Vicki v First Direct *SETTLED IN FULL*

Posh Stars · 4th May 2006, 16:09

I too have worked out that in two years they have charged me £1494.17

Here is a copy of the letter i sent by mail and email

Robert Kernaghan - Customer Relations Manager
First Direct
40 Wakefield Road
Leeds
LS51 1FD

2 May 2006

Request for repayment of charges

Dear Sir/Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: *****
SORT CODE ****

My request
I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account over the last 2 years.

I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations. If you say that they are not then you will pleased to 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.

Additionally it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 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.
You concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.

What I require
I calculate that you have taken £1494.17 over the last two years.

My targets to resolve this matter
I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting unconditionally my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment for the above amount.

If you do not respond or you do not respond positively within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 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 me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

Yours faithfully,

I am also writing the same letter to Marbles, Style Financial Services, Capital One and Barclaycard! I will let you know how I get on. any words of encouragement or wisdom will be welcomed!

thanks so much ... LETS GET EM - AS they have got us!

monkey_uk · 4th May 2006, 20:08

Good look, keep us posted!

Posh Stars · 6th May 2006, 10:31

Just come back with standard letter
"thank you for your letter requesting £1494.17 bank charges refunded
First direct does not agree that these are unlawful......... etc etc
they said the matter is closed"

IAM GOING TO EMAIL AND POST LBA!!!!!!!!!

Will keep you posted!

Thanks

monkey_uk · 6th May 2006, 13:42

I'd advise you not to send the LBA until the 14 day deadline you set them has expred, but it is up to you.

Posh Stars · 6th May 2006, 16:56

i have emailed the lba... do u think i should i leave the actual posting of the letter?

Posh Stars · 9th May 2006, 09:50

I had already sent the LBA email before I saw the reply, and helpful boyfriend sent the same LBA letter for me early this week, by recorded, any ideas what I should do, should i give them longer than 14 days to respond to the LBA, ie give them 20 days (I posted the LBA 6 days early)? any advice welcomed!

monkey_uk · 9th May 2006, 10:20

Its no big deal. Don't worry about it. It doesn't really matter either way, I just prefer to err on the side of caution.

Posh Stars · 9th May 2006, 10:22

Thank you, I am a born worrier, I know I know I need to chill out sometimes,

Thank you for all your advice

Thanks

Bookworm · 9th May 2006, 11:27

The consensus is that if they write to you saying "we'll get back to you" you have to give them the full 14 days.
If they send you a sod-off letter, and it doesn't get much more sod-offish than saying the matter is closed, let's face it, you can then send the LBA straight off. Some prefer to still wait until the 14 days are up.
No biggie either way. Breathe.

Posh Stars · 9th May 2006, 11:33

had the sod off letter, saying they dont agree with my statement that the charges are unlawful, they are saying that the charges are cos I went overdrawn and that I signed up to that and those charges etc when I took my account out with them, they said if they hear nothing more from me within 8 weeks the matter is closed.

So I sent them an LBA showing that I think the matter is far from closed!

Thanks

V

monkey_uk · 9th May 2006, 12:06

If I recall correctly, their reply to my LBA had on the closing line something liek "this is our final reply".

Posh Stars · 9th May 2006, 12:08

Thanks, and I see you are going through the courts to reclaim the money.

Good luck and thank you again for your help and advice

monkey_uk · 9th May 2006, 12:11

Thanks for your good wishes. Stick with it, you'll get your money back before long....!

Posh Stars · 15th May 2006, 12:50

I have had a response to my LBA basically saying still not refunding your money, if you wish to write to the financial ombudsman please do so, here is an enclosed leaflet! etc etc so I will start court proceedings on 20th May, as that is when the LBA deadline is,....

Congrats monkey on your win!

monkey_uk · 15th May 2006, 13:37

Thanks.

You'll have your money by the end of the month.

Posh Stars · 22nd May 2006, 09:33

Sent my LBA and got a reply back saying this is our final repsonse so go to Financial onbusdman etc etc, the dealine for the LBA was Saturday so I am going to the Money claim website this morning will let you knoe where I get to.... just to be clear, is this where I work out the daily interest and include that to the court costs etc?

Thanks

Posh Stars · 22nd May 2006, 10:23

JUST GOT MY CLAIM NO FROM MONEYCLAIM.GOV am now waiting on next bit,

Posh Stars · 23rd May 2006, 19:43

Who do I need to PM details of the court claim I have started? Thank you

monkey_uk · 23rd May 2006, 20:05

PM them to me if you want.

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