Hannah Vs Alliance & Leicester

[hannahbarrett]

Hi All...

Wondering if you could help my. Im up to my 2nd stage of claiming back bank charges!

I sent my letter & summary of the total of chargs that have occured on my account.

& today i have recieved a letter back basically saying that all the £400 worth of charges on my account are fare...

I have been through the letter templates, but they all apply to people that have been offered less than charges back for or a cheque recieved etc...

I was just wondering if anyone could help me with the next step!

Any replys would be much appreciated.

Many thanks
Hannah

[alice-rose]

hi hannah

glad to see you have your own thread now.

a very warm welcome to the consumer action group.

we are all here to help you in your claim and will give you every help and encouragement every step of the way.

Could you please advise which template letter you used.
was it a letter from this site, or money saving expert, or other ?

You mention you have sent a letter and summary of charges to A&L

did your letter advise
"I look forward to a full response to this letter within 14 days, otherwise I will commence court proceedings to reclaim my money."

This procedure is very important.
the timing of these letters are very important for legal reasons.

could you perhaps type in the wording of your last letter, and then we can advise further.
(obviously keep your identity safe)
and the date it was sent.

Good luck hannah

look forward to hearing from you.


alice x x

[hannahbarrett]

Hi there!

I used the template off this web site & started i need a response within 14 days, in which they have done... i will now type the letter out for you which i recieved this morning...

Dear..

thank your for contacting us regarding fees which you feel were unfairly debited to your account.

while i understand your concerns, please be assured our fees are reasonable and competitive with those made by other financial organisations.

the office of fair trading (OFT) has commented that they consider the level of late payment fees for credit card payments, which are quite distinct from a banks fees on current accounts.

discussions are ongoing between the banks and the OFT regarding current accounts and once the outcome is known A& L will reviw its position as appropriate.

as well as making our customer aware of our fees when opening accounts, we also continure to do so through outr website, our branches by telephone and on the back on statements. in view ofthis, i do not feel that you have been unfairly charged and regret that i cannot agree to refund your fees.

i enclose a copy of our complains leaflet which explains the steps we take to deal with complaints and what to do if you are unhappy with any aspect of our response. if you have any further questions regarding yous account our customer service telephone num is shown above.

yours sincerely

l monks
customer services

[holymoly]

Hi Hannah,

Looks like you have recieved a bog standard reply which we all seem to get at your stage.

The only thing that differs between yours and mine is who it is from, Isn't it an extrodinary coincidence that several people can write exactly the same thing!!

Your next step is your letter before action (LBA).
The template is here:

3. Letter before action - Consumer version - asking for it back

Don't forget to include another schedule of charges.

Good Luck,
Holy.

[hannahbarrett]

Thanks holly your a star!!

[hannahbarrett]

I have just been on that link & its for a letter if they havent replied? do i sent this one again? x

[holymoly]

Instead of this line:

'I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the [XXDATEXX]'.

You could write this:

'I am very dissapointed that I have not recieved a saisfactory response to my previous letter of the (XXDATEXX)'.

Holy.

[squarebob]

Hanna,
You want the one that says LBA or letter before action.

I never sent them one as I knew what the outcome would be, so just gave them a few extra days and then went for their jugular. I think the reason that the different stages are used is that when it finally gets to court, you can at least say, "Well Your Honour, I did try and get some response from A&L". The A&L, are not called 'Timewasters' for nothing.

Have a nice day Squarebob.

[hannahbarrett]

Originally Posted by squarebob

Hanna,
You want the one that says LBA or letter before action.

I never sent them one as I knew what the outcome would be, so just gave them a few extra days and then went for their jugular. I think the reason that the different stages are used is that when it finally gets to court, you can at least say, "Well Your Honour, I did try and get some response from A&L". The A&L, are not called 'Timewasters' for nothing.

Have a nice day Squarebob.

Thanks for that, were abouts can i find the letter for it!

Cheers
Hannah

[holymoly]

Hannah,

I think you will find that the link I posted above is the letter you require. If you amend the first line as I have written in post #7 I think this will be okay for what you need.

Holy

[hannahbarrett]

MORE HELP NEEDED!

I SENT MY 1ST LETTING ASKING TO RECLAIM MY BANK CHARGES & RECIEVED A LETTER BACK WITHIN THE 14 DAYS.

THEN FOLLOWING THIS POST I SENT MY LETTER ON MONDAY 23RD JULY 2007 & ASKED THEM TO REPLY WITHIN 14 DAYS OR I WILL TAKE FURTHER ACTION.

THEY HAVE NOT REPLIED SO WERE DO I STAND NOW & WHAT DO I NEED TO DO NEXT?

THANKS HANNAH

[squarebob]

Take Further Action. There's nowhere else to go!

[MimiJane]

Hannah,

Like squarebob says, it's time now to start court proceedings ... either online (MCOL) or at your local court. Just make sure there's a full 28 days between your first letter requesting your charges back and when you file proceedings.

Don't worry about it, we've all been through this and can help every step of the way. A&L only tend to pay out "early" on small amounts (i.e. under £500 or so), otherwise they take it to the limit, but DO pay out eventually. I got my cheque the morning the court hearing was due and the whole process from first requesting bank statements to full settlement took nearly 8 months

I don't know how this "staying" of cases might/will affect you, every court tends to be treating cases differently, but just proceed as normal for now until/unless you're told otherwise by the court.

Ask away with any questions and GOOD LUCK!

Mimi x

[hannahbarrett]

Funnily enough it has been exactly 28 days since i sent the 2nd letter.

I have heard good things about MCOL, i am on there site having a read through now & going to get a court date.

One i have logged the claim & have recieved a court date, is it then in the hands of the court & alliance and leicester or do i need to wright another letter?

Thanks Hannah

[hannahbarrett]

I am on the site now going through all the steps. It says i have to pay at the end of my claim? How much is it and can i claim this back? Thanks Hannah

[jansus]

If you are going to launch claim now the advice is to go through local court and use the new POC for alliance and L see stcky thread above.Not MCOL as all claims that way are stayed - you may not get any luck with local court either.

read General forum /stay cases - see thread with list of courts

Jan