Ja-de I think it was you who asked me to obtain a copy of the letter my MP wrote to the FSA ? well here it is:) not bad eh? pity about the response from the FSA!! wasn't it. JESSICAMORDEN MP Labour Member of Parliament for Newport East Suite 5, 1st Floor, Clarence House, Clarence Place, Newport NP19 7AA T 01633 841 726 F 01633 841 727 Jessica Morden MP | Jessica Morden [email protected] 20 August 2007 The Director Financial Services Agency 25 The North Colonnade Canary Wharf London E14 5HS Dear Sir I have been approached by my constituent,xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx expressing concern about the way overcharging complaints are to be handled. Ms... considers the recent arrangement between the FSA,Office of Fair Trading and the UK banking industry to freeze out further overcharging complaints whilst a test case is being brought is unfair, especially as banks are allowed to carry on levying penalty charges on customers. She is also concerned that the FSA has also allowed the banks to apply for a stay of all court proceedings of this nature until the case has finished. Ms... feels this is unjust to customers; and arguable that such action might interfere with rights given under the Human Rights Act 1998 . I would welcome your comments on the points raised by my constituent. Yours sincerely JESSICA MORDEN MP P.S' I believe it is really important to provide you with relevant information about my work as an MP therefore I will keep your details on file and may contact you from time to time, if you do not wish to receive further correspondence from me please write to me at the following address Jessica Morden MP, 1stFloor Clarence House, Clarence Place, Newport NP19 7AA.

Hello Destiny I have just scrolled down to that and the part I have read so far is absolutely concrete proof of all the lies and deceits going on now !! They clearly call the charges penalties and Illegal as in the following excerpt ''I am raising the matter today because I believe that it is a major contributor to the UK’s debt crisis and to social exclusion. Perhaps most important of all, those bank penalty charges are more than inconvenient and unfair—they are illegal. The fact that they continue to be levied in such large sums leads one to conclude that the Office of Fair Trading is failing and the Government are turning a blind eye. What may be a minor inconvenience to a person on a good regular income becomes a spiral of debt to the bank for those who are less well-off.''

Hi ladyinred, Lloyds are not changing for the better I am afraid, you could end up paying a lot more in one month than ever before. If you went over £100. in one month that would cost you £250 read back over on a few other sites, for example Cardiff Directions Hearing, and Letters to MPs etc. also I wil try and paste some newspaper articles here. LLOYDS BITES BULLET IN WAR ON HIGH FEES Wednesday September 12,2007 Lloyds TSB has become the first high street bank to cut overdraft rates after criticism about excessive bank charges and a fees investigation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Lloyds’ new policy includes reducing interest rates on unauthorised borrowing and a text-message service warning customers when they are close to their overdraft limit. The bank said the measures had been taken after “talking to thousands of customers”. But campaigners believe it is an attempt to pre-empt the results of the OFT’s charges probe, which includes a test case brought against several leading banks to establish whether it is fair to charge penalties of up to £39 for unauthorised borrowing. “Lloyds is doing now what it will probably be forced to do next year anyway, after the OFT’s test case,” said Lisa Taylor from Moneyfacts.co.uk “It’s great that banks are warning customers in advance with text messages, but Lloyds’ charges are still expensive — particularly if you go more than £100 into unauthorised borrowing. You could be charged up to £215 a month.” Mike Naylor from uSwitch.com said: “It does finally seem that the looming test case is having some impact on the banks’ attitudes to levels of charges. We hope the other big banks will follow Lloyds’ example in the coming months.” Lloyds refunded £36million- worth of overdraft charges in the first half of this year but all refund claims have now been frozen until the outcome of the OFT investigation, expected early next year. The new Lloyds measures, which come into effect on November 2, will see unauthorised interest rates for a Classic account slashed from 29 per cent to 19 per cent. Customers who go over their overdraft limit will also be given a “period of grace” — until 3.30pm that day — to correct things without incurring any fees. Instead of penalising customers £30 a day should they go into the red without permission the bank will now charge £15 a month, then between £6 and £20 a day, according to the amount borrowed. The penalty for bouncing a cheque, standing order or direct debit will fall by £15 to £20. The text-message warning service will cost £2.50 per month. Lloyds TSB’s Ian Larkin said: “We want to help our customers avoid accidentally slipping into the red and are giving them the tools to do just that. We understand it can sometimes be difficult to keep tabs on an account and we want to make it easier to do so.” In a different move to tackle unauthorised borrowing, the cash machines of HSBC are to alert customers when a withdrawal is about to take them over their overdraft limit. The warning messages will start appearing at the 3,500 cash machines operated by the bank on October 1, although warnings will not be displayed on non-HSBC machines. NatWest is also expected to provide a “new option” later this year for customers who go over their authorised overdraft limit. Anna Bowes from independent financial adviser AWD Chase de Vere said: “People must budget carefully and take some responsibility for going overdrawn. Banks are not charities and everyone knows they will incur high charges if they dip into money that is not theirs. “Should you find yourself going into an unauthorised overdraft, talk to your bank and try to arrange a solution. If you are getting into a spiral of debt, do not bury your head in the sand — talk to a debt counsellor immediately.” • YourMoney Homepage Pos:

I don't know, you've all gone to bed so nitenitexxx

Hi Jenny, more than enough!! OK how do we go about this appeal, is there a form to fill in ? do we ring the court for one, or do we just send in a letter?

Hi Kelley nice to have you back, I think we have all done as much as we can, other than appealing against the refusal, I don't think they will do a thing, but might be worth sending in appeals just to hassle them, cause more trouble might help. Have you seen the announcement today about the Bank of England releasing shed loads of money into the banking system? this means the government will definately not do anything now as they won't want to diadvantage the banks will they? so this is looking blacker than ever.

Along with many other things happening in this country going down the pan at the moment it seems the goal posts in our legal system have been moved once again. I think we need some input from our leaders ?? all three sites? We could do with their help.

Yes ja-de, you are right, but it does infuriate me the injustice of it all. The announcement on TV today about the Bank of England pumping out vast amounts of money into the banking system. this will now reflect in the banks favour since the government will not want to disadvantage them . and not forgetting the increased profits for the 6 months published have of course been obtained by the devious methods (penalty charges)

I agree an absolute disgrace ! and as I said before I am so angry that they are allowed to get away with this. If the boot was on the other foot we'd be arrested by now !! yes ja-de you are being polite aren't you. I don't think we will get anywhere, but keep trying.

Hi Phantom The FSA1, is identical to mine, well thats no surprise anyway. lets hope something good comes from your MP at least Alison Seabeck is thinking a lot more about this than most other MPs I am waiting for my reply to my rather angry response to mine.

Also Jenny, thanks for your support, it's you who spurred me on!! plus many others on these sites!! valxx

[email protected] 0208 752 7447 Thats who I wrote to. ( see my post on page 37) I thought more the merrier. I expect a lot of people wrote, lets hope we hear something soon. Maybe we should get some advice from the leaders of these 3 sites they have joined forces now haven't they?

Hi johnandcaz I will probably bounce back, but I really feel as if we have wasted so much time and effort on this and now getting nowhere. Barclays owe me £1091. not so much as you, but my overdraft has just gone over and I have incurred another £30 charge and I have transferred about £3,000 to 0% rated cards to pay off by a certain time! but it has become more than the money alone it really has become the principal of the whole thing not letting them get away with this. Have you seen this I have written to the BBC after reading this. SEPTEMBERS NEWS LETTER Dear ~Members~ Following on from the OFT announcement that they are conducting a test case against the bank we were concerned and we are still concerned whether the test case will ever get heard. It appears from recent media source as if The OFT is going to set a limit which they think is a fair amount and if they banks agree to that limit the test case will be dropped. Link to media source BBC NEWS | Business | OFT may compromise on bank case Most of you would have also noticed this paragraph in the article "In most instances we would probably agree with the banks' arguments that these are not penalties as defined in common law," said Mr Elithorn. Now what is interesting about this is the fact that Mr Elithorn use to be a Senior Manager for Capital One . See http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2007/62-07 So in realty his comments were not that surprising "however it does beg the Question what on earth is going on at the OFT" and is it all ex bank, credit card mangers making the decisions? Remember we have a published advice and a template for Members to have stays set a side, however remember you will need to amend this to suit your circumstances, people who are struggling finically will probably be more successful in having stays overturned. We would advice people to WRITE to the OFT and ask them to confirm that Mr.Elithorn Statement is correct, (remember spell it out) if they confirm it is I would included this in your application for stays to be lifted as clearly there is no guarantee the test case will ever get heard. Joined Forces We are happy to announce that we have joined forces with Moneysaving expert and Consumer Action Group and in August the three sites published the bank charges Charter there is also a new petition on the Governments web site that we hope you will sign. Link to the charter http://www.penaltychargesforum.co.uk/announcement.php?f=182&a=61 Link to the Petition http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BankCharter/ BBC NEED YOU The BBC Money Programme is making a film about bank charges. We're investigating the current situation between the banks and the OFT examining at how it effects those still hoping to claim. We'd like to hear your stories. Are you going to court in the next few weeks to claim back bank charges? Do you know if your case will be heard or not? Since the ruling on the 28th July have you had your case heard or been offered a settlement? Would you be willing to speak to the BBC about your situation? We'd like to film with someone currently in the process of trying to claim back their penalty charges. We'd also like to hear from people who feel they've experienced intimidating behaviour from their bank after submitting a claim. If any of the above apply to you and your willing to share your story, please contact [email protected] 0208 752 7447 WE NEED YOU We are trying to find people who are in finical difficulty because of bank charges who have applied for stay to be removed and argued that they are suffering from hardship We like to hear from you is you made an application to the court for the stay to be lifted but this was declined. And or you told your bank but they have ignored you! WHAT NEXT The simple answer is keep filing you claims if your claim is stayed decided if using the application to have the stay lifted is suitable for your circumstances. GREAT NEWS We almost at 5,000,000.00 refunded to members so great work everyone. THANK YOU To all the sites Admin and Mods and Members that have given so much of their time to help people because it's the right thing to do. With out you and without your input this site would not work. So a big thank you from me Stephen Hone Founder of the war against bank charges,

Hi ja-de I might contact the court to ask them about that, but I don't think there is much more we can do now, I have written to the BBC after looking on the penaltycharges.co site SEPTEMBERS NEWS LETTER Dear ~Members~ Following on from the OFT announcement that they are conducting a test case against the bank we were concerned and we are still concerned whether the test case will ever get heard. It appears from recent media source as if The OFT is going to set a limit which they think is a fair amount and if they banks agree to that limit the test case will be dropped. Link to media source BBC NEWS | Business | OFT may compromise on bank case Most of you would have also noticed this paragraph in the article "In most instances we would probably agree with the banks' arguments that these are not penalties as defined in common law," said Mr Elithorn. Now what is interesting about this is the fact that Mr Elithorn use to be a Senior Manager for Capital One . See http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2007/62-07 So in realty his comments were not that surprising "however it does beg the Question what on earth is going on at the OFT" and is it all ex bank, credit card mangers making the decisions? Remember we have a published advice and a template for Members to have stays set a side, however remember you will need to amend this to suit your circumstances, people who are struggling finically will probably be more successful in having stays overturned. We would advice people to WRITE to the OFT and ask them to confirm that Mr.Elithorn Statement is correct, (remember spell it out) if they confirm it is I would included this in your application for stays to be lifted as clearly there is no guarantee the test case will ever get heard. Joined Forces We are happy to announce that we have joined forces with Moneysaving expert and Consumer Action Group and in August the three sites published the bank charges Charter there is also a new petition on the Governments web site that we hope you will sign. Link to the charter http://www.penaltychargesforum.co.uk/announcement.php?f=182&a=61 Link to the Petition http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BankCharter/ BBC NEED YOU The BBC Money Programme is making a film about bank charges. We're investigating the current situation between the banks and the OFT examining at how it effects those still hoping to claim. We'd like to hear your stories. Are you going to court in the next few weeks to claim back bank charges? Do you know if your case will be heard or not? Since the ruling on the 28th July have you had your case heard or been offered a settlement? Would you be willing to speak to the BBC about your situation? We'd like to film with someone currently in the process of trying to claim back their penalty charges. We'd also like to hear from people who feel they've experienced intimidating behaviour from their bank after submitting a claim. If any of the above apply to you and your willing to share your story, please contact [email protected] 0208 752 7447 WE NEED YOU We are trying to find people who are in finical difficulty because of bank charges who have applied for stay to be removed and argued that they are suffering from hardship We like to hear from you is you made an application to the court for the stay to be lifted but this was declined. And or you told your bank but they have ignored you! WHAT NEXT The simple answer is keep filing you claims if your claim is stayed decided if using the application to have the stay lifted is suitable for your circumstances. GREAT NEWS We almost at 5,000,000.00 refunded to members so great work everyone. THANK YOU To all the sites Admin and Mods and Members that have given so much of their time to help people because it's the right thing to do. With out you and without your input this site would not work. So a big thank you from me Stephen Hone Founder of the war against bank charges,

Well I think it looks as if we have all been well and truly 'carved up ' now. It seems that we stand alone. The OFT FSA FOS MOR, MEPs most MPs ARE ALL SUPPORTING THE BANKS,

Hi Ja-de Today I had all these responses !! I have pasted them over from the Cardiff Directions site, I am fuming what do you think of this lot:-x Classic Account Customer Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 193 Re: Cardiff directions hearings *POST HERE* Hi Jenny, (and all of you) This is my day for receiving answers GET a load of this: ................ JUDICIARY OF ENGLAND AND WALES ANDY CATON PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE DEPUTY HEAD OF CIVIL JUSTICE 14th September 2007 Dear Ms Thank you for your letter dated 10th September 2007 and enclosures Unfortunately this office does not have any record of receiving your letter of 13th August, but in response to the points raised it is quite correct to say that no "blanket" direction to stay cases involving bank charges was made by the Deputy Head of Civil Justice. Instead the Designated CivilJudge for each area of England and Wales was asked to consider the cases for which he and his District Judges have conduct and to make an assessment as to the appropriate course of action. In some areas there is a large volume of cases which relate to the same point, it is therefore not surprising that an assessment has been made that a great many of the cases should be stayed pending the outcome of the High Court hearing. It is of course open to you to make representations to the County Court to have the stay lifted. It is however, a matter for the local Judiciary to decide how a case should be conducted. Master of the Rolls Private Office Room E214 Royal Courts of Justice Strand London WC2A2LL Telephone 020 7947 7402 Fax 029 7947 7475 Email [email protected] si.gov.uk Website Judiciary of England and Wales website and this Dear Valerie Jessica has asked me to contact you about your e mail of 7 September in connection with the above. I have spoken to Jessica and she thinks the best course of action would be to take your concerns up direct with the Chief Executive of the Office of Fair Trading along with a request that they contact you direct to try and resolve your difficulties. In this respect, therefore, are you content for me to release copies of your correspondence to OFT? I look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, I will let you have a copy of the letter Jessica sent to the FSA. Anthony Jermyn Caseworker Office of Jessica Morden MP Newport East Suite 5, 1st Floor, Clarence House, Clarence Place, Newport, South Wales NP19 7AA 01633 841726 [email protected] AND THIS:-x General form of Judgement or Order Before District Judge Hendicott sitting at Cardiff County Court etc..etc.. Upon reading the Claimants submissions to the proposed order of stay it is ordered that the submissions be treated as an applicaiton to remove the stay in the order of 07 August 2007 The application be refused. As this has been refused without a hearing either party may apply for the applicant to be reconsidered at an oral hearing. Any such applicaiton shall be on notice and is reserved to HHJ Hickinbottom or DJ Hendicott unless expressly released by either:-x Firstly the Master of Rolls I have proof of delivery of my first letter signed for!! Second, PASS THE BUCK WHY DON'T YOU FSA And Third The judge saying my application to be treated as an application ???what ??? I already asked for an oral hearing ???

Hi Jenny, (and all of you) This is my day for receiving answers GET a load of this: ................ JUDICIARY OF ENGLAND AND WALES ANDY CATON PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE DEPUTY HEAD OF CIVIL JUSTICE 14th September 2007 Dear Ms Thank you for your letter dated 10th September 2007 and enclosures Unfortunately this office does not have any record of receiving your letter of 13th August, but in response to the points raised it is quite correct to say that no "blanket" direction to stay cases involving bank charges was made by the Deputy Head of Civil Justice. Instead the Designated CivilJudge for each area of England and Wales was asked to consider the cases for which he and his District Judges have conduct and to make an assessment as to the appropriate course of action. In some areas there is a large volume of cases which relate to the same point, it is therefore not surprising that an assessment has been made that a great many of the cases should be stayed pending the outcome of the High Court hearing. It is of course open to you to make representations to the County Court to have the stay lifted. It is however, a matter for the local Judiciary to decide how a case should be conducted. Master of the Rolls Private Office Room E214 Royal Courts of Justice Strand London WC2A2LL Telephone 020 7947 7402 Fax 029 7947 7475 Email [email protected] Website Judiciary of England and Wales website and this Dear Valerie Jessica has asked me to contact you about your e mail of 7 September in connection with the above. I have spoken to Jessica and she thinks the best course of action would be to take your concerns up direct with the Chief Executive of the Office of Fair Trading along with a request that they contact you direct to try and resolve your difficulties. In this respect, therefore, are you content for me to release copies of your correspondence to OFT? I look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, I will let you have a copy of the letter Jessica sent to the FSA. Anthony Jermyn Caseworker Office of Jessica Morden MP Newport East Suite 5, 1st Floor, Clarence House, Clarence Place, Newport, South Wales NP19 7AA 01633 841726 [email protected] AND THIS:-x General form of Judgement or Order Before District Judge Hendicott sitting at Cardiff County Court etc..etc.. Upon reading the Claimants submissions to the proposed order of stay it is ordered that the submissions be treated as an applicaiton to remove the stay in the order of 07 August 2007 The application be refused. As this has been refused without a hearing either party may apply for the applicant to be reconsidered at an oral hearing. Any such applicaiton shall be on notice and is reserved to HHJ Hickinbottom or DJ Hendicott unless expressly released by either:-x Firstly the Master of Rolls I have proof of delivery of my first letter signed for!! Second, PASS THE BUCK WHY DON'T YOU FSA And Third The judge saying my application to be treated as an application ???what ??? I already asked for an oral hearing ???

Hi Macboy, and all I agree with you I think we have been so meticulous in our efforts to bring this to the attention of someone high up, to do something about the corruption going on, that some replys are an insult and then there are the ignorant ones who haven't answered. lets send to more MPs

Hi I've just read the Stitch Up link. The deal with the financial ombudsman means to say that if we had taken that route we would have had our money back, I personally did not go that route as I thought they would be more likely to be in the banks pocket, well I didn't reallise just how crooked they really were. Also revealing the bit about the banks admitting to confusing customers with their explanations about charges, surely this could be used to show even more unalwful or unethical behaviour?

Hi ja-de Well I can't believe it ! First of all "you will be pleased to hear the courts are still hearing cases" well I never!! what are we worried about then lets all go and find one shall we:rolleyes: We have all seen that article thankyou sir ! Also "for assistance in moving your claim against a bank forward" do you think if all of us in wales asked nicely they would lift our stays so we could transfer? ( and everywhere else) lets ring the consumer direct then shall we.

LLOYDS BITES BULLET IN WAR ON HIGH FEES Wednesday September 12,2007 Lloyds TSB has become the first high street bank to cut overdraft rates after criticism about excessive bank charges and a fees investigation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Lloyds’ new policy includes reducing interest rates on unauthorised borrowing and a text-message service warning customers when they are close to their overdraft limit. The bank said the measures had been taken after “talking to thousands of customers”. But campaigners believe it is an attempt to pre-empt the results of the OFT’s charges probe, which includes a test case brought against several leading banks to establish whether it is fair to charge penalties of up to £39 for unauthorised borrowing. “Lloyds is doing now what it will probably be forced to do next year anyway, after the OFT’s test case,” said Lisa Taylor from Moneyfacts.co.uk “It’s great that banks are warning customers in advance with text messages, but Lloyds’ charges are still expensive — particularly if you go more than £100 into unauthorised borrowing. You could be charged up to £215 a month.” Mike Naylor from uSwitch.com said: “It does finally seem that the looming test case is having some impact on the banks’ attitudes to levels of charges. We hope the other big banks will follow Lloyds’ example in the coming months.” Lloyds refunded £36million- worth of overdraft charges in the first half of this year but all refund claims have now been frozen until the outcome of the OFT investigation, expected early next year. The new Lloyds measures, which come into effect on November 2, will see unauthorised interest rates for a Classic account slashed from 29 per cent to 19 per cent. Customers who go over their overdraft limit will also be given a “period of grace” — until 3.30pm that day — to correct things without incurring any fees. Instead of penalising customers £30 a day should they go into the red without permission the bank will now charge £15 a month, then between £6 and £20 a day, according to the amount borrowed. The penalty for bouncing a cheque, standing order or direct debit will fall by £15 to £20. The text-message warning service will cost £2.50 per month. Lloyds TSB’s Ian Larkin said: “We want to help our customers avoid accidentally slipping into the red and are giving them the tools to do just that. We understand it can sometimes be difficult to keep tabs on an account and we want to make it easier to do so.” In a different move to tackle unauthorised borrowing, the cash machines of HSBC are to alert customers when a withdrawal is about to take them over their overdraft limit. The warning messages will start appearing at the 3,500 cash machines operated by the bank on October 1, although warnings will not be displayed on non-HSBC machines. NatWest is also expected to provide a “new option” later this year for customers who go over their authorised overdraft limit. Anna Bowes from independent financial adviser AWD Chase de Vere said: “People must budget carefully and take some responsibility for going overdrawn. Banks are not charities and everyone knows they will incur high charges if they dip into money that is not theirs. “Should you find yourself going into an unauthorised overdraft, talk to your bank and try to arrange a solution. If you are getting into a spiral of debt, do not bury your head in the sand — talk to a debt counsellor immediately.”

WHAT A GOOD IDEA !!! The best joke is you've probably already seen this one.

Yes Jenny, I started my claim in January, and also I think you are right about them knowing long before the announcement, I have thought that is why they transferred our cases to Cardiff from all over Wales, some as far as Carmarthen. Llanelli and all the valleys, because I had mine transferred to Newport first and if that had taken place it would have been all settled, there was no need for any 'directions hearing' that was the con.

Just tried that Jenny, didn't work I think it may be something to do with the fact that it is a newspaper item, the last one I scanned was a normal letter ?

No I scanned the newspaper article to microsoft word and it won't let me highlight the article therefore it won't copy? pity we didn't move to that other place in England, where was it now? they were hearing cases at the start.