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French v. Abbey (3) - Into the breach once more my friends!
Ah well..................... as I was rummaging through some old boxes I found some old Abbey Bank statements from 1997, 2000 and 2001.
I perused the statements to check if I had any charges and LO £911 worth!! :o
"Borrocks!" says I, I'm having those back!
Except this time I'm charging them Contractual Interest at their Unauthourised overdraft rate of 28.7%.
So letter sent a few days ago asking for it back as follows:
Abbey
PO Box 382
Prescot Street
London E1 8RP
13th March 2007
Request for repayment of charges
Dear Sir/Madam,
ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
My request:
I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account for the period 7th September 1997 to 5th March 2001.
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 like to 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.
Your 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 £911.50 from my account over the said period.
Please find attached to this letter a breakdown of the charges I am claiming which includes reciprocal contractual interest at a rate of 28.7% (your unauthorized overdraft rate). This comes to £1746.18 as of the 13th March 2007 and continues at such a rate until settlement.
The total amount I am claiming from you as of today’s date, (13th March 2007), is £2657.68
You will notice that whilst the Limitations Act 1980 limits claims going back to a maximum 6 years from date of claim this does not apply here as you have deliberately concealed the facts of your true costs.
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, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.
Re: French v. Abbey (3) - Into the breach once more my friends!
PMSL
Just testing, just testing
Too much time? I've got to fill in @ 8 hours a day and after breakfast, luch and a scratch I'm left with 15 mins....... just enough time to get another claim in
srfrench
Fight incompetance, stupidity, greed and unfairness......There's no excuse and no place for it in society, unless they really are!
Re: French v. Abbey (3) - Into the breach once more my friends!
A trilogy?!! I look forward to story unfolding once more, I would usually say good luck to you, however I think I should be saying that to the shabbey.lmao
I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond positively to my letter of the 13th March 2007, if at all.
I have noted its contents and I again would like to remind you of your duties as my fiduciary.
I appreciate that like all other organizations you incur costs for administering my account for late/unpaid payment or over limit situations and that the Bank believes it is fair to pass these costs on to me, rather than absorb them into other areas of your organization, penalizing all your other account holders as a result.
However, I am sure you appreciate that you are only legally bound to recover/charge your true and actual administrative costs in doing so. It is unlawful to make a profit on such an exercise. If there is any doubt as to the above I suggest you liaise with your legal department for clarification.
I am also pleased that you subscribe to and comply with the Banking Code. You will, I am sure, be fully familiar with its contents therein with regards being fully transparent and open in your dealings with me. If you do indeed profess to follow and adhere to the aforementioned code you will also be obliged to honour my following request:
I would like to 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. The level of levied fees which you have been applying to my account is 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?
Please also be advised, that 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.
The current settlement as of the 27th March 2007 (please see attached) stands at £6391.80 (£911.50 penalty charges + £5480.30 compound contractual interest at 28.7%)
I require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days of the date of this letter then I shall begin a court claim against you for the full amount plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.
If you wish to defend yourselves by using the argument that your charges accurately reflect your costs, then I will require you to disclose a material breakdown of your charges to support this.
Yours sincerely,
Ooooooooooo............ happy days
srfrench
Fight incompetance, stupidity, greed and unfairness......There's no excuse and no place for it in society, unless they really are!
Re: French v. Abbey (3) - Into the breach once more my friends!
subscribing as exactly the same stage give or take couple of days as you. prelim sent. like you underestimated! pre six years claim aswell.
so will definatley be keeping an eye on your thread.
French v. Abbey (3) - Into the breach once more my friends!
Bank statements from 1997, 2000 and 2001.
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Originally Posted by srfrench
