Hi there, another newbie. Today I finally got around to going through the pile of statements I have received from the bank and have around £5000 in charges (just about fell off my chair!). I am going to do a bit more reading on here etc. over the next days before the next step but for now there are a couple of things I am not clear on.

The £5000 covers the period Jan 2001 - Aug 2007 which is more than 6 years so I am not sure when you are supposed to backdate the claim amount from, is it the date of applying to the bank for statements? the date of requesting reimbursement of charges? or just whenever I want to set it?

I hope once I set the period it will be under the £5000 mark so I can still go via Small Claims. For this reason I am thinking about ignoring the interest as well?

The other thing is I have read that in Scotland you can only claim for 5 years, is this true as this applies to me?

Hi John

Welcome aboard !

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/halifax-bank-bank-scotland/106459-grant123-bos-hbos.html?highlight=grant123

In Scotland you can't claim for more than five years, I started my five year claim from the period I got my statements and worked out the sums involved.

In Scotland the small claims court only handles amounts up to £750.00. You can claim above that but you may be liable to any court exspenses should you lose the case.

Have a look at my thread, it should answer a lot of the questions you probably have, if I can be of any help give me a shout.

Cheers

P.S The first page is mince, but iit should stop you falling into the same pitfalls as me.

Cheers

Thanks Grant, this is great. Am reading it now. So relieved you can do it through the English courts! Splitting £5k into £750's would not be fun.

Hi John

 

Welcome aboard !

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/halifax-bank-bank-scotland/106459-grant123-bos-hbos.html?highlight=grant123

 

In Scotland you can't claim for more than five years, I started my five year claim from the period I got my statements and worked out the sums involved.

 

In Scotland the small claims court only handles amounts up to £750.00. You can claim above that but you may be liable to any court exspenses should you lose the case.

 

Have a look at my thread, it should answer a lot of the questions you probably have, if I can be of any help give me a shout.

 

Cheers

Correct re 5 years, generally and re court BUT.

HBOS decided to pay Scottish customers same as English etc ie 6 years. This was not out of altruism or a fondness for us Scotties, but it made their admin easier. I and Dusary both got this amongst many others.

Aha, that's a handy tidbit, thanks Kenny. Am doing my spreadsheet just now. Not entirely clear on what first interest (if any) I should add on the excess charges though…

hi john you add charges on right up until you file your claim

adding 8% interest when doing your spreadsheets

Thanks tilly, I see. I am using the simple spreadsheet and I see it updates the interest automatically at 8% for each charge so that's fine.

There are a few different descriptions of the charges in the spreadsheet template that I don't have on my statements though (EXCESS O/D CHARGE is all I have on my statements) does this matter?

hi john

you just put charges as notified after all thats all they put

good luck with your claim

Oh phew! Thanks. I thought I was going to have to figure it out from the transactions myself!! I wish I'd done this a few months ago I'm going to New York next month and have no spending money lol!

your welcome im sure you will still a good time in new york lucky you lol

Okay I have filled in my spreadsheet to cover 1 Jul 01 - 30 Jun 07 and it comes to £4,771.00 plus interest of £678.15 (£5,449.15 total)

If I send my prelim letter based on this do I have to stick to this total figure IF it goes to court process or can I amend it based on the legal route I decide to take?

Hi Johndough

Welcome.

I think Ive got this right, if not please forgive me.

You send your prelim in with the spreadsheet but dont mention the 8% on this (not until you get to the Court stage) just the date your claiming from and the charges . The interest automatically acrues up until the date you win your claim.

They have 14 days to reply if not then its the LBA then another 14 days if still no response then its the N1 off to the Court.

You may get the usual letter saying how they have put a stay on all claims till after the test case but just ignor this and carry on with claim in the normal way.

They are really good at trying to disuade people from putting claims in , stating that their charges are lawful and fair. Yea OK.ha.

Good Luck and any problems at all no matter how big or how small they may seem just give a yell and someone will be there for you.

Regards

Hi guys. Thanks Overflow. So all my spreadsheet should show is the columns for Description, Amount, Date Incurred and the Total Charges. No interest of any kind?

Should I address my letter to the Edinburgh or Halifax HQ? Does it matter?

hi yes thats sounds fine and no added interest at this stage send everything to

halifax

Trinity Road

Halifax

HX1 2RG

and remember to send everything recorded delivery

Thanks Tilly - okay I'm printing and posting. How exciting! I feel like such a rebel *chuckle* :o]

Oh wait, that's what I was going to ask. Is it okay that I include refunded charges as a deduction on the spreadsheet too? Not that it happened often like…

yes i totaly agree with you its a great feeling going after them all i put on my schedule was refunded by the charges

they refunded to you

I'm sorry tilly I don't understand what you're saying there…

I'm a bit confused because the prelim letter template states the total charges AND overdraft interest so should I not show the overdraft interest on the spreadsheet too? Sorry I am totally paranoid I will do something wrong so am being very careful. The prelim letter says:

"I calculate you have taken £XXXX plus £XXX which you have charged me in overdraft interest…Total £XXXXX"

?

sorry john got wires crossed lol yes add your overdraft interest to your prelim and spready

Ok cool thank you that's what I have done on the spreadsheet overdraft interest is shown but Judicial interest is blank.

Does the paragraph about "you have added a default notice against my credit record" apply to everyone? I don't know anything about them adding a default notice?

if you havent got a default then just leave that paragraph out

To be honest I'm not even sure what a default is, how would I know if I had one?

a default is a mark against your credit score

I just added the word "if" to that paragraph so if it applies to me (?) they can deal with that too. Thanks again!!

your welcome and good luck keep us all posted on your progress