Hi Juicy, myself and my partner have had simialr experiences with I Group, we are just considering finding exactly how much they have charged us for late payments etc and attempting to get them back... our mortgage and further advance are with them

the answer is yes, although generally not with the main high street lenders. You will generally end up paying a slightly higher interest rate as i have had to do.

thanks seasidelady, sent of preliminary approach today for £3866!!!. So , here we go....

Hi livelylad, was feeling a bit lonely ha ha !! Thanks for the message:)

seem to be the on my own on this thread ha ha !! anyway, spoke to the legal departemnt. Told him i now had the information and provided he repaid the costs of the action i would inform the court the matter was settled (in relation to the non compliance of data protectio and nothing else!). Got him to agree to repay legal fees so as soon as i have the cheque from him i will inform the court. So onto getting back my other halfs charges. Having trawled throught he statements they taken £3866 from her!! the descriptions on the charges are not good, simply "charges as advised" Preliminary letter being sent today

really need some help here guys from somebody with a bit more legal nouse than i have. having studied Hellifax's defence, most of it is based on whether or not indeed they did try to deliver this information. If they are to be believed there was one letter of response sent recorded delivery and a set of staements sent recorded delivery, which went undelivered as nobody was in, and the uncollected by my partner. This we dispute as we never recieved any "calling cards" from the royal mail to collect post until last week, whereas the incidents the halifax are quoting are both in December 2006. Anyway, that aside, as i have disputed that anyway, part of their defence to the out of pocket costs i am claiming is as follows £30 courts costs + travel+ parking+ 2 hours loss of pay + £60) 5 As paragraph 6, the Defendant denies the claimant, as a litigant in person, is entitled to recover the alleged costs of pre-action actvity 6 Further, on the basis of the matters pleaded in the above paragraphs (undeliverd mail etc) the defendant 6.1 denies that it has acted in breach of any contractual or other duty owed to the claimant, as alleged otherwise 6.2 denies that the losses sort by the claimant (which losses are not admitted) wrere caused by any breach of duty by the defendant , and 6.3 denies that the claimant is entitled to the relief sort what does all that mean? they dont believe the costs and even if they do they dont believe i am entitled to claim them back? So am i entitled to recover these costs? I am not sure what to do. The main thrust of the claim was to force compliance to get the information on charges which i now have, so i could close this action and get on with going after the charges ( which are £3984 by the way!!!). But on the other hand i am out of pocket, in terms of hard cash shelled out, about £38 court cost and parking and photocopying.

They will settle...no question.. A&L, & MBNA (same people) although they wont ever admit to doing anything wrong in the first place. It will all be paid out a s a "goodwill gesture"..... so dont worry its just a matter of time:D

had a copy of halifax's defence sent to me by their legal eagles. In essence their defence is based around their counter claim that they have attempted to comply with the request. They claim they sent a recorded delivery letter after my first reminder letter and another one after my threat to start legal action stating that they would look into why we had not received the information. Apparently both letters were sent special delivery requiring a signature and both letters were sent back by the royal mail as "not called for" (dates stated for both). At no point have we been left a calling card from royalmail relating to non-delivery of mail requiring collection for these dates. The only correspondence that we have received was a letter way back in october stating they were ordering the copy statements, the solicitors letter on saturday, and a recorded delivery letter on the 14th of feb which we collected last saturday which ahs turned out to be the statements (this letter the solicitor didnt mention at all!). In the covering letter the solicitor also states that they have tried to contact us and the numbers they have dont accept incoming calls!!! Unbelievable. I intend to contact them this week, refuting the alleged delivery special deliver leters, stating we know have the information we requested, but will only advise the courts to close this action if they refund the costs incurred for this action. they also claim that the contact phone numbers they have for us do not accept incoming calls as they have been trying

Congrats else...both on the new arrival and your win

i reported halifax for the same reason. i sent in an SAR in september and they still haven't complied. The information comissioner eventually concluded that they were in breach of one the 8 principles of the data protection act, but that this in its self is not a criminal act and they cannot punish an organisation for such a breach. They basically went on to say they can slap their wrist and tell them to deal with as a matter of prioroty but thats it. The info commisioner also mentioned the heavy workload that the banks are under with all of the claims facing them (what a shame) although this in no excuse for failure to comply. And the letter then went on to mention taking court action for failure to comply, which is what i have done. Halifax have to file their defence by today. So dont hold out much hope re the info comissioner, you will probably have to go the court route.

Just an update on my second claim against LLoyds. I had charges of approximately £300 that occured during the course of my first claim, that SC&M refused to consider in my settlement. So up for round 2...sent Prelim approach in December and LBA in January with no response to either, obvioulsy they have taking to just ignoring some of us now LOL!! Eventually received a response this week referring to both letters and stating that the bank has issued its final response....Hmmm must of missed that as this is the first letter they have sent back. Unless of cours e they refer to the final response from the first claim...Hmmm !! Anyway, i cribbed a lot of the brilliant letter sent in to lloyds by Gary H for his second claim but still no response... so, no cash till thursday but the i will start the money claim...its disgraceful really that having already paid me out on a claim, and having paid 100's of other similar claims they can waste the time and resource of the publicly funded court system to simply delay the inevitable outcome!!

Hi Els, sounds like he believes his own spin and B.S!!!! "Customer service and retention", "building long lasting releationships".... yeah right, so they can bleed us dry LOL!!! The profits are obscene really, aren't they, and a lot of it made from extortionate charges against those least able to afford it!!

Hi SB, Well done and congratulations. Your letter to the court was also spot on. re the choice of wording on the payment, "refund of bank charges". i had the same description against my refund, yet as you say they continually insist these charges are for additional services not bank penalty charges!! It is about time the HMSC came down on them, they have paid out on hundreds of cases now and clealry never have any intention of defending. They simply continue to overburden a publicly funded service simply to delay the inevitable and also put off as many people of possible I am currently in round 2, going after the charges that occured during my original claim which SC&M would not consider in my settlement. They are still playing the same gane and making me take out a court action against them. !!!

well done els and congratulations.... definately a change in the tone of the letter with the offer now eh? enjoy!!! :)

they wont do that kevvy becuase in order to counter claim and charge you something then they would have to prove what it costs them.... and they definately dont want to do that...thats also the reason they wont go to court... they just keep up the pretence that they will fo as long as they can and hope people will give up

HI seaside lady, this action is primarily to force them to comply with the SAR under the data protection act. they took my £10 fee in september, wrote to me saying it was in process....then nothing despite several reminder letters and threat of legal action for non compliance and reporting them to the information comissioner we cant even begin to recover the charges until they comply with the SAR. Right now my partner is caught in the snowball effect, and there is not a month goes by where she is not hit with charges. i received acknowledgement of service yesterday, stating that they intend to defend the whole of the claim and have until the 23rd to submit their defence. how can you defend a blatant failure to comply?

unbeleivable arent they...and yes it is not fair or right. The terms and conditions are unfair and the charges disproportionate to their costs incurred, and thats precisely why you will win in the end, kevvy kev:-)

you'll be fine kevvy, you apprehension is understandable. Most of us felt like this when we first started out, but each victory you get or others get gives you encouragement to go on. They ( the banks) are forcing us through the courts in the hope that the worry over going through the courts will disuade people from taking them on. go get em! kev(kfdh)

Phoned the courts today, hellifax filed acknolwedgement of service on the 9th february... deadline day. the court advised me that they now have until 23rd to file their defence for non compliance under the data protection act

Hi Kevvy, have faith you will win and get your money back.

bump...bump ... anybody??

go whizzie... go whizzie !!

might be worth a quick call to the local county court just to ask the question

Hi Kevvy, not sure about that one mate, sorry.

Yep, just the breakdown on the claim form is all you need right now. A&L already have your schedule of charges, if it gets to the allocation questionaire then you can attach it then. If they do as they did on my claim and my MBNA claim (same people , MBNA) they will pay up when their response to your money claim is due back to the court and submit their defence that the claim is paid in full.