Thread: Pls advise re bank charges claiming

Hi,

as advised by GuidoT I'm starting my own thread as I'm in the process of trying to reclaim bank charges from A&L.

A bit of background - Around 7 years ago I split with my partner but tried to continue to run my home on my own therefore for a couple of years I regularly raked up excessive bank charges due to failed direct debits or going over my overdraft limit (although having received my statements it rarely if ever seems to actually go over my overdraft limit). Using templates from MSE I wrote the first 2 letters and requested my money back (I chose to include interest @ 8% in the hope that would get them to settle early).

I received a letter on 10th (4 days before the 2nd letter deadline) saying basically that because of the test case they would not be dealing with my complaint until after it was settled and if I applied to court they would apply for a stay. They state they will resolve my complaint as quickly as possible after the test case is completed.

As alot of my charges are approaching 6 years I am thinking that the best idea for me would be to get it into the courts system even though it will be stayed. Unfortunately as I'm on maternity leave for another month I cannot afford to do this until March as the charges are quite steep to place the claim!

I am also considering writing to the bank and offering them the chance to settle for a reduced amount if done within 14 days just in case that works(and know I need to include without prejudice).

What I want to know is can I issue another SAR to my bank requesting confirmation of when my account was opened with the bank, a copy of my original contract (or application) and a copy of the original terms and conditions as were at the time of opening the account as I think I will need all of this info if it does have to go to court? I have checked here but I opened my account 12-13 years ago so the closest on this site is for 1998 which I presume would not be good enough? Or would this be a waste of £10 and should I just write and request the info without making reference to a SAR request?

As I can't submit this to court due to finances for a couple of months I have a little time to play with anyway.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

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i didnt i used it from mse which only asked for 6 years and to be honest im happy with that as after will take me above £3000 and i wont be able to afford the court fee for even longer if I have to pay a greater amount!

Thanks for the advice I think I will still write to request a reduced settlement without prejudice just to fill in some time between my communication and when I submit to court. When I get to the submit to court part I will probably need more advice but will continue to read around this site cause its full of lovely info!

Thanks Guidot I will do that as I have some time to play with

I don't supose someone can explain to me why there is a limit of reclaiming only 6 years charges for an active account as for example if I ran up a credit card bill in 2000 to the limit then just spent the last 8 years trying to repay before defaulting wouldn't they still chase me for the old debt even though the spending was over 6 years ago (this is as an example as I havent actually done this)?

This is all very confusing for the average person!

Thanks

P.S. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on here for the helpful advice, it gives the average person the information to be able to fight back whereas all bank documentation is highly confusing!

Thanks GuidoT very complicated indeed. Have read it all and at least 50% flew straight over my head lol.

I think as I cannot get my head around it its safer for me to stick to the 6 years claim.

lol ok at least its not me. Will get onto a new SAR anyway and will ask for the terms & conditions etc too just in case they send it to me although I won't hold my breath.

Thanks Guidot you have been very helpful

Well that was a bit of a waste of time theres no charges on my flexiloan and they only sent statements to Jul 2001 even though I have had my account at least 12 years! I already had the statements to july 2001 from the first request I made

So I guess now I just resubmit my letter going back to July 2001 as I had only gone to March 2002 as that will be around the 6 year mark from when I place my claim in March this year?

well never did place my claim as due to the dreadfully low SMP I couldnt afford to. Am just getting back on my feet now so I could possibly submit to court by the end of the month which I'm thinking after the judgement today might be wise!

My claim is for £3500 ish plus interest taking it to £4900 ish.

They appear to be the same posts to me but thanks to the both of you for the advice

Sorry to be a pain - I've searched and can't find.

Where do I find the info for filling in the N1 (is that right). I looked in the sticky at the top saying "new POC" but when I click the link it brings up an error saying Invalid Thread?