This topic was closed on 03/07/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

Surely there is a simple answer here. Set up a limited company and transfer the title deeds of the property into the name of that limited company. You don't technically 'own' it so would still be entitled to full ctb/hb based on your income. HTH Andy PS: Going through same stuff as you mate. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so.

Yes, you can instruct a solicitor, agent or third party to take someone to court on your behalf. I did just that acting as my cousins agent. On the MCOl form it asks for a service address for documents and payments which can be different from the claimant's address. Also where there is a third party agreement or letter of authority in place the defendant has a duty to send the payment to where they are directed. At least that is my belief.

I recently took Lloyds TSB to court on behalf of my cousin. On the claim form I had my cousin as the claimant and the correspondence and payment address as my own (some 250 mile North of him. He wanted me to act on his behalf as he knows nothing about bank charges or courts). Lloyds failed to submit their defence within the time and we were awarded judgment by default against them. We left it a few weeks until they got notice of judgment and to get their act together and pay but still received nothing from them. I then phoned their lawyers Sechiari, Clark & Mitchell who had been dealing with the case. They told me that the money had been paid into my cousins Lloyds TSB account days earlier. My cousins account they paid it into though was overdrawn so the £1800 they paid has only cleared his overdraft and nothing else. i.e. we have no cash left after all of this. The question is can they do this despite my name and address as being the correspondence and payment address? I have not withdrawn the case yet and can still serve a warrant of execution on them as technically they have not paid the money to the correct person or by the correct method. What do i do?

You won't lose your money as it will most likely be paid directly into your bank account by your bank anyway if you win the claim. The worst that can happen is that the company make a mess of the claim and you end up having to sign up with another NWNF company or DIY. Obviousy there is a small chance that the bank will pay the claims company direct but most of time they opt to pay the settlement figure to the customer as they have to comply properly in terms of any dispute reolution service they have subscribed to. My previous post is really to open people's eyes to the dangers of signing up to some company they know nothing about and how easy it would be for [problematic] to get your details. There are a lot of people out there who are naive and would never think of checking the 11 steps I have mentioned. If my post stops one of them getting stung then it has been worthwhile. If anyone is wondering how you can get stung as it's a 'No Win No Fee' scenario then think of it this way. The worst case scenario is that you supply your home address, possibly date of birth, account details, account no, sort code etc. You would also be providing a signed mandate or letter of authority to allow them to deal with your bank. Armed with this information a [EDIT] could easily raid your bank account AND obtain false documents in your name. In other words they could steal your identity and make your life hell. Another scenario is that you end up dealing with someone running this from their back bedroom. Desperate for a quick buck they offer attractive low fees but end up not having the money to support the volume of business that their low fees have brought. They may end up asking you for fees up front. However, can you be certain they are dealing with your claim properly? Are they sending everything recorded delivery?, how are they storing your information?, who has access to it?, are they disposing of it properly?, how much experience do they have?, will they follow the claim through to the end?. There is a chance they will make a mess of the claim and waste 3 months of your life by claiming the wrong amount, forgetting about the interest or even accepting only a partial offer, all of which are clearly not in your best interests. The last scenario is that I have been wrong and that although they look dodgy as hell, they turn out to be alright. You get all your charges refunded plus interest and a Xmas card from them every year for the next 10 years (I hope that this turns out to be the case.). However if you take the steps I mentioned before deciding on a NWNF company then you will minimise the chances of getting stiffed in the first place.

Before signing up with a 'No Win No Fee' company there are a couple of basic checks you should make. I have set these out in my: 11 Steps To Check Whether A 'No Win No Fee' Company Is A Safe Bet Or To Be Avoided At All Costs? 1. Are they are Limited Company? I know it doesn't cost much to set one up but a [EDIT] is less likely to bother. Check they exist via WebCHeck - Select and Access Company Information. 2. Are they Data Controller registered with the Information Commissioner? You want to know that they are handling your data securely and in accordance with the DPA. A [EDIT] is not likely to bother with this. Check they are registered via the Information Commissioners - Data Protection Public Register 3. Is it a checkable address or an accomodation address? If their address is at a business centre they may be using an accomodation address who are forwarding the mail onto them at a 'drop' address. This is to give the impression that they are a big company where the truth could be that they are operating from a bedsit or back room. 4. Is it a 01/02 BT number or a 0870/0845 number. 0870/0845 numbers are free these days however many legitimate companies use them. If you are dubious ask for an alternative phone number from them. A genuine company will agree to this with no questions asked. 5. Do they answer the phone or are they hard to get hold off? A professional company will always answer the phone within 2-3 minutes. If you cannot get hold of them during their advertised office hours then this is not a good sign. Either they are ignoring your calls or they are too busy to deal with you. Either way a company behaving like this is not one you want to deal with. 6. Are they VAT registered? Not hugely important but again another positive step in confirming that the company you are dealing with is legitimate. 7. Is the information they send you well presented or does it look like something a 4 year old knocked up on Daddy's computer? With printers and software being so advanced these days it is easy for anyone to knock up a professional looking letter in minutes. Presentation is everything so if it's on poor quality paper with bad printing then this is not a good sign as a professional company will want to promote a professional image. 8. Are they asking for any upfront fees?' No Win No Fee' means exactly that! Beware of companies that lure you in then ask for 'administration' or 'registration' fees. Do not pay any up front fees - this is why you have employed a N-W-N-F company in the first place. 9. Do they issue a contract? This is an essential. They should issue you with a contract which sets out the Terms of Business between you and them. Read the small print. Do they mention a cancellation period? They are obliged to offer you a 14 day cancellation period under the Distance Selling Regulations. Is there an early cancellation fee? Beware you may cancel and owe them £100's of pounds. Read the small print again, again and again. Then check it once more for good measure. If there's anything you are unsure about phone the company and ask or take independant legal advice before signing. 10. Are they charging a favourable commission rate? a) Any company charging 5, 10 or 15% commission are kidding themselves on. They are most likely hobbyists working from a back bedroom playing at running a business. The reason for this is that any legitimate business has overheads and working for such low commission is not financially viable. I have done the maths. Such low commissions point towards them being desperate for your business and desperate means poor. Do they have the financial stability to meet the costs of dealing with your claim? I doubt it - Avoid at all costs! b) Anyone charging 30% commission or over is blatently trying to rip you off so avoid at all costs! I have seen companies charging 40% commission PLUS VAT. You might as well give them all your bank charges instead of to your bank. c) Around 15 - 25% commission is a fair amount for the work involved. I would stick to companies like this as they obviously are not trying to rip you off and are probably legitimate especially if the previous answers have been positive. AND FINALLY 11. Does it feel right dealing with them? Very often your own instincts are a powerful 'early warning' system. If they 'feel' dodgy or you are uncomfortable with the way they present themselves then STOP!!! Go find another company that scores higher in these 11 questions. Score - How did they rate? 1 - 4 positive answers: AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!. Are they identity thiefs, [problematic] or students working from a back bedroom? You have no way of knowing. Do you really want to risk giving your personal financial details to a company like this. I hope the answer is 'No'. 4 - 7 positive answers: A better score but treat with ultra caution. Phone them, talk to them, try and suss them out. If in doubt avoid - I would! 7 - 11 positive answers: Go for it! They seem to fit the bill and you are most likely to be dealing with a decent honest company that pays it's taxes on time! Within 8-12 weeks you should be staring at a cheque for your refunded bank charges (minus their commission charge). Bank it and spend it wisely. Oh and avoid getting future bank charges - you may not be so lucky the next time! Finally this guide is only meant as a light hearted personal opinion and the Consumer Action Group cannot and will not be held liable in any shape or form if you or any party acting for you suffer any financial losses as a result of following this advice.

A questions for all you legal eagles: If I take my bank to court via MCOL, pay the £120 court fees to lodge the paper, pay the allocation questionnaire at £100 and instruct my solicitor to appear on my behalf at £150 a time that is approximately £370 I have laid out of my own pocket to get it to court. What if the day before the court case the bank pay me the bank charges by cheque. How can I claim my £370 back?

Here's a letter you can send them if you feel that the above applies to you: Good luck and may the force be with you! :grin:

I'm kind of answering my own question here but I found this useful information about Student Loans whilst trawling the web: So basically if six years have passed since you last paid or acknowledged the debt then you don't owe it as it is time barred under the Statute of Limitations Act. I can now tell McKenzie Hall to go take a **** to itself. :grin:

I have two loans, one from 1992 and one from 1995. I was issued with a default notice on both accounts in September 1999 which I ignored. (depressed, already had £20,000 of consumer debt etc.) My only crime was that I had failed to fill out the deferrment notices from 1999 although my income has always been below the threshold required before I had to make repayments anyway. Last week I get a letter from McKenzie Hall, Solicitors for SLC saying they want both loans paid back and are threatening court action. My loans were isssued prior to 1998 and are subject to the Consumer Credit Act. Surely as the default was issued in 1999 and as it is past the six year period under the Statute of Limitations all I do now is wait until I receive the Court summons and say that their claim is now time barred under the Statute of Limitations Act. Surely the same law applies to them as to other loan companies or does someone have any light they can shed on the issue?

I have two loans, one from 1992 and one from 1995. I was issued with a default notice on boith accounts in September 1999 which I ignored. (depressed, already had £20,000 of consuler debt etc.) My only crime was that I had failed to fill out the deferrment notices from 1999 although my income has always been below the threshold required before I had to make repayments anyway. Last week I get a letter from McKenzie Hall, Solicitors for SLC saying they want both loans paid back and are threatening court action. My loans were isssued prior to 1998 and are subject to the Consumer Credit Act. Surely as the default was issued in 1999 and as it is past the six year period under the Statute of Limitations all I do now is wait until I receive the Court summons and say that their claim is now time barred under the Statute of Limitations Act. Surely the same law applies to them as to other loan companies or does someone have any light they can shed on the issue?

Are you saying that student loans are not subject to the Statute of Limitations Act. Why not? I would have thought their agreements were subject to the same laws as any other type of loan.

What I don't understand is why you and others recommend sending letters straight away to head office or complaints department. The branch manager has the authority to make a refund at branch level. This means that you have a chance of getting refunded very quickly by your bank manager rather than it being referred to head office. I did this myself with the local Halifax and they phoned me from the branch 3 weeks after the Prelim Approach Letter and paid me back £1383 straight into my account for the last 5 years bank charges. If they won't refund you then they'll simply refer it to head office/ customer complaints themselves. You have nothing to lose.

Having read up on the bank charge recovery process there seems to be conflicting opinions on where to send your letters at each stage of your claim. I thought a 'poll' of where you would send them would be a good idea. I would be interested to hear your thoughts as to why you think where you are suggesting is the best place. Here's the questions: 1. Where's the best place to send the S.A.R. Letter? a) Your Local Branch Address b) Your Bank's Head Office Address c) Your Bank's Complaints or Customer Service Address c) Your Bank's Data Controllers Address 2. Where's the best place to send the Preliminary Approach Letter? a) Your Local Branch Address b) Your Bank's Head Office Address c) Your Bank's Complaints or Customer Service Address 3. Where's the best place to send the LBA Letter? a) Your Local Branch Address b) Your Bank's Head Office Address c) Your Bank's Complaints or Customer Service Address 4. Where's the best place to send the court papers to? a) Your Local Branch Address b) Your Bank's Head Office Address c) Your Bank's Complaints or Customer Service Address 5. Is contractual interest worth claiming for? a) Yes b) No 6. I am living in Scotland acting for my Uncle who lives in England. I have a Letter of Authority from him to say that I can deal with his bank charge affairs. I am acting as his agent. Can I bypass MCOL and take the bank to court in MY local sheriff court? Although he is living in England and the court papers would have his address I am his agent living in Scotland and surely I should be able to have the case heardin MY local court as I am his agent!!! He cannot appear in court as he is too old and frightened. The reason for this is MCOL is a rip off at £120 upwards a claim when in Scotland I can claim up to £1500 for only £39. (Penny pinching Scots) My thoughts are that it is possible that by contacting your branch first they can make the decision to refund at branch level. So why send to head office or complaints department. Didn't Barclays recently empower their branches to deal with their own bank charges? Surely Head Office/ Complaints Address will be snowed under and if the branch will not refund they will forward onto head office anyway. Surely the whole purpose is to get it to court so you can claim the interest on top of the charges. We all know that 90% of the time the bank's won't refund before the court papers are served. Claiming contractual interest is fine but it's hard to work out exactly and one mistake could mean the bank's lawyer contesting the exact amount you are claiming. Why take the risk of a small mis-calculation holding up your claim. Makes sense to forget it especially as it's usually a paltry amount anyway. Your thoughts, ideas and feedback would be appreciated on this guys.

I think there are good reasons NOT to claim the contractual rate of interest when pursuing the banks. 1. It's confusing - there are no straight forward stickies explaining how to do it. 2. Very often it's only for a small amount and not worth the trouble. 3. It's easy to make a mistake as there are varying rates of interest each year and your whole claim proceeding smoothly hinges on you claiming what the bank calculates is correct as well. If you claim too much (which is easy to do as contractual rate thingy is not quite as straight forward) the bank will defend the claim based on the amount of the claim rather than pay out. My advice to anybody would be: 1. Prelim Letter - claim the bank charges only 2. Once claim is filed at MCOL - claim the 8% on top. If you want your claim to be dealt with the minimum hassle why haggle over the contractual rate when your miscalculations could hold up the claim.

I've sort of answered my own question here. I'm just off the phone to Peter Townsend of Barclays Bank and he said that because a request is made under the Data Protection Act he has to abide by it and ensure customer confidentiality is not breached. Therefore when he receives a request by a 3rd party for statements quoting this act it is now Barclays policy to send the information to the account holders address not the 3rd party. What he did say though was that a letter sent requesting statements NOT mentioning the Data Protection Act would not reach his department and would be dealt with by customer services at the head office. In most cases they would likely send the requested statements and make only a £5 charge for this service. So to summarize: If you are a 3rd party requesting statements: Do not quote Data Protection Act, instead, send letter to Customer Services who will send you the requested information. Otherwise if you do quote the DPA then it will by-pass customer services and go straight to DPA officer who will send them to account holders address and not 3rd parties. Any comments, thoughts or suggestions on this matter would be appreciated.

Dear fellow bank charge recoverants, I have taken an interest in this group for a while now and thanks to it I have successfully recovered bank charges from 3 different banks. Recently due to my own success at recovering my own charges I was asked by 3 friends and 2 members of my family to recover their bank charges. This I was happy to to do for free as a favour to them. My relatives are elderly and couldn't manage the process on their own and one of my friends is a guy who lives in sheltered accomodation. None of them had statements going back 6 years and since they live a distance away from me I thought the best way to get the bank statement information was to construct a 'Letter of Authority' which I would send to the bank with the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) giving them permission to deal with me. Here's the wording of the 'Letter of Authority' and the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) which I sent by recorded delivery to them with a personal cheque for £10: ------------------------------------------ From: My uncle Please be advised that I, the undersigned, have instructed Andy S to act on my behalf in connection with bank charges that have been applied to my account over the past six years. Please accept this letter as undisputed authority for Andy S to act on my behalf in connection with a review of any charges from your company. This authority will endure until cancelled in writing. Please deal directly with Andy S and provide him with any information he may request. Confidential information can be released from any relevant filing system you may hold in connection with this matter, in accordance with my rights under the Data Protection Act, as and when requested by Andy S and sent to him in his official capacity as agent for the undersigned. I can further confirm that Andy S has made a Data Subject Access Request on my behalf. Details relating to this request should similarly be forwarded to him, appropriately referenced and marked as confidential. This letter gives Andy S full authority to act on behalf of the undersigned, in accepting or rejecting any refund payments offered and to refer this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service, if necessary. Any compensation or refund which may be payable, following these investigations, should be made payable to ‘Andy S'. Signature of account holder: James Hainsworth (my uncle) Date of signature: 22nd November 2006 ------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Dear Sir/Madam Re: Data Protection Act 1998 - Subject Access Request For James Hainsworth, Sort Code: xx-xx-xx, Account No: 12345678 I refer to the above named person who has instructed me to act on their behalf in connection with bank charges that have been applied to their account over the past six years. I enclose a ‘Form of Authority’ which you should read and make sure is filed accordingly and applied each and every time we contact your company. Please send me the information which we are entitled to access under Section 7(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the ‘1998 Act’) in relation to all charges which you have applied to the above noted account within the last six years from the date of this letter. Alternatively, a complete set of statements for that period will be acceptable. If you require any further information please let me know as soon as possible. I enclose a cheque in favour of your bank for the sum of £10 with respect to the maximum statutory fee for processing this request. I look forward to your response within the maximum 40 day time limit under the 1998 Act. Yours sincerely etc etc etc --------------------------------------------------- So I posted the two letters together in an envelope to Barclays Bank, Churchill Place in London and thought no more about it until this morning when I got a letter back from Barclays returning my cheque for £10. Here's what it said: -------------------------------------------------- Dear Andy S Data Protection Act - Mr J Hainsworth We refer to your recent letter concerning transactional data arising from a Barclays bank account. Please be advised that this department is not in a position to proceed in this matter on the basis of the authority presented with your letter. We are therefore unable to correspond with you in connection with this individual. Despite the above we can confirm that the requested information will be forwarded directly to the individual concerned. In this way the Bank will ensure compliance with all requirements arising from Section 7 of the Data Protection Act and of course our usual obligations regarding customer confidentiality. As the Bank will be providing the information on a complimentary basis, your payment is returned herewith. Yours sincerely Peter Townsend Manager, Barclays Data Protection. ___________________------------------------ So basically they are refusing to deal directly with me in spite of the 'Letter of Authority' I constructed. The problem is that my uncle is unable to deal with them himself and that because he lives a bit away it made sense for me to deal with them. Some of you may suggest sending the letters as if from his address and getting him to sign them but this would be too stressful and there are other greedy family members who would want to get their hands on his cash. A couple of questions for you tekkies: 1. Are Barclays right in this matter or are they using bullsh**t tactics? 2. What have I done wrong with the Letter of Authority? 3. Why won't they recognize it? 4. If they won't deal with the Data Protection Act request does this mean they will ignore my future requests for a refund with the same authority. 5. If I am to obtain payment in my name on his behalf, how now do I proceed in getting them to acknowledge me? 6. If it is so much hassle would I be better dealing with one of the companies on Google and paying them for the service? How can they act on behalf on customers with Letters of Authority and get charges back when I can't? I am very stressed over this please can someone offer some solution to my problem. Andy S

I have taken the Abbey to court for the following charges - I am based in Scotland: Bank Charges - £981.00 Court Fee - £39 Service Fee - £32 (sheriff officers serving the summons) Interest- £280 (@8% pa from date charges were taken) The Abbey's lawyer Piper Rudnick Gray Cary were put onto the case initially stating they were going to defend the case and submitting defence papers to that effect. After appearing at court a hearing date was set for the case. A day before the case they phoned me to say they were willing to settle for the bank charges, court & service fees but were not willing to pay me the interest. I appeared in court and explained this to the sheriff and that I still was in dispute over the interest charges. The sheriff then set the case back two weeks to allow us both to 'talk'. I received a letter from Piper Rudnick Gray Cary stating the following : "Your are only entitled to claim judicial interest at the rate of 8% pa from the date which the Court makes an order in your favour until the date on which payment of the sums is made. You are not entitled to interest from the date that the charges were debited to your account. This would be deemed punitive and there is no provision in Scots Law to support this claim". They then sent me a form to sign agreeing to the refund minus the interest I was claiming. What do I do guys? Am I entitled to claim the interest or are they kidding me? I need to post back the letter back today so a quick response would be appreciated. I would have asked for help earlier but have been working late shifts and been very tired in this heatwave we are having.

I know you are busy so I won't take up too much of your time. I am taking the Abbey National to court for bank charges. My bank account which they have now closed and passed to a debt agency last August is sitting at -68.67 the minus being two 32.00 bank charges and subsequent interest they attracted. I have seen off temporarily the debt collection company for the 68.67 telling them that the amount is in dispute with the bank and I wasn't paying it. When I am claiming from the Abbey do I just claim the actual charges I have physically paid or can I claim the ones which I have not paid but are bringing my account to show a -68.67 balance. (i.e. the two £32.00 charges in addition to all the others I am claiming for) I should add the total amount I am claiming so far is £994 plus interest etc but do I include in my claim the amounts which make it a minus balance? What do I do to get rid of the -68.67 balance and see off the debt agency for good? Andy S