Well done on getting your money back.

You need to start by calcualting your losses. Losses must be qualitifiable and supported by evidence.

It will help if they are less than £5000 as that will keep you within the small claims lmits.

I suggest that you start calcualting interest at the contractual rate.

Somewhere on this site there is a spreadsheet which will do this. Have a look round but I am sure that someone will post a link for you.

Once you have calculated the interest , let us know and we can have a look at the rest of what can be done

Here you go

Compound interest calculator

CISheet v101.xls

Well done on getting your money back.

Thank you for your help. I couldn't have done it without you.

You need to start by calcualting your losses. Losses must be qualitifiable and supported by evidence.

 

It will help if they are less than £5000 as that will keep you within the small claims lmits.

 

I suggest that you start calcualting interest at the contractual rate.

[/Quote]

 

What is the contractual rate? There is no section in our contract that offers interest when they block the account.

 

Somewhere on this site there is a spreadsheet which will do this. Have a look round but I am sure that someone will post a link for you.

 

Once you have calculated the interest , let us know and we can have a look at the rest of what can be done

 

I have found these links:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?255530-How-do-you-calculate-Compound-Interest

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9349&d=1243721002 (from this thread: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?201984#post2198541)

 

I'm not sure what interest rate should I sue:

At 8% the interest would be: 1512.48

At 26.8% the interest would be: 6836.29

 

I would charge them for the time wasted on this matter 4000GBP.

 

Regards!

What is the bank's lending rate ?

What is the bank's lending rate ?

The credit card that I hold with them since they've opened my account has a 26.8% interest. They've insisted back then to give me a credit card then although I didn't want it. I've never used it.

calculated interest at 26.8% (compounded annually) = 5848.25 GBP

calculated interest at 26.8% (compounded monthly) = 6796.93 GBP

Otherwise, according to their website: http://www.bankofscotland.co.uk/bankaccounts/interest-rates-fees/ they charge 19.3% EAR variable + 5GBP/month.

calculated interest at 19.3% (compounded annually) = 3982.34 (interest) + 31 * 5 (fee) = 4137.34 GBP

calculated interest at 19.3% (compounded monthly) = 4413.81 (interest) + 31 * 5 (fee) = 4568.81 GBP

Wait for others to give their opinion.. but if it were me, I would add the interest at their lending rate

Yes it is the rate they were charging you on the account

Does anybody has an advice on what to do next?

OK, the problem now is that your calculations take you well over the small claims limit.

If yu want to sue on the Fast Track, that is fine - but you have to understand that there is a risk of lmited costs - I'm not sure how much but a ople of thousand at least, I expect. Do some searching and you will find out how they calculated fast track costs.

If you win it is fine but of you lose then you will be hit with them.

Also, I'm sorry to say, that because the bank are bullies, as soon as it goes onto the fast track they will become emboldened beause they will use costs to frighten you away. It a sort of perverting the course of justice except it is legal.

I know that you feel strongly about the damage they have caused to you and to your business but you may be better off bringing the claim down to below £5k.

Let us know if you are prepared to do this.

Either way, once you decide then we can get goinging.

It will begin with a letter to the bank otlining your complaint and the basis of your calculation for compensation.

OK, the problem now is that your calculations take you well over the small claims limit.

 

I know that you feel strongly about the damage they have caused to you and to your business but you may be better off bringing the claim down to below £5k.

 

Let us know if you are prepared to do this.

 

Either way, once you decide then we can get goinging.

 

It will begin with a letter to the bank otlining your complaint and the basis of your calculation for compensation.

I'm ok to claim an amount below £5k.

Considering that the bank did not offer an interest in the terms and conditions for this kind of situations, what amount shall I claim for interest and what amount shall I claim for my (our) time?

Do you have an example of the letter that I should write to the bank?

Regards!

The letter is easy. You have to concentrate on the calculation.

You can't just choose a random figure. You will have to show the reason for calculating a particular figure.

You will have to select an interest rate which produces a figure less than £5000. It must be a resoable interest rate and must be justifiable to a court in the event that the bank decides to challenge your claim

The letter is easy. You have to concentrate on the calculation.

 

You can't just choose a random figure. You will have to show the reason for calculating a particular figure.

 

You will have to select an interest rate which produces a figure less than £5000. It must be a resoable interest rate and must be justifiable to a court in the event that the bank decides to challenge your claim

I have (finally) prepared the letter. Please let me know of your comments:

 

Formal Complaint

 

Dear Sirs,

 

 

Account: ______________

Sort code: ____________

 

You have withhold my money from 18th November 2009 until 3rd of July 2012.

 

During this time you have been treating me unfairly and contrary to your obligations under BCOBS:

you have failed to communicate with me contrary to BCOBS

you have failed to give me any explanation as to why the access to my account has been restricted and funds removed

you have failed to give me any target date when you will release my funds

you have failed to tell me what are the conditions which I must to meet to release my funds

to my knowledge, you have not informed the police regarding any issue you might have and you have not obtained a crime reference number. If you have a crime reference number you have failed to provide it to me

you have failed to provide me with the terms and conditions of the account at the time of opening, contrary to BCOBS 3.1.6

in particular you have sent me incorrect terms and conditions as you have referred on 17/02/2010 the Financial Ombudsman Service to paragraph 25.1 which does not exist in the terms that I have received on 09 February 2012, contrary to BCOBS 3.1.14

You have failed to provide me with any statements of my account showing any outstanding balance with interest. I notice that you have disclosed to the FOS that the money has been moved to an internal suspension account, You have not provided me with any information as to the rate of interest on this account.

 

Your actions have:

caused me unnecessary anxiety and distrust in the UK banking system

cased me to live for 2 years and 7 months with the fear that I can loose all the money that I have with other banks for no reason

I have used more than 100 hours of my time reading legislation and forums in order to deal with this matter and prepare the letters that I've sent you

I have not earned an interest for the amount that you've withhold during this time.

 

In order to settle this matter amiably I would like to:

Be issued with a formal apology and be assured that the employee who has caused this mess-up will be severely penalised

Receive a full and precise clarification of events leading to the locking up of my funds, and events to date.

I am demanding the following sums in compensation:

1507.27 (8% Interest calculated from 8th November 2009 until 3rd of July 2012)

1000.00 GBP in damages for the anxiety caused

2450.00 GBP for the my time and money used to deal with this matter

 

Should you not agree with all my above requests, please issue your final response as soon as possible so I can bring it to the Ombudsman Service. This means that even if you decide to pay the above sums money, I still wish this complaint about your breach of your statutory duty to be considered by the Ombudsman.

 

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

 

Hi Yew, I have made some cosmetic changes to your letter. Where I have changed/amended/edited a word/sentence - I have highlighted this in red. I have highlighted two senteces in blue.

The first one..

 

Be issued with a formal apology and be assured that the employee who has caused this mess-up will be severely penalised

You might want to rethink this.. I rather suspect there is no way they will assure you that someone will be "severely penalised". How about..

"Be issued with a formal apology and be assured that someone will take responsibility for this mess and that it will not happen again"

The 2nd sententce

Should you not agree with all my above requests, please issue your final response as soon as possible, in order that I can take my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This means that even if you decide to pay the above sums, I still wish this complaint about your breach of your statutory duty to be considered by the Ombudsman.

 

You are saying that if they dont agree to your suggestions to settle the matter amicably, then you want their Final Response in order for you to take your complaint to the Ombudsman. (This is correct). But you then go on to say (highlighted in blue.. That even if they do agree to the suggestions that you still wish to make a complaint... (again, I would wish this as well).. However, I would reword the sentence in Blue to read..

"Even if you agree to my suggestions to settle this matter amicably, I will still be making a complaint in respect of the wilful breach of your statutory duties in this matter"

Formal Complaint

 

Dear Sirs,

 

 

Account: ______________

Sort code: ____________

 

My complaint is in respect of the following:

You have prevented me from accessing my money from 18th November 2009 until 3rd of July 2012.

 

During this time you have been treating me unfairly and contrary to your obligations under BCOBS:

 

you have failed to communicate with me contrary to BCOBS

you have failed to give me an explanation as to why access to my account has been restricted and funds removed

you have failed to give me a target date when you will release my funds

you have failed to tell me what are the conditions which I must meet in order to release my funds

to my knowledge, you have not informed the police regarding any issues you might have and you have not obtained a crime reference number. If you have a crime reference number you have failed to provide it to me

you have failed to provide me with the terms and conditions of the account at the time of opening, contrary to BCOBS 3.1.6

in particular you have sent me incorrect terms and conditions as you have referred on 17/02/2010 the Financial Ombudsman Service to paragraph 25.1 which does not exist in the terms that I have received on 09 February 2012, contrary to BCOBS 3.1.14

you have failed to provide me with any statements of my account showing any outstanding balance with interest. I notice that you have disclosed to the FOS that the money has been moved to an internal suspension account. You have not provided me with any information as to the rate of interest on this account.

 

Your actions have:

caused me unnecessary anxiety and distrust in the UK banking system

caused me to live for 2 years and 7 months with the fear that I can lose all the money that I have with other banks for no reason

I have invested more than 100 hours of my time researching legislation and the internet in order to deal with this matter and prepare the letters that I've sent you

I have not earned any interest for the amount that you've withheld during this time.

 

In order to settle this matter amicably I would like to:

Be issued with a formal apology and be assured that the employee who has caused this mess-up will be severely penalised

Receive a full and precise clarification of events that resulted in the locking up of my funds, and events to date.

 

I am demanding the following sums in compensation:

1507.27 (8% Interest calculated from 8th November 2009 until 3rd of July 2012)

1000.00 GBP in damages for the anxiety caused

2450.00 GBP for the my time and money used to deal with this matter

 

Should you not agree with all my above requests, please issue your final response as soon as possible, in order that I can take my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This means that even if you decide to pay the above sums, I still wish this complaint about your breach of your statutory duty to be considered by the Ombudsman.

 

If there is any specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

 

 

You might wish to wait a day at least for others to look in and comment. HTH

Thank you for your comments. For me it is just as important to be told why this has happened as the compensation. I will not settle just with the compensation and no answer as I will still live with the fear that this happens again. I have reformulated the last paragraph:

In order to settle this matter amicably I would like to:

Be issued with a formal apology and be assured that someone will take responsibility for this mess and that it will not happen again

Receive a full and precise clarification of events leading to the locking up of my funds, and events to date.

I am demanding the following sums in compensation:

1507.27 (8% Interest calculated from 8th November 2009 until 3rd of July 2012)

1000.00 GBP in damages for the anxiety caused

2450.00 GBP for the my time and money used to deal with this matter

 

Note that the above matters were NOT answered by your colleague, Kim Hollyoak on 6th of February as wrongly understood by Anouska Barylo on the letter from 3rd if May.

This complaint about:

Treating me unfairly therefore I will wish that my complaint about your breach of your statutory duty to be considered by the Ombudsman.

Issuing me with compensation as described above therefore I will wish to complain to the Ombudsman should you refuse to pay it.

 

Should you not agree with all my above requests, please issue your final response as soon as possible, in order that I can take my complaint to the Ombudsman Service.

To be honest, I do not care if it happens again with this bank as I will not bank with them again.I would prefer that the person responsible for all this will loose their job or BoS to receive a hefty fine. I would also like to know on what legal grounds have they acted like this.

To be honest, I do not care if it happens again with this bank as I will not bank with them again.I would prefer that the person responsible for all this will loose their job or BoS to receive a hefty fine. I would also like to know on what legal grounds have they acted like this.

I agree, more than anything I too would want to know why they have done this.

BoS's reply is below. They do not seem to understand that I'm complaining about unfair treatment.

I guess I'll go to Ombudsman now.

Thank you for letting us know about your account. As you said in your letter, you have had

difficulty retrieving funds out of your account and do not know why the funds have been

withheld from you.

We understand how this situation has made you feel, however, our review shows no error was

made.

We have previously received complaints from you regarding the treatment of your account,

under our references 51186 and 77679. As you said in your letter, the latter case has had

responses from Kim Hollyoak and Anouska Barylo, where you were given six months to refer

your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

My findings show that under reference 51186 we issued a separate final response. At that

point, you referred your case to the FOS and the EQS found in our favour. If you have any

concerns about the information they gave you at that point about your terms and conditions

you must refer that to them, as we have not provided that information to you.

All customers receive account opening documentation, including the terms and conditions of

the account. As your concerns have previously been raised and responded to, there isn’t

anything further I can add. I note that the balance of the account of E6733.89 was disbursed

to you as a CHAPS payment on 3 July. As you have asked the EQS to look into your case

previously, this brings an end to the complaints procedure.

We will not respond to you any further on this matter.

Yours sincerely

James Beech

Customer Services

Bank of Scotland PLC, Registered in Scotland No.SC327000

Registered OLice: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ.

Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

What is the level of intelligence of these people in BOS customer services?

I have finally received the final conclusion of Ombudsman and they are not upholding my complaint.

Please let me know what do I have to do to take BOS to court.

Read up about BCOBS.

List out here the ways in which you have been treated unfairly and then decide to bring your action for a very modest amount. The limits have gone up to £10k now but I suggest that you restrict your action to a sum intended to compensate you for the work you have put in trying to deal with the unfair treatment.

Do not sue for the £8K yet.

Go for a smaller sum on a pint of principle and then if that succeeds, I expect that the £8k will follow naturally.

The whole point here is to get the BCOBS judgment

I do not have to sue them for the $8k. They have been returned 1 year ago.

Now I want to know why this has happened and I want compensation for the anxiety caused, my time lost to deal with this and interest on my money,

In that case please will you calculate the value of the lost interest and let us know what the rest is worth and the basis of your calculation.