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.
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I started the process of reclaiming "administration" charges levied on my A&L bank account on 30th October, with the template demand for information under the Data Protection Act 1998. Today (2nd Decemeber) I decided to follow up the letter by telephone, as I hadn't heard from A&L.
A&L say that they did not receive my letter. Unfortunately, being unemployed, I was unable to afford registered post. I'll have to send another letter and £10 cheque now (the first one wasn't used, I've checked) and begin the 40-day cycle again. This time I'll send it by registered post!
The A&L representative I spoke to said that Data Protection Act requests were marked "urgent" and dealt with as quickly as possible.
Anyway, that's my experience so far; not very exciting. I'll post an update when there's another development.
Thanks for letting us know wayrest. At least you can be confident that it shouldn't take too long once you start the actual claim. How about taking the SAR to your local branch to save the postage.
When the Liberals and Conservatives were in opposition they both agreed that banks should pay back high bank charges to customers. Nothing seems to of happened since they came into power as a coalition. PPI insurance has been sorted now they should turn their attention to bank charges and help customers get exorbitant charges refunded.
Should you be offered help that requires payment please report it to site team.
Alliance & Leicester Moneyclaim issued 20/1/07 £225.50 full settlement received 29 January 2007
Smile £1,075.50 + interest Email request for payment 24/5/06 received £1,000.50 14/7/06 + £20 30/7/06
Yorkshire Bank Moneyclaim issued 21/6/06 £4,489.39 full settlement received 26 January 2007
Advice & opinions given by Caro are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
I haven't posted for a while, so here's an update. Possibly useful tips from my experiences so far are:
1) Send correspondence by registered post where possible.
2) Don't rely on anything said over the 'phone, if if you have a name &/or ref. number for the person.
3) Remember that the Citizen's Advice Bureau are there!
A&L cashed the cheque on 7ty November 2006, more than 40 days ago. I telephoned them twice, the second time from the Citizens Advice Bureau early January 07. During this call I was told there was no record of them having received the cheque (even though it had been cashed!) but that they would go ahead and process my Subject access request anyway. I still haven't received the information.
Meanwhile, I wrote to the debt recovery agency who were recovering the fees that I'm contesting. I heard no more from them, but today received a letter from a new debt recovery agency, demanding payment in full by 10 am on 20/01/07. Failure to comply "may result in legal proceedings being issued against you without further notice." I telephoned this agency, explained the situation and they suggested I contact A&L and ask for the account to be put on hold while I was challenging the charges.
I called A&L today and they were as vague and unhelpful as ever. Their representative, a Mr Raje, told me that someone would telephone me back, if it was necessary. It's been an hour and no one has called back.
So I'm about to write the letter from the templates section here, demanding the Subject access request info within 7 days, which will be followed by a small courts claim if they fail to comply.
I also want to register a complaint with the information commissioners office. I can't find a procedure for that on this website, so I'll go to the information commissioners office website and take a look.
What are people's feelings on this? Are these obstructions and continued threats by banks relatively rare and likely to just be the result of mistakes/poor admin on their part? Or does it appear that banks (or A&L, at least) are deliberately uncooperative, even to the point of "lying" about not receiving a cheque, which they have cashed?
Finally, I plan to go to court if the debt recovery agency press the issue, and make a 'counter claim'. Any thoughts on whether this is a bad idea would be appreciated
Lack of co-operation from the banks. poor admin, obstructiveness, threats etc are all quite common from many banks. To be fair to A&L (sorry) they are usually ok responding to SARs, but then all the banks are getting so many claims now it must be hard to keep up. However I think your plans on dealing with this are fine.
Regarding the DCA, I would be more inclined to write to A&L, with a copy to the DCA, informing them that you are placing the account in dispute, and that as such you understand that they can take no further action until the dispute is resolved.
Depending on the size of the claim, the debt may not exist when the matter is settled.
When the Liberals and Conservatives were in opposition they both agreed that banks should pay back high bank charges to customers. Nothing seems to of happened since they came into power as a coalition. PPI insurance has been sorted now they should turn their attention to bank charges and help customers get exorbitant charges refunded.
Should you be offered help that requires payment please report it to site team.
Alliance & Leicester Moneyclaim issued 20/1/07 £225.50 full settlement received 29 January 2007
Smile £1,075.50 + interest Email request for payment 24/5/06 received £1,000.50 14/7/06 + £20 30/7/06
Yorkshire Bank Moneyclaim issued 21/6/06 £4,489.39 full settlement received 26 January 2007
Advice & opinions given by Caro are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
Wayrest and A&L banking
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