Beyond a joke! - ***WON***

[Dogspods]

After the Halifax taking total of £415 in charges during a 30 day period in March-April I'd had about enough.

Having read through the site, found the PDA template and sent the request for the information on the 21st April, my second chase up telephone call of this morning revealed the Halifax has no record of my letter on their system (ok, made the newbie mistake of not sending the letter recorded delivery!)

I was told the request was put on system there and then and the information I requested (copy of all statements from Feb 02) will be processed today and I should receive them beginning of next week.

Not going to hold my breath!

[Dogspods]

OK, spoke to soon! Post arrived this morning containing 28 envelopes with requested statements. Charges totalling £1504 since Feb 02.

Also received the following letter:

"Completion of request for a list of transactions and charges - X/XXXXXXXX-X.

Thank you for your letter requesting specific information on the above accounts.

I confirm that copies of duplicate statements have been ordered and will be sent to you under separate cover at the latest by 2nd June 2006

With regard to your request for information relating to manual intervention on your account, HBOS plc is under no statutory obligation to record this information and therefore, I am unable to assist further with this request.

Should you have any general account queries please contact the 24 hour banking helpline on 08457 20 30 40 or if you have any data protection concerns relating to your personal data, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Details of how we use your data can be found on the Internet under Security and Privacy section at www.halifax.co.uk or www.bankofscotland.co.uk. If you would like a copy of the registered Data Protection Notification details, this can be found at www.informationcommission er.gov.uk. Alternatively, please let me know if you would like me to forward a copy of either to you.

I have enclosed a copy of our leaflet for your information, 'Personal Customer Complaints - Here's what we'll do'.

Yours sincerely,

Adam Schofield
Data Protection Consultant"

So, just sorting out the Prelim Letter but was wondering how I caculate the interest or find the spreadsheet from the BankingActionGroup.

[Dogspods]

S'ok, found the spreadsheet in the library.

[Bookworm]

NO interest at this stage! the spreadsheet is for when you go to court claim and need to work out the 8% APR!!!

[Dogspods]

Ah OK, so to work out the overdraft interest I just sort through the statements and total up all the "Interest Debited" amounts?

[Dogspods]

..

[Dogspods]

..

[Dogspods]

UPDATE: Letter received this morning

"...Thank you for your letter on 17th May 2006.

I am sorry to learn of your concerns regarding charges on your account.

We're keen to deal with your concerns as quickly as possible. a customer Relations Manager will investigate the point you have raised and you will receive a reply shortly.

You will find enclosed a copy of our leaflet, which tells you how we handle your complaint.

Your concerns will be dealt with as quickly as possible, but to help us deal more efficiently with your enquiry, please quote 0843##### when writing or telephoning the number at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Jane Preston
Customer Relations Manager"

Then followed a phone call from another Customer Relations Manager saying he was reviewing my case with regards to my letter and as a gesture of good will he could offer me a refund of £136 in lieu of the charges made in March and April. When I explained the figure was unacceptable due to the erratic nature of the charges, he then offered me £500 as "maximum amount, one off good will gesture". It was then explained to me that if was HBOS policy not to offer more than this amount in respect to excessive charges and that if I wasn't happy with the amount then it was within my rights to complain to the Financial Ombudsman and he would put a leaflet in the post explaining how I go about this.

What made me laugh was the jump from £136 to £500, there wasn't even any negotiation. The minute I said that £136 wasn't acceptable he went straight to £500! Ahahahaha!

So, what's my next step?

[blinkyblinkyblonk]

isnt it amazing beggars belief, im sure they pick amounts out of thin air,
you keep going and the best of luck.

I had a similiar letter to yours only when it says you will receive a reply shortly i have this other bit added 'but certainly no later than 4 weeks'
and no direct number to call.

I think you accept the £500 but not in full and final settlement, from what i have been reading on the forums, have you had it in writing yet, offering the £500? when you do, reply with a letter stating that you accept this payment as a part payment and will be pursuing the balance.

please someone correct me if im wrong :0)

[Dogspods]

A letter confirming the £500 offer and a leaflet on how to complain to the Financial Ombudsman should arrive by the end of this week.

[blinkyblinkyblonk]

oh right just dont accept as full and final settlement. only partial.

im looking to see if there is a letter to this effect im sure ive seen it somewhere lol, but where im not sure,

ill keep looking for ya. cause i know its here somewhere lol

[blinkyblinkyblonk]

I would say something along the lines of.... "In response to your recent offer with regard to ...... May I remind you of the details of my original letter stating my request for re-imbursement of unlawful bank charges (quote the bit about unlawful in common law, statute and recent consumer regulations).

Although I appreciate your offer, I would like to notify you that my request was for £xxx, and should a positive response not be received by xx-04-2006, (quote your original deadline for payment) then I shall have no option but to file court action.

I do hope this matter can be resolved amicably blah blah.

(ive pasted this from chipsandsausages, Hope you dont mind chips if your reading this) lol

[Dogspods]

Bugger! I've screwed up here!

Letter arrived this morning

"..Thank you for your recent letter.

We offered to refund you six months worth of charges to your account, which you refused to accept. Please understand that we are not prepared to refund all of the charges that you have incurred on your account over the last six years.

To comply with legislation, I would like to let you know that if you remain unhappy you can refer your concerns to the..... blah blah blah"

I was expecting the offer of the £500 refund to be put in writing, and not just given verbally over the phone!

At a loss as to what to do next? Any suggestions??

[mrflib]

It doesn't actually matter, mate. All you need to do is stick to your guns, adhere to the deadlines you set and continue claiming for the full amount.

Send them a LBA with a clear date as to which you will file a claim against them. They may well write you another offer, they may not. Either way, you WILL need to file the claim and make sure you do it on the date you said you would.

Only at this point can you add 8% interest on what you're claiming, so it's probably an idea to work this out now using the spreadsheet so you're ready to go on the date of the claim.

Good luck to you mate.

[Dogspods]

Cheers all, was going to wait for today's post, as that would have been the 14 day period since sending the prelim letter. But from the letter I received last week I doubt very much they're going to re-offer me anything. LBA letter will go out via recorded delivery today.

[Dogspods]

The Halifax have replied to my LBA with a letter with the following points:

"...You understand that like other organisations we incur costs for every transaction made. we pay an item against an unauthorised overdraft or return an item unpaid, we incur extra coasts regardless of the shortfall involved. We believe it is fair to pass these costs on to the accounts affected, rather than absorb them into other areas of our operations, penalising all our other customers as a result.

We clearly outline our charging policy in the terms and conditions that apply to your account. In addition, we are committed to complying with the Banking Code, which sets standards of good banking practice for banks and building societies to follow when dealing with personal customers. The terms and conditions of your account state that you must have funds in your account to cover your transactions. We cannot be responsible if you have authorised payments against funds that were not available.

As a gesture of goodwill we offered to refund six months worth of charges to your account, which you refused to accept. We have also advised you that you can refer your concerns to the Financial Ombudsman Service. We are not prepared to refund all of the charges that you have incurred on your account.

I trust that it clarifies the Bank's position on this matter.

Yours blah blah blah

Wendy Jack. Customer Relations Manager"

On the subject of the 'good will gesture', I was expecting it to be put in writing and not just offered verbally during a telephone conversation. Despite mentioning this in my last letter to them they keep referring to the fact that I refused to accept the offer.

Looks like I'm going to court!!

[thewifeandI]

Keep on going - I'm raising my first court action tonight, so I'm at about the same stage as you.