My bank and my business!

[MISS LAWLER]

A few months ago I posted quite along thread on here about how my bank has tried to ruin my business, by over charging, stopping cheque, and charging me for them, very bad advise, being accused of being naive, even being accused of stealing from my own business!

Being told not to expand, with the internet site, and not to take on rooms next door for a music school!

Basically, the bank mangers I was dealing with didn’t, give a s**t about my business, all they were interested in was what they could get out of account!



The first bank manger I dealt with, made a complete mess of account, and when changed to a local account manger, he stated he has never seen anything like this, and the account was in a complete mess, yet he didn’t want to do anything to help change the situation.

I was forced into an overdraft, whilst the bank took several months to fix my account, which they didn’t. And than out of the blue, I was told if I didn’t pay the loan back, along with the overdraft they were going to start procedures against me!

Erm, correct me if am wrong, but they were supposed to be sorting this situation out, yet they once again, brushed me under the carpet!

So I wrote to the chair person of this bank, who didn’t reply, to me himself. I was told by someone else who worked there that the bank had done everything I had requested, and should settle on it. A bit threatening to honest. But they hadnt done anything i had requested!

Once again, I sat in tears, for the past 18 mths I have put every penny I have into my business to make it work, and each time a penny comes in the bank wants to take it away!

So I went to the ombudsman.

The first letter I was told to take the offer of £500 compensation from the bank. This made me laugh!

I declined there offer, he than later came back with two more offers which I also declined.

He has recently came back with refunding bank charges of £1500 (believe me it’s more than that) and £750 in compensation.

Now I have an outstanding overdraft, which was forced onto me, by the bank as they took large sums of money out of my account, and the loan to pay off!

My business, by now would have been trading extremely well, if they had solved these problems when they stated in May 05!

I have took out personal loans, to get the internet shop up and running, I have also set up an separate organization for the music school, which received a large amount of funding from various organizations, and that starts in January 07.

Now the bank, mangers told me not to do any of the above as it’s too, risky and I wasn’t capable of doing it!

Well I have! and believe me its doing well!

That still leaves me with the ombudsman. If I still refuse there offer of compensation, will i have to take it court and if so how do I go about it?

I have letters from the bank admitting fault, than saying they will help and then not. I have recordings of all interviews when they came to my shop to solve the issues, they state many things they are going to do on this and yet do not!

I will fight this bank, as I have done nothing wrong!

Any advice please?

Ali.

	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.

	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.

	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.

[CrispDust]

erm I think you nee proper legal advice.

[uberzoldat]

My cases are very similar CLAIM.

[natwesttookmymoney]

Hi, Miss Lawler (are you anything like Miss Ryder, who used to terrify me when I was 8 years old?)

I think what you have falls under two headings: first, the charges. Just because they're on a business account doesn't mean that you can't claim them back in the same way as everyone else is doing on this site. After all, the Case Law precedents all involve commercial relationships between businesses.

Second, I would say you have some kind of case concerning maladministration. That's what the Ombudsman can deal with but the question is whether you'll get a satisfactory outcome. If in doubt, then I agree with Crisp Dust - you need a proper legal beagle. However, it can be expensive - much more than straightforward money claim. But, looking on the bright side, you can always use the charges refund to fund it!

If it makes you feel any better, I know exactly how you feel. When I opened my a/c with NatWest, in 2000, I asked for a £1500 loan to get a new computer and get a better connection to that there new-fangled internet thingy. I presented a business plan with forecasts of income, explained the thinking behind it - and he turned me down. In the event, my turnover was better than my forecast and I got my computer out of my own funds. Second-hand out of Loot, I'll grant you, and a year late (so I had to put up with the steam-driven one for an additional 12 months) but I did it just the same.

Good luck - we're with you all the way.

(Except for the scary maladministration bits that require a solicitor and I, for one, know little or nothing about!)

Just in case my signature doesn't 'take', I'm only offering suggestions, not legal advice, as I'm not a lawyer.

Westy

	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.

[peed orf]

Hi, it might be worth asking this in the Legalaties section, (they like something to get their teeth into!)