Hi all.

I incurred a £35 returned DD fee from the Clydesdale on the 26th May 2006. This has resulted in my account being overdrawn. No doubt that they will try to apply a £22.50 unauthorised overdraft fee later too. All for the oversight of a £17.99 DD!

This is the first charge I've incurred in about 8 years with this particular bank. I'm planning on starting recovery from other institutions shortly.

I'm sending my first letter off to the branch manager today Special Delivery as I all I got was a deaf ear at the call centre and the branch yesterday.

mac p.

I'm pretty sure they will get this sorted for you pretty quickly, was it the prelim letter fromthe library that you sent?

Good luck

Yes it was the prelim letter from the library.

This is the first time in years that I've been charged by the CB. The account was pretty much used as a secondary account up until Oct 2003 when I filed for bankruptcy. By agreement with bank and the Official Receiver, I used it as my primary account as it took 9 weeks to open a Co-op basic bank account. I get my wages paid into the CB and transfer funds at the Post Office when I need to make Visa Electron card purchases.

As I've been discharged for over a year now, I am looking at pursuing all my previous charges with the HSBC, BoS, Barclays etc. It was a lot of those that spiraled the original debt causing me to file for bankruptcy.

I'll keep you posted on how I get on. Usually "one-offs" are resolved pretty quickly.

mac p

Received from the local branch a reply today to my preliminary letter :

"I refer to your letter dated 31st May 2006 and confirm that your complaint has now been fully investigated.

After investigating the matter I have come to the following conclusions:

There were insufficient funds left in the account on the 26th May to pay the Direct Debit to Virgin Net.

Under the Terms and Conditions of this type of account there must always be funds in the account to pay any withdrawls or Direct Debits arranged by the customer.

Therefor under these circumstances the charges will stand and I have enclosed a copy of the Terms and Conditions for your attention.

I have enclosed for your information a copy of our internal Complaint Handling Procedures. These procedures confirm how to pursue your complaint if you remain dissatisfied with this response and how to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if we cannot resolve the matter.

If we do not receive a response from you within eight weeks of the date of this letter, your complaint will be considered closed.

I do thank you for taking the time and trouble to bring this matter to my attention.

Yours sincerely

Caroline Hill"

Time for the second letter, but should I send this to the branch??

Cheers

mac p

What are they like eh.!?

I'd send it to the branch yes, their internal mail systems will ensure it gets to the correct person/department if required.

Make sure it's Recorded Delivery though - my branch of the CB have a particular habit of 'losing things in the post'...

Received a reply to my second (Letter Before Action) letter. It was dated the 23rd June 2006 and was from Neil McKirdy at Customer Relations:

"I refer to your letter of 8 June 2006 and would apologise for the delay in responding." [must be snowed under all those other claims]

"I note your comments on the charge of £35 levied to your account on 26 May 2006.

I would advise that the charge of £35 was applied in accordance with the Bank's published tariff and in line with the terms and conditions of the account, a copy of which would have been supplied when the account was opened. It is the customer's responsibility to ensure that the account is in funds to meet whatever items are drawn against it.

However, on this occasion only and as a gesture of goodwill, I am prepared to refund your account with the sum of £35 and I would advise that your account will be credited accordingly. I would further advise that your account has not been debited with service charge or interest as a result of the aforementioned charge being applied.

Once again, I must advise that it is your responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient funds in your account to meet whatever items may be drawn against it.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to bring this matter to my attention.

If you are unhappy with the way in which your complaint has been handled or the outcome you may now refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman within six months from the date of our final response letter to you. Their address is South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SR.

Yours sincerely,

Neil McKirdy

Customer Relations Manager."

Well that wasn't too bad for two letters. Although I helped to get someone £330 in NatWest charges and they rolled over on receiving the first.

Now to get to work on all the old ones.

Cheers,

macp

Nice one!

It's a small one, but a result all the same!

Good work