Loz and MBNA

[loz]

Believe it or not I have only just got round to making a Data Protection Act request to MBNA, following my successful claim from HSBC. Kinda wish I hadn't shredded all my statements for the first nine months I had the card, but you live and learn...

On another note, I was "pleased" to notice that amongst the updated T&Cs they sent me last week, they are bringing forward my payment due date. No doubt this will coincide neatly with (if not fall before) pay day, therefore increasing the chance that I will pay late.... what a bunch of @#*!s

[loz]

So two weeks after I made my Data Protection Act request, a letter arrived this morning (dated seven days ago, FWIW) from a David Anderson. A standard letter, referring to my "complaint" and promising a reply by August 30th.

Of course, I haven't made a complaint... yet.

[surreyscouse]

normal practice mate.

David Anderson is a new name to me, what's his position ?

[loz]

"Customer Satisfaction Manager"... He doesn't sign the letter properly either, it's just typed in a different font. Meh.

[surreyscouse]

nobody important then !

[loz]

Well they promised me a reply by August 30th, no sign of that. They still have until September 12th but I wonder if a reminder would be in order...

Loz

[Wigan Warrior]

Hi Loz,

May be worth giving their Customer Advocate Office a bell. They appear to be wanting to sort these actions as soon as possible - The way they are going at the moment, they may well calculate the charges & interest and settle on the same day. It's worth a try and will save you loads of hassle and waiting. Try Gareth Tunnicliffe. If it is not resolved, you can continue with your action.

Warrior

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[loz]

Received information this morning from Rachel Claridge, who also returned my £10. I have only "sinned" 4 times so they have taken £100 in total, but it's still £100 isn't it?!

As a few others have found, their response to my Data Protection Act request has been as if it were the prelim letter; reference is made to my "complaint", blah blah blah standard letter... and then "We do value your custom and so we would like to resolve this matter. I have therefore credited your account with a goodwill payment of £60 on the basis that this is in full and final settlement of your complaint."

Now then.. firstly £60 is not enough to keep me happy; secondly I remember reading a post (MBNA v Wigan Warrior) in which pollyjohnson intended to accept their "goodwill gesture" but pursue the claim in full - has anyone else tried this? Has anyone succeeded?

Loz

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[loz]

Request for repayment posted today, making no mention of the "goodwill payment of £60"...

[JLW61]

Check my post in this thread..

I got the offer of £100 - paid it in.. sent claim for what they said charges were (£575) but then realised some were missing.. send Subject Access Request back in and now got goodwill offer increased to nearly £1500!!!!

But still waiting for full details of what they've taken... so haven't accepted yet

	Subject Access Request A Subject Access Request is a demand which you can make to any organisation to disclose any personal information which they hold on you. The right to disclosure of data is provided by the Data Protection Act. There is no time limit. The organisation is obliged to reveal everything they have about you - which you ask for - as far back as you ask for. There are very few exceptions. It does not matter whether the data is held on microfiche, in an archive, on tape, in a cardex system, in sound recordings or in screen notes. Some companies are saying that they do not have to disclose where it would be difficult to do so - "disproportionate effort". This is untrue. Disproportionate effort refers to something else under the Act. If you are seeking bank charges information then you should ask for "all data held on you" and you should make it clear that you want everything as far back as it goes. Do not be put off by excuses. Do not accept being fobbed off. It is not in your bank's interest to make full disclosure to you. This means that it is in your interests to get it. If you have not started gathering your bank charges information yet, then you should start now. There will soon be a big rush once the OFT test case has been settled. Get all of your bank account informtion as far back as possible. At least as far back as 1995. If your bank says that they don't keep data as far back as this, don't accept it. Be persistent. They've got what you need in some form or other.

[jimmelling]

Wigan Warrior is right! MBNA want to settle quickly. I rang up today to remind them my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) is due Monday. They then told me how much I'd been charged in late payment fees over the last 6 years. They offered me half the amount as a goodwill gesture......when I said I'd accept it as part payment only they offered me the full 550 to settle. I said I'd like to check the data myself first... he gave me a number to ring him on Monday to settle! I'll let you know Monday if they do!

	Subject Access Request A Subject Access Request is a demand which you can make to any organisation to disclose any personal information which they hold on you. The right to disclosure of data is provided by the Data Protection Act. There is no time limit. The organisation is obliged to reveal everything they have about you - which you ask for - as far back as you ask for. There are very few exceptions. It does not matter whether the data is held on microfiche, in an archive, on tape, in a cardex system, in sound recordings or in screen notes. Some companies are saying that they do not have to disclose where it would be difficult to do so - "disproportionate effort". This is untrue. Disproportionate effort refers to something else under the Act. If you are seeking bank charges information then you should ask for "all data held on you" and you should make it clear that you want everything as far back as it goes. Do not be put off by excuses. Do not accept being fobbed off. It is not in your bank's interest to make full disclosure to you. This means that it is in your interests to get it. If you have not started gathering your bank charges information yet, then you should start now. There will soon be a big rush once the OFT test case has been settled. Get all of your bank account informtion as far back as possible. At least as far back as 1995. If your bank says that they don't keep data as far back as this, don't accept it. Be persistent. They've got what you need in some form or other.

[loz]

Aye, I gathered from other threads that they had quit mucking about - obviously they can see what a huge waste of time and effort it is to defend all these claims! If only all banks/CC companies could do the same...

Loz

[loz]

Final update on my claim from MBNA - I've received a further £40 "goodwill" payment from Steve Bailey and have decided to leave it at that. Have bigger fish to fry I'm afraid... :-S

Loz

[loz]

Well well, back to this old thread of mine...

I recently did a CCA request on MBNA and all they sent me was one piece of paper (see Consumer Credit Act Agreements) - no mention of PPI which they were charging until August 2006 when I cancelled it. Have written asking for all the premiums back, plus interest.

I have also decided to go after another 9 x £12 for "late" payments and overlimit fees. The straw that broke the camel's back was last month being penalised for a late payment because their internet service had held on to it for four days!

*rolls eyes*

Loz

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[loz]

MBNA have written back about PPI:

I confirm that our records indicate you requested PPC during a telephone conversation that you had with one of our specialists on February 12, 2005... 30 day obligation-free period in which to cancel the policy should it not have met your requirements...

I'm not sure if I can do anything here - I have the blurb which (in relatively small print, right at the end) mentions the cancellation period, but I can't recall such a conversation to arrange it in the first place, nor do I know why I didn't cancel it. There's a lot I can't recall from that period of my life...

Should I ask them for proof of this alleged conversation and take it from there?

Loz

[standingupformyself]

Yes............. you definately need proof. When you sent off for your Subject Access Request did you receive a print out of charges or full information of your account, because if you received the latter surely the proof you needed would have been in there?

	Subject Access Request A Subject Access Request is a demand which you can make to any organisation to disclose any personal information which they hold on you. The right to disclosure of data is provided by the Data Protection Act. There is no time limit. The organisation is obliged to reveal everything they have about you - which you ask for - as far back as you ask for. There are very few exceptions. It does not matter whether the data is held on microfiche, in an archive, on tape, in a cardex system, in sound recordings or in screen notes. Some companies are saying that they do not have to disclose where it would be difficult to do so - "disproportionate effort". This is untrue. Disproportionate effort refers to something else under the Act. If you are seeking bank charges information then you should ask for "all data held on you" and you should make it clear that you want everything as far back as it goes. Do not be put off by excuses. Do not accept being fobbed off. It is not in your bank's interest to make full disclosure to you. This means that it is in your interests to get it. If you have not started gathering your bank charges information yet, then you should start now. There will soon be a big rush once the OFT test case has been settled. Get all of your bank account informtion as far back as possible. At least as far back as 1995. If your bank says that they don't keep data as far back as this, don't accept it. Be persistent. They've got what you need in some form or other.

[loz]

I only asked about charges at the time - do you think I need to do another Subject Access Request to get the proof or should I just ask in a regular letter?

Loz

	Subject Access Request A Subject Access Request is a demand which you can make to any organisation to disclose any personal information which they hold on you. The right to disclosure of data is provided by the Data Protection Act. There is no time limit. The organisation is obliged to reveal everything they have about you - which you ask for - as far back as you ask for. There are very few exceptions. It does not matter whether the data is held on microfiche, in an archive, on tape, in a cardex system, in sound recordings or in screen notes. Some companies are saying that they do not have to disclose where it would be difficult to do so - "disproportionate effort". This is untrue. Disproportionate effort refers to something else under the Act. If you are seeking bank charges information then you should ask for "all data held on you" and you should make it clear that you want everything as far back as it goes. Do not be put off by excuses. Do not accept being fobbed off. It is not in your bank's interest to make full disclosure to you. This means that it is in your interests to get it. If you have not started gathering your bank charges information yet, then you should start now. There will soon be a big rush once the OFT test case has been settled. Get all of your bank account informtion as far back as possible. At least as far back as 1995. If your bank says that they don't keep data as far back as this, don't accept it. Be persistent. They've got what you need in some form or other.

[standingupformyself]

Sorry to take a while in replying...... Others may say different but I would ask them in a letter, recorded delivery of course.......

[loz]

MBNA have replied regarding my letter(s) asking them for proof that I requested PPI - they have no proof either by way of my signature or recording of the call during which I supposedly agreed to it. They have given me the usual line about the 30 day cancellation period and basically said "tough". I didn't cancel until 18 months had elapsed because I didn't realise what I was (or rather wasn't) paying for, namely cover for mental illness/pre-existing conditions. This information may have been in the blurb they sent but it wasn't explained clearly, which is why I think it may have been mis-sold. Anyone any opinions on this?

On a brighter note, I seem to have got them to refund £100 more than I was claiming in charges, which is nice

Loz

[loz]

A quick update, it took me a long time to get my act together on this one (though MBNA's "final response" also was a while in coming). A few days ago I sent a complaint about this PPI to the FOS, claiming a total of £187 in premiums plus whatever interest I've been charged on those premiums. Fingers crossed...

	The Financial Ombudsman Service For the most part, don't bother. The Ombudsman is an industry arranged service which is under-resourced, takes too long, lacks clear transparency. You have no idea what evidence the FOS has received from the bank or how your complain has really been handled. The FOS is the preferred complaints route for the banking industry. The county court is to be preferred by consumers for its speed, openness, the quality of its awards and also because it will award 8% interest on top of any damages won by you. The Ombudsman should normally be used to solving little technical difficulties or customer service problems which you have expereinced with your bank.

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.