This topic was closed on 09 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

Hi Guys, been so busy the last mointh or so that I havent had much of a chance to pop in and find out whats been going on. I see not much has changed and there has been no significant climb down from the Abbey, as if I expected it! Anyway, I have had my usual fob off letter from Abbey and have just sent off the LBA. I had no joy on the DPA letter ref their putting an entry on the credit references list thingy. I replied to their letter explaining that I had informed them of my action against their charges and that the overdraft on my account was indispute but they just responded with "because we did not admit liability although the claim was settled" and that the "the overdraft was not wholly made up of charges" they weren't going to retract their entry.

It might be worth contacting the solicitors direct to negotiate a settlement. It will of course mean that you will have to give some ground on what you are claiming.

Just added up the charges from Dec 00 to Dec 02 and have got another £2559!!!! I cannot believe they just let people pay over this amount of money without discussing anything with them. I really thought that there would be a lot less during this period as it was the time when my account started to go into freefall and my overdraft limit went up. Would it really cost them that much to give their customers a 'sabbatical' from charges for one or two months to allow them a chance to get back to square 1?

I am stunned, all relevant statement copies received today, no prompting and well within their 40 days. On a side note, I had the following response to my letter sent out during my previous claim after they had threatened to enter a default notice with Credit Reference Agencies because I was not paying off my overdraft, although the entire amount plus some was being disputed: "I understand you believe registration of defaults or adverse credit with Credit Reference Agencies is in breach of The Data Protection Act 1998. Please allow me to clarigy our position. We are required by the Office of the Information Commissioner to register adverse credit information. These dertails are registered when there has been a breakdown in the original credit agreement and there are insudfficient proposals in place to put the account back in order within a satisfactory timescale. This ensures that when offering credit facilities, financial institutions have sufficient relevant information to enable them to make an informed decision. As such any correct and legitimately registered information registered with a Credit Reference Agency does not breach the Data Protection Act." signed by Jenny Atkin, Senior Customer Resolution Manager. I am going to reply to their arrogance.

Good luck, its a long slow process but it works!

I was looking forward to another conversation with Alison Burton, she sounded very nice Perhaps the new guys will have some totti... er nice young ladies as well

If they have sent you a letter saying that they will default you then send them the DPA letter now. If not I would hold off until they do and instead just send a letter to Debt Management (or wherever you are dealing with ref your overdraft) and make it perfectly clear it is in dispute. I would always put it in writing and send it recorded so that they cannot deny they have received it, or that they ahev spoken to you.

Mind you they will probably use the change as an excuse to 'lose' papers, cause delays and anything else they can to b*gger up what we are trying to do.

Keep to your schedule and the tried and tested schedule that everyone else has used. You are driving the claim, not them. If I had waited for them I would still be waiting for a reply from my first letter, I had a "sorry about the delay but we are still investigating" letter the other week, a month after the claim was settled!!!!!

Probably everyone at DLA can now retire thanks to the vast amounts of money they will have been paid for handling all the cases. Either that or they feel that defending all those pointless cases isnt worth the effort anymore.

If they do take you to court then you have a valid defence for getting it thrown out in that you have already started dispute proceedings against what they say you owe them. Same if they pass it onto a collection company. A bailiff will leave you alone if he knows the amount is in dispute. Make sure that you say in the letter that any charges applied since your first letter could be subject to a further claim as well. And stop using the account, they will stop you using it soon anyway. If you have a bad credit history, try a Natwest Step account for a new account. The only downside is that you wont get a cheque book. Get everything transferred to that account and start afresh.

Write back to the person that has sent you the letter and explain that the account is in dispute. If the amount you are claiming is more than the overdraft etc then you do not have a problem. There is a letter in the library that you can send them which refers to the Data Protection Act and will hopefully stop them entering any default notice against you. When I sent them those letters the overdraft was removed compeltely from the account and they stopped charging anymore interest as well.

It got as far as me submitting the allocation questionnaire and then I negotiated a settlement, because at the time I couldnt afford to wait for the natural course of events. I had a few people 'knocking on the door' as it were. This time I will wait it out for the full amount, I'm in no hurry this time.

Hi Guys Not been about for a while as I have been busy paying off plenty of people with my previous 'winnings'. Back again now with the start of my second claim for the rest of the charges that I didn't go for last time. Having found out how easy it really is I wish I had gone for the lot even if it would have meant going through Fast Track instead of Small Claims. Anyway, here goes, sending off a DPA request as I appear to have a small gap in my statements

My account is still open and now has had all my reclaimed charges paid into it, but I will have to go into the branch to get it all out as my card has been deactivated. The account will not be open beyond this afternoon though lol

Cheque has cleared today Time to start round 2 I think.

Have issued ultimatum through DLA and guess what? 10 minutes later, a phone call to say that a cheque has been paid into my account. But A CHEQUE??????? Abbey paying an Abbey customer some money and they pay by CHEQUE rather than a direct transfer grrrrrrrrrrrrrr Anyway, money will be available once the cheque has cleared on Thursday

Still no payment today, and today is 10 working days from agreement being reached. Alison Burton is out of the office and I have been speaking to Paul Denham this afternoon. Have phoned them to chase up payment but been stonewalled basically. Will be phoning him again in a mo, he says he has passed it on to a colleague who was on the phone when I asked to be put through to him. I have told him that if I do not receive the money in my account by the end of today I will be withdrawing my offer as "full settlement" and will be proceeding with my claim for the full amount (about another £500-600). Am a bit stressed and quite a bit annoyed.

The AQ is fairly straightforward. There is help in the FAQs for the different forms.

The complaints letter is pretty standard. It's funny cos none of us is actually complaining as such, we just want our money back.

There is a letter in the library section that you can send them regarding the default, it is a Data Protection Act letter and basically tells them they you will take them to court under the act if they default you as they are misusing their access to the register. I sent one to the Abbey when I got my letter and they stopped charging me interest and have not bothered me since about the account.

I am expecting to have to speak to the bank before I go in and get the cash. It will a pleasure to accept the cash and then hand over my card and tell them to close the account.

Well done Janey

Still waiting for the money to arrive in my Abbey account. I have had the settlement letter from DLA and to day is 10 days from agreeing a settlement. I will phone the bank again tomorrow and will be onto Alison Burton if I dont have any joy. As regards a question that was posed a couple of posts ago - I spoke to the Abbey regarding access to the account as I decided to have the money paid straight to there rather than waiting for a chaeque and then waiting ofr it to clear. I was told that the account is still active but the only way I will be able to access it is through the branch. As soon as the money is paid in then that will clear the £1k overdrawn balance and the rest is mine and will be drawn over the counter in cash (because I like to be awkward) and transferred to my Nat West account. They can then have my cards etc and close the account.