Thread: Advice please re: claim for charges taken from State Benefits

Hi, apologies if this info is elsewhere -if so, please could somebody direct me to it

I have had my statements from Halifax today - I had a letter last week saying that they were on the way and referring to the test case (basically saying it's a waste of time as it could take years,etc etc). Having recently read that it is possibly (don't quote me) unlawful to take charges from certain state benefits, I would like to try this route. When I checked my statements, I almost wept to see that in one particular 5 week period in 2003, £450 in charges were taken from my account (sole income IS, Child B and DLA for young daughter) - the ongoing unauthorised OD meant that for months on end, all our money got taken. Over £1100 got taken as charges in an 18 month period - all from state benefit income.

So basically, what I want to know is:

1) Am I barking up the wrong tree here or do I have a genuine case to pursue - if so, can anybody direct me to any specific case law or DSS legislation to support this?

2)Would I use the same procedure as the excessive charges route (I have done the S.A.R - (Subject access request) so next would be prelim & NBA prior to court claim)?

2) Are there any templates/assistance with the wording of these letters in relation to them being a different sort of claim?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated, many thanks

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http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...light=benefits

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...light=benefits

Some helpful threads for you.

Thanks all for the helpful links. I had already found Steven's but there is so much info around that I got a bit lost

The account is actually closed now but I am going to give it a go anyhow - there is a very good letter on the 1st thread on Moneyhelp's post which I am going to amend for my own purposes. I have subscribed to Steven's thread and am following it with great interest.

Quick update - Following a letter I sent last Friday to Halifax requesting a refund of the charges from sole income of benefits in 2003/4, I received this reply this morning:

Dear xxx

Thank you for your recent complaint. I am sorry you are unhappy about the charges which have been applied to your account. One of my colleagues will carry out a full investigation of your complaint.

Our commitment to you is that we will respond to your concerns at the earliest opportunity. However, we do want to ensure that the issues you raised are thoroughly investigated. If, for any reason, we are unable to respond fully to your concerns within the next 4 weeks we will write to update you of our progress.

If you have employed someone to handle your complaint on your behalf, please note following:

• Halifax does not charge you to investigate your complaint
• Halifax will not be liable for any costs incurred if you do decide to employ a third party to handle your complaint during this review.
• Halifax, in general, will only make payment directly to the account holder(s).
• You may wish to check if the third party firm you are using is authorised under the Claims Management Regulation.

You will find enclosed a copy of our leaflet, which details how we will handle your complaint. I hope we can work together and find a solution that you are happy with.

Yours sincerely

xxxx

In my preliminary letter, I did make sure to point out that this request had nothing to to with the usual case for disputing charges and wrote 'This complaint bears no relation to charges being unfair in accordance with UTCCRs'

So, I just wondered, whilst I suspect this is a standard complaint letter response, from this reply, does it look like they are actually treating my complaint as a separate issue to other charge claimants? I do tend to think so, as it makes no mention of any test case etc.

Thanks for the advice there. I haven't approached the Benefits Agency because this is from 3/4 years ago when I used to bank with Halifax. The account got closed in 2004 and I now have a different acccount with another bank.

I only wish I had known more about my rights back then, it would have saved a great deal of hardship and misery.

Hi, just need a bit of advice on what to write next. It is now well after 14 days since I wrote and apart from the reply above, I have had no further correspondence from Halifax. I have had a look at the usual lba but as I am requesting charges to be refunded on slightly different grounds, it will need quite a lot of modifying. Does anybody have any suggestion as to what I could write? My prelim letter clearly stated that my request for a refund was not related to to charges being unfair in accordance with UTCCRs

Thanks, I shall get searching through that!

I got my charges back from the Halifax after sending them a second letter quoting the Social Security Administration Act - this was not even an lba just a letter clarifying that they had broken the law by taking my benefits.

Hi Goldlady, the letter I sent did quote the bit about being in breach of the SS Act but unfortunately I got the standard letter along the lines of we have looked at your complaint and believe it to be concerning the legality, fairness etc of our (extortionate) charges which we believe to be fair and transparent. Also a lot of waffle about all claims being stayed. So, for anybody with more knowledge than me, should I write the lba or go straight to filing at court, using POCs based on the fact that they have taken them from my sole income of benefits? I know I am probably being silly but it quite frightens me as I don't think there have been many court claims re the benefits issue. I believe Stephen is putting together a case but other than that, many people in my position seemed to get the money paid back without having to go this far. Any advice or reassurance would be much appreciated, thanks all

PS Hi Sallysas, thanks for your interest!

Hi

Go with a 7 day lba including the information about inalienability in SSA act 1992 s.187 and Tax credits act 2002 s.45....also you might want to mention any hardship you are in - things like debts being chase/pending court actions/house repossesion/arrears. Also include the FSA statement about hardship claims being allowed to proceed.

The amend the POC to include these details too, and its been suggested leaving out the UTCCR to try and avoid the stays (as the OFT case is based on the UTCCR and you are claiming mainly on inalienability and the service charge arguments you should have more chance arguing against a stay if it does happen)

If you need any help please feel free to PM me.

Jules

Well if it was me I would give it one more try with a letter as if you issue court proceedings you will be in the queue and could wait a long time. Thing is that the law prevents them from taking your benefits - unlike the claims for charges under normal circumstances. I think you would succeed in court on the benefit issue, but if you are like me you probably can't afford to wait that long, as chances are it would be caught up in the thousands of other claims.

My letter was extremely basic and only mentioned the SS Act in passing. I would really suggest you try again and underline the bits about them taking charges illegally as this is definitely a different issue to normal bank charges.