Advice Needed

[michael 33]

Hi folks I am in need of some advice as i am getting confused here i am looking to claim back bank charges back from the Bos. I have sent the letter and have received two different things 1st lot came trough as printed details of the said account which they sent out up to 2004 so i phoned my branch explaining that i had sent in said letter and why did it stop at 2004 person on phone said they would send out rest which came out as normal statements.Now i have worked out that in charges alone i have £5947 before interest.After reading other posts and all the faq's i seem to be confused am i right in saying all i can claim back at once is £75O but i can claim as many times as it takes to get the whole lot back as i want to get this in before the banks get out of paying up any advice would be greatly appreciated as i am quite concerned as this is a fair bit off money that i would like to get back .

[Robertxc]

Hello Michael,

You need to read the 'sticky' at the top of this forum which will explain the procedure to you.

To answer your question, if you live in Scotland you are indeed limited to claims of £750. What I would do is use the spreadsheet on the forum to calculate the interest (which can add a LOT to your claim!), and then start with the earliest charge + interest and add them up until you reach £750. This will be your first claim. You can send them an LBA for the whole lot, but when it comes to starting a court case, you will only use this first lot of charges. Now you go through the normal process and get your first lot of charges back. ONLY when this first lot is recovered do you go for the next lot. THIS IS IMPORTANT If you try to run two court cases concurrently you can expect the bank to go straight down to the court and get the sheriff to lump them together, which will take you straight out of small claims. This is bad. If you are not in small claims, you will be liable for the bank's costs, should you lose. This could well be into five figures, so don't do it.

please keep the forum updated on your progress. Good luck!!

[michael 33]

thanks but i now seem to have trouble when i put in office 2003 i can open the spreadsheet but cant seem to change it or am i being stupid and doing it wrong and make up my own spreadsheet as i have windows xp and can already make up a spreadsheet any help on this again would be greatly appreciated.

[michael 33]

Hi i have handed in the 2nd letter to ask the bank back for my charges .I have asked for £740 + interest .Now to my main point have i done the right thing in only askin for amount above as we can only ask for £750 at a time in scotland or should I have asked for the full amount staight off ?.Any one help ?

[Robertxc]

Hello Michael, welcome to the forum. Yes, you are correct that you can only claim up to £750 at a time in the small claims court in Scotland. I presume it is a Scottish bank? If it's an English bank you can sue them in England for up to £5000. I did this against Abbey, and it wasn't any more complicated than doing it in Scotland.

[michael 33]

Hi thanks for that reply and it is a scottish bank .It is the bank of scotland and my letter was a coppy of the letter in the archives and what i askeed for was £740 + 240 interest now waiting reply.Also today I phoned the rbos and asked them if they would refund the charges on our joint account and the girl on the phone asked why should they refund the charges I replyed that the oft had since deemed there charges as illegal . I was then put on hold then she returned and said did i want to cancell my direct debits if I was wanting to do this and I would have to write a letter to there head office as only they can decide to repay my charges is this right ?

[Robertxc]

There's zero chance of some call centre monkey being able to refund these sorts of charges, so there's very little point in trying to do it by phone.

Follow the exact same procedure for RBS as you did for the other one. This is not a good activity for shortcuts.

[michael 33]

it wasnt tryed as a short cut it was the local branch and it was just that after watchin the tonight prog they said try phoning your branch and asking them nicley if they would refund the charges levvied on the account.

So Ithought I would his before sending a letter if they said no which as I said they then started on about cancellin all d/d on the account and paying them manually which i thought was a wee bit cheeky of them as if thats what we have to do then where will the bank get its customers and monney to pay all there staff from if we all stop using banks ?

[michael 33]

Right who can help me what i need to know is what do i do next .I have just received a letter from the bos saying.

You are unhappy with our charging policy and are looking for a full refund of charges levied over the last 5 years .in addition you are looking for us to remove the default placed on your credit file by ourselves which you believe had been caused by the afforementiond charges .

You will find enclosed a copy of our leaflet which tells you how we will handle your complaint .

Your concerns will be dealt with as quickly as possible ,but if you need to speak to me (assistant manager)inthe meantime, please telephone me on xxxxxxxxxx

The leaflet tells me to ohone customer relations on xxxxxxxxxxx or write to us at .What do i do know do i phone them and see what they are going to do or do i send another letter to the add on the leaflet any help on this will be appreciated.

[barracad]

3 threads merged - please do not start a new thread for each question!!

The letter you have had is a basic acknowledgement letter. Ignore it. Stick to the timescales you have set - if no reply once the time is up, move on to the next step.

[michael 33]

Ok so if im to take this right I wait 14 days for a refund then I send the third and final letter giving them 14 farther days to reinburse me with my money then get the court papers .

[barracad]

Yes. Follow the guidelines in the step-by-step guide.

[michael 33]

Thanks as i was looking for them and couldn't find them to begin with but have since found them .I take they send out this type of letter to most people as a delay tactic and a way to fob of people.

[Michael Browne]

Absolutely. The only letter of any importance is the one offering a full refund, all the rest are stalling tactics.

[michael 33]

just had a phone call from the bos customer relations offering me £ 1220 full and final refund and asked that this only covers 1 set off charges told them was looking for all charges to be refunded which includin interest comes to £7200 she told me that wasnt possible as their charges are legal and she said this is a take it or leave it oportunity and she hoped i would accept which i declined . Do i still wait the 14 days then send in the lba letter then get the court papers after the next 14 days are up .then start again.have i done this right

[michael 33]

Cananyone tell me if ive done the right thing ?

[Mairi]

Originally Posted by michael 33

Do i still wait the 14 days then send in the lba letter then get the court papers after the next 14 days are up .then start again.have i done this right

Hi Michael
Yes you're doing fine.
I had a similar offer after my first letter. Sent the LBA and received a letter saying they wouldn't entertain me anymore and that i was to go to the FO.
Filed my £730 claim in court last week. The first of many.
Keep the faith and good luck

[JMio]

One thing I would add is that it's best to ignore / forget the matter of the 8% interest for the time being. This ONLY comes into play if it gets as far as Court Action. You can't claim this back before hand, and if the Bank offers you a full refund on your charges before you raise a claim with the Court, then you MUST accept it!!