Thread: Kirstypops v Abbey

hi kirstypops
im just getting to know pam as well. im just ahead of you in that ive sent my letter in response to the microfiche bluff on monday this week. i will keep an eye out for you and let you know how im doing as well. i just recieved the standard 14 months of statements, so im just waitng to see what happens
best of luck mate
steve

hi kirstypops
i had some stuff off Abbey as well, but i dont think they are my microfiche records as they only go back 12 months or so. will have to be a bit more patient. maybe pammy was going on the ladies first thing? strangely my 40 day date is 20th august as well.
ah well, best of luck mate
steve

I got a letter from Marc Winder, Head of Complaints today. He's sorry that I'm unhappy. Isn't that sweet? They're going to do a thorough investigation and will let me know what is going on in four weeks time.

Silly Marc obviously didn't notice that I made a request, not a complaint. I'll drop him a line next week and remind him that Abbey have two weeks left to pay up.

It's such nonsense that we have to go through this whole dance.

I had an interesting conversation last night with someone who works for Barclays Investment Banking. She admitted to not knowing much about personal banking but bravely tried to defend bank charges. I told her what I was doing and she said 'oh but I know when a cheque is bounced in investment banking it costs a lot to sort out but it may be different in personal banking'. I said that there is an issue about being charged £35 by an organisation who can't or won't prove that that is what it actually costs them. She said they might not know how much it costs. In that case how could they come up with the figures they charge? And what kind of organisation, especially a financial one, can't put some approximate cost to it? I also pointed out that what I was charged £11 for 6 years ago I am now charged £35 pounds. She suggested inflation but didn't even convince herself with that!

In the end she thought that the banks pay people off because going to court would be bad publicity and that it's cheaper than hiring solicitors. I suggested that all they would have to do is explain the charges and how it actually costs £35 when a direct debit is unpaid and it could stop people claiming their money back. Plus, of course, Abbey never pay up before getting the solicitors involved.

She did automatically assume that it was always the fault of the customer and that they should have to pay for writing bad cheques. I explained that often people start with one incident of one or two unpaid direct debits for whatever reason which snowballs with these silly charges being taken out when the customer has no money in their account, incurring even more charges. She still kept talking about people writing bad cheques though. Of course I should mention that we had been drinking and our attention skills were not at their best.

It was interesting that someone in banking - albeit a different branch of banking - couldn't answer any of my questions or justify the banks' behaviour.

Today is the deadline from my prelim letter so before I sent out the lba I thought I should triple check my figures. I've never exactly been a maths whizz! I had in fact missed two charges and two more had been added recently. I went onto online banking to double check the most recent ones and lo and behold, 6 payments have gone into my account - all titled Miscellaneous Fee Refund. They come to a grand total of £175. My revised claim is for £3,649.50.

I will now have to rewrite my LBA to acknowledge these refunds but if they think that I'll be happy with £175 instead of £3,649.50 they are even bigger fools that I thought. That said, it's come at a good time - I really needed some cash today.

I applied for a new account at Natwest and was offered a very basic one - First Reserve. I couldn't get a current account because of my credit. The girl on the phone said that the First Reserve wouldn't be a problem. I sent off the ID they asked for (a bank statement) and then received a letter saying that following a credit check they can't give me the account. Like other people, I wonder if this is because I have started a claim against a bank.

Anyway, my query is, has anyone been threatening with closure of their account and successful argued against it? If Abbey close my account I will be absolutely screwed as I can't seem to get an account anywhere else but I'll be damned if they're going to scare my off.

Hi

I had a similar experience with Natwest. When I applied over the telephone for a NAtwest STEP account, the guy told me that I could have a current account if I wanted one. I was very surprised to hear this, as my credit rating is shot to bits.
So when the paperwork came through I sent it off - only to be rejected after the credit check. I don't think it has anything to do with your action against Abbey.

However I did, in the end manage to open a step account, with this one they don't run a check, you get online banking, a debit card and all the basic banking facilities. You can apply online.
Also you could try Nationwide or Co-op, other people have opened basic aoounts with these banks

Good luck.

I was just suspicious as I was turned down for the Step account over the phone because of my credit and then told that I could have a First Reserve even with bad credit. Then they changed their mind. I've already been turned down by Halifax and Coop too. Of course the more banks turn me down the worse my credit report gets so I'm probably stuffed by now!

I did read somewhere that the STEP account was becoming Natwest's most 'popular' account. Maybe they've realised why and have started running credit checks.

All I can say is although I've had the standard "we may close your account" letter, they haven't done so yet, and I'm now nearing the final stages of my claim.
Fingers crossed.

This may help if you haven't already seen it....

Need a parachute account?

Thank you, and good luck with your claim.

Well I finally managed to scrape together the money to start my claim and that was done on October 5th. Abbey are defending the claim and I'll get the aq shortly. It all feels a bit scary now but I've got nothing to lose I suppose.