Yyates v LloydsTSB - **WON IN FULL**

[Yyates]

Hi

I'm new to all this so may i ask where do i basically start? Over approx. a 5 year period i feel LloydsTSB have had approx 2k worth of bank charges out of me due to bounced DD's etc. going over my o/d limit. This is what stared spiralling me into debt and i am now on a DMP with CCCS. So can i recover these charges and where do i start, my understanding is that i send a letter stating data protection act and £10 for a full breakdown of all the charges they have taken, please correct me if i'm wrong. Following that negotiations and if necessary file the papers for court? Also will it make any difference that i have a debt with them and pay a small amount monthly to Lloyds Tsb through CCCS due to their horrendous bank charges?

Many Thanks
Y Yates

[BankFodder]

The first thing is that if the charges which you incurred were imposed by way of excessive penalties, i.e the bank's normal charges then , Yes. You should be able to recover them as the charges are unlawful.

Secondly if you are saying that it was the banks charges which pushed you into debt and lead to your CCCS - (do you mean County Court Judgment - CCJs?), then you should be able to do something about this although it will take time.
Your case would then raise a certain number of issues concerning the amount of damages which you could sue for. If it is the unlawful charges by the bank which has created your situation then it is clear that you have suffered a certain amount of damage as a result and you might think about claiming far more than merely the return of the charges which the bank has taken. At some point I would envisage that you would have to negotiate or better still appoint an intermediary to negotiate a proper settlement for you which would include a refund, additional damages, arrangements in respect of the CCJs and credit score.

However, don't get carried away yet.

Firstly you need to make an accurate assessement of your position.
Are you still with the bank?
Whether you are not you should write to them immediately and ask for a schedule of the charges which they have levied over the preceding (up to 6) years. Send everything recorded delivery and keep copies.
Work out exactly how much you have paid including interest.
Is one of the CCJs the result of a claim by the bank? If it is then there may be a lot of information in the paperwork on that claim.

If you want to go further than merely get your charges back, you then have to construct an argument which shows clearly that it was the bank's charges which caused all of your other problems. This must be not merely convincing but provable. If you can do that then you are in business.

However you should also try and anticipate what the bank will say in repsonse.
For instance the £2000 which you say that you have paid was not taken by the bank in one hit which could very easily be said to have plunged you into difficulty. Rather, the charges accumulated over a 5 year period - dribs and drabs. This might suggest that you contributed to your downfall. This comment is not to be critical of you but merely to be realistic about what you might be able to recover.
The Bank may well offer to refund your money without much of a fight but they are likely to be more difficult about paying you anything on top.

So there you are, get your information, get your story sorted out and then come back here.

Finally, you suggest that you are paying off a debt to Lloyds by means of monthly installments.
Is this the result of an arrangement with the bank or because of an order of the court?
If it is merely an arrangement then once you have a clear view of what has been charged - and especially if you are no longer with the bank, then I would suggest that you should consider stopping your payments as part of your action against the bank. This will help to concentrate their minds.

If the payments are because of a court order then you will have to keep on paying until the whole matter is settled.

[Yyates]

Thank you for your reply. I'm not too bothered at the mo about the fact that they slid me into debt i'm more bothered about recovering the charges. Fortunately i don't have any ccj's and the DMP i'm on has not been authorised by the courts, its a voluntary arrangement through CCCS with frozen interest but i'm now coming into paying off the £300 bank charges they slammed on when they were informed i had debt problems.

When i send the letter asking for a list of all charges do i include the £10 fee with it and if so is a postal order accepted or a cheque in another persons name as i don't have a cheque book any more or debit card?

thaks in advance

[Russe11]

can you not say

"I give consent for an amount not exceding £10.00 to be deducted from my account"

[BankFodder]

I doesn't matter which way you pay them. But I would photocopy whateever you send them and make sure that it is all recorded delivery or better still take it to the branch and hand it in and get the name of the person who receives it

[Yyates]

Originally Posted by Russe11

can you not say

"I give consent for an amount not exceding £10.00 to be deducted from my account"

My account is at present on a DMP with CCCS so no they would not take the money out of the account added to that have you ever tried speaking to one of their call centres? I gave up the other day

[Docubot]

I have never sent a cheque for £10, to Abbey, Smile or Barclays and they have all coughed up the goods. Barclays gave very little resistance and sent the requested info within a week.

Abbey had to be chased for it, but then if you bank with Abbey you get used to that.

[BankFodder]

I just noticed that you say that you gave up waiting on one of their callcentres the other day.

Why don't you call directly to their main comapints department.
There is a Birmingham number posted on one of the other threads on the Lloyds forum. This is NOT a call centre number and will get you directly through to the person you need to speak to.

Also on yet another thread on the Lloyds Bank Action Group forum is an email address which gets you through to the same department.

Don't waste time being given the runaround by the banks procedures and "channels".

Take control of the situation and go Direct!

[Yyates]

Originally Posted by BankFodder

I just noticed that you say that you gave up waiting on one of their callcentres the other day.

Why don't you call directly to their main comapints department.
There is a Birmingham number posted on one of the other threads on the Lloyds forum. This is NOT a call centre number and will get you directly through to the person you need to speak to.

Also on yet another thread on the Lloyds Bank Action Group forum is an email address which gets you through to the same department.

Don't waste time being given the runaround by the banks procedures and "channels".

Thank you for this information which is just as valuble as all the rest. Indian call centres are a nightmare, please don't get me wrong here, i used to live in asia, i couldn't understand a word and neither could the 3 i tried of what i was trying to say!
Take control of the situation and go Direct!

[Docubot]

Originally Posted by Yyates

Hi

I'm new to all this so may i ask where do i basically start? Over approx. a 5 year period i feel LloydsTSB have had approx 2k worth of bank charges out of me due to bounced DD's etc. going over my o/d limit. This is what stared spiralling me into debt and i am now on a DMP with CCCS. So can i recover these charges and where do i start, my understanding is that i send a letter stating data protection act and £10 for a full breakdown of all the charges they have taken, please correct me if i'm wrong. Following that negotiations and if necessary file the papers for court? Also will it make any difference that i have a debt with them and pay a small amount monthly to Lloyds Tsb through CCCS due to their horrendous bank charges?

Many Thanks
Y Yates

Hi, I'd be inclined to let the CCCS know what you are doing. They are quite cagey when it comes to not letting them know everything regarding your debts.

I have heard of one occassion where someone who was paying a debt off at 20 quid per month and was happy to do so, didn't mention it to them and then at a later date asked for this to be added to their plan, they withdrew the plan completely.

Don't get me wrong the CCCS is a fantastic charitable organisation and should be commended - they just like to be informed completely (understandably) of what is going on with the finances that they have taken 'under their wing'.

[Yyates]

Originally Posted by Dave

Hi, I'd be inclined to let the CCCS know what you are doing. They are quite cagey when it comes to not letting them know everything regarding your debts.

I have heard of one occassion where someone who was paying a debt off at 20 quid per month and was happy to do so, didn't mention it to them and then at a later date asked for this to be added to their plan, they withdrew the plan completely.

Don't get me wrong the CCCS is a fantastic charitable organisation and should be commended - they just like to be informed completely (understandably) of what is going on with the finances that they have taken 'under their wing'.

Hi Dave

I have missed this post of would of replied earlier. I have informed CCCS of what i inted to do and what they said was that it could well go against me. They said the bank could start added excessive charges on to the DMP if they wished to and decided to end the agrement i have with them Tonight i sent the template letter by email to LloydsTSB as quite frankly i more than likely wouldn't still be paying off a rather large overdaft currently standing at £500 if it wasn't for their £400 charges on this alone. I am more than ready for a fight

I did pass this website on to CCCS and also the thread running on Money savign expert.com which they were very interested in viewing, maybe they will change their minds after reading the whole site

[Yyates]

I emailed Lloyds early this morning with the template letter and have received this back

Thank you for the e-mail, which has been passed to this office by the On-line Helpdesk.
I am sorry to learn that you are unhappy over the level of charges you have incurred on your Lloyds TSB account.

Under the circumstances, your e-mail has been passed on to the Manager of the Complaints Unit within Customer Care. I have asked that he notes your comments and issues raised and for a response to be sent you at the earliest opportunity.

Regards

Keith Boden
Lloyds TSB - Customer Care
Birmingham

which i assume is a courtesey mail, so hopefully they will sedn me my info so i can work out what they owe me

[Yyates]

Well today i have received all my bank statements for the last 6 years , I really feel for the poor postman . I can't think why but for some strange reason i wasn't expecting so many statements So you all know what i'll be doing this weekend It has only taken 10 days from receipt of my email to them to receiving the statements throught the post today.

[Yyates]

Well today i have received all my bank statements for the last 6 years , I really feel for the poor postman . I can't think why but for some strange reason i wasn't expecting so many statements So you all know what i'll be doing this weekend It has only taken 10 days from receipt of my email to them to receiving the statements throught the post today.

[Yyates]

Litigation filed 24 May 06

Bank charges £2843.68

Court costs £120.00
________
Total £2963.68
________

Time for a coffee i think

(have pm'd BankFodder)

[Yyates]

Well it looks like LTSB are going to fight dirty. I have a DMP with them through CCCS. I have just received an underlying threatening phone call from them saying there is no payment plan on my account with them and they want to know how i am going to pay off my arrears. Told them there is a payment plan set up so she said they would send it to a long term debt collection agency, like I'm really scared, they would be doing me a favour, she didn't like that. Anyway i have contacted CCCS and brought them up to speed but if anyone else out there is on a DMP with LTSB take this as a warning that your payment plan will disappear. Do what i did, put the phone down on them and if they phone again don't speak to them.

[Yyates2]

I've had to make a new user name as the site wouldn't let me back in. Anyway i've filed my court allocation questionaire on Monday Can anyone tell me now how long I will have to wait before LloydsTSB offer to refund the charges please?