Spreadsheet with interest

[BlueRuby]

Am I right in thinking that the interest part of the spreadsheet won't work for credit cards? The interest they charge is on the whole balance of course and I can't see how to work out what part of the interest is being applied to the penalty charges.

[Fred_Funk]

BlueRuby,

No, you're not. The spreadsheet does work for credit cards and, more to the point, you don't need to work anything out - just fill in the figures and let the spreadsheet do all the hard work for you.

You merely need to input the amounts you have been charged in interest - in the columns on the right - and the spreadsheet will calculate what proportion of this is attributable to unlawful charges.

Hope this helps?!

Fred_Funk

[BlueRuby]

Thanks Fred! I started to worry because it kept giving me the whole amount of the interest charged, ie if Barclaycard charged 13.80 in interest, the spreadsheet put the whole amount in the penalty interest column. But if you say that's OK I'll take your word for it!

[mumsjustice]

Hi there

I am trying to download the spreadsheet but keep getting a page saying "You are not authorized to view this page". I have excel, I use internet explorer, and my security system is Zonealarm. I have tried to go through Opera instead of Internet explorer, but get the message "The object has been blocked" Have also tried to download the open office version but cannot open file.
Please help as I have looked everywhere for an answer but can't find anything. Am getting quite frustrated....

Thank you

[baineth]

Hi and thanks for the spreadsheet. Because of the dates my bank uses to apply interest, my account is usually in credit on the date at the end of the period for which interest is 'due', so the 'interest on charges' column comes up as zero. Would it work to use a formula based on the maximum amount by which I was overdrawn during the period to which the interest applies? i.e.

_____________maximum overdrawn amount during period________________ x interest
(maximum overdrawn amount during period - cumulative charges to date)


I think this would give a fair proportion of the interest as it's saying "If you hadn't taken the charges out in the first place, I would have been x% less overdrawn so would have incurred x% less interest".

Also, do I need to provide the bank with an explanation of how I arrived at these figures to show that they are reasonable?

One final (possibly dim!) question - I keep seeing references to a 'step by step guide' but I can't see it listed in the forums, just the template letters. Could someone point me in the right direction please?

I'd be grateful for any advice.
Thanks
Baineth

[thewifeandI]

This sounds like the way I calculated my interest with Halif*x. I used the largest overdrawn figure in the month that the charges referred to (sometimes the same month, other times the month before that). I gave me a suitable figure, but without the computing power (and the original formulae that they use) there's no way we'll reach the same figure that the bank would. But it's close enough for me - I labelled it 'Best Estimate' in my Moneyclaim.

You will find the Step by Step Guide in the FAQ forum here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...isplay.php?f=5.

[thewifeandI]

Originally Posted by mumsjustice

Hi there

I am trying to download the spreadsheet but keep getting a page saying "You are not authorized to view this page". I have excel, I use internet explorer, and my security system is Zonealarm. I have tried to go through Opera instead of Internet explorer, but get the message "The object has been blocked" Have also tried to download the open office version but cannot open file.
Please help as I have looked everywhere for an answer but can't find anything. Am getting quite frustrated....

Thank you

It sounds to me that you have some form of attachment blocking turned on - you might be able to disable it temporarily in ZoneAlarm, but I've not used that for a few years, so I can't help to much - sorry.

[Fred_Funk]

BlueRuby,

It's hard to say without being able to see your spreadsheet but it does sound as if you may have got something not quite right.

It's unlikely that, in the first instance, all of the interest you've incurred will be as a result of unlawful charges, though this may well be the case after some time, ie when the total of charges is equal to/more than the figure by which you're overdrawn and on which you are being charged interest.

Assuming you are using Vamp's excellent spreadsheet, you need to enter any interest you have been charged on the right-hand side in Column H. The spreadsheet should then calculate how much of this interest is attributable to unlawful charges in Column P.

Are you with me now?!

Fred_Funk

[baineth]

I'll see if I can explain by way of an example:

The bank charged me interest for the period 05/04/01 - 03/05/01 of 0.35.
During this period, the maximum amount of my overdraft was 55.23.
BUT 14.50 of that was charges from the previous month (the first month I had any charges), so if they hadn't imposed any charges, my overdraft would only have been 40.73.

The instructions on the spreadsheet say put the account balance for working out interest at the last day of the interest charging period i.e. 03/05/01 in this case. At that point, my account was in credit by 200.00+ so the spreadsheet shows zero for 'interest on penalties'.

What I want to do (and apologies - I got the fraction upside down before) is work out roughly what the interest on the 'legitimate' overdraft of 40.73 would be and reclaim anything over that as 'interest on penalties'. So my calculation is:

40.73 _ x 0.35 = 0.26 (this is the interest they should have charged)
55.23

In this case I can reclaim 0.09p interest that was charged on the illegal charges. (I know these figures are small but I picked the earliest example for simplicity and it soon adds up over the years)

In some later months, I would not have been overdrawn at all if they hadn't taken charges from my account for the previous month. Using this way of working it out would allow me to reclaim the whole amount of interest charged in those months.

Hope this is clear - it's not easy to explain at a distance!
Baineth

[thewifeandI]

Originally Posted by baineth

I'll see if I can explain by way of an example:

The bank charged me interest for the period 05/04/01 - 03/05/01 of 0.35.
During this period, the maximum amount of my overdraft was 55.23.
BUT 14.50 of that was charges from the previous month (the first month I had any charges), so if they hadn't imposed any charges, my overdraft would only have been 40.73.

The instructions on the spreadsheet say put the account balance for working out interest at the last day of the interest charging period i.e. 03/05/01 in this case. At that point, my account was in credit by 200.00+ so the spreadsheet shows zero for 'interest on penalties'.

What I want to do (and apologies - I got the fraction upside down before) is work out roughly what the interest on the 'legitimate' overdraft of 40.73 would be and reclaim anything over that as 'interest on penalties'. So my calculation is:

40.73 _ x 0.35 = 0.26 (this is the interest they should have charged)
55.23

In this case I can reclaim 0.09p interest that was charged on the illegal charges. (I know these figures are small but I picked the earliest example for simplicity and it soon adds up over the years)

In some later months, I would not have been overdrawn at all if they hadn't taken charges from my account for the previous month. Using this way of working it out would allow me to reclaim the whole amount of interest charged in those months.

Hope this is clear - it's not easy to explain at a distance!
Baineth

As I said before, this is exactly the way I calculated my interest, so I'm agreeing with you!

The only trap to watch out for is where they use the 'Interest as previously notified' line - this is where they calculate the interest for May at the end of May and don't charge it until the end of June - at least Halif*x do it. In this case you need to go back to May to look for the lowest balance there. This might not be the case with your bank though.

[trigger99]

Hello!

Thanks for the very helpful spreadsheet, started off my claim nicely.
Forgive any bad etiquette this is my first time!

When filing in the column for interest charged, do I include the interest charged ONLY on months when bank charges are made? There was one amazing year in six when they did not charge me bank charges (but they did interest!). Do I leave this period of interest charged out of the spreadsheet?

Thanks again,

Trigger.

[Lizbrind]

Hi,

I have been using this extremely helpful spreadsheet but had one query on the interest charges calculated using Vamp's enhancements.

This thread has answered a few queries I had already, but one outstanding question I have is related to how it handles the interest in a month when charges were levied on multiple days in the month. If the interest figures are entered on each charge then the sheet calculates a refund of interest each time. i.e. Charges on 3 different days equates to counting the interest as owed back 3 times.

Am I right in thinking this isn't right and I should just enter the interest figures against the last charge of the month?

Thanks!

[thewifeandI]

Originally Posted by trigger99

Hello!

Thanks for the very helpful spreadsheet, started off my claim nicely.
Forgive any bad etiquette this is my first time!

When filing in the column for interest charged, do I include the interest charged ONLY on months when bank charges are made? There was one amazing year in six when they did not charge me bank charges (but they did interest!). Do I leave this period of interest charged out of the spreadsheet?

Thanks again,

Trigger.

Still include the interest - it could be caused at least in part by the fact that your balance was lower than it would have been if previous charges hadn't been deducted - the spreadsheet will work out what percentage is due to charges.

[thewifeandI]

Originally Posted by Lizbrind

Hi,

I have been using this extremely helpful spreadsheet but had one query on the interest charges calculated using Vamp's enhancements.

This thread has answered a few queries I had already, but one outstanding question I have is related to how it handles the interest in a month when charges were levied on multiple days in the month. If the interest figures are entered on each charge then the sheet calculates a refund of interest each time. i.e. Charges on 3 different days equates to counting the interest as owed back 3 times.

Am I right in thinking this isn't right and I should just enter the interest figures against the last charge of the month?

Thanks!

If I understand what you are asking here correctly, then all you need to do is enter the interest debited from your account along with the date it was debited and the relevant balance at that time (or the lowest value for that month if it was in credit on that date).

[Lizbrind]

Originally Posted by thewifeandI

If I understand what you are asking here correctly, then all you need to do is enter the interest debited from your account along with the date it was debited and the relevant balance at that time (or the lowest value for that month if it was in credit on that date).

It's more a case of how the sheet works when there are multiple charges in the same month. Take the following example:
- Charges are extorted on the 3rd, 15th and 25th March.
- Interest is applied on 30th April (Halifax). e.g. £6.

The spreadsheet will then have 3 lines for the 3 charges and then be claiming the interest back 3 time. i.e £18 interest claimed back rather than the £6 charged. While we can make the argument that the overdraft wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the charges, I suspect we'd struggle to claim it multiple times.

For now I'm going to go with only entering the interest figures against the last charge of the month.

Or do you think that's the wrong thing to do?

[thewifeandI]

Originally Posted by Lizbrind

It's more a case of how the sheet works when there are multiple charges in the same month. Take the following example:
- Charges are extorted on the 3rd, 15th and 25th March.
- Interest is applied on 30th April (Halifax). e.g. £6.

The spreadsheet will then have 3 lines for the 3 charges and then be claiming the interest back 3 time. i.e £18 interest claimed back rather than the £6 charged. While we can make the argument that the overdraft wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the charges, I suspect we'd struggle to claim it multiple times.

For now I'm going to go with only entering the interest figures against the last charge of the month.

Or do you think that's the wrong thing to do?

I think I know what's going on now...

What you need to do is to put the charges in on the left side of the sheet in date order, oldest first. Then go back through the statements putting in the interest debited in the righthand side of the sheet, but don't try to align it with the relevant charges, just list it down with the date and balance - this lot will (probably) be shorter than the list of charges - it doesn't matter.

[Debt Girl]

I'm not sure I've done this correctly. My interest on penalties is £212.19 and my total penalty charges are £2125. Does this look right?