Hiall - I've decided to tackle the charges which have accrued on my Egg card over the past 5 (I think) or so years.

In terms of sending off my SAR, can anyone confirm the address to use?

Also, what is the general feeling in terms of dealing with Egg? Are they reasonable or not to deal with? I think there's probably about £300-£400 charges on this account which largely accrued when i was unemployed.

Grateful for any thoughts or advice.

Hi - wonder if you can help me. I last did my reclaim of bank charges a few years back (thanks to this site ), and my Natwest Step was my parachute account.

In the last few years, I've had about £300 worth of charges incurred on this account. Not a huge amount, but I do want to reclaim it.

I've asked for my money back nicely, but they've said no given that the OFT case is ongoing.

What happens next? I'm asking because it was all so much simplier 2 years ago!!!!

Grateful for any advice.

Euorpa, I've just made a similar complaint to the FOS about Sainsburys not providing a CCA which contains all the prescribed terms and conditions. They've told me they are waiting to pas this to an Adjudictor although going by the responses you've received from the FOS, I'm not holding out much hope for them to take this matter seriously. How disappointing - and that's with the Office of Fair Trading writing to me and telling that the FOS could help in situations such as this.

I take the scattergun approach too. tell as many people as possible who may have an influence and try and get someone somewhere to maka a change. Truth is, there are so many uneducated consumers (not a criticism of anyone - we only learn about these things when we need to) that most people assume that banks always act lawfully as they do not know what they can and cannot do.

If more consumers knew their rights, I think would be a hell of a lot more complaints than there are now.

Sent a 'chasing' email to the FOS on Sunday just to get an update on where my case is and this is their response:

"Thank you for your previous email. Please note we currently aim to

resolve cases within a six- nine month times once moved to our casework

area. However, there ahs been progress made with your case. Our casework

support department are now currently in the process of gathering and

preparing all relevant documentation we have received from Sainsbury's

Bank in relation to your case. Once this process is complete, your case

file will proceed to an adjudicator for full investigation in due

course. Upon allocation, you will be contacted directly and advised of

the merits of your case".

Sooooo, sounds as if there has been some movement on this at the FOS end. Wonder how they will treat this as initially they refused to accept that non-compliance over CCA matters was anything to do with them until the OFT suggested otherwise. The letter from the OFT appeared to be crucial in terms of even getting the FOS to look at this.

So, not sure what will happen with the PPI stuff I've recently sent them as it sounds as if they would have to then go back to Sainsburys and ask for further information which would delay a decision further. Either way, I'd love to see the back of this card by the time Santa comes down the chimney.

Does anyone have any idea how long it will take to consider cases when Adjudictors have all the info? Half a day?!

Not much to report on this so far. Still with the FOS although I have had to send an amended complaint form to cover PPI matters to. I had hoped to put in the CCA complaint and have them consider that, and if unsuccessful, I would then submit one relating to the miss-sale of PPI. The date of application was 22nd Nov 2002 so to avoid the deadline assocaited with FOS complaint, I've added the PPI complaint to the CCA one already submitted in the hope that these can be submitted together and I can avoid missing the chance to have them consider the PPI matter.

Like you, Duffers Mum, they completely refuse to adhere to the OFT Debt Collection Guidance Notes and haven't placed a halt to the addition of interest or other collection activities in respect of this matter.

However I had a missed call from a 01224 number yesterday which when I tried to call back it said that it was an 'unused Bank of Scotland numnber' so I'm assuming that it was to do with this as I have no other issues with any part of the Bank of Scotland at the moment.

Wonder what they were wanting to talk about?

Add - Just received a letter from them thanking me for providing them with copies of letters from the Office of Fair Trading (in which they deem SAinsburys to be acting unlawfully) but saying that they will not be changing their present decision in respect of my complaint

Unfortunately not. I have the hard copy as I couldn't find these online. I had to contact the ABI and ask them if they had a copy of the guidelines they could provide me with which they did.

HAK - quick question! Can I ask which number Sainsburys / Bank of Scotland were using to contact you with? The reason I ask is that I've got a complaint against them about their failure to provide a CCA containing the prescribed terms and conditions. The ante has been upped slightly recently and today I received a call from 'an unused Bank of Scotland line' which started with an 01224 number.

Does this sound like the relevant department you've been speaking to? (I've got no other matters with the Bank of Scotland so presume that this is about the sainsburys issue)

How awful that they persist with this. My last dealing with MBNA was about 2 years ago and it's shocking that they still persist with this.

Are the calls direct from MBNA or have they set their numpty collectors, Global Vantage onto you yet?

I have a feeling that tax is the one thing which is exempt from any sort of limitation.

Wow! Fantastic! I've got a complaint at the FOS for their failure to supply the required data.

You don't fancy writing to them on my behalf, HAK, do you as they don't seem interested in me:(

Righto, still nothing as far as an adjudictor being allocated this case by the FOS.

I have written to Sainsburys reminding them of their obligations under the OFT Guidance on debt collection and the Administration of Justice Act that an account must be put on hold while there is a clear dispute in place (and it was passed to the FOS some 3 or 4 months back). I've asked that they refund the interest that has wrongly accrued during that time.

Got a confusing letter back from one of their Customer Relations Manager in which he says I am 'not getting bank charges refunded' Where did I ask for bank charges to be refunded?! Within about 5 mins of reading that on Wednesday evening, I'd battered out a response which is being sent today just pointing out that this has nothing to do with bank charges but was merely a request for them to comply with the OFT Guidance and Administration of Justice Act until such time as the FOS reach a decision on the CCA issue. I've asked them to confirm in writing their reasons for ignoring statute and guidance in order that I can assess whether I need to make a complaint to the OFT over their worthiness of holding a consumer credit licence.

To say I'm annoyed is an understatement. I wrote a clear, concise letter to Sainsburys asking for the dispute to be on hold and they've responded with a standard type response over bank charges. Just not good enough. Not good enough at all.

Would welcome any further suggestions as to how to deal with these muppets.

Well I'll be up front and say I've signed a confidentiality agreement in terms of my own case with the Halifax. I realise that a lot of people put time and effort into helping us answer questions and queries we may have, and I wouldn't want people to think it wasn't appreciated or that I as being ungrateful.

I guess people are just not saying anything at all rather than risking any payment agreement they may have reached.

Hi - sorry inbox is jam packed! I can't help with the draft order as my case never got to that stage.

I've signed a confidentiality agreement so can't advise on my own case but could offer advice generally. Unfortunately I've not reached the stage that you have.

Will you be naming the baby Howard in their honour?!

And absolutely contrary to the OFT Guidance Notes on Debt Collection (2003)

You shouldn't need long words for, "My money give it back"

The other thing I have added to my list of things to raise at the court stage is the admission in the Competition Commissioners investigation that the Halifax said when they acknowledged that PPI profits are materially more profitable than those for credit, and that 'as credit provision had declined in profitablillity over recent years, packaes remained profitable only when PPI was taken into acccount'.

Clearly it is a 'protection' racket.

Glad to be of assistance! Funny that the Halifax in my case insist on referring to ABI regulations, yet accroding to the ABI, it was the GISC Guidelines that the Halifax would have needed to follow in 2001 The ABI were very kind in supplying these guidelines.

The 'Treating Customers Fairly' initiative by the FSA is huge at the moment and is useful to throw into the mix as it were.

Also, from the Treating Customers Fairly section of the FSA website, there is a section focusing on PPI. Where poor practice, it deems, included:

• Not explaining the PPI product clearly, including significant exclusions and limitations of the policy.
  
• Failing to ensure the customer was eligible to claim against the product.
  
• In advised sales, not finding out whether the PPI policy was suitable for the customer
  
• In advised sales, poorly put together statements of demands and needs that did not explain the firm's recommendation or tailor the information to the individual customer.
  
• Inadequate systems and controls in place around the sales process. These could result in sales staff not following the firm's own processes, and ultimately for inappropriate sales practices.
  

Payment Protection Insurance (PPI)

I can't stress how important the TCF Initiative is in the eyes of the FSA - the cases at the bottom certainly make interesting reading!

I've just added the GISC Rules for Private Customer Sales to the sticky at the top entitled 'some useful notes for claimants'. Note that at the time there was no distinction between advised and non-advised sales.

Also, been reading through the Treating Customers Fairly part of the FSA website where it pays particular attention to PPI.

"Poor practice we found included:

• Not explaining the PPI product clearly, including significant exclusions and limitations of the policy.
  
• Failing to ensure the customer was eligible to claim against the product.
  
• In advised sales, not finding out whether the PPI policy was suitable for the customer
  
• In advised sales, poorly put together statements of demands and needs that did not explain the firm's recommendation or tailor the information to the individual customer.
  
• Inadequate systems and controls in place around the sales process. These could result in sales staff not following the firm's own processes, and ultimately for inappropriate sales practices."
  

Think it's quite clear what is and is not acceptable.

Here's a copy of the GISC guidelines for Private Customers. This is from their Rules which were operative between 03/07/2000 and 14/01/2005.

To be fair to them, they've not had it long, so I'm not suprised they haven't responded as yet.

('To be fair......' is not a phrase I ever thought I would use with the Halifax!)

Mediation on Wednesday by telephone. If HBoS agree to pay me £2040 then I'll be happy (that being premiums plus interest & legals costs at the present moment).

Failing that, it's court, and if I win, a complaint going to the FSA over mis-selling with hopefully a substantial fine of the type that have been handed out to other firms guilty of mis-selling!

Nothing as yet in response to my CPR18 request, and also nothing in respect of my letter to customer relations advising that no interest should be accruing on this account while the account is in dispute (as per the PFT guidance) so I've asked for them to backdate £113 into my account reflective of when the dispute started. (I'm only following legislation and good practice guidance!)

If I was the Halifax, I'd just pay up

Excellent stuff!!! Just goes to show what a bit of perseverance can bring - you have balls of steel to take them on like this, and win!! Woo hoo!

Can costs include time spent on a case? I hope so.................

Another story to warm the cockles of my heart!!! Well done!!!

Interestingly I had another run in with the Hellifax today when I tried to pay a Halifax cheque into an old savings account so I could take the cash out there and then. Some diddy in the Shandwick Place branch in Edinburgh told me it would take 3 days to clear. I told her it wouldn't and went in immediately as it was a Halifax > Halifax transaction and she denied it. Went to George Street a few hundred yards away and they gave me the cash there and then!

What a waste of my time standing in a queue at lunchtime trying to tell them how to do their job.

I'm glad you managed to stick it right up em!