Hi, Thanks for all the advice! My partner has since sent a letter refusing anything but the final amount. But, I'm left wondering now.. what's the next step? Do I wait 14 days and then send an LBA (which seems a little redundant now since it's been discussed and refused) or can I simply wait 14 days and then file for a claim?

Hi, My partner has sent a preliminary request for repayment and the NatWest have got back basically offering her peanuts. She would rather just continue and get the lump sum, but isn't quite sure if she should accept this payment as partial settlement or not. What are the benefits of partial settlement? Does it make your court claim look better? Also, is there templates for accepting partial settlement/refusing offer? Cheers,

Hi. I've just sent my Preliminary Request to retrieve penalties charged to my current account, and now I'm trying to see what else I can claim back. I bought a laptop on hire-purchase (when I was stupid) about 4/5 years ago. Its since been paid off. The final settlement figure was huge; as apparently they added a pile of interest on top of the figure for late payments over the years! During the entire 4 years of the agreement, they never once sent me a statement. Recon I should request them? Am I within my rights to claim back any penalties or interest charged during a hire purchase agreement? I definately know they used to charge me "administration fees" quite a bit. I bought the laptop from Dixons, and HFC Bank provided the loan. Regards,

Sorry, noticed there is a subgroup for this. Have reposted there!

Hi, Currently nailing my current account with a prelim. req. Now trying to see what else I can claim back - Used to have an Egg Card and Loan (within past 6 years). Absolutely certain they have both penalised me for either paying late or in the case of the Egg Card, paying late or going over the limit. Their statements are only available online, and they only show the past 1 year. Questions: a) Can I claim back all penalties and extra interest on both Loan and Card? b) Anyway of displaying all the data online? or is it a DPA request? c) If its a DPA request, can I just send one for both accounts? Thanks,

Hey, I'm currently nailing my current account with a Prelim Req, and I fancied a go at some other previous lenders... I've not got a complete set of Barclaycard statements (I sure as hell will get them) but from what I can gather, I've been charged both "Late Payment" fees and "Over Limit" fees. Can I claim both of these back? In every case the Over Limit fee has been incurred due to a Late Payment penalty.

Right, I've put in a Prelim. Req. for my current account, and now I'm wondering what else I can claim for - I've not got a complete set of Halifax Credit Card statements (I sure as hell will get them) but from what I can gather, I've been charged both "Late Payment" fees and "Over Limit" fees. Can I claim both of these back? In every case the Over Limit fee has been incurred due to a Late Payment penalty. Cheers.

Hi. I've just sent my Preliminary Request to retrieve penalties charged to my current account, and now I'm trying to see what else I can claim back. I bought a laptop on hire-purchase (when I was stupid) about 4/5 years ago. Its since been paid off. The final settlement figure was huge; as apparently they added a pile of interest on top of the figure for late payments over the years! During the entire 4 years of the agreement, they never once sent me a statement. Recon I should request them? Am I within my rights to claim back any penalties or interest charged during a hire purchase agreement? I definately know they used to charge me "administration fees" quite a bit. I bought the laptop from Dixons, and HFC Bank provided the loan. Regards,

Absolutely fantastic - the complex spreadsheet Vamps provided me, as suspected, boosted my estimated interest from around 40 to 180 :)well pleased. Thank you very much! I've now dispatched my Preliminary Request and started my countdown timer for the LBA. Within my Preliminary Request, I also stated that I wanted my £10 Data Protection Act fee back - I'm within my rights aren't I? On another note (and when I proceed, I'll post new topics about this), I have obtained a Credit Report from Experian which details all my previous lenders - thinking what I'm thinking? In brief here is the list: GE Capitol Bank Ltd - A store card with notoriously high interest rates. HFC Bank PLC - A hire purchase agreement that charged me a large amount of interest on "late payments" when I finally paid the account off. Egg Banking PLC - A credit card Halifax VISA - Another credit card Barclaycard - Yet another credit card Halifax PLC - My current account (PR letter already sent) Egg Banking PLC - A large loan. (One thing is a Provident VISA card I remember having... but it's not listed). I've paid all of these companies off now, but they've all been opened and closed in the last 6 years. I'm certain that during this time they've each charged me quite a few penalties and extra interest. Can I run relatively the same procedure and get my money back? Would the nature/type of any of those accounts prevent me from doing so? Also, on my credit report, Orange and Vodaphone have appeared. I'm pretty sure they've penalised me at some point - can I chase them up as well? Look forward to your advice.

Brilliant! Got complex spreadsheet, boosted interest, proceeding with Prelim. Req.

Agreed as the overdraft limit also changes over time! I think I just need to enter the details and try and get the largest estimate possible and leave it at that. But part of me wants to screw them for a larger amount as after all, the estimate on the normal spreadsheet can't be that accurate taking into account the interest free overdraft.

Hi, I've heard nothing back from anyone and I'm itching to send this request off. I've taken a look at the forumlas on the spreadsheet and attempted to cook the figures so it includes my overdraft - but got nowhere really. I want to get it sent off asap; if the interest on the penalties is simply an estimate does anyone strongly recommend against simply totalling the interest and leaving it for them to contest? Hope someone can help - sorry if I'm being a moaning mini - just can't wait to get the cash back!

Hey. Check out my thread: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/halifax-bank/12527-halifax-plc-reformed-irresponsible-2.html I need a spreadsheet that will take into account my interest free overdraft when estimating interest on penalties. Can anyone help? Cheers,

Hi, I've PMd Vampiress, and emailed the address for spreadsheet enquires, but heard nothing. I know there must be loads of requests and I'm sorry for nagging - but is there another part of the forum I can go to in order to draw attention to this issue? Many thanks,

OK. I shall await a response to my email!

Fair enough. 4plates.co.uk Basically, they don't do emails... or provide contact details.. or apologise! They sent me some plates, one of which was smudged and both of which were badly printed and nothing like the preview on their site would suggest. I sent them various emails through their website on their contact form and received no response. Then about a week later some new plates arrived in the post (just before I was about to write them a letter). The company is registered in Ireland and it's customer services for an online company is pretty poor. I'm happy with the plates now, but I really wouldn't recommend anyone doing business with them; especially since I googled their website and found reviews containing complaints. Here are the company’s details: Registrant: R.H. TRADING Registrant type: UK Individual Registrant's address: 23 BARRYVILLE COURT*, ROSSLARE HARBOUR, Co WEXFORD, N ONE , IE. *I had a mate look up the address and it's a private property

OK cool, so correct me if I'm wrong: You recon I should just bang in a preliminary request for the charges and all the interest debited from my account? As the banks can only estimate the interest proportioned to the penalties and they don't want to contest it in court, I've got nothing to loose?

The registrant’s details can be found via a WHOIS search that I already performed. Problem is now solved... the goods turned up randomly in the post, with know contact or apology. I'm not prepared print the companies name just yet, as I may be an isolated case. However, just goes to show - never, ever purchase from a website unless they willingly display their contact details. I can't believe I fell for that one. Thanks for all your help!

Hi, Just had a response, and I don't think I'm explaining myself very well I’ve been charged a great deal of interest for going over my overdraft (usually apportioned to the penalty charges they’ve levied against me). I need a way to estimate the interest attributed to those penalties when I’ve gone over my limit. At the moment, it thinks the limit is 0; I need to set it to whatever my overdraft was at the time... WifeandI on my post claims there is a new version of the xls file that allows you to do this, but I can’t find it anywhere. Can someone please help? Many thanks.

Hi, I can't find the one with the column for interest free overdraft Am I being stupid here? I've emailed vampiress again as someone sent me the standard xls file. Again, any help much appreciated.

Hi all, I will make this as quick as possible - I ordered some car reg. plates from an internet company (who will remain nameless) and I received the goods pretty promptly. However, the white plate was smudged, and they failed to print the design I specified properly. I have tried contacting them via the website. They have NO phone number and NO postal address (yes i know - I have committed a cardinal sin and should have checked). But they do have a contact form. I've contacted them twice in the last week regards the issue and they simply haven't got back to me. The only communication I've had from them is an email requesting me to give some feedback about their site! But, when I replied with an email telling them to forward my issue onto someone in after sales; they replied telling me to contact them by the website... Anyway, I'm starting to get slightly annoyed. I'm getting nowhere through the site fast, and I have no way of contacting them. I've done a WHOIS search on the domain name and have obtained a company name and address. I was thinking, perhaps I should leave it a few more days and then write to that address in an attempt to open dialogue? Any advice much appreciated! PS. Just incase you are wondering these are simply replacement plates, not new personalised number plates.

hmm. Well that isn't a very fair calculation. As whether I'm getting bank charges or not, I'm perminately overdrawn as I'm taking advantage of my interest free overdraft (4years). Should I set the zero mark to -2000 (my overdraft limit)? Wouldn't that calculate a fairer interest charge estimate?

OK. Sorry about this - but I need a little assistance in the estimated interest area! I don't understand what the formula is doing. I keep putting in whopping great interest charges and it estimates them at a fraction of their original value. Does it take into account the balance at the time of the interest charge? Because I am permanently in the "legal red" with my interest free student overdraft. Could it be, that the cell thinks I'm disproportionately below zero, compared to the bank charges and so the amount of estimated interest attributed to the charges is only a fraction of what it should be? If so, that isn't right as I've never been over my overdraft limit much or for long. E.g. - When my current balance at date of interest charge = £-1978.84 that’s me actually within my limit (OD = £2000). Or.. is it simply because the interest charges are appearing half way through the month, and so estimated less as the bank charges (appearing at different times) don't seem to contribute towards them. Can someone familiar with the spreadsheet advise me if I should alter the formula to include my OD limit? Cheers!

Hang on (sorted) I think. I rang Adrian Percy (who was in a meeting), and spoke to one of his DPA gurus! Unbelievable - They put me on hold, then got back to me and told me they were parcelling my letters up as we spoke! I enquired as to why I was told they were sent out on the 19th July, to which they simply replied. "errm, yes, that was the first time we sent them out". Yeh right... So, not only did they tell me that they only received my request on the 19th July (which was sent and acknowledged on the 15th June).. but they also told me my statements had been sent out that day - they clearly hadn't as they couldn't provide a method of delivery or a tracking number. I feel I've been lied to. I'm going to send them out a 7 day notice today whether I choose to believe they've sent them or... WAIT. The post has just been handed to me - 16 different letters from the Halifax! Maybe they really had sent them out 3 times! I'm going to be ages opening these - I'll get back to you.

Quick, any advice anyone?