Can i claim back charges from an old Abbey account which was sold to a DCA?

[Blondmusic]

I had an Abbey account from approx 1997 until 2002. I buried my head in the sand after losing my boyfriend, job and was left alone to support my daughter.

The account was sold to Robinson Way Debt Collectors and they were hassling me for high repayments so i contacted my local Citizen's Advice Bureau who arranged to let me pay debt at £1 per month which i have been doing since 2004.

I found this site and sent a Subject Access Request to Abbey as i knew most of the debt was from bank charges.

This morning i got a lot of paperwork from Abbey but they only had statements from 23/01/2001 to 17/02/2003. I want to claim back all the charges that they applied to the account in this time and i was wondering exactly how i can do this.

I am no good with numbers at all (but I am good at writing letters) and i will need a lot of help to do this but if or when i get the charges back i will make a contribution to CAG as i have already received a lot of help in the Debt Collection Forum.

[dx100uk]

at present the short ans is no...its past 6yrs limitations act

dx

[Blondmusic]

I was reading through the thread below about claiming beyond 6 years and i thought i might give it a go cos i really need the money now.

Claiming beyond 6 yrs - important new information!!!

[dx100uk]

the possibility is there ofcourse, but heaven knows when it will ever get its day, this stay i think still has a heap of issues outstanding.

dx

[BankFodder]

you can claim all of your charges back to 1995. You are claiming for the return of money paid under a mistake (the mistake being that both you and the bank believed that they had a legal right to make these charges). The charges are unlawful under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations which came into force retrospectively on 1 January 1995. Therefore you can claim back to this date. The limitation period of six years begins from the date upon which you could reasonably have discovered the mistake. As the OFT test case is still going, this limitation period has not even yet begun to run! Therefore you have got six years to claim at least until 2014.

How did you word your Subject Access Request? Do you ask for all data or did you refer specifically to statements. Your Subject Access Request should ask for all data which they hold on you in any form and relating to any period. Our new template Subject Access Request is worded in this way. If your Subject Access Request was worded I generally like this then add they are in breach of their Data Protection Act obligations and you should send them a letter and threaten them with a court action.

If they have technically comply with your Subject Access Request because you only asked for statements then you should send off another Subject Access Request using our new generalised template.

If that they are in breach then you should calculate all of the charges that you can identify so far, send Abbey a seven-day letter before action requiring your money back and also full disclosure. If they don't respond with exactly what you have demanded (and of course they won't do this) then sue them for the charges and also the non-compliance with your Subject Access Request. In your claim reserve the right to amend your claim once they have fulfilled their obligations under the Data Protection Act..

Have a look at our new templates particulars of claim. You will notice that there is also a claim there for restitutionary damages. We recommend that you seek restitutionary damages. This obliges the bank to hand over to you all the profits that they have made up of your money which they have taken unlawfully in excessive charges. This is an extremely just result. Don't expect the bank to come quietly on this but we think that it is only just that they should be required to disgorge their profits and we recommend that you try it.

Start doing this right now. Don't hang around

[Blondmusic]

Thanks for the reply Bankfodder.

The Subject Access Request template i used was this one below which i got from CAG. Is this the old one or the new one.

Data Protection Manager
Data Protection Team
Regulatory Compliance
Abbey House
201 Graftons Gate East
Milton Keynes
MK9 1AN

9th June 2009

Dear Sir/Madam,

Data Protection Act 1998
Subject Access Request

Please supply me with all data that you hold on me. This includes in particular, but is not limited to, the following:-

1. The original signed, executed credit agreement/s and any terms and conditions that applied to the account/s at the time of default and at the time the account/s was/were opened.

2. Where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account formerly held with Abbey

3. True copies of any notice of assignment and default notices or enforcement notice that you sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.

4. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted.

5. Details of any collection charges added to the account; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was, and what the charge covers.

6. Specific details of the fees levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees were levied.

7. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998.

8. A list of third party agencies to which you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.

9. Copies of statements for the entire duration of the credit agreement.

10. Termination notices
PLEASE NOTE that unless otherwise stated by yourselves and if the above documents are NOT provided, it will be CONFIRMED that you are unable to reproduce/provide in any way shape or form any copies of the above requested documents. You are reminded that you have a duty to inform me if you do not have the above documents. This is confirmed in High Court Law - Ezsias v Welsh Ministers - [2007] All ER (D) 65 (Dec)
You are reminded that you are obliged to supply all the above documents in line with the Information Commissioners Technical Guidance update (Dated August 2007)

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply.

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

My previous address at which the account was originally held was XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yours faithfully,

I have calculated all the charges so far from 2001 up to 2003 from the statements i currently have.

Where would i find the Templates for Particulars of Claim? Sorry this is all new to me. I am willing to fight them all the way. I don't give in these days. Thanks.

[Blondmusic]

I sent the letter below to Abbey National asking them to replay the charges they applied to my account under the hardship rules.

Request for repayment of charges

Dear Sir/Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxx

I am writing to ask you to refund to me bank charges and related interest which you have levied from my account over the last 8 years.

The High Court has recently decided that your charges are subject to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. I consider that the regime of bank charges you operate is unfair within the meaning of these Regulations as they are not individually negotiated, they operate in much the same way as charges operated by other High street banks and therefore there is little alternative to myself but to agree to the charges. Furthermore the charges are contrary to the requirement of good faith and fair dealing as they lack basic standards of commercial moral practice and take an unfair advantage of the weak bargaining power of the consumer. They impose a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations between the contracting parties which is to my detriment. I also consider that the charges may be unlawful at common law.

Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law. Furthermore you are bound by the Banking Code to treat your customers fairly and it is evident that you do not so.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise.

I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them.
Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.



What I require

I calculate that you have taken £446.50 plus a further £267.54 which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £714.04.

I enclose a schedule of the charges which I am claiming with this letter.

My targets to resolve this matter

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 am fully aware of the waiver which you are presently relying upon and which was granted to you by the FSA. However, this is an internal industry matter and has nothing to do with me. It is one-sided and I note that you continue to levy charges and to enforce them despite the weight of judicial and popular opinion against you.

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

If you dispute that I am entitled to a refund of these charges, then please let me know within the above timescale the basis upon which you dispute together with the reasons why you consider your charges to be fair.

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

In considering this request for repayment, your attention is drawn to the Press Release issued by the FSA on 27th July, which states:

"Consumers who are in very difficult financial circumstances - 'hardship cases'

Banks and building societies will have to conduct a filtering process to ensure that cases of genuine hardship are still dealt with during the waiver period. Cases of hardship would still be entitled to be referred to, and dealt with by, the FOS."

I believe that my personal circumstances fall within this category as I am a single parent receiving state benefits as my only income.

My current circumstances mean that I in arrears with my rent, I am struggling to pay for Gas and Electricity, I am unable to afford clothes for my daughter and I am in arrears with loan repayments.

Yours faithfully,

I got the following reply today which i am not happy with as i informed them i was suffering hardship which they have totally ignored.







I just want to know where i go from here?