My situation with abbey

[Bgm_co]

hey guys,

this is my first post, so please excuse my lack of knowledge about the whole charges thing.

I made a claim early this year and after what seemed for ever Abbey put around 700 in to my account, which is less than half of my claim. So i called them and told them that wasn't enough and haven't heard anything since... when i called they said they were still dealing with it then when I last called i got that they were now waiting till the case was heard before they look at anyones claim...
Since, I have had alot of charges that have put me over my overdraft limit and Abbey have now froze the account and cancelled all direct debits until I clear my overdraft...
I'm in a bit of an earning slump as I have not had much work on in the past 3 months and struggling to pay my own bills...
As the full sum of what i apparently owe the bank is all costs of charges and interest, I have decided not to pay it till I get some advice....

does anyone here know where I stand with this?

[Lula]

Hi BGM,

you need to put all your charges on to a spreadsheet and send them a letter, but before you do anything, you need to read up about what you are doing, I suspect that this is where you went wrong before, you did no research before you sent them a letter.

so you need to go here and read up, and then read some threads, download a spreadsheet from here and start filling it in, do you have all your statements? if not you need to send them an Subject Access Request, get that here

[Bgm_co]

hi,

Yeah i have all my statements I added all the fees up for the past 6 yrs and sent it to them, then after what seemed a life time they just put 700 in to my bank... i told them it wasn't enough i wanted it all and am still waiting for the rest...
my main concern right now is where i stand about them freezing my account as the sum i owe them is around the same figure of the bank charges... it appears that in the past month they have added another £200 charges to the amount that they frooze my account at..

I'll have a look at the links you have giving me...

[Lula]

Hi yes, go take a look and then fill in the spreadsheet with all your charges any questions, come back and post on this thread and someone will be along to help out

[Bgm_co]

will try sort through those links today...

spoke to abbey yesterday about the freeze they put on my account, they have now completely removed my over draft and said they can offer me a two part agreement... paying half of before friday (about £720) and then the over half by end of december (another £720)... if i dont do this they issue a final default letter begining of next week for me to pay it all in one sum with in 28days... she said to me she couldn't discuss my bank charges and could only discuss the recovery of my overdraft... she was actually quite rude in my opinion....
in all honesty there is no way i can afford this.... and am annoyed that I can discuss a certain part/issue of my account with a person and not the full picture...

[Lula]

BGM, you need to send them a letter placing the account in dispute and then they cannot legally default the account, you then need to get your spreadsheet together regarding your charges and send the pre lim letter

you can find everything you need here, it would help if you did a bit of reading and some of the threads too, if you have any further questions, post them on this thread and someone will be along to help you.

I will try and source a suitable letter to send to the bank and post it up for you

[Lula]

send them this letter

Account In Dispute
Dear Sir/Madam
Account Number: xxxxxxxx

As you will be aware, I have recently disputed the balance of this account on the grounds of unfair and unlawful penalty charges which have been levied against me. These charges apply to ALL of the accounts that I have had with you.

As this account is dispute, I have stopped all payments until this issue is resolved. Section 13.6 of the Banking Code clearly states that you may only pass details of my debt to the credit reference agencies if the debts are not in dispute. As previously stated, I have disputed this debt in writing, on 16th April 2007. Furthermore, I received a default notice, dated May 22nd 2007, on 26th May 2007, despite the fact that this account is in dispute. As you are aware, this would constitutes a further breach of section 13.6 of the Banking Code. I require this matter to be resolved before I am impelled to take further action.

I would also like to mention that I am both shocked and appalled by the fact that you have decided to impose more unlawful charges on my account when it is in dispute and without informing me prior to doing so.

I would be grateful if you would stop any charges on my accounts until my dispute is fully resolved. If you persist in imposing any further punitive charges on this account, including charges for legal letters, they will be included in the amount I am claiming from you, and I will be forced to seek a court injunction to prevent you from taking any further action. I would also like you to take note that I will only correspond with you on these matters in writing and do not wish to be telephoned again.

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

Yours faithfully

[Bgm_co]

Originally Posted by Lula

Hi BGM,

you need to put all your charges on to a spreadsheet and send them a letter, but before you do anything, you need to read up about what you are doing, I suspect that this is where you went wrong before, you did no research before you sent them a letter.

so you need to go here and read up, and then read some threads, download a spreadsheet from here and start filling it in, do you have all your statements? if not you need to send them an Subject Access Request, get that here

Hey Lula, i couldn't get the links to work... is the spreadsheet link this one http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...arges-calc.xls ??

i'm having a read through some of the threads now... I don't get much time to read through it as I only have the Internet in the office... thank you for your help so far...

[Bgm_co]

Originally Posted by Lula

send them this letter

Hi Lula,

As i haven't writing to them yet about them freezing my overdraft and requesting all the overdraft money is there a template for an intial letter to dispute there claim. I may be wrong but that template appears to be a template that follows an intial letter??

extract from template..
"As this account is dispute, I have stopped all payments until this issue is resolved. Section 13.6 of the Banking Code clearly states that you may only pass details of my debt to the credit reference agencies if the debts are not in dispute. As previously stated, I have disputed this debt in writing, on 16th April 2007."

the last time i wrote to the abbey was when i was claiming charges back.

[Lula]

Hi again, the spreadsheet is fine, just overtype it and don't delete anythin because you might delete the equations, the prelim letter is here, have you set up a parachute account yet? you may need it to take back control of your money, do that sooner rather than later

[Bgm_co]

I'm going to fill that spread sheet out tonight, one thing I didn't claim for in my letters for charges was the interest, i just added all the charges up and sent a template (below) which i think i got off of which.co.uk

Abbey
P.O. BOX 382
Prescot Street
London
E1 8RP

Re: Default charges on account number *********
Dear Sir/Madam,
I refer to default charges which have been applied to my account by Abbey, amounting to £1617.50.
I have been a loyal customer of Abbey for over 20 years. I have always maintained my account well and believe that the charges applied to my account do not reflect the cost to the bank of my account going into unauthorised overdraft.
I therefore ask that you repay the amount of all these charges, £1617.50.
I am happy for you to contact me on ******** or ******** to discuss the matter.
Yours faithfully

[Bgm_co]

something I haven't mentioned is that they have also made me return my chequebook and account card as it is there property.

[Lula]

that doesnt really matter now, the important thing is for you to set up a new account and take back control of your money

[Bgm_co]

I going in to town tomorrow to open another account with another bank so i can redirect DD....

I done the spread sheet last night, comes to £2500 and the interest comes to £300...

Keeping in mind that they have already refunded £700 of this.

[Bgm_co]

there has been charges issued since i sent my claim in, which i have also added to the spread sheet.....

i'm still alittle baffled to which letter i should send..

Should i send them this letter which you mentioned origianlly as i have already made a claim againstthem???

send them this letter

Quote:
Account In Dispute
Dear Sir/Madam
Account Number: xxxxxxxx

As you will be aware, I have recently disputed the balance of this account on the grounds of unfair and unlawful penalty charges which have been levied against me. These charges apply to ALL of the accounts that I have had with you.

As this account is dispute, I have stopped all payments until this issue is resolved. Section 13.6 of the Banking Code clearly states that you may only pass details of my debt to the credit reference agencies if the debts are not in dispute. As previously stated, I have disputed this debt in writing, on 16th April 2007. Furthermore, I received a default notice, dated May 22nd 2007, on 26th May 2007, despite the fact that this account is in dispute. As you are aware, this would constitutes a further breach of section 13.6 of the Banking Code. I require this matter to be resolved before I am impelled to take further action.

I would also like to mention that I am both shocked and appalled by the fact that you have decided to impose more unlawful charges on my account when it is in dispute and without informing me prior to doing so.

I would be grateful if you would stop any charges on my accounts until my dispute is fully resolved. If you persist in imposing any further punitive charges on this account, including charges for legal letters, they will be included in the amount I am claiming from you, and I will be forced to seek a court injunction to prevent you from taking any further action. I would also like you to take note that I will only correspond with you on these matters in writing and do not wish to be telephoned again.

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

Yours faithfully

Or should i send them the prelim letter first... I want my charges back but the biggest concern i have right now is the issue with them asking me to pay my overdraft back in 28 days....

i reading through bits and peices on this site at the moment..

thanks for your help so far...

[Bgm_co]

i spoke to abbey complaints about how they are dealing with my charges about an hour ago there just useless...

whilst im looking up bits and peices on here it appears the letters i sent earlier this yr are quite tame.

Tomorrow is the last day of what they said was my two part option (paying overdraft off in two installements.... so I guess i'll be getting there final default letter monday with 28day to pay full amount.

looking at the advice in other threads, i should just leave the phone alone... speaking to these people is just frustrating.