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.
Hi all,Great site,So good to see 'people power' triumph over the (normally)powerful !!.Anyway i am so angry with A&L my pen is starting to smoke ,so lets get started.
Have been an A&L savings account holder for @17years+ with @£15,000 credit at times and I have also held a 'premier account' for +4yrs with £1000-£2000 funding per week,until I became very ill @2yrs ago and have been regularly exceeding my £350 O/D limit by a few pennies or pounds which gives me £25 day 1 & £25 day 5 charge.Had been 'happy ?/resigned' to accept these in the past and put them down to my own bad financial management.But when i became ill and signed off sick by my doctor and ended up on income support those charges really do hurt and compound hardship & stress.There was many a time when i was rushing about trying to get a few pennies into my account before they closed to avoid a charge.All this did nothing to help my illness.
But this was still accepted by me untill quite suddenly without warning A&L told me they were closing my account(30 days notice) and demanded my @£550 O/D repaid within that time!!!. They did say that they had sent letters Blah,blah,blah, but they didnt ,and just days before the only letters i recieved was them trying to advertise other services to me!!!,even on my last statement it just had usual itemised unauthorised O/D charges (I had changed my address so expect they were sending to old address-great efficency!).Tried customer services to explain my situation and (the truth)that i was awaiting a share certificate and a lost dividend-due to change of address(A&L shares!!!) which i was going to use to clear the whole O/D but they were very dissmisive and restated that they would close the account.
This has caused me real pain but I sent a cheque (borrowed from credit card! )for the full amount and enclosed covering SAR letter(template from the Martin Lewis money saver site)and £10 cheque.They have wrote back offering 'goodwill gesture' of £100 (all i asked for was the data !!- do they fear my actions?),but still insisted on closing account as not unlawful blah ,blah.they stated my charges could be found on statements or online(if my account is closed can i still check online ?).Have phoned them and said i still would like the info i requested and they should be aware that i was keeping check on the time limit.They tried to tell me it was 60 day time limit and when i said no 40 days they tried to say well thats from the date they cash the cheque!!.Anyway i see they have cashed the cheque 09-02-07 so im on my way.
Now it may seem a bit petty but its the principle, when does the 40 day limit start from?, they have acknowledged my SAR request letter (maybe inadvertantly) by their return letter dated 07-02-07 does it go from then or 09-02-07 when the cheque was banked.?.I just want them to give them as much hassle and work to do with my case as possible and am determined to go as far as possible with the most inconvieneice to them.Its not so much the money <£600 i would imagine but for the enjoyment i will get in screwing them back!!. Is it worth resending another SAR letter which includes the stuff about manual handling on my account, this was not included in the martin lewis template?.
Also can anyone tell me why there seems to be so many different chargings tariffs for different people. i get charged £25 on day 1 & £25 on day 5 for exceeding my O/D is everybody on this rate for the premier account?.
Finally can anyone explain how the £5 per month 'under funding' system works on the account and if they could be reclaimed.Did i have to put in £500 per month and be in credit by £500 or could i have paid in( lots of small money totalling) £500 per month and taken it out regularly which would leave my account O/D but within my O/D limit of £350?. I use to try Putting in £100 and taking it out a day or to later (repeatedly )but always seemed to get charged the £5 under fund charge (was this be cause i was in my authorised O/D?). havent got any details of how this worked any info really appreciated(again im working on the hassle factor to them here).
Sorry for long post but im on a real mission now and want to gain as much info as poss,been constantly reading the post for 2 days.The funny thing is i would have been 'happy' to have kept on paying out the charge had they treated me right,especially closing account with minimal notice ..
thanks to a great site and good luck to all.
Tough one justustwo, but I'll try my best. Here goes...
SAR is, I believe, deemed served on their receipt of notice, not cashing of cheque - otherwise they could sit on the cheque for ages and not be in any breach - so it's 40 days from receipt of request.
Off the top of my head - £25 charges are about the norm.
Haven't come across an "underfunding charge" before, but if it is as you think, something to do with your use of your o/d facility then this is a legitimate charge and can't be reclaimed I'm afraid. I will have a scan of the back of one of my statements to see if there is anything there that may throw more light on this one and get back to you if it does.
Hope your troubles disappear sooner rather than later.
By 'under funding' are you referring to the item on their 'Miscellaneous fees' list which states - "Failure to pay a minimum of £500 a month into your account (Premier Current Account only) £5 per month"? If so, it appears to be a legitimate fee.
Having said that, you seem to imply that you were paying in £500 a month, albeit in small amounts, then withdrawing it and making use of your o/d facility. As far as I'm aware that would be within the bounds of acceptable behaviour and perhaps they should not have charged you.
But this is a debatable point and maybe some other forum users could get back with their points of view on this one?
I base my argument on advice I've seen in the past on other financial advice sites (possibly MSE or Motley Fool), where they have said that if you needed to fund your account with say £1000 p.m. but can only manage £900 then you could withdraw £100 and then deposit it back in again a few days later.
Anyone care to comment?
However, as said in my earlier post, if the fee was simply for use of your monthly o/d then it's not really reclaimable.
hi all ,thanks to you guys who replied with advice. the £5 fees were levied on me for not putting inthe minimum £500 funding,but no problem just that i want to cause them as much hassle as possible for treating me like they have.
i have recieved a response from A&L in answer to my SAR letter which i sent to there head office and despite them CASHING my £10 cheque they have sent me an SAR letter/form of their own asking me to fill in what accounts i own and where i do the transaction for the acc!!.Is this a delaying tactic on their behalf?.i have to send their form back to different address in Wilmslow and also another £10 which they have asked for!!! cheeky sods.
they have given me £100 goodwill gesture which i am going to cash today but im going to write back to say i only accept as part payment against my full claim is this ok?.
lasly i have been given a holiday to South Africa for few months with good friend will it matter if i put claim on hold and not give them claim for the full amount ,i was wondering if it would be worth writing giving my intentions though?. I think it would be too complicated doing it via the internet in S.Africa. once again guys thanks and keep fighting the sods
You could possibly phone them and say you paid them the £10 with your original request in which case do they still want you to fill in the form?
It may be that they need it as proof you are the person entitled to the info! Don't pay them another £10 though.
Re holiday, 2 things spring to mind:- 1. What are you going to do if they close your account while you are away? Do you have a way of keeping in touch with what is going on at home in this respect? 2. Bear in mind that things may change in the coming weeks/months, as I believe the OFT are looking into this whole thing with specific respect to banks the way they did with credit cards some time back.
thanks for such quick reply youngandfree ,you must be reading my mind cauxs i did call them today and said i had already paid £10 and would send there form but not another £10 and also said that i was counting the day that they recieved and cashed my S.A.R - (Subject access request)/cheque(2 days apart )as the first of the 40 days they have to respond to my request. i felt bit sorry for guy on phone hes just the monkey in the system and i assured him it was nothing personel to him. .They have already closed my account (30 day warning!)so i have nothing to loose on that count.
As for going abroad i dont think i can fwd mail to South Africa (find out next week)via royal mail, but am going to try,if not i think i may just have to take a risk of things changing(i think they will-so much publicity now). thanks for your help will leave post here on any updates
Thanks again 'youngandfree' just saw your second reply RE: funding acc.
i will write a seperate letter to A&L to ask for it back ,just to make them work and give me a reply. it would never be big money at £5 month but im going to get that back many times over with the enjoyment of hassling them. im sure i paid some which i shouldnt cause i had totalled £500 in the month!.
sorry to come across so antagonistic towards them but they really have treated me terribly . thanks for advice
I'm afraid the way they treat people they don't deserve anything better than antagonism. Don't worry, I suspect you are far from alone in these feelings.
All the best, justustwo, hope you have one great holiday.
A&L has finally pushed me over the edge
by my doctor and ended up on income support those charges really do hurt and compound hardship & stress.There was many a time when i was rushing about trying to get a few pennies into my account before they closed to avoid a charge.All this did nothing to help my illness.
' of £100 (all i asked for was the data !!- do they fear my actions?),but still insisted on closing account as not unlawful blah ,blah.they stated my charges could be found on statements or online(if my account is closed can i still check online ?).Have phoned them and said i still would like the info i requested and they should be aware that i was keeping check on the time limit.They tried to tell me it was 60 day time limit and when i said no 40 days they tried to say well thats from the date they cash the cheque!!.Anyway i see they have cashed the cheque 09-02-07 so im on my way.
Reply With Quote
