Don't give in mate, they are financial vampires. They prey on the worst off in our society and offer you £1100 hoping you will be desperate enough to settle. If you are in a position to hold out then do so. I have a claim on the way. I am just waiting for the result of the court case. Regardless of the result I will claim, this is not related to the bank fees case in any way, regardless of what they say.

Good luck mate

Andrew

Just a quicky' date=' the long number on the card is not the cheque guarentee number it is debit card number, the small number on the bottom of the card plus the expiry date are the guarentee, if your card does not have the small number at the bottom apporx 7 -9 number long, then it is not a guarentee card. this what was explained to me by NatWest as I understand it[/quote']

 

When I phoned the branches I said

 

" I'm about to accept a cheque from one of your customers and want to know what information I need to put on the back to guarantee it. "

Both branches and the customer service centre said "use the long card number and the expiry date"

I specifically asked "you mean the 16 digit number printed along the face of the card ?" they said "yes that's the one" I also made a point of asking "is the 9 digit card number relevant ? should I add that as well" they said "No, just the long card number and the expiry date"

I asked "so a cheque with this info on will definately be paid and can't be cancelled ?" they said "yes, thats what the guarantee is for"

 

The customer service line was a bit vague but both local branches knew exactly what they were talking about and went into some depth about how the number was used.

 

As always I recorded all 3 calls. I'm not sure if I can use them in court but I have them anyway.

 

Due to the postal strike I am giving them an extra week to respond but i will then make a MCOL.

It is an easy question for NatWest to answer over the phone. Their call centre staff should know. Just keep the question simple, ie I have a customer who is going to write me a cheque, which number off his card do I need on the reverse to make it a guaranteed cheque?

Thanks for the advice, just phone 2 local branches who have both agreed that the guarantee number is the long 16 digit number across the face of the card and just to be on the safe side I called NatWest customer services as well.

14 Days are up tomorrow and I will start an MCOL claim on the 10th when I get paid.

Thanks for all your help and advice CAG'ers I will keep you informed

Thanks for all the responses,

Can anybody tell me for certain which number should be on the back of this NatWest cheque. I have always taken the long number in the middle of the card in the past, but I do know that NatWest cards do have a 9 digit 'card number' printed on them as well as the long number.

Everyone I have spoken to says the long number is the correct one, but I would like to be sure before I waste money on the MCOL fees.

So far I have heard nothing from NatWest,

Andrew

They will only stop a cheque if the written details are wrong (eg amount in words differs to numbers) or at the account holders request. The latter has probably applied here.

One thing I know for sure is that you cannot cancel a guaranteed cheque. Also a couple of days after after I received the cheque he wrote another cheque to cover a meal bill at my local pub, I watched the landlady 'back' the cheque (exactly the way I backed mine) and her cheque cleared with no problems. I feel that they are just trying it on with me because I am a private individual not a business. The landlady has offered to come to court with me to give evidence if it goes that far and has even offered to have her solicitor attend as well to represent me which is a very generous offer. She doesn't like the banks either !

Thanks lookinforinfo, I have drafted this letter for the bank

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Ref Cheque No: ******************

 

I recently presented a cheque (copy enclosed) to my bank for payment, this was a guaranteed check that I accepted in good faith for goods I supplied. The cheque was completed and signed in front of me, the guarantee card was valid, in date and the signature matched the specimen on the card. I entered the correct card number and expiry date on the reverse of the cheque myself and filled in the relevant boxes.

 

This cheque was returned to me marked:

 

“REFER TO DRAWER NOT DRAWN IN ACCORDANCE WITH CHEQUE CARD CRITERIA”

 

I have spoken to RAC Legal Advice and also Barclays Legal Advice (Capita Assistance Ltd) both have advised me to write this letter to you asking exactly what are your “cheque card criteria” and also exactly which part of those criteria this cheque is “not in accordance” with.

 

I require a complete, definitive and unambiguous reply.

 

If I do not receive a satisfactory reply within 14 days I will send a copy of this letter and also a copy of the cheque involved to the Financial Ombudsman Service as an official complaint. I will also file a small claim using MCOL.

I am hoping this does the trick, but if I have to use the the MCOL route I am very confident of success.

Thanks for the advice, someone else has advised me to write to the bank asking for a definitive reason why the checks were refused, complain to the ombudsman, and possibly use MCOL to get the cash.

I think I'll give that a go.

I have got over £500 of 'arrears management fees' from SPML/Capstone they haven't shown me any mercy and I get the feeling that they actually want to reposess my house rather than service my loan.

Give as good as you get mate, report them to the FSA.

I will be watching this thread with interest.

Good luck jotty

I have recently paid 3 guaranteed cheques into my account. They were from Natwest and were all correctly 'backed' with the long card number, expiry date and were signed in front of me, the signature matching the bank card signature strip. Natwest has returned all 3 cheques stamped 'refer to drawer not drawn in accordance with cheque card criteria'

All 3 cheques were from the same account, I got them on different days and were taken in good faith for goods I supplied. Obviously there were no funds in the guys account and I have now learned he is in China so he was clearly trying to 'pull a fast one'

Despite this, surely the bank must honour the cheques. I went into my local Natwest and made a teller phone the cheque cashing place who said that the guys signature didn't match the signature they had on record. I have known the guy for a couple of years so it was definately his cheque book and not stolen.

To make matters worse Barclays let me draw on the cheques the next day then took the money back and charged me £30 although I know this isn't Natwests fault.

Who do I write to or phone and what do I say, is there some law that lets the banks get away with this.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks.

Has anybody claimed their charges back from Capstone (SPML) I have got at least £500 of late payment charges at £50 a time, (they used to charge £65) Does the 'actual costs not profits' argument work with mortgages ?

Got my documents transferring my claim to Cambridge County Court and 'allocation questionnaire be dispensed with in this case' on 27/03/2007

I have sent a date protection letter to MBNA (A&L Credit Card) and after 2 weeks got the following reply

"As per your request here are the copy statements for your account prior to the conversion from HBOS to MBNA.

Many thanks,

Samantha Johnson."

The statements sent cover 1 month in 2003, my first month in fact, before I incurred any charges. I intend to call them tomorrow but any additional advice would be welcome.

Nice one mate, hopefully I will be able to post some positive news soon

:):)

Hi Andrew,

 

Welcome to the site

 

It may well be worth you sending a 2nd letter to them re-iterating just what your request is. With the hugh amount of letters the banks are getting on a daily basis, they just son't take the time to read them - making assumptions of what they believe is in the letter.

 

Regardless of all this, stick to your timetable. If for some reason they are getting too close to the 40 day deadline, it may well be worth phoning or writing to remind them the time is up! - I needed to do this for the NatWest, and the stuff came very quickly then.

 

All the best

Thanks for the advice Gordon,

I will call them in the morning (and follow that up with a letter if necessary)

I hope I am as successful as you have been

Library section mate, you will find it here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/

Really pleased to have found this site, the reason I hadn't posted earlier was I wanted some success to report first. I have sent the date protection letter to MBNA (Alliance & Leicester Credit Card) and recieved a reply today,

"As per your request here are the copy statements for your account prior to the conversion from HBOS (?) to MBNA. Many Thanks. Samantha Johnson"

I didn't request statements prior to anything. The statements sent have no charges on them as they only cover 3 Feb - 3 Mar 2003 when I had just opened the card and had not had the opportunity to get any charges. Is this a time wasting tactic ? and who are HBOS ?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

1971andrew

Edit :

Ohhhh.....by the way I have a few other claims lined up and 10% of any and all settlements will be donated to this site.

Thanks again