RichardM, Oh, and if you have online banking or maybe ask the bank if you have any idea of when you might have made payment to these credit card accounts as they can give you a copy of the cheque, Bacs payment receipt, or transfer slip as there must be record of at least some record of making payments to your credit card. On these slips, will be the 16 digit card numbers from your card.

RichardM, Experien/CreditExpert, would not bring up any account details but simply state that you have a credit agreement, the value outstanding & if you have missed any payments. It will not give account details. Generally the statutory credit report you get from any credit reference agency (Experian/CreditExpert, Call Credit & Equifax) will give you the same data as these special reports you sign up to.

DeniseP, I think your best option would be double check what it actually stipulates in the mortgage agreement. Also I think it maybe worth contacting citizens advice and confirming with them.

Valdez is Coming, I think this is a new one to me but if you consider the points, it still talks about service etc which is covered in the information given. Even if they are to discredit the OFT statement, I believe you will be able to win on other points. Since the OFT is an opinion and there to stand up for the Consumer, it would be strange for them to make a statement they could not support, it can’t form the only point of attack. If you look at what they saying, it still basically says it was for a service and not a penalty but if you consider that you have an agreement with your bank when you signed up and opened your account, that you would conduct your account according to those terms. In the event, you don’t (I.e. By going over drawn or not having enough money on the account to pay a D/D), you are in fact in breach of those terms and therefore these charges are penalties and therefore the bank is only able to recover actual cost incurred for un-paying your D/D etc. They are just scare you.

Good Luck.

Kendwa, If you have proof that the letter was delivered, then you should not worry. If you want, you can give them a curtsey call and confirm that they are acting on the instruction of the letter. Did you enclose a payment of £10 as they are not obliged to do anything unless the payment is there. They would normally tell you that the payment was out standing before acting on the letter. If the deadline pass’s with no update, then lodge a formal complaint with the Information Commissioner stating the bank did not comply to the Subject Access Request. That may get them going.

Elsinore, No, I have not received an enforcement letter from but they still do so. I am not concerned as I am about to close the account in any event. It would be wise to open up a parachute account somewhere else. They are well within their right to close your account if the fancy takes them.

Charlotte1987, I think the first step would be to understand the information given in the FAQ as it is pretty much most of what you need to know. If you already know what charges you have added to your account, your first step would be to send off the letter asking for the return of the charges. The schedule of charges is helpful to the banks and you to know what you are asking for. Go to this link of the Consumer Action Group site as it provides for a step by step guide of everything you have to do. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/243-step-step-instructions.html

Westy1978, You are able to claim both set’s of charges back which are unpaid Direct Debit fees & Overdraft Excess fees but also if you have them, returned cheque fees. If you get to that stage, you will also be able to claim 8% APR on the charges as well when it goes to court.

Rotaryboy, Well, I should think the only affect it would have is that it is now disputed. If you indeed do win your claim, then you may well resolve the debt. It is important to follow the information provided in the FAQ on this site. By all means, your first step would be to check what agreements you have in place with regards to your Debt Management and work from there. After which you would start with the information request unless you already know what the charges are. The information provided on the FAQ should answer most of your questions. I would recommend continuing paying any instalments until the claim has been resolved.

Gary, Thanks for the info, without trying to sound like being on the offensive; I might point out that although I did not know the name of the person who wrote the letter, I did acknowledge it was drawn from the Consumer Action Group site off a posting. It is also has in some respects been edited. But thank you for letting me know the author’s name, I will in due course make an amendment to my post and ask the permission of Mjanet. At the moment her private message inbox is full so I am unable to contact her but will do so. It would seem strange but, your reply seems to be attacking me for offering a comment to another person in response to their question. It also seems that you are trying to give me advice based on assistance given by my self to another user on this site. If you would care to actually read my postings on this site which incidentally are very few, I have not at any time asked for assistance or have been in any doubt about my resolve.

MCVEY123, All I can comment is that it would be extremely difficult to approach your question with out first understanding what actually happened. If you were not made completely clear about what the charges were for, then you may have a case for miss-selling. In the case of the insurance premiums, they would need to show you the costs up front and ask you directly if you wanted the insurance or not. From my experience, it is no easy task to prove miss-selling even though I have affectively done this now. It took me about a year from start to anticipated finish (Still current). In the first instance, you may want to approach your lender and let them know you are not happy with the out come of the loans you held with them and would like them to investigate. Set out your concerns clearly and get them to address each point. They generally have to complete the process within 8 weeks as set out in the Banking code. I doubt that they will acknowledge any wrong doing but you will need to wait until they finish the winding up nonsense. From the point of final response from them and you not being satisfied, lodge a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). They will review and decide accordingly. With regards to late payment charges, I would suggest to try following a similar course of action as the bank charges penalties as they would be the same as I would see it.

Generally I would say no. Interest charges are a legal service/charge. It would depend if the interest was attributable to the penalty charges or not. Yes, late payment charges are a penalty. I am not sure what admin fees are but maybe include them and if they dispute them, then remove them later on.

SM100, Firstly, great they decided to pay up as that is the stage I am at.. I did file a counter defence already and I guess that what prompted them. Tell them, you will accept the settlement as full and final of this claim however no other clauses will be entertained unless they are prepared to enter into a second commercial agreement with you making additional payments in respect of such. I picked up this letter from one of the postings on this site and would say it is most suitable in Lloyds case. Dear Sirs, I would like to inform you that I have received your letter and note your points. However like you I am also quite confident that I can prove my case in court and prove that these are in fact penalties that you are trying to cloak as a service charge. I am also very confident that a judge will also see it this way. I will accept this in full and final settlement of this claim. I reject all other conditions you have attached unless your client would like to negotiate a payment for this extra service you are asking of me, as a separate agreement. I will continue my claim against your client until such time that your client accepts my terms and has paid the amount I have asked for into my account. May I also point out that there is no unilateral imposition of confidentiality in these circumstances as you must fully realise and for you to suggest otherwise is an abusive deception .I will pass any more dis-informative correspondence from you to the Law Society who no doubt will decide whether this is a matter of discipline or merely requires more Continuing Education points. Yours faithfully I hope this helps.

Dolfos, If there is a current agreement in place with creditors to pay a set amount to them each month, then no they should not be able to debit the account without authority. Although this has been said already, your best bet is to contact the company that the IVA and get them onto Lloyds. It would seem for the most part, Lloyds are a law unto them selves. Generally though, you would need to read the terms of the IVA agreement to see if they are able to deduct money as they wish.

Well, thought I might add a quick update to my post as it has been a while since I posted the main run down. Lloyds TSB have acknowledge the claim now which is dated the 08/06/2006 so I guess they have another few weeks to do the scare tactic thing.. I can’t say I am concerned as I will be taking them to court again fairly shortly depending on how my other dispute transpires, which is currently with the Financial Ombudsman’s Service for a decision. Well, I take it is should be about the 26/06/2006 before they need to defend the claim and I guess that is when the court date will be set... Though some part of me can not wait but another part of me does not feel like taking a train up to Northampton to go to court (or where ever it goes down) but I guess the deed has to be done. I think that just about takes care of the update. I will hopefully post a positive note once all the formalities of court etc have been thrashed out. Good Luck to all, let them have a taste of what they (Banks) should be expecting.

Well, I decided to start a new thread as it would be the easiest to follow but have delayed it so that I can get all the facts etc right. A little background first, well essentially I have two separate disputes against Lloyds TSB Bank which are active. The one is concerning these unlawful penalty bank charges covering the last 6 years (Affectively since I opened my account in March 2000). The other relates to miss-selling me an insurance policy which I am not going to get into on this thread. But if anyone knows of any useful information about miss-selling insurance (PPI), then I would love to know. After finding this site and Martin’s Money Saving site and reading through the many pages of postings which answered most of my questions, I decided to pursue my bank Lloyds TSB Plc for a refund for these penalty charges. I have found this site quite insightful and after checking the information/advice that has been given with the relevant laws etc. I decided to initiate a dispute. The run through is as follows: • I initiated a request for information under the Data Protection Act 1998. • I then decided to get the ball rolling by sending them a letter stating my intention with reference to the first request. • They have replied to the request and the second letter stating that I would not have to pay the £10 for the information and told me to get lost with the accusation. (This is what I expected so no surprises there). • They then sent me double of another response but now requesting authority to deduct £10 from my account and telling me that they had 40 days from when they receive payment. • I then responded stating that they had already said that they were not going to charge me and that I was only interested in the actual charges and not all the copy statements for the said time. I also said that I expected the information by the 25th May 2006 which is the 40 days they are allowed. • I have already drafted a claim on https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp to submit when the time comes. Yes, I would not mind going to court with them, just would not mind some information in case they get sneaky on me but then, I don’t expect them to if their responses are anything to go by. • I filed the claim through the money claim website on the 22nd May 2006 and according to the site on the 24th May 2006, the claim is Issued(23/05/2006). • I guess now I just wait for the banks response and prepare for court in the eventuality of it going to court. I am off the impression that even if I did loose the court case, it would only be a loss of say the court fees and possibly some of their reasonably costs. I can only say that my trouble all those years ago were only compounded by the huge fines I was paying when I first joined the bank. Every month just got worse and worse but now that I understand that these charges are questionable, I am only ever more determined to get my own back. Since the bank has already suggest that I get lost and find another bank to do business with, I did and have decided to go to Barclays as they compare similarly with services etc. It also helps that I used to use them and did not have many problems. I would like to commend dchurch24 (Martin’s Money Savers Forum) for all his efforts in publicising all this information and I respect someone like him for offering his experience, advice and opinion to help people in their challenges. I will keep you guys posted with the progress although I anticipate a long drawn out dispute. So, good luck to everyone.