It's started

[ascot-4]

OK, I got my list of charges on the 17th May, this is for a 3 year period since I have held this account.

When I requested a list of charges, I supplied no fee - I thought this may work in my favour if this ever goes to court - as a personal list of fees is definately the result of Manual Intervention, which seems to have cost them nothing - as a bonus it took only 2 days to arrive.

Here is the letter I have sent - it is a little different to the library copy.

Dear Ms Brittain,

Thank you for providing a list of charges, which I received on 17th May 2006, courtesy of your letter ref: LxxxxxxxxxZ

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.

The law states that you may impose a charge to cover your cost. On 5th April 2006, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) concluded that default charges over £12 are automatically presumed to be unfair in terms of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations. Unfair terms are legally unenforceable.

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.

Additionally, you subscribe to the Banking Code, which sates that you have a responsibility to aid customers in financial difficulty. I have perceived no "aid" in the fact that you have charged me an average in excess of £175 of taxed money each month for the past year - notwithstanding the amounts you have charged in previous years.

The effect of the accumulation of these charges is directly responsible for the conditions that led me to incur subsequent charges.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way, as I have always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

I calculate that you have taken £3,350 plus £16.61 which you have charged me in interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £3,366.61

I require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest at 8% plus my costs and without further notice.

Furthermore, i shall submit a consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT upon the basis that you have failed to comply with the OFT direction of 5th April 2006 and are therefore not a 'fit and proper person' to hold a consumer credit licence under the 1974 Act. If you do not understand what this means then please seek advice from your legal department.

I will keep you posted and pledge to provide 5% of my reclaimed losses to this good site - without which I would not have done what I did today.

	The Banking Code Follow this link to read the Banking Code in full. Ofen ignored by its subscribers, half-heartedly monitored and poorly enforced

	The Direct Debit Guarantee • The Guarantee is offered by all Banks and Building Societies that take part in the Direct Debit Scheme. The efficiency and security of the Scheme is monitored and protected by your own Bank or Building Society. • If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change, we will notify you three working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. • If an error is made by us or by your Bank or Building Society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid. • You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by writing your Bank or Building Society. Please also send a copy of your letter to us. This is a term of your banking contract and you can sue on it.

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[natalie]

Well done in starting your claim and good luck.

Natalie

[ajh1ok]

Well done ,sent my prlimary letter yesterday.

GOOD LUCK

[ascot-4]

Would this work with Renault Finance? I have a 3 year Lease rental with them, They charge exhorbitent penalty rates- I have been unfortunate enough to be clobbered with about £600 in charges, for paying late on three occasions.

[Michael Browne]

Yep. Another £600 coming your way!

[ascot-4]

OK, I sent my request for a refund on the 6th - should I have heard something by now...?

[closey]

People have experienced different timescales.

Just remember you set the timelines. If you don't hear within the 14 days you provided move onto the next stage. If you follow all the timelines advised on this site, the bank cannot accuse you of not allowing them sufficiant time to respond.

[ascot-4]

Got this today - what now?

19 June

I write urther to our letter of 7 June 2006 (which I have not received)

I am writing to advise you that your complaint has been passed to our head office who will contact you shortly.

They can be contacted by writing to:-

Barclays
Head Office Customer Relations
Floor 10
1 Churchill Place
London
E14 5HP

If you remain dissatisfied you may ultimately be able to take your complaint to the independent Financial Ombudsman Service. The leaflet sent with our previous letter explains how we deal with complaints and provides details regarding the Financial Ombudsman Service.

If I do not hear from you within eight weeks from the date of this letter I will close my complaint in accordance with our usual practice.

	The Financial Ombudsman Service For the most part, don't bother. The Ombudsman is an industry arranged service which is under-resourced, takes too long, lacks clear transparency. You have no idea what evidence the FOS has received from the bank or how your complain has really been handled. The FOS is the preferred complaints route for the banking industry. The county court is to be preferred by consumers for its speed, openness, the quality of its awards and also because it will award 8% interest on top of any damages won by you. The Ombudsman should normally be used to solving little technical difficulties or customer service problems which you have expereinced with your bank.

[closey]

Just stick to the timescales! The banks will stall at every stage.

[callumsgran]

Go in now with your letter before action, giving them another 14days, then if no joy put moneyclaim in unless of course they offer you full mount before then

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

[ascot-4]

I have heard nothing since a courtesy letter from Mike Brophy advising me that they are looking into this (10 days ago). I originally asked for my money back on the 6th June - giving the standard 14 days. I then received a letter from the woolwich saying this had been passed to Barclays. advice...

[barracad]

Originally Posted by ascot-4

I have heard nothing since a courtesy letter from Mike Brophy advising me that they are looking into this (10 days ago). I originally asked for my money back on the 6th June - giving the standard 14 days. I then received a letter from the woolwich saying this had been passed to Barclays. advice...

If you sent the prelim on the 6th June, then you should have sent the LBA on the 20th June, and started a claim on the 4th July. Have you done this? What advice are you looking for?

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

[ascot-4]

Please be advised that I have today accepted full settlement, and will make my donation to this site as soon as funds are a cleared effect in my account.

Thank you - for those of you just starting, stick with it.

[closey]

A BIG well done to you. Congratulations.

Please remember to complete the Bank Charges Refunds Survey.

Well done again. x

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[closey]

Out of interest did they attach conditions to the offer? If so what were they, and did you agree to them?

Thanks

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[austenpowers]

Congratulations!! Enjoy your money.

Reading through your thread it doesn't really say what stage you were at. If you're able to discuss then would really like to hear the order of events and at what stage you were offered your final settlement. Of course, I am fully aware of Barclays/ Woolwich confidentiality clauses so you may well not be able to report back, but if you can it would be great encouragement for others. It does feel like there are very few woolwich success stories around here but I suspect that is for the above mentioned reason.

Congratulations again.

[ascot-4]

see below

[ascot-4]

Without being too specific about this case, I can advise as follows:

I sent just one initial letter - as described above, and was happy just to let them process my claim at their own speed (albeit slowly)

My original letter was sent to the Woolwich, was passed to Barclays, and I received regular updates as to the status of their investigations, none of which required a further respons from me.

I'm guessing that this is a real issue for them at the moment - these departments will be busy with hundreds if not thousands of claims like this, due to the publicity that campaigns like this have enjoyed.

Of course, I could have gone in harder - demanded settlement in accordance with the time frame I laid out in my original letter, and threatening imminent action if my demands were not met.

However, I feared that an approach like that would have been met with a "quick-fix" offer of £600 or so, which would have required much more effort on my part to get from that position to situation I have today.

To clarify, I chose to view their updates as an indication of a full and thorough review of my complaint, rather than a delaying tactic.

Patience is a virtue.

[barracad]

Have you received a full refund of all the charges you were asking for?