Beridor Vs Lloyds TSB ** WON **

[beridor]

OK so far I've: -

I'm doing this on behalf of my new wife (she started this as my girlfriend - has it really been going on that long?)

Data Protection letter was sent 1st March to which Lloyds TSB replied with all of the appropriate statements.

Sent the letter requesting my money on the 4th May 2006 and included a spreadsheet with a breakdown of all of my charges have now recieved the following letter: -

I hope that quoting the letter will show others what to expect.

"RE Account Charges for Overdraft Excesses and Returned Items

Thank you for taking the time to contact us about your account.

I Understand that

you feel that the charges you have incurred are unlawful
You are unhappy with the amount of charges that you have incurred as a result of being overdrawn and from returned items.
You have requested that all charges incurred should be refunded for the past 6 years.

When you became a customer we give you details of any charges for the day to day running of your account. Details of our charges are also availible from our branch staff, telephone helpline or our website.

For the vast majority of our customers banking with us can be completely free as charges are not made for services such as debit cards, cash machine withdrawls, balance requests, statements, cheque books and Internet banking. We also do not charge for processing Direct Debits and Standing Orders when they are paid through customers' accounts.

One of the few services we apply charges for are when a customer does not have enough money in their account to meet payments they have requested us to make. If customers think they may exceed any limit they have, we urge them to contact us to discuss their requirements. Any request for further lending are then assessed in line with our usual credit policy. Similarly, when we return an item, we are preventinga customer from exceeding their limit, and again as we explain clearly to our customers, this process incurs a charge.

typically, we do not levy customers an excess overdraft fee the first time they go overdrawn without agreement, as long as it hasn't happened in the past twelve months and we limit excess fees to a maximum of three occurances in any one month.

As a business we are entitled to set charges to cover additional work. these charges are not hidden and are notified in the guide to banking charges leaflet we produce. We advise our customers to ensure cleared funds are availible in their accounts to meet payments due. you will also note that in the front of each cheque book we request that funds are available before cheques are issued.

You incurred charges bewcuase you did not ensure funds were available in your account to cover the payments set up by you. It is your responsibility to operate your account within any agreed limits and within the terms and conditions.

You accepted these terms when you opened your account and when you agreed your overdraft. We did not agree to pay your account in excess of the amount agreed without charges being made.

Accordingly, I am unable to agree with your request to refund the charges. We do expect your account to be run in line with the temrs and conditions of its operation. This means that you must ensure that cleared funds are deposited into the account the working day before any payments are due. incase you haven;t recieved a copy of our leaflet called "How to voice your concerns" I've enclosed one with my letter. This tells you all you need to know about resolving your complaint with us.

If you are unhappy with my decision and feel that you have something to add which might change the outcome, please get in touch. If we cannot agree in a solution at that point, I will help you refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for independant arbitration.

yours sincerely

David Just
Assistant Manager."

Bloody Assistant Manager - I wrote to the manager, he could have at least responded.

As far as I'm concerned he has just acknowledged my letter, and I'm going to proceed to moneyclaim online as a next step.

Is this the correct response? I can also see people talking about evidence but no-one seems to list it, could someone point me in the right direction - I feel that the forum is starting to get too large and cumersome to find everything that we need.

Cheers

Beridor "The Bank Slayer (Hopefully)"

Dont worry about evidence, have you sent off the Prelim and the LBA?

If so claim with the court....

Good Luck

Lou x

[alanfromderby]

There is a step-by-step guide in the FAQ's.

However, as you seem to have sent the preliminary request for payment, then you would need to move on to the Letter Before Action next.

[beridor]

Cheers Guys,

The response on this forum is amazing -embarrasingly just found the same letter in another thread from the same manager, he's obviously a busy guy - but it does de-personalise the letter and make me feel a damn site better about proceeding.

Beridor

[alanfromderby]

That is one of the big things with a forum such as this - it levels out the playing field. Banks used to send these letters out to people as a means of intimidating. When you realise that it is just a standard letter, it is seen for what it is.

[beridor]

I'm actioning this case on behalf of my wife - can I just act for her with her permission, or do I need some form of legal authority in order to act for her at court? (she dreads the idea that she may have to go to court - I relish it).

Beridor

[alanfromderby]

You can act on her behalf in court - of course she would have to attend with you.

[beridor]

hi again guys,

reading through the faqs I get the impression that having the bank close my account would be devastating to my credit hitory - is that the case, and if so would I not be prudent to change banks before taking court action? it would take away their biggest stick and from what I can see does not affect the status of my case? any advice on this please?

Well as far as I know, unless you owe the bank money when they close it, it wont affect your rating.

If you want to move now, do so, some people are reluctant as they are used to their banks.

Lou xxx

[beridor]

Thanks for that Lou,

I'm assuming that you mean money owed that you don't pay them in the same way as any other creditor?

Cheers

Well, if they close the account, but have an outstanding balance, then yes it oculd affect you, sn they will chase like any debtor would.

Best not to plump for this...If you dont mind swapping accounts, then Id say do it now, before you get bogged down in your claim!

Lou xx

[beridor]

Well I have now submitted two claims, One for me: -

Claim Number 6QZ51718

Total Claim of £2,800

the bank has filed that it intends to defend with a solicitor of Sechiari Clark and Mitchell, so looking forward to some fun.

And also claim 6QZ51729 on behalf of my wife

Total Claim £1237, once again Bank intends to defend with the same solicitor so at least I'll get to know them.

not looking forward to going to court if that is the next step!

Have also opened a new bank account with NatWest for us both - but Lloyds were annoying me with their call centres which led to this.

[mooreda]

I know - Lloyds are another firm that have offshored to India - at least NatWest, part of the RBS Group have their operations in this Country - I avoid dealing with any firm who have offshored their Call Centres to India

[Janet-M]

can I ask you to look at a post in the litigation in progress forum then PM a moderator with the details as set out in the post so we can add your claim to it , thanks

[beridor]

I have both my Acknowledgement of Services
and also both my notices of issue.

Suprisingly (not) Lloyds are going to be defending the full claim.

Our old mates Sechari Clark and Mitchell have been assigned the case, I suppose that at the end of the day they're going to settle in full and are having to pay the solicitors cost - how do I get them to assign it to a really expensive solicitor at that company ??????

I think that AQ and a copy of the defence (along with a letter offering full settlement with conditions with any luck) is the next step?

If anyone has any comments at this point please feel free to make them.

Cheers

Dave

[beridor]

Spoke to the court yesterday and they told me that a date has been set for the 9Th January 2007, also called Lloyds solicitors and suggested that they should stop wasting everyones time and settle up - I was going to win anyway. They were really obnoxious, and basically suggested that "that would be my opinion but that I didn't know my ass from my elbow and they were going to take me to the cleaners in court". I must say that the chap I spoke to was throughly objectionable (did think of writing to Lloyds to complain how obnoxious their solicitors were but I don't think they will care).

What I can't quite believe is that Lloyds are paying all of these solicitor charges and having to settle, you would have thought that it would be far cheaper for them just to accept that they were going to have to settle, play awkward to start with a few "no sod off letters" and then settle when they can see that the claimant is persistant.

I've just changed banks and screwed up a couple of DDs in the process (incurring further charges then the ones I am claiming for) has anyone successfully got further charges settled as part of their claim? (Will i really have to go to court to get these charges as well?)

Cheers

Dave

[alanfromderby]

I had a couple of charges added during my Cap1 claim, and they agreed to include those at the time of the settlement. Some do, some don't. Abbey just said this is what we are paying...end of story - so I am now involved in a second claim against them.

[beridor]

Well I've now recieved the conditional offer letter, I think that I'll accept (without the conditions obviously) and then once I have recieved the payment I'll then request the outstanding charges and take further court action if I need to.

But looking very promising at the moment.