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Needing some advice about a bank charges claim I have/had.
Because of my job, I was often away from home and so to try to reclaim my bank charges I used a reclaims firm - FinancialClaims UK - to do this on my behalf. Their fee was 10% and I began my claim against HBOS in May 2007.
Almost 2 years later, the claim was filed as a hardship case after I was made redundant. FinClaims sent me the forms, which I filled in and handed them to my bank. FinClaims also challenged HBoS under a breach of the Banking Code.
All seemed well, until the Supreme Court ruling came through and HBoS denied my claim. I enquired this with the claims firm who told me that they had filed my case under UTCCR but in light of the SC ruling they would now pursue under Hardship and the British Banking code - something they were already supposed to have done.
That was in January this year. Since then I have seen or heard nothing - no letter, no email, no phone call. I've tried sending them emails, phoning them, writing to them at their office address in Feltham. Nothing in response.
I suspect the company has done a runner in the wake of the SC verdict. Their original website is still active, but if you browse to the homepage it redirects to another website under the company name. Using Google's cache I was able to browse the original site, but when you click on the homepage link, the original site displays a message "the financial claims service and this website are no longer running."
I've no idea now what has happened with my claim; whether it is dead following HBoS throwing it out after the ruling, or if FinClaims have filed it in court and its sitting in some court 'Intray'.
Further investigation suggests FinClaims were a subsidiary of the solicitor Robert Brand & Co, London and seemingly a [problem] to harvest bank account details if some online reports are accurate. FinClaims are/were registered in the British Virgin Islands but have MoJ licence and Data Protection licence, both of which I checked out before signing up.
Thankfully, I never paid FinClaims any money up front but its annoying to think I've wasted 3 years with this firm. Even if i restarted my claim - either on my own, or through a claims firm - I'll have lost 3 years worth of charges reclaiming. I've complained about FinClaims to the Ministry of Justice and Trading Standards in Hounslow, and asked for more information about Robert Brand from the Law Society/Legal Complaints Service but I'm not expecting anything to come from it. I'm also considering informing the police as to the perceived [problem].
But, i suppose, after all the above, this post comes down to asking the question: Can I begin the reclaims process again?
Bank Charges Claim - FinancialClaims UK
in May 2007.
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