bank charges or credit card charges!?

[jonnyfallon]

first up, the template letters up to now have been brilliant.

i sent the second letter along with my schedule of bank charges on my current account and asking for a refund.

the letter i received in return from alliance & leicester read...

"The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has commented that they consider the level of late payment charges to be unfair, however they were actually referring to late payment fees for credit card payments, which are quite distinct from a bank's charges on current accounts."

now, the original news report i read on unfair bank charges stated...

"Since January, thousands of customers have already won back more than £3.5 million and there are many more claims in the pipeline because it is illegal for banks to charge more in penalty fees on overdrawn current accounts than the costs they incure themselves."

and they also referred me to the consumer action group.

so, am i right in assuming alliance & leicester are trying their best to get out of the situation by lying?

or is the newspaper wrong?

can anyone help?

what would be the best response to such a letter?

thanks in advance.

[jonnyfallon]

i have just written the following response. what do people think to it? is it a suitable response to the situation? thanks...

Dear M Parker,

Thank you for your quick response.

In my previous letter I asked that if you didn’t believe the charges were unfair, will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs.

I require that you respond with this previously requested information within the next 14 days, as your responses have been quick so far and the target set is more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

Regards,
Jonathan Fallon

[lisamellor]

to be honest i think that the letter would not benefit you.

if they havent sent the statements within 40 days then report them to the Information Commissioners Office

if they havent refunded the money after sending the lba then file in court.

i would not give them any leeway.

lisax

Jenny, the newspaper are wrong as they cannot seem to tell the difference between illegal and unlawful- the latter of which applies to charges. Alliance and Leicester are trying to put you off trying to claim. If you have already sent the LBA stating 14 days or I sue you then that it was you need to do as Lisa above has said.