Well I'm going to give this a go myself, but I'll need a little bit of help as I have a learning disability which affects my reading and writing and I find it difficult to understand things. I'll be starting my DP letter on Monday but will anyone be able to help me, as I have been reading through the posts and it hasn't really sunk in. Can someone let me know what the address I send the letter to is, and also (it's a silly question I know), when I send my cheque for £10 do I make it out to NatWest?

I know it's going to be annoying and difficult for me but I will give it my best shot and if it works, you can all claim the assist!

Mickie (Thank God for the spell checker)

Hi there and welcome to the forum!

You have come to the right place and we will help you as much as we can. The process is not as daunting as it may first seem, but you should always be mindful that you could end up in court to put your case forward.

I'll break the process down for you so you can tick it off as you go along.

1. Send DPA request

2. Send Preliminary Request for Payment letter (found here)

3. Send Letter Before Action - LBA (found here)

4. File MoneyClaim (example text can be found here)

It is important to remember that you may be offered "settlements" along the way, but it is up to you to decide if you are happy with what is being offered or if you want to pursue them for the full amount.

I have tried to simplify the process for you, but there will be other issues to consider at each stage of the process.

Please come back here and post on this thread any question you have and someone will always be here to assist.

Good luck!

P.S. Make your cheque payable to Nat West

If you need any help with the letters, or with what you need to put in them, you can PM me and I will help as needed, but as others have said, and will say, this is your shout and most of the effort must be your own. If you are in any doubt about any of the steps, then read round other posts, especially in the NatWest forum, and you will find words of encouragement.

Good luck.

Right I managed to get to DPA letter off today (8th May) enclosed the cheque to NatWest (thankyou tinker:) ) and rushed off to the post office to get it delivered before running back as I had forgotten to put the cheque in:!: !!

But it's in Pat's postbag as recorded delivery so will keep daily checks on whhen it gets received and when it gets cashed and keep you all updated.

Popped into local branch today to shorten my overdraft and close my ISA account with NW, and bloke behind the customer services bit, i think he's asst. manager, he looked very very worried and wanted to know why I wanted the address details for DPM and in the end refused to give me it. Having a very cynical mind I'm thinking somethings come up in their meetings, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is...hehehe

Anyways will keep you posted on every single thing, as skull has said this is my own thing, but boy am I going to need a lot of help and support on this one.

Also, noticed in the forums about parachutes? Am I right in thinking they're like a bank account you open with another bank as a safety net in case NW tries to bug me out?

Hey you!!

You are doing well so far!

Yes a Parachute Account is another account with another bank that you are not "taking to court". The idea is that if your Bank decideds to close your account because you have sued them, at least you have somewhere else to go to - just in case!

Thanks for updating us and letting us know how you get on. We'll be here with you all the way!!

Tinks x

Just noticed the MP template in the templates section, so whipped a copy of that out to my MP (Dorset West). I'm also keeping copies of everything I do, just in case

Mickie

Your item with reference XXXXXX was delivered from our WEST EDINBURGH Delivery Office on 11/05/06 .

The Ball has started to roll.........lol

Woo Hoo!!

Excitin' isn't it

They received it! Judging by the lack of info, they must have had a load to sign for

One slight worry is, they received it on the 11th but cheque still hasnt been cashed, when would be an appropriate time to enquire about that?

Mickie

dont worry about them cashing the cheque, the DPA starts from when they recieve the letter! Good Luck

Lou xxx

Received a reply from my MP after sending the standard template:

Dear Mr Toilet Bandit

 

Many thanks for your letter of 8 May.

 

The issue you raise is a serious one. Clearly, if the commercial banks are engaged in any unlawful practice, something ought to be done about it.

 

I am surprised about your observation that the OFT is displaying reluctance. They seem to me to be the obvious port of call in such a case.

 

I have, accordingly, written to the Director-General of the OFT. I attach a copy of my letter (Posting that here too ). I shall let you know as soon as I receive a response.

 

If you have not heard anything further from me within six weeks of receiving this letter, I should be grateful if you could contact my secretary Angela Charles on XXXXX XXXXXX, in order to let us know that nothing has come through: that will mean I have not received anything and will lead to my sending a chasing letter.

 

Thank you, once again, for rasing this important topic.

 

With best wishes,

 

Yours sincerely

 

Oliver Letwin

 

Enc.

now that's an MP I like

Ollie's enclosed letter:

Mr Philip Collins,

Chairman,

Office of Fair Trading,

Fleetbank House,

2-6 Salisbury Square,

London. EC4Y 8JX

 

Dear Mr Collins,

 

I attach a copy of a very worrying, at the same time very important, letter that I received my constituent Mr Toilet Bandit of XXXXXXXXXXX Dorset.

 

As you will see, Mr Toilet Bandit's letter asserts that the commercial banks may be engaged in unlawfully levying penalty charges of a disproportionate nature from certain customers.

 

As you will also see, Mr Toilet Bandit believes that the OFT have been reluctant to intervene in this matter.

 

As this is a very serious issue, I should be most grateful if you could let me know whether the OFT has in fact investigated this question - and, if not, why it has not done so.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Oliver Letwin

NW cashed £10 subject access request cheque on the 18th.

Sorry about the excessive detail in this case, it's keeping me up to date with where I am

So you've made your MP aware - good.

Have you received any statements or anything yet?

nothing from NW as yet....all i've had is my MP's letter

Well tatty brown A4 envelope arrived this morning.....it's currently in a photoshop having glamour photos taken of it, will be going to post office later (as postmaster is a good friend of the family) to confirm that they received it like it is or whether it was damaged while being posted (my letterbox is a little small) then will be going to branch and filing a direct complaint about why use an unsuitable envelope etc.....will also be looking thru here as I seem to remember someone writing a letter about the state of the envelopes NW use, and i'll edit it around a bit...if someone knows the link to that post could they post it in this thread pretty please.....THEN, when I've done all that, I'll open the thing up and see how far back it goes....as from reading other posts they had a server mergey changeover thing with RBS which meant that they didn't know their ass from their elbow...

Am also clearing my overdraft as fast as I can so that if they do close the account it won't hurt as much, I'm thinking of deploying my parachute but just shopping around at the moment

Will keep you posted (no pun intended)

Mickie

Ok, envelopes glamour shots came back better than expected, went to post office and I have to go back tmrw morning (urgh...hate early starts) but i'll try and get it in writing that it arrived through their sorting offices in that condition...

Went to NW to complain, found the Customer Services Advisor that actually likes to help and advise the customers (a rarity) and logged a complaint. He refunded me the £10 DPA fee and also gave me a printout of the cheque proving it had been cashed, anything to make my case a lil stronger I'm thinking. He also said to deal thru him too, which helps cuz all the others there are dragons and people looking to make a quick buck or two.

Will go to post office tomorrow and get a confirmation of how it arrived, get them to find out where the damage occurred, then will open the actual envelope (so tempting now but having to wait for postman, it's like getting a present before christmas and waiting till crimbo day when you're about 6) and see whether I got the whole lot of it, or if I'm waiting for the second half, and I'll keep searching for the thread which mentioned a reply to NW arguing the case about using tatty old envelopes ( I think it's Vamp's thread but not sure....)

Mickie

Geez US you ARE PATIENT!!!

I would be ripping the thing open, but pat on the back for going down this route!!!

Well done! Not long now...

Lou xx

Yes, it was me, with the tatty envelopes. And most other Natwesties!!!

You're doing so well Bandit!!

Bandit, I never actually raised a complaint to Natwest by letter. My telephone complaint have the desired result of a refund for the service charge they'd applied for sending me the envelopes in such condition.

I did, however, write to my MP.

similar sort of result then, i took my (still unopened) letter into the branch and did my best whinge and the chap refunded my dpa request fee.....dunno if he'll get a b----king for it but frankly i dont care.....the git still owes me a pint

well post office couldn't help but say to complain to whoever sent me it, which I have already done via the branch....so I finally opened it and I got all my statements from 16 Feb 2001 which was a shock because I thought I'd opened my account earlier....you learn something everyday:p .

It all came with the standard:

Dear Mr Toilet Bandit

 

Your recent request for duplicate statements has been forwarded to this Office. Please find these enclosed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

(PP) Stuart Higley

Customer Relations

So gonna make a start counting them before I go to work......and I'll try and concoct a nasty letter.

Mickie

ok i know this has been answered so many times before but i just wanna make sure....

1) i cant claim for the Disadvantaged Mould (Advantage Gold) service I got talked into signing up?

2) can I claim for the interest taken from my account? I'm not sure whether it's interest accrued for being in my overdraft or going over my overdraft. I know it's something to do with going overdrawn cuz I didn't have any interest charged for the 1st 6 months (didn't go overdrawn).

If someone could get back to me would be appreciated.

Mickie