Bank Charges OFT Test Case Discussion

blissy02

Please can someone help,

I opended a new current account with the Alliance and Leicester in July 2007. On opening the account I arranged a monthly direct payment of £20 into a saver account I set up with them at the same time (very easy to do just fill in the amount to save). I received all the cards cheque book etc. went on holiday and though I'll start using the account in August totally forgetting about the direct payment. To cut a long story short because I did not have any money into cover the £20 I have been charged £34 for a "failed bill payment" and two times £25 for an unauthorised overdraft caused by the £34 charge. I spoke to the bank twice, once when I recived the letter re the £34 and was told about the freeze on dealing with bank charges, no mention that if I did not put money into my account to cover the £34 charge I would incurr overdraft charges. Spoke to a manager at the Alliance today and basically was told to S.. off they don't have to deal with any bank charge queries until the test case is resolved and if I don't put money into the account I have never even used the charges will continue to grow and it may effect my credit history, I can not even close the account. I feel like I must be dreaming, are the Banks becoming the robbers!! has the whole Banking world gone mad or is it just this country. Seriously though what can I do in this highly stressful situation?

Any help greatly appreciated,


One very stressed Mo:eek:

TANZARELLI

blissy02 wrote: »

Please can someone help,

I opended a new current account with the Alliance and Leicester in July 2007. On opening the account I arranged a monthly direct payment of £20 into a saver account I set up with them at the same time (very easy to do just fill in the amount to save). I received all the cards cheque book etc. went on holiday and though I'll start using the account in August totally forgetting about the direct payment. To cut a long story short because I did not have any money into cover the £20 I have been charged £34 for a "failed bill payment" and two times £25 for an unauthorised overdraft caused by the £34 charge. I spoke to the bank twice, once when I recived the letter re the £34 and was told about the freeze on dealing with bank charges, no mention that if I did not put money into my account to cover the £34 charge I would incurr overdraft charges. Spoke to a manager at the Alliance today and basically was told to S.. off they don't have to deal with any bank charge queries until the test case is resolved and if I don't put money into the account I have never even used the charges will continue to grow and it may effect my credit history, I can not even close the account. I feel like I must be dreaming, are the Banks becoming the robbers!! has the whole Banking world gone mad or is it just this country. Seriously though what can I do in this highly stressful situation?

Any help greatly appreciated,


One very stressed Mo:eek:

This is a prime example of the unreasonable charging regime that banks opperate. Can you afford to pay the charges off and ensure that any further payments are covered before closing the account?

If you can then start the process by sending a preliminary request for a refund of the charges. See the library section for template letters. It is best to act quick and get it paid off if poss then start the reclaim process, as it will then not affect your credit file.

longlady

We have incurred various overdraft fee charges over the last 6 years and we are Premier customers which we pay a £10 monthly fee for the priviledge. What do we actually get for this fee? It certainly isn't good customer service. Since the monthly fee was introduced, we have paid £780 in fees. Please can anyone advise me, if we are able to claim for debit interest charges which have been applied to the account or is it just the overdraft fees and the interest on these funds?

your advise is appreciated.

TANZARELLI

You are able to reclaim all fees, also debited interest on the fees and interest on all of it at 8% in line with the county courts act. However the chances are your case will be stayed either by MCOL (moneyclaim online) or by your local county court if you file in person using the N1 route.

dongeo8480

Could anyone advise what is happening with Scottish cases? My court dates were issued the day before this announcement - Can they still stay? I feel the Abbey knew this was going to happen and deliberately delayed their process - will letting the court see dates make any difference?
PLZ HELP - It has cost me a fortune to lodge three cases and pay for their delivery by Sheriff Officers!
Thanks Donna

TANZARELLI

dongeo8480 wrote: »

Could anyone advise what is happening with Scottish cases? My court dates were issued the day before this announcement - Can they still stay? I feel the Abbey knew this was going to happen and deliberately delayed their process - will letting the court see dates make any difference?
PLZ HELP - It has cost me a fortune to lodge three cases and pay for their delivery by Sheriff Officers!
Thanks Donna

Hi donna,

See this: http://www.govanlc.com/sisted.pdf

workingboy

I've had a letter from my bank saying that they are holding any further correspondance till the OFT case is sorted, where I'm making a claim.

I have already had £750 from them, which I sent a "without prejudice" letter accepting this as a part payment.

But do I still proceed to the courts as my warning to them has now expired or do I wait till the outcome of the OFT case, which the bank says it will sort out asap if the OFT wins.

thxs

TANZARELLI

workingboy wrote: »

I've had a letter from my bank saying that they are holding any further correspondance till the OFT case is sorted, where I'm making a claim.

I have already had £750 from them, which I sent a "without prejudice" letter accepting this as a part payment.

But do I still proceed to the courts as my warning to them has now expired or do I wait till the outcome of the OFT case, which the bank says it will sort out asap if the OFT wins.

thxs

Continue to court. You may well find the case is stayed however you may be lucky.

fourlanded

HelloNot sure if anyone has had similar: We accepted an offer from Halifax and it was credited to our account. Last week we got the following letter. Does this mean if we don't reply, they will take the money back out of our account?(Sorry - incredibly long letter, but thought it all needed to be in to get the full message!)Dear Mr & MrsWe refer to your complaint about bank charges.We wrote to you recently making you a goodwill offer in full and final settlement of your complaint about these charges.We believe that charges are fair, transparent and lawful. Since we last wrote to you, the bank (and several other banks) became involved in legal proceedings with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) about bank charges which we believe will resolve the legal issues on the fairness and legality of your bank charges.We have asked the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to suspend the normal timetable for dealing with bank charges complaints, and the FSA has agreed to this request subject to conditions that protect your rights.However, the goodwill payment the bank made to you still stands and you can accept or reject this offer. Please return the attached form, in the enclosed pre-paid envelope, within 2 months from the date of this letter. You should be aware that if you accept this offer, this will be in "full and final" settlement of your complaint. This means that it is unlikely you would be awarded a further sum even if the test case indicated that you could be entitled to a potentially larger amount. Though this does not preclude you asking for repayment of any future charges if the court finds they are unlawful.If you decide to reject this offer and await the outcome of the legal proceedings with the OFT you will need to return the money which we have already paid to you. We will reconsider your complaint once the test case is resolved. We can assure you (in that instance) we have registered and stored your complaint.If we do not hear from you by 5th October 2007, we will assume that you have decided to reject this offer and await the outcome of the legal proceedings with the OFT.Please retain your bank records, as this will make it easier for you to support your complaint on resolution of the test case.Once the legal proceedings between the OFT and the banks finish, we will resolve your complaint as quickly as possible and apply the (test case) principles. This may produce a larger or smaller figure when compared with the current offer.We are sorry that we have not been able to respond in full to your complaint now, but we (together with the FSA and the OFT) think that it is necessary to resolve the key legal issues before we decide how we should respond to your complaint.Obviously exactly what will happen next will depend on the courts. We do not know how long the case will take - we have promised to proceed as quickly as possible but inevitably given the importance of the issues being considered this may take many months to finally resolve. But we can assure you that once the legal proceedings are completed we will resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. If at that stage you do not agree with our conclusions you will of course be able to refer your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) (or to the courts).Given this court case we have asked the FOS not to proceed with any other case they are hearing until the test case is resolved. FOS has indicated that as a general proposition it will indeed not proceed with cases which rely on the legal issues being considered in the test case.Similarly, you should be aware that if you choose to issue a claim in the Courts, the bank will immediately apply to the Court for an order to stay your action until resolution of the bank's proceedings with the OFT.We will keep you updated appropriately about the proceedings with the OFT. You can also check the latest position on our websites at https://www.halifax.co.uk or https://www.bankofscotland.co.ukLook forward to any advice!

lindilou39

write back to them accepting the payment in part and without prejudice, if you,re worried they will take the amount out if you respond in this manner...then remove what they have paid before they receive your response, if you can print off a statement showing the amount paid in that would help, but under the waiver the banks now have no right to make an offer as full and final settlement , so put that in your response too, also add that you will be continuing with court action for the full amount claimed, or which ever route you wish to take...but you could be time barred under the Limitation Act 1980 if say alot of your charges where in these months, so it is always best to start court action to avoid this.

Lin