Rosemary ***WON FULL SETTLEMENT***

[Rosemary]

Morning everyone. First posting although I have been reading this site for 3-4 weeks now in every gap and lunch break and evening. Empowered me enormously, even learning about Consumer law in my law degree didn't empower me as much as you guys have! Thank you, thank you & donation will definitely follow.
I have launched a claim against A&L for approx £1,300 in unpaid direct debits, overlimit fees, etc when paying a £300 mortage we paid on an investment flat. As a result of their charges, we couldn't put enough money in the account to cover the next payment as the account was suffering sometimes £50 to £60 charges a month, and so on it went ...... Upshot of this was that we lost our flat as the mortgage company wanted their money back (and all our £15k investment - as it was swallowed up by numerous charges from the mortgage receivers, their solicitors and the auctioneers) with an amount owing on my mortgage of, you guessed it........£1,200. If we hadn't had these illegal charges, we would not have gotten so behind on the mortgage payments and we wouldn't have lost our flat, got a default on our credit record AND lost our £15k equity to boot. Boy oh boy, I am sick with anger and still feel a tremendous sense of helplessness. Most people on this site don't mention the other effects these charges have, such as the above, broken down marriages (mine nearly went under due to the pressure as this coincided with other financial problems) and even now, my husband hardly believes we will get any luck out of this. I sometimes wish we could sue for the additional losses and stress one suffers by using the doctrine of causation. Wouldn't that be grand! Will keep you posted on this claim (and the others too in the relevant forums).

[friendgeorge]

I went through the same as you with southern pacific mortgages, i am to hoping to get chatges back from them plus over £800 from A&L in charges on my account, they are digging their heals in though and won't back down, now going to court..... they are also closing my account which to be honest good riddens to them they are useless and charge so much for being just a few pennies over drawn... any way good luck

[jellyc]

Hi Rosemary, I am not an Alliance and Leicester customer but I just read your post and wanted to tell you how much I agree with you. Sometimes it's not the actual charges but the effect of the charges that cause problems. My marriage took a real battering and my husband has the same thoughts as your husband (I'll believe it when I see it kind of thing). I am also inspired by the website and will not rest until I receive every penny of those charges returned to me!
I wish you the very best of luck.
Kind Regards Jo x

[caro]

Honestly men! (not you friendgeorge assuming from your name that you are a man). My husband is still holding out on chasing his bank until he sees how I get on. As I got my money from smile at the weekend he is coming round to the idea now. Financial worries can challenge the strongest relationship, as well as cause health problems brought on by stress, which is why it feels so good to finally take control from the banks. That is not so easy to compensate unfortunately.

Are you just taking on A&L Rosemary or can you get something back from the mortgage company etc too? Anyway that is my rant over. Good luck (all of you).

[younganfree]

Hi Rosemary, friendgeorge and jellyc.

I just wanted to express my sympathies to you guys, and everyone else who has such a tale of woe regarding difficulties brought on by the vicious spiral of punitive bank charges.

These institutions are totally heartless, and there is just no excusing the fact; I don't care if they do have shareholders that want their share of the profits at the end of the day.

O.K., you wouldn't expect them to run their businesses as a charity - I don't believe any one of us 'victims' would ask that, but they are not [they CANNOT] be unaware of the hardship they are perpetuating!

Whilst in no way condoning the amounts they charge, I would say that for those of us who slip up due to bad moneymanagement, a slap on the wrist is enough to pull us back into line on the odd occasion when we offend; but it would be obvious to any rational human being that tens, sometimes hundreds, of pounds worth of charges every month is due to cause and effect - their cause, illegally high and purely profit-making charges - more often than not, and that the same 'slap on the wrist' set of rules just does not apply.

I am lucky. I am 'young and free', no ties, no mortgage, only a thirsty car to take care of. Respect to all of you out there who are trying to get by in the real world!

[Rosemary]

Hi Caro (and everyone else). I was initially alerted to the 'issue of bank charges' by the Panorama programme and did a search on Google under 'consumer/money' issues. Found this site and spent a week becoming more enlightened and empowered. Felt a huge weight came off my shoulders, if nothing else than to find I wasn't the only one with 'a shameful secret'. That, together with my knowledge of contract law and consumer law, I saw sense in what everyone was saying.
I have first of all tackled our two current bank accounts, namely Lloyds and HSBC. These are at court stage at present with about £4k owing between them. Whilst these charges were huge, the only impact they had on us were constant rows, sleepless nights as to how to pay the water/electricity bill, etc. However, it was when I then looked at our bank account which dealt with our investment flat's mortgage and as detailed above, losing our property and the savings invested in it - hence my deep rage and disgust at the impact this particular account has had on other areas of our life. This is about £1,300 and our mortgage arrears were £1,200. Says it all.
Now, I'm looking at the credit cards and each one owes back in the region of approx £100 - up to £600. Finally, I am looking at a Comet account which eventually went to default (again due to lack of funds in the current accounts - see above!). This one will require a bit more energy in my letters as it will be targeting the credit file, too and hopefully, removal of the default. Finally, I will target the mortgage accounts - both the house and the flat. The house was only 1 month in arrears but we were charged £50 each month. The flat incurred a redemption penalty of £3k because it was passed over to the receivers and I have been reading the forum on redemption penalties with interest.
I will be a very busy girl but am a lot more positive and upbeat with my newfound colleagues on this site. Definitely sending a big donation to it.
I just wanted to add one more thing. I don't want anyone to feel my husband and I were some losers who just can't manage their money. We were always sensible with various savings and pensions, etc., but my ex-husband disappeared abroad owing a lot of money to people you don't want to owe money to. He was paying for my beautiful 15 yr old daughter to go to an excellent local girls school and she had just entered her GCSE's year, so we couldn't pull her out of a system that had been her world and her life for 6 years for the sake of a few more years. Suddenly finding an extra £1k each month floored us, though. Getting some of these charges back has basically turned my life around and we both now see a light at the end of the tunnel. So, that's my story.

[caro]

Don't feel you have to justify yourself to any of us Rosemary. We are all here because of the outrageous behaviour of the banks and other financial institutions. You obviously worked hard to provide a decent standard of living for yourself and your family, and like the rest of us, got screwed. We are all in the same boat, but are now being empowered to put right the wrongs that have been done to us.

[younganfree]

[quote=Rosemary] I don't want anyone to feel my husband and I were some losers who just can't manage their money.[quote]

There are no losers, Rosemary. There are only victims.

[Rosemary]

Cheers guys!!

[Rosemary]

Well, gone through all the usual gumph: letter 1, received a 'no', sent prelim letter, received a slap, so instead of laying down and bawling, I'M NOW TAKING A BANK TO COURT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Submitted my MCOL yesterday, received a confirmation from the court today. Have already started this process with Lloyds and I have to warn everyone ........ when you get those official court details with:

CLAIMANT: (liddle ol' me), and
DEFENDANT: LLOYDS BANK PLC ..........

it will scare the bejeeeeezus out of you. Especially if in the muggy past, you've been on the smelly end of one of these nasty, nasty (said in a truly 'Gollum' accent) court documents. It will lie there on the kitchen table looking at you, and you'll keep looking at it, fearful yet with a teeny thrill going through your body .......... I'M TAKING A BANK TO COURT. ME! And it's ALL down to this wonderful website and the supporting members. Consumer power really lives. Having studied consumer and contract law too during my LLB, all what they say here is true - no-one is above the law and it has taken these guys to pull everyone together out of their individual misery. I'm going to really enjoy this one. Because of the A&L default charges, we weren't able to pay a small mortgage on a flat I rented out. The flat was put into the hands of receivers (no need to go through a court system on buy to let mortgages). As a result of the mortgage not getting paid, the mortgage company also charged us - the equivalent of the arrears on the mortgage. The receivers took their wedge and even though we managed to sell it privately, the auctioneers took their percentage, plus solicitors charges at every event, the upshot was we got back £6k out of £20k investment. They are [edited, no libelous comments, please] and have nearly destroyed my marriage. All because of the A&L bank account unlawful charges. (I'm no saint and our mistake was we took the eye off the ball but we both work full-time, have a teenage daughter and home to run as well as me doing a part-time 4-year law degree, but I'm bitter all the same).

All these websites are about getting their own money back but believe me, there are some real big human stories behind these claims. Rant over. xxx

[callumsgran]

Well done, keep it up and good luck!

[hagenuk]

Good for you!

It is interesting to note that in so many of these stories we read a common factor is people admitting that they got it wrong, took their eye off the ball, have not been a perfect customer etc. I am reminded of the phrase "if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it becomes accepted as the truth." And if I recall correctly, the person that line is attributed to met an untimely though not inappropriate end.

The financial institutions in this country have made us all believe that we need to be chastised, that it is ok to punish us for unauthorised borrowing, bouncing payments etc. and that we are in the wrong.

Of course, they don't like it now we are turning around and biting them back do they?

[Rosemary]

They've returned our money!!!!!!! (MODS - would you mind changing my title to **TODAY WON FULL SETTLEMENT**)

Had to get to MCOL stage though. They obviously realised we were serious - 10/10 to them for seeing that. Others such as Lloyds just keep plowing a deeper hole. And A&L also included the cost of the online court claim and interest. Went home at lunchtime and found I had received a letter out of the blue from them with an accompanying cheque for £1,580.22. They said:

"We have received from Northampton County Court the above numbered claim that you have issued. We have now reviewed your particular case and have decided in this instance to settle the claim.

This decision should not be regarded as an admission of liability on the part of the Company, as we consider the charges to be fair and reasonable.

We therefore now enclose our cheque in the sum of £1580.22 which is paid in full and final settlement of your claim. This includes interest up to 18th September which is the date our Defence is due. Would you please acknowledge receipt and write to Northampton County Court confirming that the case has been settled.

As it is clear that you do not accept the terms and conditions for the operation of your account we will shortly be contacting you to discuss its future operation."

(Signed: Ian Brunt, Solicitor)

Well, well!!!! No doubt they will be considering the closure of the account and I will certainly take issue as this would be considered as retaliatory action whilst pursuing my legal rights, contrary to the Code of Banking Practice - the most recent publication refers to this. Whilst this wasn't our main account, it proved useful to pop across payments and looking after separate parts of our lives, such as our old flat.

My husband finally believes in me and this site - this is the first time I've gone home to good news in the post for absolutely yonks. A donation on its way to this wonderful supportive site. et al

[tamadus]

Great News Rosemary and well done . waiting for my settlement now as the claim was filed and served abotu 10 days ago.

I dont suppose you had a letter from their solicitors did you as I had a strange phone call earlier from what sounded like a solicitor and suspect it may be them.

[caro]

Congratulations. I am so pleased for you. I have changed your thread title and will merge your threads so others starting out can see how you did it.

Well done. Don't forget the survey and um.....