Thunderpuss2k vs Birmingham Midshires (Halifax) **WON**

[thunderpuss2k]

Another day, another company - and another thread. If anyone wonders why I've been so busy lately, it's not really that - I just don't start these threads til there's something useful to post

 

Anyway.. DPA request sent to Birmingham Midshires requesting complete list of transactions and charges for a (now settled) Mortgage account. The plan is to look at recovering the redemption charges, but also I know there are quite a few 'other' charges for things like late payment, letters, etc - which I also want to know about.

 

DPA sent 25/5/06

No response as of today

DPA LBA sent 11/07/06

 

More as it happens..

[lickthewallfatboy]

I've had no reply to mine either,and the deadline approaches fast!!

[thunderpuss2k]

I've had no reply to mine either,and the deadline approaches fast!!

 

Part of me says I should phone up and investigate out of courtesy. The other part says sod that, they never used to ring me out of courtesy for anything. In fact, they tried to repossess my property a few years back, and can't even update Equifax and Experian to show I've paid off my mortgage nearly a year after I did.

 

So sod 'em. Anyway, LBA confirmed as delivered this morning. Seven days is ticking, they've got until Weds 19th July to pull their finger out before I go to the next stage.

 

Let me know whether yours turns up, or whether you have to do the same as I'm doing.

[lickthewallfatboy]

you're right mate-sod 'em all.I have concluded that the whole lot are nothing but money grabbing leeches who love it when all the control seems to be in their hands-but throw a spanner into their well-oiled machine and cogs start jumping all over the place.

 

The sense of satisfaction you feel when you tell THEM to pay up is mighty special

 

There is no post over here today and tomorrow,but Saturday is D-day for BM.....I would be happy to work out with yourself a means of taking this forward ,and then we can watch each other's backs,as it were....

[thunderpuss2k]

you're right mate-sod 'em all.I have concluded that the whole lot are nothing but money grabbing leeches who love it when all the control seems to be in their hands-but throw a spanner into their well-oiled machine and cogs start jumping all over the place.

 

Glad it's not just me then. It seems like there's one set of rules for 'them' and one set for 'us'. Sorry, but the law doesn't work like that.

 

The sense of satisfaction you feel when you tell THEM to pay up is mighty special

 

Haven't got that far yet, but I have a suspicion it's quite a high amount for me. The redemption penalties alone were nearly £5k if memory serves me right, plus as my payment history was a bit wobbly there's plenty more charges on there even if I don't go for the redemption just yet.

 

There is no post over here today and tomorrow,but Saturday is D-day for BM.....I would be happy to work out with yourself a means of taking this forward ,and then we can watch each other's backs,as it were....

 

Cool, happy to do that - it's good to know I'm not the only one in the same boat! I sent them Alan's 7 day LBA for failure to fulfil the DPA request, I know in theory what comes next (ie court action for compliance), but need to do some more reading on here first.

 

Here's to Saturday!

[CrispDust]

thunderpuss, I should chase up those credit report errors too. Threaten will DPA compliance if they don't update and correct your details.

It takes a while but it can be done.

[thunderpuss2k]

I've queried them with Equifax and Experian, going to let their normal 28 day procedure take it's course then if nothing has happened after that get on the case. Got other priorities at the moment so easier to put it in the background for the present.

[lickthewallfatboy]

my details arrived this morning-please read my thread for full info,it makes for interesting reading.....

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/9339-birmingham-midshires-mortgage-early.html

[thunderpuss2k]

my details arrived this morning-please read my thread for full info,it makes for interesting reading.....

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/9339-birmingham-midshires-mortgage-early.html

 

It does indeed. Still no reply from BM here, The deadline given in the LBA for DPA breach is getting closer..

[thunderpuss2k]

Letter popped through the door this morning. I must say this is all a little bizarre.

 

They said they wrote to me on the 31st May, but the letter was returned by the PO as 'not at this address'. A photocopy of the envelope sort of proves this. They also included a form with 31st May's letter asking for more information - which is totally pointless as my original letter constituted a Data Protection Act SAR - (Subject Access Request) - (Subject Access Request) and needs no more clarifying.

 

Anyway.. got a direct number of their Senior Compliance Officer so will give her a bell on Monday.

 

PS: Where do you think todays letter went? Yep, the address that I'm not at apparently. Madness..

[lickthewallfatboy]

I don't see how the post office should impinge upon your original deadline....

 

hold them to the original date-it's not your fault.

[thunderpuss2k]

Exactly. Actually they did say that £2 wasn't enough, and they want a tenner. Before anyone says, yes I know it's a maximum of £10. However at the time I was doing these I had limited funds, and had to do about 10 DPA SARs - which would have cost me £100 that I didn't have.

 

HSBC did if for free in the end, Lloyds were happy with £2. Smile sent back the £2 and asked for a tenner, another HSBC one is promising to send me back the £2 and BM, well that's obvious as we're talking about them now.

 

It does actually ask me in the letter to give her a call, so hopefully on Monday I'll have more of an idea what they plan to do to resolve this.

[thunderpuss2k]

In fact, they're actually contradicting themselves in the letter.

 

First letter (the returned one) dated 31st May says 'please fill in the enclosed form' and then 'I am returning your postal order for £2.00 as the fee for a subject access request is £10.00 as allowed by the Data Protection Act 1998. please forward a cheque for this amount when you return your form to enable us to deal with your request'.

 

The second letter states:

 

'Due to the sensitive nature on the information you have requested I was not in a position to send this out to an address that we have been advised you were not living at'.

 

So which excuse is it for not getting the info - the £2 vs £10 or the Royal Mail problem?

[blackrain]

BM ignored my request for early redemption penalties and just sent me a letter telling me how much the mortgage was for instead! Cheers BM. Shall be sending terse (ish) reply on Monday.

[thunderpuss2k]

After a little organising today and sorting paperwork I've dug out a mortgage statement. This only covers a one year period, so there's more to come.

 

Arrears fees alone add up to £505. Late payment interest is £265. That's without even mentioning the early redemption charges.

[lickthewallfatboy]

glad you enjoyed the little PM I sent you earlier....I hope we get results!!!;-)

[thunderpuss2k]

Got an email from BM's Senior Compliance Officer first thing this morning, my DPA SAR should be with me by the end of the week. Til then, got plenty of other things to keep me busy!

[Lizzy]

Hi all, thought I would join in as I too am going to claim late payment, arrears charges etc from BM.

I have to admit I received my information in 5 days. I had more than one account with them re further borrowing. For some strange reason they are not added together so when one did not get paid on time non of them did so charges were applied to each one individually. Over the years this is over 2k.

 

For the DP letter I sent £10 for each account (just in case). Their letter to me made no mention of manual intervention which I had asked for. In 2004 a default was issused on one of the accounts after 2 missed payments. This has forced us to move mortgage to another company to get the default shown as satisfied (which I have yet to check).

 

I will be sending the next letter off shortly, but feeling a bit wound up because have filed moneyclaim for Halifax bank charges. It's a shock to receive the court papers with LIZZY VS HALIFAX PLC on it.

 

Good luck with your claims, Ill be watching (if I can find it). Ill let you know if anything interesting happens.

 

Lizzy

[thunderpuss2k]

In for a penny, in for a pound as the saying goes. Have written to them today regarding the early repayment charge. Haven't done the other charges yet, but will be keeping them separate for two reasons. 1. Combining both would take the claim over £5k, and 2. I believe it's better legally to have them separate as it's two different claims. One is for penalty charges (eg late payment, arrears, etc) - which I believe has been proven over and over again by dealings everyone has with the banks. Early redemption charges being a penalty has been proved less, so erring on the side of caution.

[Lizzy]

Yes I can see your point. There is a large debit on my statement that says "Other Debit" but its about £1600. All the arrears and late payments also say "Other Debit". Not really sure what it is for but my husband thinks it might be a redemption penalty when we changed product (with them) Think I will put it in the claim and add to my letter asking for an exact explanation of what it is. If it is a redemption penalty it is a penalty all the same. What do you think as the claim will still be under 5k ?

 

Thanks Lizzy

 

In for a penny, in for a pound as the saying goes. Have written to them today regarding the early repayment charge. Haven't done the other charges yet, but will be keeping them separate for two reasons. 1. Combining both would take the claim over £5k, and 2. I believe it's better legally to have them separate as it's two different claims. One is for penalty charges (eg late payment, arrears, etc) - which I believe has been proven over and over again by dealings everyone has with the banks. Early redemption charges being a penalty has been proved less, so erring on the side of caution.

[thunderpuss2k]

Yes I can see your point. There is a large debit on my statement that says "Other Debit" but its about £1600. All the arrears and late payments also say "Other Debit". Not really sure what it is for but my husband thinks it might be a redemption penalty when we changed product (with them) Think I will put it in the claim and add to my letter asking for an exact explanation of what it is. If it is a redemption penalty it is a penalty all the same. What do you think as the claim will still be under 5k ?

 

I'd ask them to clarify what it is, if it turns out to be a redemption penalty you can always deal with it as a separate issue. No harm in putting the whole lot in one claim, but bear in mind what I said previously. Just one years worth of arrears fees for me is £505, so if I was to lump it with my early repayment charge of £4388 it'd be £4893, and I believe the rest of the charges I don't know about (and am waiting on the SAR to clarify) are over £107, which would push the whole claim value over £5k.

[thunderpuss2k]

Email sent to Kate Cartwright at BM this afternoon asking for confirmation my SAR has been dealt with, and the relevent data has been dispatched.

 

And while I've been writing this post.. she's responded saying she's just waiting for one last bit of information, and it should be in the post tomorrow.

 

Not bad for nine days since I sent the DPA breach LBA letter eh?

[lickthewallfatboy]

with a bit of luck you might get someone else's information

 

examine everything VERY closely-you just never know.......

[Lizzy]

Thanks Thunderpuss think I'm running before I can walk. I will persue it as a separate issue. I will write and ask them for an explanation of this large figure.

 

Hope you get your details through shortly. I'ts a weird thing, at this moment in time you want the figure to be as high as possible, yet when it was happening it was a dread !!!!

 

Lizzy

[thunderpuss2k]

Cheers, the prelim letter to BM about the redemption penalty was delivered this morning, and Kate has just emailed me to say the DPA SAR is in the post today - so hopefully by the middle of next week I'll be in a position to start dealing with the arrears penalty charges etc.

 

More as it happens..