Me vs RBS

bargaindoctor

Hey guys

I was pointed to the direction of this forum, what a great place. I have had a bank account with Royal Bank since September 2000. I stopped using them when I finished uni in 2003. However I was a fool and did not close off the account. I just forgot about it.

It's now been 3 years since I last 'touched' the account per se. A few days ago, I started receiving phone calls almost every 5 hours. I was away for a couple of days and when I got the messages upon returning it said that I now owe their collections department over £300 in charges!

Upon further investigation, apparently the account became overdrawn by £37 or something like that. They then took away my overdraft, and started charging me. I don't know the further details of the charges but as far as I'm aware it is just accumulating interest. I was however also in fault because I did not sure that my address change was up to date. They still have an old address from like 3 years ago, even though I did recall contacting them almost 2 years ago to change it.

The woman on the phone was very rude, told me that unless I pay my credit score would be maxed, etc etc... they would make it very hard for me to borrow money.

However I did read about how these charges should be illegal so I stood my ground and didn't pay. She said they will continue charging me etc. and get a collector to collect the money, or repossess property blah blah blah.

Since, I've been asking for advice. The majority say to write a letter of dispute and tell them first to freeze charges as while in dispute it's illegal to add charges. I am proably going down this route of registering a default or charging interest.

I put together a letter, thanks to some advice from penalty forums. Would love any thoughts on this and maybe the letter wold be helpful to others too. thanks!

bargaindoctor

Dear Sir or Madam,
ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx
SORT CODE: xxxxx
I am writing to you following a telephone conversation on 28/4/08 regarding the outstanding amount of £313.80 on my RBS account made up mostly of monthly charges of £28 + interest of 5-6% due to the removal of my overdraft.
I informed your operator that the amount owing on this account is now in dispute. The amount outstanding is made up of unlawful charges that are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Schedule 2 (e) of the said regulations gives a non-complete list of terms, which may be regarded as unfair, such as a term that requires me as a consumer who fails in his obligation, to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation.

I believe that these charges are disproportionately high and therefore they are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999. In addition I believe that the charges are a Penalty. Penalty charges are irrecoverable at common law. The precedent for this was Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor co Ltd [1915] AC 79.along with Murray v. Leisure play [2005] EWCA Civ 963 It was held that a contractual party can only recover damages for an actual loss or liquidated losses. It is clear that these charges do not reflect any actual and or real loss.

Please be aware that this just does not relate to credit card companies but to any organisation that levies disproportionately high charges for late payment, overdrawn or returned payments.

It concerns me that after informing your operator that the whole amount is in dispute you are refusing to freeze any action, despite being told on 25/4/08 that the charges may possibly be levied. I am also very concerned that despite me informing your operator, I will now only conduct any further communication in writing and that I wish for you not to contact me by phone, your operator on 21/4/08 refused and told me that and I quote “Our initial reply will be by letter and should we not receive any contact from you we can and will ring you 3 times a day everyday until we actually speak to you.”
I will inform you now that the only form of communication I want must be done in writing and I will reply in writing. If you fail to adhere to my request then I will take it as an act of defiance and pursue this matter under the Administration of Justice Act 1970. I must make you aware that I believe you are already in breach of The Office of Fair Trading Code of Guidance in which it states:

PUTTING PRESSURE ON DEBTORS OR THIRD PARTIES IS CONSIDERED TO BE OPPRESSIVE

This includes:
Ignoring disputes about whether you owe the money,
Refusing to freeze action if you dispute the debt.

For your information, I will not be making any more payments to The Royal Bank of Scotland until this matter is resolved. I will be pursuing this further unless the Royal Bank of Scotland removes the default on the register plus a full refund within 14 days, for all charges incurred within the last six years. Should The Royal Bank not honour this request, you will be receiving a Data Protection Act letter for all my bank statements for the period of April 2002- April 2008 to escalate the dispute to court.
Finally, I also noticed that my address on my bank account was never changed despite numerous requests: xxxxxxxxxxxxx is an old address for almost 3 years, and I have contacted the bank almost 2 years ago to request a change of address. Clearly this was never done properly.
I therefore hope to receive your full co-operation in this matter and would like to request a written response to that effect. I hope to receive your full co-operation in this matter and I look forward to reading your written reply.

Thanks and hope to hear some feedback, as I'd like to post this off today