I have been with Bos since I was a student,I knew that they had totally ripped me off with charges but didnt realise it was to the tune of £2500 until I got the statements! they also lodged a default notice against me,I have since settled the account,but more on that later.

using the template letters on this site and some info from the govan law site (i'm in scotland btw) i sent off my prelim letter. Got a very speedy response from their customer service team saying someone would be intouch. right enough I got a phonecall the next day, the guy wanted to discuss my complaint,he was actually very nice about it saying he understood where I was coming from and was I willing to forget about it for oh... say £213, I told him i would be looking for the full amount...

he whined on for a bit longer then offered me £400,again I said no, then he said "ok in this situation we have been told to refund your worst 6mths worth of charges" which in my case was £713, (just shows you how much they were screwing me at the time), iIrefused again and he said ok i know how you feel etc,but they were not prepared to refund the charges.I have since got a letter say we are sorry you choose not to accept our offer etc. One interesting thing in the letter they claimed the charges were to cover their costs,which I assume is good as this will never stand up in court.

Right now I am about to send them off the LBA from the govan law website with some alterations. will update this thread as and when they reply.

Just finally I have a question regarding the removal of the default on my account,at the time I was defaulted I was ~£760 over my od limit,albeit only for a few weeks or so. The default came about as a result of my going £700 over my limit in just a couple of weeks,due to checks cashed etc.

In the 8mths prior to this they had charged me ~£900 in charges,am I right to argue that the default was soley due to the illegal charges they levied on my account,as the charges compounded my financial difficulty, and prevented me getting back on my feet,which culminated in the default

Hello, welcome to the forum.

It's a good idea to include the fact that you require the removal of the default in both your LBA and your claim. this means that if they want to settle without going to court, they'll have to settle that part too. You don't need to add anything fancy, just something like:

"I would like to ask the Court to order the removal of any prejudicial information which HBOS PLC may have passed on to third parties regarding my account. In particular I would like to ask the Court to order the removal of any Default Notice which may have been posted on the Claimant’s credit report, because if it had not been for their unlawful charges, the Account would not have been in default."

They may offer you your money back but make no mention of the Default. It's important that you not agree to anything which doesn't EXPLICITLY include removing the default. In particular, you need to make sure that their definition of 'removing' it isn't just marking it as 'settled', otherwise it will still be on your file. I think you can afford to be quite hardball about this, because removing the default is very easy for them to do (they have unlimited computerised access to your credit file!), and it costs them nothing to do. It is inconceivable that they will spend thousands of pounds in court for something which is essentially meaningless to them (they're unlikely ever to lend you any money again, and you're unlikely to ask).

One other thing to watch for. They may threaten to close your account. The jury's very much out on whether or not they're allowed to do this, but it is prudent to open an alternative account elsewhere, just in case.

Please feel free to come back and ask if you need any further advice, and please remember to keep the forum updated on your progess.

Good luck

Thanks for the excellent advice.

I sent off the LBA inluding the wording about the default and got a rather snotty reply telling me that they stood by their original decison not to refund the full amount of charges and that they could assure me that the charges had not been recorded on my credit record!!. Either ,they were too thick, to understand my argument, that £2300 worth of charges including £715 in the last 6 mths eventually put me in some financial difficulty, and led to the default, or they are dodging the question.

In anycase I submitted my first claim today, for £742.00 plus 8% interest, will keep this thread updated as things progress.

This topic was closed on 11 March 2019.

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