mcuth v Co-Operative Bank PLC pI ***WON***

[mcuth]

Here goes a new claim, for 3 £19.50 charges - the massive sum of £58.50...no contractual interest to be claimed, as no overdraft is allowed on a Cashminder account & they don't specify an unauthorised borrowing rate

Co-Operative Bank PLC
P O Box 101
1 Balloon Street
Manchester
M60 4EP

By Royal Mail Recorded Delivery, 1st Class

Dear Sir/Madam

CURRENT ACCOUNT NUMBER XXXXXXXX - SORT CODE XX-XX-XX
REQUEST FOR REFUND OF CHARGES

My request
I am writing to ask you to refund the charges which you have levied from the above account since inception in March 2006. I now understand that the regime of fees which you have applied to my account in relation to direct debit and standing order refusal are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. If you say that they are not, 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 of contract, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs.


I am of the view that your charges represent a penalty and are therefore unrecoverable at Common Law. In the Scottish case of Castaneda and Others v. Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498; the House of Lords held that a contractual party can only recover damages for actual or liquidated losses incurred from a breach of contract. This is also the position in English law: Wilson v Love [1896]; Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79; Ford Motor Co v Armstrong [1915]; Bridge v Campbell Discount Co. Ltd [1962]; Murray v Leisureplay [2004].

Your charges do not reflect any actual loss; instead they appear to represent a lucrative profit-making scheme. In particular, charges were applied after I entered into transactions without sufficient funds in my account. The actual loss is the cost of automatically sending me a computer generated letter which I would respectfully submit is valued at no more than 50 pence.

UK banks have recently given evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Committee on how bank charges are calculated: "The costs are going to pay for all the people we have who pursue debt, collect debt, speak to customers and chase payments. The way these charges are arrived at is by taking these total costs and making some assumptions about the volume that is going to come through to arrive at the individual charges" (2nd report, 25 January 2005, paragraph 50).

Accordingly, the charges applied to my account are not a reasonable pre-estimate of your loss in relation to my account. No-one has had to look at my account or telephone me. No one has had to collect anything. Your charges would appear to represent a device to recover global losses (for example, loan defaulters, bad debt write off, including commercial lending in, and outwith, the UK).

On a separate note, your charges appear to represent an unfair term of contract which is contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI. 1999/2083). My account fall within the scope of Regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 as I am a consumer. Your charges constitute an unfair penalty under reference to paragraph 1(e) of schedule 2 of the said regulations:
“Indicative and non-exhaustive list of terms which may be regarded as unfair - 1. Terms which have the object of effect of - (e) requiring any consumer who fails his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation’.
0n 26 July 2005, the OFT stated that 'a charge is likely to be disproportionately high if it is more than a court would be likely to award if the lender sued the cardholder for breach of contract'. Because your charges include a large profit margin, in addition to actual loss, they are unrecoverable as an unfair term in contract. I believe that your
charges require me to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation for incurring transactions which were ultimately declined by an automated computer system. In addition, it is unfair to require me to subsidise your global debt recovery costs and debt write-off.

It has now been confirmed that your high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.

Your responsibilities
I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary. I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them. Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my Right until now.

What I require
I calculate that, as at today’s date, you have taken a total of £58.50 in charges and I enclose a schedule showing the charges which I am claiming. I request that you refund this amount in full.

Targets to resolve this matter
I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and write on the assumption that you will prefer to do this rather than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

You have 10 working days, from receipt of this letter (i.e. by Thursday, 28th December 2006), to reply unconditionally accepting my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

If you do not respond, or do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action allowing a further 10 working days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments. After that will be no further communication from myself and I shall issue a County Court claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

I look forward to hearing from you by return.

Yours faithfully,

{mcuth}

Cheers

Michael

[mcuth]

After not having a snorey "I'm sorry you're not happy" letter for ages, I got 2 today - 1 from RBoS about my Credit Card, and now this one:

Dear {mcuth}

Thank you for contacting us recently to let us know you are unhappy with our service or products (mcuth: don't they know which? ).

I am sorry to hear that we have not met the high standards that we both expect, and naturally we want to put things right as soon as possible. To do this we need to investigate the matter thoroughly.

I can assure you that we will be looking in to your complaint as a matter of urgency and will be aiming to restore your faith in the service we provide. One of my colleagues from our Customer Relations Team will be in touch with you by telephone or letter within the next 7 days. If any more time is needed to resolve your query, we will let you know within the next week when to expect a response from us. In the meantime, I have attached information about our complaints procedure for you to read (mcuth: it's not attached, it's printed on the back of the letter ).

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for bringing this situation to our attention and please continue to tell us if you are unhappy in future.

If you have any more questions, please ring us on the number above and speak to one of our advisers.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Swinley
Head of Customer Service Centre

Still mindblowingly boring... where's that yawn smilie now?

Tick, tock, tick, tock Co-Op

Cheers

Michael

[ian cognito]

Come on Mcuth, this is a stroll in the park to you, enjoy the experience!

[mcuth]

Originally Posted by janquinny

Come on Mcuth, this is a stroll in the park to you, enjoy the experience!

LOL - yeah, am sitting back waiting for them - looks like I'll be sending an LBA this coming week (had to alllow a few extra days for postal delays).

Cheers

Michael

[mcuth]

LBA going to them today.

Co-Operative Bank PLC
P O Box 101
1 Balloon Street
Manchester
M60 4EP

By Royal Mail Recorded Delivery, 1st Class

Dear Sir/Madam

CURRENT ACCOUNT NUMBER XXXXXXXX - SORT CODE XX-XX-XX
REQUEST FOR REFUND OF CHARGES – LETTER BEFORE ACTION

Further to my letter of 12th December 2006, as I haven’t had a further response from you since your letter of 21st December, I am again writing to ask you to refund the charges which you have levied from my account since inception. I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit & standing order refusals are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations. My letter of 12th December explains this in detail.

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

I calculate that as at today’s date, you have taken a total of £58.50. I require repayment of this amount in full and have enclosed a schedule of the charges that I am reclaiming.

If you do not fully comply within 10 working days of receipt of this letter (i.e. by Wednesday 17th January 2007), I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount (plus interest, plus my costs) without further notice.


I look forward to hearing from you by return.

Yours faithfully,

{mcuth}

Cheers


Michael

[mcuth]

Just checked my Co-Op account this morning, and there's a £58.50 credit before they've even received the LBA - so it looks like this one's settled (though I wish it'd been yesterday then I'd have saved the £1 for recorded delivery )

Cheers

Michael

[ian cognito]

LOL!

Well done Mcuth!

[mcuth]

Yup, this is definitely settled - received letter dated 3rd Jan today:

Dear {mcuth}

Thank you for your letter dated 12 December 2006. I am sorry you have had cause to write in and for the delay in my reply.

I can appreciate that you are unhappy with the charges that have been applied to your account. As you are aware, the charges are valid and in line with the terms of your account.

After reviewing your account, I can confirm that the total charge of £58.50 has been refunded to your account as a goodwill gesture. This will appear as a credit on your next statement.

Please find enclosed for your information details of our complaints escalation process.

I hope this meets you [sic] approval. If you have any question [sic], please contact Customer Services on 08457 212 212. They are available 24 hours a day, everyday [sic].

Yours sincerely

Bernadine Brady
Customer Relations Adviser

Well, that was nice & simple, if a bit of an anticlimax with the wasted £1 on the LBA (I'm a Yorkshireman - the £1s are important ). All done

Cheers

Michael

[zootscoot]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!



Don't spend it all at once

[mcuth]

Originally Posted by zootscoot

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!



Don't spend it all at once

LOL - thanks, I'll try not to - though it's all gone into the "keep Michael going through January til his first payday" charity appeal

Though I even found a tenner in the pub tonight - brilliant

Cheers

Michael