Noobrider V Abbey ***SETTLED IN FULL***

[noobrider]

Today i posted my DPA request to the Abbey using the excellent template to cover 2 accounts one joint and one single.

 

Single cheque for £10 enclosed to cover the one request for 2 accounts worth.

 

also posted action against Monument aka Barclays credit card but have posted details in the correct forum.

 

this could be a complicated one as I have an estimated claim of around £9000 so I will be splitting it and may possibly require advice further down the line as to anyone else who has followed this route successfully.

 

forgot to mention... i signed it with the letters MBAG after my name...Member of the Bank Action group

[noobrider]

Parachute account opened online with Natwest (Step account)...wewere going to leave Abbey anyway.

[fergal71]

i would split amount so you keep within small claims limit of £5000 then do the rest later

[noobrider]

got a nice letter this morning...a statement for this month with 3350 worth of charges....bring it on boys...all the more to pay back

[noobrider]

LOL...damn new keyboard....£350... I wish...3350 doh...

[noobrider]

I have written a cheque using my garauntee card and the cashier has obviously written the information wrong as the amount was less than £20 however Abbey have refused the cheque 3 times so far which has incurred £60 worth of charges for each instance. where do i stand with this do I approach the company I wrote the cheque to or the Abbey to stop charging me for something that obviously wasnt my fault????

[barracad]

I'm assuming the cheque has 'bounced' due to insufficient funds in your account - if so, I don't see what that has to do with the retailer.

 

The charges Abbey have levied are unlawful and you need to claim them back.

[noobrider]

in light of all the people that have been successful in claiming their charges back from grabbey, would it not be advantageous to start and quote cases whereby new claiments understand the process of delays that they will put in place, not only to demonstrate to them that new claims are serious and backed up by prior knowledge but in view of cases going to court to demonstrate the blatant abuse of the court systems that they are currently using?

 

a slight alteration of the letters section could include wording to the effect that " following known cases where we have evidence of identical requests we understand Abbey's procedure will be....therefore to save court time and your money we respectfully request we bypass the known delaying tactics and proceed straight to negotiation of the refund of all charges in contest"... I'm sure someone could word it more eloquently.

 

I can only assume that if they decide to ignore the content and proceed with their normal delay tactics, it would sway the courts to disallow set asides and reduce the initial costs of filing actions. It could also possibly start to pursuade abbey to not even let it get to court stage and settle on a LBA?????

 

As I said just a thought.

[gordonhall]

Regardless of whether you know their tactics, they are designed to grind you down, and in some cases, for some people, it works.

 

Of course, for others, it just gives us more to go on!!

[noobrider]

well shock horror a quick responce. This morning i received 2 letters in reply to my dpa request. First one was the standard mircofiche letter acknowledging my £10 fee and will use that to recover the microfiche files on my wifes account... The second letter stated that the usual microfiche stuff etc etc but this one didn't acknowledge the £10 and this time the charges were £5 per statement and £10 for multiple statements.

 

I would like to point out that I submitted a single DPA request for 2 accounts one joint account and one single account. As i understand it the DPA request should cover all requests for any information contained in their records that are relevant to you.

 

Standard reply on its way back slightly reworded to cover the two letters received.... the game has started

[noobrider]

drafted this letter in responce.

 

Pam speed

Regulatory Compliance

Abbey National plc

Abbey House

201 Grafton Gate East

Milton Keynes

MK9 1AN

 

23/06/06

 

Data Protection Act disclosure request

 

Dear Pam Speed

 

Account Numbers: *********and ********

 

I am in receipt of your two letters dated 21/06/06, outlining that you could only provide me with printouts covering recent transactions on my accounts, because any earlier information has been archived onto microfiche and also in the second letter requesting further payment for this information. May I remind you that a single request for all the information held on your systems in my name will only require a single maximum fee of £10 which you have acknowledged receipt of.

 

My request was for a complete list of transactions and charges relating to both my accounts since 12/06/00 – in short, a list of charges with dates and amounts – alternatively, a complete set of account statements for that period will be acceptable. This should be retrievable from your accounting systems, and easy for you to produce. I will accept a computer print out of these transactions.

 

I am aware that you have been willing and able to provide other customers with a print-out of transaction information covering this period – and am ready to bring this to the attention of the Information Commissioner should it prove necessary. I would also draw your attention to Smith v Lloyds TSB Bank plc (2005) EWHC 246 (Ch).

 

This letter has been sent by first class recorded delivery, and therefore should have reached you by 26/06/06 – as you will be aware, as of this date you have just 29 days in which to comply with my request. As stated above, a complete set of account statements for the period in question will be acceptable; however, I expect this to be provided within the time period for Data Protection Act compliance.

 

Should there be any further attempts to delay compliance, I will be left with no alternative but to commence a County Court action under section 7, and section 15(2) of the Data Protection Act 1998, and in due course, escalate this matter into an official complaint to the Information Commissioner and the FSA.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

If anyone would like to comment?

[noobrider]

quick bump is the above letter OK? am I right in what I am saying. 1 DPA request for 2 accounts which all have the same name included even though 1 is a joint account and 1 a single?

 

Thanks in advance

[noobrider]

thanks Karnevil, appreciate the response. I think just occassionally we all need that bit of confidence that what we put is right before we let one go.

[monkey_uk]

NoobRider, the letter looks fine to me.

[noobrider]

And thanks also Monkey

[Deborah]

I received the same letters from the Abbey a couple of days ago about the microfiche and multiple accounts.

 

Would you mind if I copied your letter to send to the Abbey?

[noobrider]

feel free Deborah, it is the standard response to the microfiche argument, slightly reworded in the first paragraph to take into account the fact that I made 1 DPA request for 2 accounts and received two different replies, in 2 seperate envelopes.

[Deborah]

Thanks Noobrider

 

I received 3 letters in 3 envelopes for 3 different accounts. Now we kow where the money goes - paper and postage!

 

Incidently, my letters were also signed by Pam Speed, but from an address in Bradford.

[noobrider]

yes mine came from Bradford but i posted back to MK as that is where my original request went so its up to them to re-route... I'm sure we are allowed a few delaying tactics also 8-) . Knocks a few days off the 40 limit;)

[noobrider]

I had my wife dig out all the statements we had lying about the house for our 2 Abbey accounts. she found 22 altogether various months but none later than early 2005. I added all the charges up on those statements and it came to £4587. would this be an acceptable method for submitting a claim to court as we know thats where its headed...

 

If so, once i get my dpa request fulfilled and I have all my statements i can add up the remaining charges and submit a seperate claim for those not already claimed for. this way i can claim over the 5k limit without having to fast track....any thoughts?

[jonni2bad]

There is a point you need to be aware of.... I have amalgamated responses on this subject into one for you....

 

"If someone has a claim against a bank arising from, in this case, unlawful levy of penalty charges that have occured in the course of business, they all have to claimed at once, as they arise from the same facts. The facts being that they were levied for breach of contract. The reason for the breach e.g returned DD, bounced Cheque is not the matter at law; the matter at law is breach of contract and flowing from that are the charges a genuine pre-estimate or a penalty.

 

However, there is a way they could be broken up. If a series of charges arose, and those became the subject of a dispute and while that was ongoing or afterwards another set of charges occured that arose from the same set of circumstances than a second action could be brought.

 

However, nothing actually 'wrong' with trying, but it could cause problems later.

 

People should not be scared of the fast track - it's the normal/standard procedure for cases going through the system. There is no reason why a lay-person could not do a case themselves like on the small claim track. But a word of warning - costs are recoverable in a fast track, but limited, so it isn't the end of the world.

 

Fast track has it's advantages - mainly that the judge can order standard disclosure - and the banks definitely don't want this as "Stephen" discovered with the Abbey."

 

If, despite this, someone is going to attempt a sever, their best bet would be to choose the time frame that would allow the first claim total to be just short of £5000 rather than, say, just splitting it in half.

 

If, for any reason, they are later unable to claim for the 2nd part, they will have recovered the largest part possible in stage 1.

[noobrider]

interesting and informative post Jonni. So let me try and straighten this out in my own words to show that I understand what you are saying.

 

1. It's probably not the best course of action to take at the moment, unless possibly the DPA request fails to materialise and I could argue that due to the variety of claims and differences from month to month it would be impossible to reasonably estimate a claim and therefore a small claims procedure could be issued based on the evidence I currently hold. A second action could then be taken to recover the remaining amounts once the DPA had been forced, however this may encounter difficulties if a further claim were to be issued.

 

2. A better option would be to wait until the DPA request has been fulfilled regardless of how long it took in order to either a) issue a full claim in the fast track or b) sever the claim into concurrent time frames or seperate accounts making seperate small claims under £5k.

 

Interesting thoughts... I am seriously considering the fast track option, however it may be more of a financial decision as to which route to go down. What are the thoughts on successfully claiming an initial amount and then requesting the bank takes in consideration a further claim which could be settled out of court? A kind of ...well thanks very much for the £5k on this claim but just to let you know I have another claim ready to file, would you consider settling that without playing the whole game again?

[jonni2bad]

I would say that you seem to have understood events clearly enough. Whilst a small risk, the fact that a Judge WILL order standard disclosure is enough, we feel, to put the ball firmly in your hands with this case.

 

 

Even if you claimed, say, £4999 + interest, the interest would mean the cost of starting the claim would be £250, so you would not really gain anything in that respect.

 

For what it's worth, I would suggest you enforce compliance with the DPA request, if necessary, and then claim the whole amount.

[noobrider]

Quick update for those looking into parachute accounts. I applied for one on line at the same time as issuing my DPA letter, Natwest Step account. Took a little bit of time but this morning I finally received confirmation of new account number and the fact that my debit cards will be issued shortly.

 

For the record... applied on line 12th June Natwest Step account- 15th June some forms and documentation/leaflets were received. Posted back to Natwest 17th June confirmation of account set up and running 27th June.

 

Unfortunately its not in time for me to arrange my wage to be paid in this month so another £350 of charges will be deducted ...again...but at least I can rest assured that next month I won't have anything taken from my wage other than what I have requested ie DD's

[noobrider]

This morning I received 20 statements for each account all in seperate envelopes, poor old postie having to sort and deliver them. seeing as i have already sent a letter telling them that the microfiche argument doesn't wash, should i out of protocol/courtesy send one thanking them for what I've received but yet again reminding them I want the lot and you only have x number of days left to comply or just forget it and see what happens?