Hello, I'm totally new to this and am looking for some help with my claim against the Royal Bank of Scotland. I sent them a letter on the 13th Feb asking for £480.71 in bank charges to be refunded to me. I used the letter from Martin Lewis's website, moneysavingexpert.com. I got a reply yesterday from Sandy Watt (whom I see is becoming a minor celebrity on this website...is it a man or a woman?? Who knows!!), offering me £402, which is the amount of charges, but does not include the interest that I had added on. I'm not sure what to do now, wether to take this amount or hold out for the other £80.

I just got my bank statement this morning, and because they took £126 worth of charges from my account in February alone they pushed me over my overdraft limit again, so I'm going to be charged another £28 in March. I'm tempted to add this on as well!!

Any advice from anyone? My husband thinks I should just take the £402 and run as I got it so easily.

Until you actually file a claim in the courts, you are not entitled to claim interest. The bank have got it right, just offering you the charges back.

Sadly, you cannot "hold out for the other £80" as it is not actually owed.

Does the £402 include the £126 from February too?

Yes it does, but not the £28 they'll take from me on the 16th of March.

Should I just accept then?

Unfortunately I don't think you have a choice. You have not yet issued a claim and so therefore are not entitled to any interest and if you decided to issue a claim now, in light of the fact that you have been offered full settlement of all that you are entitled too, I wonder on what basis you would be making that claim?

The charge on March 16th has not yet been levied and so you cannot take that into account until it has been, but certainly you should claim that back too, unless you can have them cancel it first, which you may be able to do.

So, would it be best then, to send back the acceptance letter and attach a letter asking them to cancel the charges due on 16th March, or to call my branch do you think? I swear they know me in there and dread talking to me on the phone, so it may not be effective. Also I'm sure they'll try and fob me off. Perhaps I should just wait till they add the charges before doing anything, but that may well push me over my limit again, there's very little left in the account!

If you act quickly you will receive a payment of £402 shortly!

Regarding the £28 charge, it depends on how confident you feel and who you get to speak too as to whether it is worthwhile calling them and only one of those factors you can control.

I would be inclinded to accept the return of the £402 without delay and to write to them about the £28 they are planning to levy on March 16th - if nothing else it will be most entertaining to see the reply where they attempt to explain that they can repay you £402 but not £38...

Thank you so much for your help, I'll send the form back asap with a letter regarding the £28 pending. I'm so pleased I did this, everyone should!

I can't wait to see what they say in response now! Will let you know!

Thanks again!

I got a reply yesterday from Sandy Watt (whom I see is becoming a minor celebrity on this website...is it a man or a woman?? Who knows!!)

I know she is female - had to phone them last week and spoke to her - was gonna ask her for her autograph cause she's so famous - then realised i alredy had it on my offer letter

Oops, my LBA said "Dear Mr Watt"

Since returning my form and accepting the £402 refund, I have yet to actually receive any money!! I did receive £128 at the end of March, which was a refund of the charges taken in February, but that was all. After a phone call to a lovely lady (Hilary) in the customer service dept, it was agreed that they would send on the rest of the cash, but as it's another department that actually pays you she could only send them an email. I have called again, 2 weeks later, and spoke to the same lady (who was still lovely) who told me they have received her message and that it will be dealt with in time but due to the high number of claims it's taking a while. I really need to get this sorted now. Any ideas? Should I just keep calling them until they cough up?

Take a look at this letter I have used before - you may need to adapt it to your own circumstances.

Dear

 

Your Ref:

 

Please accept this correspondence in accordance with my duty under the Civil Procedure Rules to continue to pursue a settlement without the need to invoke the time of the courts.

 

Further to your letter of (date) regarding the settlement offered by you and accepted by me thus far I have not received payment or any explanation as to why not. I consider fourteen working days more than sufficient for a company such as yours, engaged in the business of consumer banking, to be able to process and execute a payment.

 

Take notice that should I not receive payment of the (£ Amount) offered in your letter without delay then I reserve the right to issue a claim against you for the amount of (£ Amount) plus interest pursuant to statute and court costs and without further notice.

 

Finally, should I be forced to litigate I intend to draw the Court’s attention to the fact that you have not made the payment referred to in your offer letter, in addition I will make a formal complaint to the Law Society, the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Banking Code Standards Board and I will submit this letter to the Court as further evidence of your intransigence with my case despite my attempts at settlement and the settling by your company of all other similar claims to date.

 

Yours sincerely/faithfully

Thanks for that, I'll send it off tomorrow.