Hi, I am new to this site but I will explain my problem briefly.

I issued some cheques from my Halifax account, some of them were paid and others were declined by the bank (as there was a few of them) this resulted in my account being seriously overdrawn and Halifax asking me to return my card and cheque book and serving me with a default notice of 1,600, (I estimated that I owe anout 300-400 and the rest of this total is charges). I tried explaining what had happened and why but they did not care and just wanted there money. So I have about a week left until time is up but I am able to borrow it.

After reading all of the interesting info on this site I will pay them their money so they don't default me then I shall be claiming my share back.

But I would just like to know firstly should I leave this account open during the investigation or close it and also does claiming charges back reflect on your credit file I would just like to know as things often come back round to haunt me .

I think Halifax owes me about 2500 pounds

Natwest 600

and Lloyds TSB 400

Does this really work, I'm worried it will all be a waste of time and I would of got my hopes up for nothing as I really need this money at the moment.

I'm so glad I came across this site, the advice and info is really good.

The staff at these banks can't feel good doing this to people they must know it is wrong!

Firstly, keep all of your accountrs open. Why not? You may need them some time.

Secondly, yes it "does work" although, please do read all of the FAQs and foru rules and undestand that th epoepl on this forum are just helping you and there are no guarantees and no liabilites accepted if it is difficult or if you don't manage it.

"Does it work" is a bit worrying to hear because ther is no magic involved. It is simply that alot of people now consider that the banks charging rate is unenforceable if it were ever put to a legal test and this has happened yet because the banks don't seem to be keen on going to court and asking a judge.

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Start off by working out exactly what you think you have paid in penalties. Other charges may be lawful.

Read through the posts on this site and then start pursuing your money carefully, keeing notes of calls, conversations, correspondence etc..

Come back here when you are ready.

Finally it has to be said that the banks are entitled to have their customer accounts correctly conducted. They are still entitled to apply sanctions such as account closure or downgrading for customers who don't folow the rules of the contracvt. They simply aren't allowed to charge excessive penalties.

By the way, recovering your charges won't affect your credit limit - alhtough it could provoke the bank to take retaliatory action.

The can behave very nastily as you will see if you read through the forum

it works. you need to know precisely how much to claim first. remember though, you havent defaulted really because legally you dont owe them money, they owe YOU. there's diddly squat they could do to try and get it back. if you default you are the one with th epower from the start as they have to try and get the money back and as youve said if they owe you 2500 and you owe them 1600 then you have a positive balance of 900.

first thing id do is write to them and say this. if they mark on your credit record youve defaulted you have a better case to get compensation out of them for defamation too.

I agree with Dave, you need to make sure they don't trash your credit rating by posting a default notice. For help with this, see section 13.6 of The Banking Code, which explicitly states that they won't pass on information to credit reference agencies "...if the amount owed is in dispute". You must be firm on this point, and don't accept any cr*p about it being difficult/impossible to do. Your bank has unlimited electronic access to your credit file and they can put what they like in it. Bear in mind as well that if they breach The Banking Code and you complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service, they will incur an automatic £700 fee from the ombudsman just to look at matter - a measure intended to encourage them to settle matters amicably.

Never underestimate your bank's desire to stay well away from court proceedings.

Thanks, the advice you have all given me is very useful.

I was worried that making a claim before the default date would make getting it taken off very diificult but after Robertxc's advice I think this is the best option as preventing it going on my file in ther first place is better than trying to get it removed. I shall read over everything carefully and then take the next step.

Good for you Alison... If you need help with letters, the Govan Law Centre in Glasgow have an excellent resource: http://www.bankcharges.info/.

I forgot to mention something in my previous post. You have to make sure that they REMOVE any default notice from your credit file, not just mark it as 'settled'. THIS IS CRITICAL!!! Otherwise the Default will still sit on your credit file for the next six years. In general, I word it along the lines of "remove any prejudicial information which they may have passed on to third parties", which pretty much covers everything.

Just received a call from Halifax saying that I'm overdrawn, I told them that I had sent them a letter and I am awaiting their reply, she asked what it was regarding and I told her I had requested my statements dating back to 2002 (when the account was opened) she asked me if I am not going to pay the amount until I had received these? I then told her that Halifax owed me more than I owed them so no I would not. She said that their was a back log of post so it dosen't matter how the letter was sent, REALLY they are just buying their time

I now am waiting for my statements- watch this space!

Coincidently I received a call from NatWest 2 minutes later who I am also claming against!

I shall post there now :twisted:

Just received a call from Halifax saying that I'm overdrawn, I told them that I had sent them a letter and I am awaiting their reply, she asked what it was regarding and I told her I had requested my statements dating back to 2002 (when the account was opened) she asked me if I am not going to pay the amount until I had received these? I then told her that Halifax owed me more than I owed them so no I would not. She said that their was a back log of post so it dosen't matter how the letter was sent, REALLY they are just buying their time

I now am waiting for my statements- watch this space!

Coincidently I received a call from NatWest 2 minutes later who I am also claming against!

I shall post there now :twisted:

i bet there a back log of post, Claim forms and DPA requests LOL

i bet there a back log of post, Claim forms and DPA requests LOL

I managed to get my charge details from March 2005 until January 2006 online, £1,050 in less than 1 year, shame on me but even more shame on them

2 more years to add up still once they send me info!

(requested on 2/2/06 no response regarding it yet)

I managed to get my charge details from March 2005 until January 2006 online, £1,050 in less than 1 year, shame on me but even more shame on them

2 more years to add up still once they send me info!

(requested on 2/2/06 no response regarding it yet)

Hi

I finally heard back from Halifax yesterday, a woman called Sally Bergham (I think) wrote to me thanking me for my letter and asking me to call them to discuss it.

Should I write back and say that I am just waiting for my dpa request and have nothing to disuss with them at present or should I ignore the letter? or should I call (but I think they will only try to twist things over the phone) ?

Hi

 

I finally heard back from Halifax yesterday, a woman called Sally Bergham (I think) wrote to me thanking me for my letter and asking me to call them to discuss it.

 

Should I write back and say that I am just waiting for my dpa request and have nothing to disuss with them at present ?

Yes and tell them how many days are left

Yesterday I received a letter stating that Halifax had passed my account to a collection company I called them and explained the situation and that I would be taking Halifax to court to recover my charges. The woman on the phone listed though I don't think she took me too seriously and agreed to put my account on hold for 14 days max.

(by the way it's gone up an extra £400 due to more charges upon charges!!)

I can't believe that they still went ahead and defaulted my account even though I am in the process on a claim and have brought the banking code (section 13.6) to their attention, I satrted this before the defaul date wad due.

I am so annoyed with them, what happens if it takes more than 14 days to get a settlement or summons sent to Halifax and should I report the collections company too!!

Hi, can anyone give any advice as I'm a bit stuck and not sure what my next move should be :?

Halifax's 40 days were up last week. I spoke to a member of their collections department he said they could only send out the last years statements the rest I would have to get from the branch so I did, the woman at the branch was quite annoyed that the had to request so many (but so what, I paid for them and its her job!) should recive them in a week.

With regards to the default I sent the following letter to the collections company:

Re: Halifax Sort code: xxxxxx Account number: xxxxxxx

I understand that my account with Halifax has been defaulted and passed over to you to collect the outstanding amount. On 2nd February 2006 I wrote to Halifax informing them that I am requesting my bank statements, notes relating to telephone call etc held with them regarding my account, I informed them that their charges for returned cheques, unpaid directs debits etc were unlawful as they did not represent and actual loss and in fact they were merely there to punish customers who went over their agreed limit. These profit making ‘penalty charges’ are not enforceable by English law, therefore I shall be requiring my data dating back to December 2002 when I opened my account and I shall be claim back all charges applied to my account since then (see letter enclosed).

I gave Halifax 40 days to comply with this; they now have 7 days left before I will be making an official complaint to the Information Commissioner then I shall then processed to arrange a court date to recover the monies owed to me. I shall continue with this claim whether they decide to give my information or not as the information requested will have to be surrendered either way once it goes to the small claims court.

I have worked out (from some of the letters and statements already in my possession) that Halifax owe me far more than I owe them therefore I am 100% committed to take this to the small claims court and make this a public as possible in order to reclaim my money. I also made Halifax aware that I have read and understood the banking code and it states in section 13.6 "We may give information to credit reference agencies about the personal debts you owe us if: the amount owed is not in dispute” (see enclosed) Halifax have totally disobeyed the Banking code by issuing me with a default even though it is not clear whom owes whom what. I shall be filing a separate case regarding this and I shall be notifying the courts of your involvement should you wish to not take this seriously. This default will be removed from my file either by the Halifax’s own doing or by the courts force as it is unlawful. Out of the total £2,000 I estimate that I owe Halifax £300 and the rest are charges which I will not be paying.

You may forward this letter over to Halifax if you wish as I will not be contacting them or you again except to issue them with a summons. I do not wish for you to contact me by phone if you do need to contact me (I do no see any further reason why you would have to) you can contact me by post at the address above. I acknowledge that you have agreed to hold my account for 14 days; I thank you for this but should it take longer the 14 days will have to be voided as this is a legal case now and the courts will be setting the timescales.

Yours Sincerely

I got a call from them on Saturday asking me basically what is going on with the account, I asked her if they had recived my letter that I sent over a week ago! she put me on hold whilst she read over her notes. I then expalined to her that these charges are excessive etc and I will be claiming the back, she agreed to put my account on hold for another 30 days.

No money back so far, but Halifax did write to me to ask me to wait 28 day whilst they considered my request. I was thinking to send them the following letter but I wanted to make sure if it was nessaccary, what do you think?

...............................................

Dear Halifax Plc

Re: Sort code: xx-xx-xx Account number: xxxxxxxx

Thank you for your letter dated 7th April 2006; I will agree to hold any further action for your required 28 days whilst you consider my request with the relevant department. Therefore can you also inform your collections company Blair Oliver Scott to also hold any action on my account whilst this matter is on going.

I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that I am 100% committed in carrying this claim forward, I will not accept a partial refund and I will not be accepting anything less than the default you entered being unconditionally removed from my credit file. I am prepared to wait as long as it takes should this matter take an excessive amount of time to resolve.

If I have not received a suitable proposal from you by the 4th May 2006 I shall be issuing a claim through my local County Court to recover my charges, interest and claim costs as well as a further 8% on top of the total as afforded the County Courts Act [section 69].

Yours faithfully,

I am about to issue Halifax with their summons today. I was wondering what would happen if when they decide to settle I refuse and tell them that if they wish to settle then they will have to settle for more than the claim value (best offer) for all of the stress and inconvenience they have caused me. We know that they will never let it reach court (I don’t mind if it does) but what is likely to happen in this scenario?

Will they write to the court direct and force a settlement or is the decision to settle down to me?

Just a theory!

Think the court may view it as you being greedy rather than acting to reclaim charges that are lawfully yours anyway.

Personally, I wouldn't advise that course.

At the end of the day, it's up to you, but I think it would bring you grief.

To claim damages for stress, you must be able to prove stress.

Without proof, the case would be thrown out of court, your repayment claim

with it.

Thought so, just wanted to p*** them off as they made my life hell last year.

getting YOUR money back will make you feel much bettter

....... and it will pi$$ them off, just as much !

:D