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Got my charges in today. Going to run them through the spreadsheet. When charges have put me over my limit does that default me and ruin my credit score?
Thanks Lou, I won't bother as both accounts are running ok and I don't want to rock the boat.
Do I have to claim the interest as both my accounts have overdrafts and as the spreadsheet didn't ask me my limit etc the interest charges don't make sense as they vary little from an ordinary month - I normally deposited the money for charges on the same or next day.
Finally is it ok to ask for both accounts in the one letter, and should I detail the charges for each account sperately if doing just the one letter? Hoping to post tomorrow so advice would be great. Letter (minus identifying details) is as follows with the key changes highlighted:
15th May 2006
Request for repayment of charges
Dear Sir/Madam,
ACCOUNT NUMBERS:
My request
I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account over the last 3 years. I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations. If you say that they are not then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full Breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs. Additionally it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.
Your responsibilities
I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.
I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.
I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them. You concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.
What I require
I calculate that you have taken £397.00 from both my accounts, excluding any amounts which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken.
My targets to resolve this matter
I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.
I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting unconditionally my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.
If you do not respond or you do not respond positively within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.
After that will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.
Re: Account Charges for overdraft Excesses and Returned Items
Thank you for taking the time to contact us about your account.
I understand that
• You feel that the charges you have incurred are unfair.
• You are unhappy with the amount of charges you have incurred as a result of being overdrawn and from returned items.
• You have requested that all charges incurred should be refunded for the past 3 years.
When you become a customer, we give you details of any charges for the day to day running of your account. Details of our charges are also available from our branch staff, telephone helpline or our website.
For the vast majority of our customers banking with us can be completely free as charges are not made for services such as debit cards. cash machine withdrawals, balance requests, statements. cheque books and Internet banking. We also do not charge foi processing Direct Debits and Standing Orders when they are paid through our customers’ accounts.
One of the few services we apply charges for are when a customer does not have enough money in the’ account to meet payments they have requested us to make. If customers think they may exceed any nit they have, we urge them to contact us to discuss tneir requirements. Any requests for further lending are then assessed in line witn our usual credit policy. Similarly, when we return an item, we are preventing a customer from exceeding their limit, and again as we explain clearly to our customers, this process incurs a charge
Typically, we do not levy customers an excess overdraft fee the first time they go overdrawn without agreement, as long as t hasn’t happened in the past twelve months and we limit excess fees to a maximum of three occurrences in any one month.
As a business we are entitled to set charges to cover additional work. These charges are not hidden and are notified in the gude to banking charges leaflet we produce. We advise our customers ro ensure cleared funds are available in their accounts to meet payments due. You will also note that in the front of each cheque book we request that funds are availdble before cheques are issued.
You incurred charges because you did not ensure funds were available in your account to cover tne payments set up by you. It is your responsibility to operate your account within any agreed limits and within the terms and conditions.
You accepted these terms when you opened your account and when you agreed your overdraft. We did not agree to pay your account in excess of the amount agreed without charges being made.
Accordingly, am unable to agree with your request to refund the charges. We do expect your account o be run in line with tne terms and conditions of its operation. This means that you must ensure that cleared funds are deposited into the account the working day before any payments are due. if you do not feel you will be able to run your account in accordance with the terms and conditions, we may have to consider withdrawing certain facilities, such as any debit cards, overdrafts and chequebooks. Alternatively, you may wish to consider alternative banking arrangements.
In case you haven’t received a copy of our leaflet called How to voice your concerns’ I’ve enclosed one with my letter. This tells you all you need to know about resolving your
complaint with us.
If you are unhappy with my decision and feel that you have something to add which might change the outcome. please get in touch. If we cannot agree on a solution at that point, I will help you refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for independent arbitration.
Yours sincerely
.........
Any typo's are from the scanning software, not by them. So what's my next letter? Do I just resend the previous one?
Does anyone else think the withdrawal of facilities if I can't run my account sounds like a threat? Is this their bog standard reply?
C'mon, you should know what you need to do now, if you have read the forum, its a simple way forward, as you have only sent 1 letter so far. We cannot do the work for you im afraid!!
Sorry couldn't refind the step-by-step instructions posting! Was unsure whether to repost same letter. Found posting, back on track now with court action letter!
Opinions given herein are made informally by myself as a lay-person in good faith based on personal experience. For legal advice you must always consult a registered and insured lawyer.
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