Abbey Try to Settle **SETTLED**

[ianc]

I've just written to Abbey asking for a list of all charges applied to my account over the past 6 years. I am English and my account was opened in Manchester in 2000. However, I now live in Glasgow.

I have had a look at the Money Claim website and it says I can proceed with an action if I have a English or Welsh correspondance address, which I do as all my family is still in Manchester.

Does anyone know whether I can apply English Law to my claim or would this fall under Scottish jurasdiction? I'm going to claim anyway as I think my charges will be pushing the £5k limit and think my chances of winning will be worth the costs of pursuing a claim.

Any help anyone can provide would be much appreciated.

PS - I have read the FAQ's and can see the Scottish bit is under construction. Better hurry up as all my friends and colleagues are drafting letters to their banks too!

[BankFodder]

Account was opened in England - English law, English procedure. You will have to provide an english address for service of documents to you.

[ianc]

That's brilliant - I was hoping that was the answer! I'll keep you posted when I've submitted my claim.

[ianc]

Having read another post saying to go to the Abbey site and press CALL ME, I did. Got a lovely Irish girl called Charmaine calling me.

I told her I needed all of my statements on my account since I opened it in 2000. She told me that they only held data back to 2004 and it would cost me £5 per statement. I played my trump card and told her I was a Compliance Officer for a large mortgage brokers and I knew that under the Data Protection Act they had to provide all information held on my account for a maximum charge of £10, and that under FSA guidelines, they had to hold 6 years of data.

She responded by saying this was what she had been told, and I asked could I speak to a manager about this. Charmaine said that the managers were all probably on lunch but she'd try.

Nice bit of hold music, and 2 minutes later Charmine confirms that actually they DO hold 6 years data, and that they will actually waive their charge for producing my statements! She then said she was faxing the request through for me and she'd call me back to confirm when she'd done it.

5 minutes later, Charmaine calls to confirm the request has gone through and that I should expect my statements within 4-6 weeks, due to the number of transaction. That's fine by me!

Oh, one last thing. When I asked for her surname for reference, she said "I'm not obliged to give out my surname Mr Campbell". Got her extension number though so any problems and I'll know where to go!

I'll let you all know once the statements come through. I also wrote to my bank, and they should receive the letter today, asking for my statements, so one of these methods should work!

[Robertxc]

ianc, I've recently started a claim against Abbey and I live in Dunfermline. You need to fill in the claim form manually (i.e. not using moneyclaim), and send it, along with the fee to:

Central London County Court.
13-14 Park Crescent London
W1N 4HT
Tel: 020 7917 5000

This is the court closest to Abbey's headquarters, and according to the clerk there, they get a lot of 'incoming' for Abbey. Don't worry about an English service address, just use your own. The law states that you're supposed to sue at the court nearest the defender anyway.

Good luck, and if you need any support, feel free to get in touch

[ianc]

If my claim ends up in court, doesn't that mean I'll have to travel all the way to London!? Bit of a trek, but if my claim is in the thousands I guess it's worth the train fare.

[Robertxc]

Bearing in mind other people's experiences on this website, (not least Stephen Hone's) I would guess that the chances of you having to travel to court in London are virtually non existant.

[ianc]

I believe a few banks are letting the cases go to court and basically "losing" by not turning up, rather than defending cases and losing. Is this not happening?

[Robertxc]

Unfortunately we have a rather pathetic Small Claims limit of £750 in Scotland. Anything above that and you will have to do a either a 'Summary Cause' or an 'Ordinary Cause' (phone the clerk of the court for more about these). In either of these cases you will not be protected against costs if you lose, and I think (but I could be wrong), that you have to get a lawyer to raise these types of action for you.

[ianc]

Yeah, I looked into the Small Claims procedure in Scotland and it's pretty poor, but apparently as I'm English and my account was opened in an English branch, as well as the Head Office being in England, I can claim throught he English system.

I might give Money Claim a quick ring just to confirm though!

[ianc]

Emailed the Money Claim helpline (customerservice.mcol@hmc ourts-service.gsi.gov.uk) with the following:

I am looking to sue a company who have their head office in London. I have an account with this company which I opened whilst living in Manchester. I now live in Glasgow, but have a correspondence address in England.

Am I entitled to pursue my case through the English Small Claims Court, or do I have to use the Scottish Legal system as this is where I reside?

Thanks in advance for your assistance

Kind Regards

Ian Campbell

[ianc]

Response from Money Claim Online:

Dear Ian

You can issue a claim online so long as you have an address for service within England and Wales.


Regards
Shalama Khanom
Money Claim Online
Northampton


May be useful for Scots with English/Welsh friends who want to go for the full £5k.

[ianc]

Opened a new bank account today with NatWest just in case Abbey decide I'm not good enough to bank with them any more! If anybody is needing to open a new account but has adverse credit or is worried they might be refused for any other reason, try the Step account with Natwest. No overdraft, but accepts DD's and standing orders, and gives you an Maestro card.

You can apply online at:

http://www.natwest.com/personal02.as...S/STEP_ACCOUNT

[ianc]

Chaser letter written to Abbey and sent recorded delivery today:

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



Dear Sir/Madam,

Data Protection Act Disclosure Request – A/C No xxxxxxxx, Sort Code 09-01-26

I wrote to my local branch on 14th March 2006 and requested a copy of all bank statements issued on my account since it’s inception in 2000. I also followed this up with a phone call and made the request verbally. 20 days have passed and I am yet to receive either any information, or an acknowledgement letter.

I am therefore writing this further letter as a reminder that there are only 20 days left for me to receive the requested information before I make a report to the Information Commissioner.

I have enclosed a copy of my original letter, and would like to add that if you require the £10 fee payable for a Subject Data Request, I am happy for this to be deducted as a single charge from my bank account.

I look forward to receiving the requested information before 23rd April 2006. If you require any further information, please contact me at your earliest convenience on xxxxx xxx xxx.

Kindest Regards


Hopefully this will spur them on! If not, I'll be submitting a claim with estimated charges of around £3500....

[mariejader]

Send the £10 with your letter if they have it they can't complicate matters by writing again to you for payment, as I am sure they will need to notify you that they will debit your account! I sent my with my original request but it was returned as they said they would supply me FOC

My original request was received by them on the 16th March and I have had a reply also dated 16th March saying issue statements foc my chq was returned with this letter, as your has gone in before mine I would say keep on at them!

[ianc]

My letter was received at Abbey today so 19 days until I send them a Request for Payment, based on an estimation or charges deducted from my account.

Based on the number of people who are being told their statements have been microfiched, could we all claim for £5k to "encourage" the bank to tell us how much is really owed? If the banks aren't even bothering to defend claims in court, these £5k claims might just be upheld, which could cost the bank a fortune in the long run.....

[alanfromderby]

Just one problem - the rules for Data Protection Act disclosure state that they have 40 days to comply after they have received payment.

[comanche]

You MUST send them the £10. Abbey seem to be wilfully ignoring all Data Protection Act requests that don't include the £10. They do this for as long as they can and then say that you need to pay it. The 40 day period starts from when they receive payment.

DON'T RELY ON THEM TO DEDUCT IT FROM YOUR ACCOUNT. YOU ARE ASSUMING A DEGREE OF COMPETENCE AND FAIRMINDEDNESS THAT DO NOT EXIST.