudsman that although the Halifax does not accept that their charges are unlawful they have agreed to repay us £2133.06 (full claim + interest) rather than enter into a formal investigation with the ombudsman. In the letter it states that the bank may take up to 6 weeks for the bank to make the payment settlement once they have received our acceptance. Whilst this is great news :j and I am ever grateful to yourself and forum members for their support and advice, my question is will we still receive payment within this timescale or will it be suspended in light of recent events?

Thanks.

Hi felix,
I am in exactly the same position as you. Received a letter from FOS today (dated 26th July ) saying BOS had made an offer. I have sent acceptance back to FOS. I presume the offer was made to FOS before 26th and am hoping that payment will be honoured. I think we should be ok.
Izzy

adman

I was able to ask for judgement by default last Thursday as the Halfax had not entered a defence within the 28 days. Then on the 29th day after I had asked for judgement they entered a defence. How unfair is this?

Edinburghlass_2

Unfair it may be but it is standard procedure I'm afraid.

Edinburghlass_2

Little_Pickle wrote: »

I accepted my settlement on Monday 23rd July - signed the offer accept form and returned - although not by registered post - although I did call them and told them it had gone in the post that day. I also photocopied the signed form which was dated.

Will they still honour this or not pay me now?
LP

To this post and others above asking the same question.

Yes the bank must honour this and will pay out your claim.

Miss_moneypenny_11

I am not sure if this information will help anyone or be of interest. I received an offer via the Ombudsman at the end of June. Today I contacted the Bank (Halifax) and they have advised me that I should still receive my cheque within six weeks.
:j


[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]EMERGENCY STOP PRESS NOTE. 26 July 2007[/FONT]

In a surprise announcement the Office of Fair Trading has announced it has agreed to a test case with seven major banks to decide the principles of reclaiming in the High Court. At the same time the regulator the FSA has said banks no longer need deal with complaints; the Ombudsmen is likely to suspend dealing with them too, and a request will go to the Master of the Rolls that all courts suspend current cases until we’ve had a test case. See the detailed Channel 4 news video of the piece (in which I was interviewed just after the news broke)

Why weren’t we told?

This was all agreed when the announcement broke this evening (a day before it was due to because of a leak). The documentation says consumer groups will be consulted; yet why was this fait accompli announced without any consultation?

Over a million people are reclaiming using this site, and hundreds of thousands through sites like Consumer Action Group, however as far as I am aware so far, none of the consumer groups were consulted before this was done. Why weren’t the people who’ve been driving this campaign asked for a view?

What should be done?

This has saved the banks an estimated £200 million in reclaims by the end of the year. After all the vast majority of people who tried got their cash. While I welcome a test case, the effective moratorium is a worry.

I hope the result of this is not “we get a decision that bank charges are illegal and they must pay out if asked” after all that’d be little better than the situation we’ve had until now; what we need to know is that if we win and bank charges are deemed unlawfully high, the banks will be told by the regulator “you took people’s money from their accounts without asking, something even the taxman can’t do, so you must give it back to everyone without being asked.” This isn’t chicken feed, it could cost the banks £10 billion.

What should you do if you’re reclaiming or planning to?

This shock announcement has left a confusing situation. What about people currently in the process? What about those who’ve been offered a payout (whether they’ve accepted or turned it down)? What about those for whom their claim was around 6 years ago and thus the statute of limitations means the delay will count their claim out?

Frankly, as yet I don’t have an answer. Yet I do intend to find out and will of course publish it in detail here. If you want those answers, please ensure you get the weekly MoneySaving e-mail where I will attempt to keep you updated.

Martin

PS If there are other outstanding questions please report them below (note these shouldn't be individual questions, but notes of principle I can get confirmed).[/quote]