Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
If you have been successful in your claim with First Direct but the thread title doesn't show **WON** or **SETTLED** can you please send a private message to one of the mods to change the title and put it in the successes sub-forum.
This will give other users an at-a-glance guide to other cases that have been won and may just give them that extra little bit of confidence needed to pursue First Direct themselves.
If you can't PM a mod for whatever reason then just reply to this thread.
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Contents of my posts are purely my own personal opinions, some formed by personal experience and some from research. If in doubt seek qualified legal advice.
HI I have successfully claimed against FD, recieved a cheque for £3,249.71, back in Oct, now helping my brother do his claims!! Thank you to everyone for all their help
Egg - WAR! Natwest - WAR!
First Direct - Got my money back - £ 3249.71
:o
Hi how far did you have to go with FD i have sent the letter before action refusing the offered 1/2 of the charges and have heard nothing now i think i should just go ahead and claim. I think they stalled me any advice
I went through put my claim through the small claims court, on which they acknowledged and offered me half the money. I wrote back to them and accpeted the half but made it clear that I would continue with court action for the full amount. They then offered me the full amount.
Stick with it and stick with the time scales too, they will pay up!
Egg - WAR! Natwest - WAR!
First Direct - Got my money back - £ 3249.71
:o
hi we have sent the letter off claiming £2993 and we have had a letter back saying that we will hear within 10 days and a leaflet explaining how the bank deals with complaints. One thing that worries me is that if we get the money back will the bank get funny and withdraw our overdrafrt facility? Has anyone any experience of this?
hey,
I sent of my statements with the letter requesting my charges back, FD responded quite quickly and said they would be in contact in 10 working days. I heard nothing so i rung them and wrote a letter. i did receive a letter end of last week, stating they were inundated with claims and it would be another 10 working days. I know they are stalling, if they dont come back to me by the 2nd, what should I do...... start the court proceedings?
It also might be useful if "success stories" include the type of interest they went for and if they got it. Its something I would like to know (so I can decide what to go for) so I presume it would be useful to others as well.
Hi, Just Wanted To Let People Know My Success With First Direct,
Back In Novenber Got My First Bank Charge Of £55, Things Are Pretty Tight So This Left Me Short And Got Into The Vicious Circle Of Bank Charges, Im In The Middle Of Fighting Bank Charges For My Son And Barclays So Did Not Really Want To Have Two Claims Going At The Same Time So I Gave First Direct A Ring Today At 12.00pm , Spoke To A Chap In The " Reclaim Bank Charge" Depatment, Said I Was Not Happy About The Charges,they Had Amounted To £320 Since November, He Tried To Say They Were Just Etc, So I Said I Know They Are Not And Was Hoping I Wouldnt Have To Go Down The Claim Route As Im In The Middle Of A Claim For My Son, He Agreed To Look Into My Complaint.
12.25 Pm Call From First Direct, They Looked Back At There Charges And Agreed That They Had Taken A Total Of £320, Did I Have A Figure I Was Hoping To Get Back, All Of Them I Said Because If I Claimed It Would Cost Them More In The Long Run With interest Etc. He Said He Would Call Me Back.
12.35 Call From First Direct, Offered Full Amount, Credited To Account Straight Away.
Hello,
I'm on the verge of achieving some success with FD.
To cut a long story short, my partner and I have incurred heavy bank charges for years from FD. These charges, as you probably can guess, have been unfair, unsubstantiated and forced us into more debt.
We have been with FD for 5 years (4 years as main operational account) and with Nationwide for 1 year (now our main account). Over the five years, we incurred £1,400 of charges from First Direct (and that's without adding interest) so earlier this month I issued a letter to them requesting this back using the template from the BBC website.
This morning, I received a 'without prejudice' letter from First Direct offering a refund just shy of £1,000, £400 less than what we asked for and it included an additional £185 charges they've added this month. If we accept it, we must sign and send it back within 10 working days. The bank's defence of the charges was as follows:
'In circumstances where you have authorised a payment that would, if met by us, lead to your account going overdrawn or to exceed an agreed overdraft limit, we have to consider whether to make this payment. A fee is payable for this service provided by the bank, details of which are clearly set out in our published tariff. The circumstances in which the fee will apply are clearly set out in our Account terms and conditions, a copy of which was provided to you when you opened your account. We are confident to our position and believe that if your claim for a refund proceeded to Court, we would successfully resist any legal challenge in relation to these fees'
But I believe they're bluffing and would normally take up the challenge. However, I need to access that cash quickly before I start other action which may have them reclaim it.
After I've taken the cash, I'll target Nationwide as I'm sure I've funded bonuses for staff at my local branch already! Just got to wait until my parachute account opens next week!
Hi, not sure if I'm putting this in the right place, but if not, hopefully someone will move it!
History of claim - had statements so straight to asking for refund
Letter 1 16/3/07 - claiming refund of £415 in charges from a closed account.
Reply from First Direct 23/3 offering £340 (knocked off two random charges)
Letter 2 - 24/3/07 - declined offer and asked for full amount and made this letter lba
Today 13/4/07 - about to issue claim on MCOL, but rang first direct(08456 100 100) before issuing, at about 4.30 p.m. I was very polite, but explained that I was about to issue my online claim. They put me on hold for five minutes, whilst 'the relevant person in another department was reviewing my claim'. they came back and offered the full £415 of charges. I will have a letter in the post tonight.
I would have had a claim for £66.33 in interest had I gone to court, but this has saved me a lot of worry and heartache and as I have another 7 claims on the go, one off the list is useful.
I hope this scenario is useful to others, as a possible way forward and maybe it says something about First Direct's tactics at present and their lack of desire to go to Court.
I have today (17/4/07) received their offer in writing with the form to sign and return.
I am happy to sign the form as it is a closed account and does not bind me for the future conduct of this acount or charges. I just thought I would point out that it says in bold on this form - PLEASE RETURN THE ORIGINAL DECLARATION TO US. ANY AMENDMENTS WILL DECLARE IT NULL AND VOID.
I mention this as I know many people have been crossing through bits of acceptance forms they do not like and this seEms a tactic to prevent this. It does not affect me in this case.
I have received the full ammount I was claiming £5971.19.....not bad!! It took about 3 months all in all and got to the county court stage. They did make an offer of £1200 less but I stuck out for the full ammont and low and behold...they credited my account before the Court dedline!!
Anyone who is thinking about it, do it! All you have to do is send the letters at the correct times and have alot of patients!!!
Fd have decided to pay up, started 15 Feb 07, followed all the time lines and advice from this site, had incredible advice and support, (if not i maybe would have stacked at the county court stage) had an offer today for the full amount plus court fees of £6,210.15. For anyone else out there, do not give up!! it may seem daunting at times, but if you continue with the advice and inspiration from this site , you will get your money back> Rgds
First Direct - S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) sent 29/12/06
Statements recieved 15/1/07 - >£3000 owed
Prelim sent 16.01.07
Partial offer received 01.02.2007
LBA and letter rejecting paltry offer sent 02.02.2007
MCOL filed mid Feb 07
AQ 26th March
BoS - S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) sent 29/12/06
Statements received 1.02.2007 - Prelim sent 02.02.2007
Successful Claims
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Re: Successful Claims
Just got to wait until my 
