Vincenta vs Capital One

[vincenta]

Greetings!!! Finally made it thanks to the ever so helpful vendi, sorry WendyB!

Thanks Wendy, you're a starlet.

[vincenta]

************************* ************************* *****
Hello Folks this is just to introduce this new thread. I'm a newbie CAGer and will appreciate all your support and tips.
************************* ************************* *****

Have read through the forum posts and have been much encouraged by the success stories. In the 2002-2004 period, I was hammered by bank, credit card and loan providers as I was self-employed with poor cashflow and my credit suffered as a result. After deliberating the whole claim issue for almost two years now, I've finally decided to take some action with reclaiming - starting with my Capital One credit card.

My S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) letter goes out tomorrow, recorded delivery.

[WendyB]

Blimey, a starlet and a dame! I'm doing well for compliments today

You will find that Crap One are fairly straightforward,in my opinion, especially if its just charges and not default removal. Even better if there's no balance on your account, as then you get a nice cheque. They're a nice easy one to tackle first, to ease you into the whole charges thing.

Let us know how it goes and shout if you need help.

[steven4064]

Welcome vincenta.

You will find all the help you need here - I see WendyB is already on the case so you are in good hands.

[vincenta]

Hey Ho. I've got the CAG bug bug bug!!! I'm going after

1. Ge Money - MEAF - £200ish
2. Ge Money - Mortgage penalties - £2-3000
3. NatWest - Current Account Fees - £500ish
4. Abbey - MEAF - £125ish
5. Abbey - Mortgage penalties - £300ish
6. Abbey - Current Account Fees - £200ish
7. Capital One - CCard Penalties - £500ish
8. HFC Bank Loan - Loan Penalties - £3000ish
9. Welcome Finance - Loan Penalties - £2000ish
10. Council Tax - Rebanding - about £2000ish

Total = £11,825.00

I hereby propose with every success, a minimum of 10% (£1,182.50) of my 'winnings' shall flow straight into the CAG fund!

Yessireee!!

[steven4064]

Go get 'em vincenta.

I would advise leaving the NatWest and Abbey current accounts until after the test case. Don't do anything about the mortgage penalties until you have taken advice - they are not the same as bank/credit card charges and you may not be able (or at least wise) to reclaim them.

But credit cards, loan companies and bank loans - easy peasy

Cap1 usually gives in quite quickly as do GE Money - I would start with them.

[WendyB]

I'm with Steven on this one, go for the credit cards first. The upcoming test case may alter the way we need to proceed on bank current accounts so wait and see what happens there. Mortgage penalties can be a minefield so take advice on those before you do anything. Not too up on loans, but I do know from reading, both here and on other sites, that Welcome Finance are not nice people to deal with.

Just do the easy ones first, then as you get more experienced and knowlegeable work your way through them. No good doing them all at once - far too time consuming and confusing!

[ukaviator]

The Mortgage penalties, are you looking at recovering ERC'S?

(Early Repayment Charges)

[sillygirl1]

ERC's are a no-no as they are very hedged in law, but non payment by DD fees and other fees can be taken into consideration. You need to calculate the interest on these at the mortgage rate rather than the 8% rate used in bank calculations.

[steven4064]

Sillygirl is not so silly - she is absolutely correct.

[sillygirl1]

Thank you steven4064, perhaps you can click my scales....

I've had some very good advice from a local law centre here in London regarding mortgage claims and have decided not to go for ERC's as they are nearly always escalated to a higher court and you do need to have a solicitor present, if not a barrister, and I certainly can't afford either.

[steven4064]

There were several cases on CAG earlier in the year where people tried to reclaim ERCs as contract penalties in the same way that banl charges are claimed. In several cases, it got to court and the case was lost because the claimant couldn't prove they had a contract with the mortgage company. And no contract, no contract penalties.
The reason is that mortgages are a very different animal to any other sort of credit agreement - as you said they are hedged in law. Normal contract law doesn't (seeem to) apply and neither do CCA1974 or UTCCR1999.

[vincenta]

Hi All
Thanks for your various comments and suggestions.

Yep, certainly no point starting with the harder cases first is there? So I'll definitely be taking them in order of ease first.

On the mortgage front, I'm not looking at ERC/ERPs as that is only payable if you redeem your mortgage before a certain special period. If I did that on my current mortgage it'd be about £16K so "that ain't gonna happen!"
I'm looking at those awful DD returned and arrears admin fees and interest charged on top etc. Fortunately, it's not with my current lender but the one I moved away from about a year ago.

I'm certainly keeping them in my sights and with the way I was treated at the time, the least I can do is give it a go.

[vincenta]

Howdy Folks

Trust you all had a good Christmas and New Year?!?!?

Time for an update:

Abbey have replied to MEAF letter with a letter trying to say my old mortgage started almost TWO YEARS later than it actually did (meaning a lower MEAF would be payable) and to confirm I actually want a refund. I've replied and corrected their error. Should be just a formality to get a payment from them soon.

GE is yet to reply on the MEAF front. They charged me about £300 when I remortgaged away from them. Yet when I looked at all their docs for when I took the mortgage out, there was nothing to this effect there!!! I'm still tinkering with the idea of going after them for various fees applied to my mortgage account while I was with them for four years. Totals about £3000 for things like late payment/DD's bouncing/arrears account admin etc. Does anyone have any good information on reclaiming these?

Still waiting for Subject Access Request replies from Capital One and NatWest.

I've also taken on Council Tax!!! This is quite a biggie for me as I've lived here for 7 odd years. Two years ago I found out that a 4 bed detached not too far from mine (newer and bigger and more value) was on a band E. Another 4 bed Semi (newer and bigger and more value) is also on band E. This property is no 107 while mine is no 46. I've finally decided to stop sitting on my */?se and have spoken to and sent the valuation office a six page document showing all sorts of details why my property is NOT a band F but should actually be a band D and they're looking into it. Somehow, they mananged to allege that my 3 bedder is 141sqm while these fourbedders are a maximum of 127sqm??!?!? They were contending that mine is a bigger property! Of course they're wrong but fortunately, I have it on good authority from a RICS surveyor who valued my property in 2007 that it's size is a maximum 110sqm!

We'll see who gets the last laugh.