Hi Chris

 

Received Cobblers AQ this morning. They are asking for schedule of charges again as they reckon they didnt see the one attached to the N1. Whats this all about? Should I send it again!

If you sent your N1 and schedule of charges by recorded delivery and you have proof that they were delivered - I wouldn't bother resending - why make life any easier for them?

If you haven't sent them recorded delivery, then I'd send them again - via recorded delivery of course!

Good Luck

Ned

Phew,

Looks like you are nearly there mate.

I too have been spending hours following your thread with great interest. Thank you very much for putting so much effort into it.

Ned

Thats Brilliant Delorean.

Its good to hear a success story!

Ned

OK,

Statements received - I am now busy ploughing through them and doing some serious adding up!!

I was expecting my statements to turn up in a battered brown A4 envelope - we'll, they were in an A4 envelope, but it was well taped up to stop the A5 statements bouncing around inside. So it does appear that Natwest are taking more care with statements these days.

Ned

Thanks NWSM!

Ned

Does anyone know (Natwest Staff member?) what the monthly fee for an Advantage Premium Account is/was?

Natwest are moving Advantage Premium Account holders onto Advantage Private now, and the monthly fee for that is £18.50.

I've been looking at my statements for the last few months, and I appear to have been charged £28.00 a month.

Is this correct?

TIA

Ned

Yes, you are right

Your LBA should only include overdraft interest on your charges (if you can be bothered to work it out) .

Ned

this is confusing me,i get a statement every month and it has charges and interest,i assume the interest they charge me for using the overdraft as it is taken away from me.is this the interest i can claim back?

sorry to be a pain but i am confused.

steve

Assuming you have an agreed overdraft with your bank, you need to pay interest on that overdraft. You can't claim this back.

However, you can claim back the overdraft interest that has been calculated on your 'illegal' charges (bounced cheques, DDs, card misuse fees).

Lets say your overdraft is £350. Your bank will have charged you interest on £350. But if £50 of that £350 is made up of charges, then the bank should only have charged you overdraft interest on £300.

You can claim back the portion of overdraft interest on your charges i.e. the overdraft interest on £50.

Ned

All,

I contacted the Banking Code Standards Board to find out under what circumstances a bank could close your account.

My question was prompted after seeing that some banks do this after they've been threatened with or had court action taken against them to reclaim charges.

This action doesn't seem very fair to me, afterall, it's the bank that's behaved illegally.

Surprisingly enough, a bank doesn't have to give a reason for closing an account!!

Page two referenced by the link below covers the situation for account closures after a charges reclaim.

The reply from the BCSB is shown below.

Regards,

Ned

Dear Mr Kelly

Thank you for your email. Clause 7.5 of the Banking Code provides that in normal circumstances a bank will not close your account without giving you at least 30 days’ notice. There is no requirement that reasons are given for closing an account.

The subject of account closure following a successful claim for refund of charges was referred to in a recent bulletin we issued to subscribers to the Banking Code and I attach below a link to that for your information:

http://www.bankingcode.org.uk/bulletins/Bulletin%2021%2027%20Jul%2006%20PDF%20FINAL.pdf

Regards,

Mrs Hilary Putt

Helpdesk Manager

I hope not!

Mind you, it's going to take me a few days to put everything into the spreadsheet for the initial calcultation. I'll used the advanced Excel worksheet for current accounts from the library.

I am predicting that my claim will be absolutely huge. As a rough guess, I reckon between £12,000 / £14,000 excluding overdraft interest.:o

I still need to get hold of historical overdraft interest rates for an Advantage premier account - so I'll start hunting for those now.

I'll keep you all posted,

Ned

Ellisn,

You sent the prelim letter and gave them 14 days to respond.

They responded in 4 days. Cool.

Next Step - send the LBA now and give them 14 days to respond.

You do not have to wait 14 days between the reply from Natwest to your preliminary letter and sending the LBA.

Good Luck,

Ned

OK,

NatWest responded (Joyce E Tudor) and ask for the £5.00 fee. (I thought they might sit on my request until the 40 days were up, but hey...).

New S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) sent today (9th September). Its a new S.A.R - (Subject Access Request), as I am happier with the wording on the new one and I don't mind 'resetiing the clock'.

The text of my request is here if anyone is interested.

[Your Address]

Ms Joyce E Tudor

Retail Regulatory Risk

2nd Floor Business House B

P.O.Box 1000

EDINBURGH

EH12 1HQ

***********************************

FIRST CLASS RECORDED DELIVERY

***********************************

9th September 2006

Dear Ms Tudor,

Re: Account Name : [Your Name]

Account Number : [Your Account]

Sort Code : [Your Sortcode]

Branch Address : [Your bank branch address]

Please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my banking history with your organisation. Alternatively, a complete set of statements for that period will be acceptable.

Additionally, where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff, or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my banking business with you.

If you are unable to supply this data because there has been no such manual intervention, then please be so kind as to confirm this in your response.

I enclose a cheque for £5.00 to cover the fee for this request.

You have 40 days from the date of this letter in which to comply with this request.

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

Yours Faithfully

Tash,

Have you thought about joining the Lloyds forum?

Ned

Sounds like an IVA or another loan.

Different forum perhaps?

Ned

"Do You Know How Long It Takes The Court To Give You A Date?"

No, sorry,

I'm just starting out here.

Ned

OK,

So if you accept £1100, and you give your mum back the 200 odd quick for court costs, then you end up with just under £900.

If you push on with your your claim...

You get over £1900 back

Your mum gets her monery back

I know what I'd do!!!

Let us know what you decide

Good Luck,

Ned

You've come this far, so why back off now?

Your choice of course?

Quick question - if you accepted this offer - does it include your court fees to date?

Ned

Ask your mum if she'll make up the difference if you take her advice

Ned

Not for too much longer I hope (for your sake).

And please promise not to vanish from here after you've got your cheque ok?

Ned

Hi There,

I've seen partial offers made, but no full settlements without court action.

Good Luck,

Ned

Hi Zanna,

The 8% is for use when you submit a claim to the courts.

When formally requesting the return of charges from your bank (LBA) you should only include overdraft interest on your charges if applicable. This gives you your total claim figure.

If your claim goes as far as the courts - you will be claiming your total figure (paragraph above) PLUS 8% on top of that.

I hope I've got that right - can someone confirm please?

Also, there is no time limit between receiving your account data and taking action.

Good Luck,

Ned

Did you send by Recorded Delivery??

Ned

Hi There,

If you look towards the bottom of the spreadhseet - you''ll see a couple of additional 'worksheet' tabs.

Does this help you?

Ned

I'll remember - don't worry!!

Oh no - it doesn't mean you have to stop. If they dont respond to a SAR in 40 days and you report them, then the Data Protection Dudes will hammer them for non compliance.

I haven't seen anything on here where Natwest have failed to respond to a recorded delivery SAR with all the right information in time.

Has anyone else?

Ned

Hi Trudianne,

From what I've read over the past few days on here....

Did your written request clearly contain all vital account information? i.e. Account Number, Sort Code, Account Name, and (with a cherry on top) your Branch Address?

The reason I ask is that I've seen some postings where nothing has happened with just an account number supplied.

I've seen other postings where NatWest have waited until the 11th hour before responding. I see you sent your request by recorded delivery and you have about a week left.

If you are still worried, call them and find out what is happeneing with your request.

If you've done all this and the 40 days comes and goes, then report them!

Good Luck

Ned

PS. I'm sending my S.A.R. again - as I forgot to include all vital account info and my £10.00 payment - durrrrr.....