Bank Charges OFT Test Case Discussion

hvr1

hi, not sure if this helps - but I am in same situation with Royal Bank of Scotland - apparently they validated my claim on 3rd July & were due to send paperwork/offer to me - this was not received - I rang on the 20th & they said they would send duplicates which usually take 10 working days. Rang them again on the 27th after THE news broke & they told me as the claim had been validated BEFORE the 27th then it would still be honoured, but to bear with them as they had shed-loads of duplicates to deal with. I would imagine in your case it will be the same, possibly a better chance as you have an e-mail from them. As yet I still havent got my offer (will be ringing them on friday if no joy by then!). Not to defend the banks too much, I have been having lots of problems with the recent postal strikes (& postman - when he be bothered to actually leave my mail @ my house instead of my neighbours!).

Good luck & I really hope it comes through soon.

hvr1

HI

Can anyone help? I've just got my statements through from HSBC & the majority of my charges are for the period 2001-2002. I still intend to claim, but do I just go straight to the MCOL or send the standard letters then MCOL? I believe if I wait for the result of the test case then I will loose quite a large chunk of the charges I can claim for.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks

xyzman_3

Having received a standard reply from my bank (Natwest) stating they were considering my claim and should reply in 6/7 weeks, I wrote back giving 14 days notice of court action. However after reading further updates on the site I decided to follow the FOS route for reclaiming as the advice now was that the FOS was "the preferred option for most".
The 8 week period for claiming via the FOS expires this Friday 3/8/07 and I was going to lodge my claim on Monday 6/8/07 assuming I did not either hear from my bank in the meantime, which with recent events is now highly unlikely.
Although the FOS are not processing claims until the test case is heard, are they still allowing claims to be submitted?

maythorn

Hi,
Well done! I have a case coming up in Septmeber, it has been transferred twice now, and has taken from April to get to this point. I have printed off ta bundle of relevant notes, which I find difficult to understand to be honest. I have all the bank statements, and the completed spreadsheet. Did you find it fairly straightforward at court, did you really need to allude to the "bundle"?
Thanks for any advice!

gillyj wrote: »

After 7 months of going through the reclaim process, I attended court today. After the OFT announcement last week I was pretty confused about the whole sittuation. However my case still went ahead today. Barclays did not turn up much to the judges annoyance. She did award me the full amount claimed, plus my court costs of £120 plus a days pay from work that I had lost. In total I was awarded £1,749.00. The Judge was aware of the OFT test case but decided to go ahead and deal with my case. From what I could make out it is up to the individual judge or circuit judge to decide if they want to continue to hear cases or not. Today I was luck in that she decided to go ahead with my case (possibly because she was annoyed that the bank had not turned up).
Please dont give up with your claims. If you get to the court stage make sure you have prepared your case thoroughly if you are representing yourself as I did. The judge today literally checked my list of charges against my actual bank statements, not all of them but randomly checked about 20 of them. I was so glad that I had been meticulous in my preparation.
A big thank you to Martin and this web site because without it I would never have had the courage to take on the might of Barclays. Thank you!

shamrock7

stevieM wrote: »

I received a reply from my bank (nat west) telling me i was going to get £3.350 charges paid into my account and asked me to sign a form to say i,d accept the payment! They received the form monday the 30th! Will i still get this money?
I phoned my bank and they said evrythings on hold and i,ll get a letter in about 3 weeks

I phoned RBS today as signed a claim form on 27/07/07 and sent it back. Was told to include charges accrued since claim started and they would consider whether to include these in my offer for the full amount given. Anyway was informed this would be in account in 10 working days.However I phoned today and was told letter in 3 weeks and it was all on hold. Phoned the FOS who say this wrong and called back RBS to be told they knew nothing of what the FOS told me!!! Infuriating :mad:

tsotd

i recived the standard "we are looking into your claim, it will take 7 weeks" letter from natwest the other day.
should i still send out the "you have 2 weeks or else" letter or is it on hold?

thanks

Artfull_Dodger

I've sent the first 2 template letters, the first dated 17/4/07, the first reply was a stalling reply on the 24/4/07 and the another on 14/5/07 and then a final letter dated 13/6/07 where the bank said the charges were lawfull. To this I sent the second template letter dated 20/6/07 saying that I had not yet received a satisfactory response and was intending to take them to court, and gave them 14 days notice. I have not heard anything since. What is my next step?

Edinburghlass_2

Edinburghlass wrote: »

I can't and don't have the time to go through this thread and answer each and every question but I'll have a go at sumarising a few and please read Martin's Emergency Guide carefully...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges-alert

If you are about to go to court, local or via MCOL, you must continue with this to keep your claim in the system. The bank will tell you they have suspended all claims but your individual court may or may not proceed with claims and they are the people to ask.

The banks will and must honour any offers that were made before claims were suspended.

If you already have a court date, it is important that you plan towards this still going ahead and prepare your court bundle etc. If your claim is in the MCOL system it is more than likely that your bank will acknowledge/defend and you will then hear from the court when it is transferred to your local court and will get further directions from them.

You'll find your bank thread linked in the Reclaim Help Thread which is linked in my signature, please read and post on your bank's thread as to how your bank is dealing with your claim as this then helps others.

and as always, please read Martin's article here...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges

Just to add to this, if you are just starting your claim you must still go through the suggested steps by sending both letters giving 14 days each letter before starting court action, don't just start court action.

BristolDave

tsotd wrote: »

i recived the standard "we are looking into your claim, it will take 7 weeks" letter from natwest the other day.
should i still send out the "you have 2 weeks or else" letter or is it on hold?

thanks

I'd like some advice on this question too please - I'm in exactly the same situation with Natwest.

At the moment, I'm tempted to follow advice I've read here saying "stick to your timetable". My thoughts are that if I leave it, I may lose all chances of claiming the money back (if the worst happens and the OFT lose the test case) whereas if I carry on the motions towards a court case now if the bank applies for a stay I can at least contest it.

What are other people's thoughts on this? Should me and tsotd and others in this situation carry on?

Chrissy100_2

I have been trying to claim since April. My letter went recorded delivery. They said they couldn't find it, but sent the statements anyway!

My template letter with the total amount I am claiming back went to them on the 12 June, I phoned them 3 weeks after, they said it would take between 6 and 8 weeks from the date I sent it. A letter would be sent, then it was another week before they would payout. I still have not my offer letter from them nearly 2 months later. Do I have to wait now???

Also I notice you talked about hardship cases. I am claiming incapcity benefit, and I am also just putting in a claim for Disability living allowance, money is VERY tight, and I have some more charges to 2 of my accounts, as I am finding it hard to manage. So they are taking charges from my benefit. I have no other money coming in. Can I claim for those sooner?

Cheers
Chrissy