Hi Everyone,

**

My question is, is there anything else I could do apart from claim back all the charges to make these people see the 3 months of hell they put me & my family through? Damages would be great but an apology & guaranteed action against “evil woman” would be preferable.

Many thanks,

Trunny

**Post edited on 19 March to remove any identifying info incase banks are watching.

Nothing I'm afraid. Just start toting up the charges, put the letters in and begin your claim.

get the money then forget about YB but remember it all with your next bank because they are all the same.

DPA just gone in the postbox. Feeling better already

Just telephoned the bank to ensure they received my DPA request & evil woman wouldn't speak to me, she had one of her colleagues take the call & act as middleman passing on what I said & vice versa. I can only assume by this play-ground behaviour that my ranting phone call to her manager a few weeks ago must have resulted in some action.

I overheard her tell the colleague to instruct me that I would have to pay £5 per statement but they soon backed down & agreed £10 when I quoted the DPA.

So, in conclusion, a letter will be sent to me tonight requesting the £10 & making me aware that they have 40 days to comply. I shall, of course, be hand delivering my reply comprising of £10 & a letter thanking them for informing me they have 40 days & that the 40 days actually started ticking away the day they received my initial request

Doesn't it feel good to be doing something! Keep us posted.

Hi All,

Could I ask a bit of advice please, it’s loosely regarding my claim against Yorkshire bank (just waiting for missing statements from them).

When YB closed our account there was an overdraft, I paid off all but £300 on the day that they kindly (pah) let me have our money. I am now in a stranglehold with their collections dept. For anyone who hasn’t had any dealings with these people they are pretty nasty & won’t budge. Fair do’s I could just pay it straight back, however, as it appears we’ll be claiming £4,999.99 of these highway robbers I begrudge doing so.

I phoned them the other day & told them I was intending to claim money back off the bank and the debt owed entirely consisted of part of the money owed to me but as a gesture of goodwill I would pay them £50 via debit card over the phone…. Incidentally, they’ve actually taken £60! I was then instructed that if I don’t call back & clear the debt by the end of this month I will have to give them an entire statement of means so THEY can decide how much I should pay. Do I have to do this? My blood is boiling at the thought of either having to give these complete strangers my entire financial incomings & outgoings or be forced to hand over yet more cash.

The Yorkshire Bank Collections Department are actually a professional debt recovery company who are part of Jeremy Sutcliffe Solicitors in Leeds (although they never tell you that over the phone). When I pressed them about this they insisted that they have not bought the debt from Yorkshire Bank they are merely pursuing it on their behalf, but of course, as they’re not part of the bank they don’t have access to any information & can’t make any decisions. How convenient.

I don’t have any problems asserting myself over the phone but I just don’t have a clue how to approach this one. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Trunny

You absolutely DO NOT have to give them all of this information. You should only do so if you are intending to pay them back and need to do so in instalments. Given that their claim against you is going to be swamped by your claim against them why should you be making arrangements to pay?

I would drop them a note spefically forbidding them from making any further charges to your debit card. These sorts of organisations have a habit of mis-using these things.

One more thing, if they have said in writing that they can force you to make a financial disclosure without taking you to court first, I would send a copy with a letter of complaint to your local Trading Standards.

Thanks Seminole. They haven’t said this in writing, just on the phone, as they most probably know full well they can’t force people to give that sort of info. They were, however, insistent that they have every right to demand this information before a payment plan would be approved. I think I’ll stick well & truly to letters only from now on with these people. They do have my phone number but I’ll make it clear on the letter I’m going to write that I will not, under any circumstance enter into any discussions over the telephone with them & will regard any attempts to contact me by phone as a breach of the 'Protection from Harassment Act 1997' (thank you police officer brother for that one).

If they keep ringing post back here again as there are other things you can do to make it difficult for them.

Here's what I've drafted, couldn't resist putting the bit about trading standards in (just in case the case goes to court):

*Post edited on 19 March to remove any identifying info incase banks are watching.

Looks fine to me but I would substitute the words "require" and/ or "demand" for "request". You should not have to request that they meet their clear legal obligations.

Also, how about claiming the conversation where they took £60 instead of £50 under the DPA.

Yes, you're right. I was trying to play down any confrontation but I’m really not asking for anything other than I’m entitled to. I’ll change the “request”’s, get the grammar & typo’s sorted out then nip straight to the post box with it. Thanks v much for your help Seminole.

I would be inclined to send it recorded delivery. You would be amazed how many letters like this end up being "lost" in the post.

Too right, it's going special delivery, don't trust these clowns one bit.

On Mon 13 March I instructed Yorkshire Bank collections to take a one off £50 goodwill payment from my debit card (new bank account with different bank). The actually took £60. On 20 March they took another £50 using the same debit card. I had not authorised this & they had not informed me they were going to do this.

On 22 March they would have received a special delivery letter explaining funds are in dispute so I wouldn’t enter into a repayment agreement with them at this time & also expressly forbidding them from using the debit card details they obviously hold on file for taking any more money.

My questions are:

1. Is it theft to take money from someone’s bank account without permission and without informing them? My guess is yes but I’m having difficulty confirming this.

2. I am about to write another letter to them regarding this extra £50. Am I within my rights to claim an extra £10 for my time & the £3.70 it will cost for the registered delivery?

3. Anyone got any good quotes I can put in the letter? So far I’m going to quote the banking code re letting you know before charging you & not chasing monies in dispute.

Thanks,

Trunny

1. Is it theft to take money from someone’s bank account without permission and without informing them? My guess is yes but I’m having difficulty confirming this.

2. I am about to write another letter to them regarding this extra £50. Am I within my rights to claim an extra £10 for my time & the £3.70 it will cost for the registered delivery?

Hi there, my first post and I'll probably get lynched!!! A few years ago I worked in the YB Collections Department, it isn't owned by Jeremy Sutcliffe Solicitors, it is in fact the other way round, Jeremy Sutcliffe is YB collection's in house solicitor (he's quite a pleasant bloke actually!!) and a way for them to save money on outsourcing.

When you have spoken to them on the telephone have you called them or them you? The outbound staff tend to be much more "scripted" and pushy, whereas the inbound staff are more likely to be helpful. It is their job to get you to repay the debt in a manageable way, and beleive me you would be totally amazed at what they will accept as long as you can back it up with a financial statement. Unfortunately their system does not allow them to "hold" accounts without a payment plan, no matter how small the payment is. I appreciate that the balance relates to charges, and this is something they will have dealt with before, if I remember rightly the staff in collections cannot refund charges applied in branch, so will not be able to help you directly with that.

Personally I would call them and be as nice as possible to the person you speak to (they are much more willing to help if you don't get cross with them) The fact that you previously made a payment to them will stand you in good stead. Explain your situation and make a very small offer of payment while you resolve the issue. (By the way they don't usually ask for any proof of your income expenditure as it's too time consuming, so you could tell them anything!!!) That way you keep them off your back and you can concentrate your efforts on getting the issue solved rather than having the added hassle of them ringing you and sending you letters (which they'll charge for!!!).

Good Luck!

Hi Lou & welcome

Thanks so much for the info, it'll come in really handy.

I've had a letter back from them saying they've suspended all collection activities but they're searing blind they've only collected £50 from my account. However, my bank statement clearly states £60 to Jeremy Sutcliffe Leeds & another £50 to Yorkshire Bank Collections, so in total they've actually now had £110 (instead of the permitted £50). It worries me that the £60 seems to have been lost in their system altogther.

I always rang them in the past, I never wait for anyone who wants something to ring me as it gives them too much opportunity to prepare lol.

Thanks again,

Trunny

Hi Trunny,

That's one step in the right direction, soiunds like they have escalated it to another dept. I am surprised about the switch pmt, obviously procedures have psobably changed since I was there, but we never kept peoples switch details, they were destroyed as soon as we had processed payment. The Collections Centre and JS & Co deal with closed current accounts, visa cards which are overlimit or behind with payment, and loans which are behind, you don't have more than one thing with them do you? I would ring them and speak to a manager, get a name and send them a copy of your statement and ask them to investigate it for you. If I can help at all let me know, Lou x

Hi Lou,

No, just the closed current account so the £60 can't be for anything else. I've read them the riot act about telephoning me so I'll write to them with a copy of the statement (everything but the payments blacked out) & see what they have to say for themselves. The matter has been passed on to their customer relations dept & I think they must have called off the collections dept so I'll write directly to them as they seem to have some clout.

Thanks again for your help,

Trunny

Data Protection Act reminder letter sent, 40 days is up 1 May.

Re collections centre. Letter sent to resolution centre with copy of bank statement showing the extra payments they collected without authority (rest of info blacked out) & paragraph fobidding them from collecting anymore via my debit card (as instructed by my bank). Also stating again that it would be a violation of banking code for them to resume collection activities while funds are in dispute.

Well, I've got a response, but it's a load of rubbish. I have arround 70 sheets of A4 paper, some are just blank & some have info like "direct debit ammendments", "acrual group", "insurance placement" etc. Seems they have sent me everything EXCEPT what I asked for, which was "Please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges" and in the 2nd letter "May I remind you that the list of my financial transactions......"

I've spoken to a lady called Aileen in Network Support & she's agreed this info isn't what I asked for & is looking into it for me, supposedly getting back to me later today.

The now only have 10 days left to furnish me with the info I requested.

Spoke to Network Support, they said they weren't sure what info I was requesting (likely story) & she is going to order my statements now. They should be here within a few days.