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I've been having problems with RBOS since 2001, read your site and acted on impulse (or out of sheer desperation ). Now I can't sleep as I think I've done everything wrong . Please someone read this as I am worn down by being bombarded by letters and nasty telephone calls 5 years later . I sent the following letter:
Due to recent media coverage on bank charges I am now aware that you, The Royal Bank of Scotland have been charging me, charges that are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Schedule 2 (e) of the said regulations gives a non-complete list of terms, which may be regarded as unfair, such as a term that requires me as a consumer who fails in his obligation, to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation.
I believe that your charges are disproportionately high and therefore they are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999. In addition, I believe that your charges are a Penalty. Penalty charges are irrecoverable at common law. The precedent for this was Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor co Ltd [1915] AC 79. along with Murray v. Leisure play [2005] EWCA Civ 963. It was held that a contractual party can only recover damages for an actual loss or liquidated losses. It is clear that your charges do not reflect any actual and or real loss.
Your charges appear to be nothing more than a profit-making scheme. Therefore, I require you to refund my entire bank at a total of £705.16, representing the total, unlawful during the last 6 years. I hereby give you 14 days to refund the charges back on to my account. For the avoidance of doubt, if this is not done within 14 days, I will commence my claim in the courts without further warning. This action will inevitably involve you in additional costs.
After closer inspection it is not £705.16 that they have charged me within the 6 year limit. They charged me £610.00 (charges, without interest charges), or £735.28 (charges, including interest charges). Which one do I claim, with or without interest charges included? Or is it too late? My account was overdrawn and the charges just made matters worse and therefore snowballed (they charged me £1,500.00 in total, which pushed me deeper into an overdraft). They have said that they will contact me in 5 working days regarding the above letter.
The whole situation with them is very confusing, but here goes...
1. I began paying the overdraft off from January 2001 for 2 years via standing order, everything was fine.
2. Suddenly, RBOS got a debt recovery agency to start collecting the money in January 2003. The debt recovery agency did not record payments properly and therefore (according to RBOS) they (the debt recovery agency, not RBOS) put a default on my credit report.
3. RBOS again changed the company who collects the money a further 3 times.
4. Even though I have been paying the overdraft off each month for fear of getting a CCJ, the balance in Sept 2003 was £1,346.36, RBOS say the current balance is £1,318.36. This simply cannot be the case as I am still paying it off monthly, over 3 years I cannot have only paid £28.00 off?!
5. The current debt recovery agency keep contacting me to pay the 'debt' off at a reduced rate, in fact 2 days after sending the above letter they sent me a letter asking again! I have refused as I am on a very low income at the moment and cannot afford to pay it off, even at the reduced rate.
6. Over five years later I can still only get a basic bank account and have a poor credit rating purely due to the situation with RBOS - a CCJ now appears the better option!
With sending the above letter I feel I have totally messed things up, I just want them off my back once and for all (possibly even get some of my money back). It's really getting me down after 5 years of fighting a losing battle with them...have I totally messed up?
Some advice to start with. I am sure that someone more qualified than me will be along and clear up better than i can do but what i will say to start with is you are better off posting all of your information regarding your claim against RBOS in this one thread. It makes an easier job for the mods and also they will only have one place to look for information regarding your claim and wont miss out on any information.
Ok hear is my two pence worth on what you are saying. Firstly you have sent off your Data Protection Act request so that is a start. What i would do from here is probably send a letter to the debt agency who are dealing with your claim along the lines of the current debt that you are trying to claim back from me for RBOS contains unlawful penalties and i believe that the actual figure RBOS say is owed is not correct. Please can you send me any relevant information regarding this account on when it was passed to yourselves (i.e like opening balance, date, charges they might of added) stuff like that. usually they might give you this information over the phone.
Also you say on one hand that your claim might be around £700 where did you get this figure from as you have not received your statements yet? Somewhere else you say that they might owe you 6k to 7k. Where has this figure come from? Why have you sent them the Prelimary Letter asking for your charges back aswell if you have not received the info from your DPA? Have you had loans with RBOS? Is your account still open? What was the default for, was it for the overdraft on the account? You seem to have done a lot of stuff i.e sending DPA, sending letter to bank, Receiving letter from back regarding both of the actions. What dates did all these actions happen on?
I am sure a Breakdown of all this information would be useful to whoever helps you with your claim.
Regards
Paul
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Thanks for your response, sorry for not being clear, I totally admit it's a huge mess .
This particular post is for the RBOS only . (The 6K/7K is from all the companies: utility companies, mortgage lenders, banks, catalogues, council tax, etc., who have ripped me off over that last six years ...even my dentist charged me for a bounced payment due to the RBOS ffs - I omitted the last bit as my posts are too long as it is already and I am scared no-one will read them!!).
I do have another post for HBOS, which I am now a bit more clued up on and that's hopefully going through correctly...i.e., step-by-step and that is the one I've sent the Data Protection Act letter to, not this one.
This one for the RBOS is the one I've messed up...didn't look before I lept so to speak. I think I've jumped a few stages with this one and sent the lba letter first. I just really need to know how to rectify it, currently awaiting the RBOS' response to this.
I have most of my bank statements from the RBOS and know that they've charged me £610.00 (not including interest) since 06/00 up to present day. The account is in the hands of a debt recovery agency (Wescot Credit Services) at present, who are not deducting my payments from the balance of the account correctly.
Originally I had a loan with the RBOS which opened this account, but paid this loan off in full within 6 months - I kept this account open as my main current account and the default is in relation to an overdraft on it - made bigger due to their charges.
Since your response I have drafted 4 letters requesting account details from the debt collection agencies who were/are dealing with this account on behalf of RBOS, namely Unidebt Collections, Intrum Justicia, Moorcroft Debt Recovery and currently Wescot Credit Services Ltd.
I have also drafted a letter regarding the "Default" placed on this account (as found on this website) due to all these debt collection agencies ignoring my letters and messing the RBOS account up...phew!!!
Hope this clarifies matters and someone can advise me please?
RBOS - Think I've made of mess of things...
). Now I can't sleep as I think I've done everything wrong
5 years later
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Re: RBOS - Think I've made of mess of things...
. 
. (The 6K/7K is from all the companies: utility companies, 
...even my dentist charged me for a bounced payment due to the RBOS ffs - I omitted the last bit as my posts are too long as it is already and I am scared no-one will read them!!). 