therealslimady vs the ethical bankers

[therealslimady]

been reading the forum for what seems like months,so its about time i went for it!

sent s.a.r. in april and got back my £10 cheque and a bunch of printouts going back 6 years, a bit difficult to decyfer but musn't grumble at least i got them,

i also had lots of my statements going back to 98,

i have had 2 accounts worth claiming , a visa from 98 to 04 and current/privilege account from 99 to present,

 

I am def going to claim more than 6 years but should i treat them as 2 claims or deal with them both in the same claim?

 

i am in the process of filling the excel sheets on both accounts,

 

thanks for a great site folks,don't think i'd feel up to it with out all this info and support,

[hedgey06]

Hi slimady and welcome on board

 

I'd be inclined to treat each account seperately given that one's a current account and the other's a visa account. More than likely, two different departments will deal with the claims so it's probably easier in the long run to do two seperate claims.

 

When you complete the interest spreadsheets for each account, don't forget to 'hide' the 8% interest column for the moment as this can only be claimed once you file at your local county court.

 

Best of luck - just 'holler' on this thread if you need any help/support along the way. x

[therealslimady]

cheers your a star,

I've only filled out the basic spreadsheet so far. was hoping i wouldn't have to tackle the complex one.

so I cant just claim every entry for interest on my statements, only interest on the charges that send me over my agreed overdraft limit, or is it only interest on charges that send me into the red?

and i thought i understood.

 

can anyone recommend a 'fair' bank to open a parachute account with?

or is that a contradiction of terms.

[therealslimady]

Thanks a lot Hedgey,

I'm getting the prelim letters ready now,

when i send them i presume i dont need the days elapsed collum if i'm not claiming for interest at this stage,

and just to confirm i got it right i can claim the interest they have charged me but not the £6 or £12 fee they charge eachmonth for privilege premier accounts.

£12 does seem a bit steep for just having an account.

[therealslimady]

one more thing,

in the prelim letter under "what i require", it says "i calculate that you have taken £XXX plu £XXX which you have charged in overdraft interest " do i have to work out the interest they charged me on a diferent sheet than all the other charges then add them to the rest.

[hedgey06]

Thanks a lot Hedgey,

I'm getting the prelim letters ready now, when i send them i presume i dont need the days elapsed collum if i'm not claiming for interest at this stage, and just to confirm i got it right i can claim the interest they have charged me but not the £6 or £12 fee they charge eachmonth for privilege premier accounts. £12 does seem a bit steep for just having an account.

 

Firstly, no - you don't need the days elapsed column at the moment. You just 'unhide' this column (along with the interest column) when you file the claims at court. You can reclaim the interest, but only the overdraft interest. This is quite difficult to calculate and you'll need the complex spreadsheet to help you work this out. Basically though, you can only reclaim the portion of the interest that has been applied to any penalties that have sent you overdrawn/over your overdraft. You can't claim it in it's entirety. E.g., your overdraft is £1,000 - penalty charges send you £50 overdrawn - so you work out how much interest they charged you on the £50 only for that month.

 

And £12 per month is steep just for having an account, it's a shame that this can't be reclaimed Could you maybe see about changing to a normal current account that doesn't charge a monthly fee?

 

one more thing, in the prelim letter under "what i require", it says "i calculate that you have taken £XXX plu £XXX which you have charged in overdraft interest " do i have to work out the interest they charged me on a diferent sheet than all the other charges then add them to the rest.

 

If you're reclaiming the overdraft interest you'll have used one of the complex spreadsheets - so this should calculate what amount this interest is.

[hedgey06]

so I cant just claim every entry for interest on my statements, only interest on the charges that send me over my agreed overdraft limit, or is it only interest on charges that send me into the red?

It's the charges that send you over your overdraft, so you can only reclaim the interest that's applied to the charges. You can't just reclaim all of the interest.

 

It's really confusing to work out - and to be honest, it may not add that much to your claim anyway! Hence, most peeps (myself included!) tend to just reclaim the actual penalty charges - makes life easier and only the simple spreadsheet's required!

 

can anyone recommend a 'fair' bank to open a parachute account with? or is that a contradiction of terms.

 

Tis a slight contradcition of terms hun! However, try the Nationwide - they do a flex account that's quite easy to open (even if your credit rating's poor - personal experience talking here!)

[therealslimady]

so just using the simple spreadsheet and forgeting about the interest,

does that mean that in the prelim letter where it says this:

 

under the heading

"what i require",

 

it says "i calculate that you have taken £XXX plu £XXX which you have charged in overdraft interest "

 

do i simply delete the second half of the sentence after the first amount?

 

thanks again

[hedgey06]

it says "i calculate that you have taken £XXX plu £XXX which you have charged in overdraft interest " do i simply delete the second half of the sentence after the first amount?

 

Yes - just delete the second part if you're reclaiming charges only.

[therealslimady]

Hi again folks,

2 weeks ago i sent my prelim letter ,i recieved a reply today saying they could not proceed due to being involved in legal proceedings with the Office of Fair Trading, and the outcome of this case will determin what happens.

therefore they asked the FSA to suspend ther normal timetable until the outcome of the test case is known,and of course the FSA agreed to this.

 

so i guess they ignored the fact that i am on benefits due to illness and asked to be considered as a hardship case, i also have to pay £114 every month from my £310 benefits, i thought my case would be a genuine hardship case but i guess i live in the lap of luxury with my £196 per month.

 

does anyone know how i should go about appealing this decision?

[hedgey06]

This is a standard letter that all claimants have received since the announcement of the OFT test case unfortunately.

 

Ignore the letter and send them the LBA along with another copy of your schedule of charges. x

[Fully_charged]

The Visa account falls under credit card charges and the OFT has ruled on that......you should definitely file your claim.....file seperate claims and dont forget to mention in bold letters on your claim that one of them is relating to a credit card account.

[Fully_charged]

forgot to mention....check if they have defaulted you on your credit file.....if yes then tie that in with your claim....

[therealslimady]

Great, thanks a lot folks.

 

I'll get my LBA off right away,

 

how do i find out if they have defaulted me on my credit file?

 

cheers ady

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

 

Check your file, you could try here.........

 

Experian Credit Expert, check credit rating, credit reports & file alerts - with Experian CreditExpert

 

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

 

[LyncusBee]

£6 or £12 fee they charge eachmonth for privilege premier accounts.

£12 does seem a bit steep for just having an account.

 

Are now the penny drops as to why they were constantly trying to get me to `upgrade' my savings account to a `privilege' account so they could charge a monthly fee for a worthless interest rate.... that's just typical of the *%£$%&ers

[therealslimady]

in a couple of days it'll be 2 weeks after i sent the LBA so if i dont get a letter monday it's off to court for me.

does anyone know if its better to turn up at the court house to fill out the forms or is the online version just as reliable and does it make a difference to how long it takes to resolve?

I only found out about the online version yesterday so haven't looked into it yet.

thanks a lot folks

 

oh yeah i dont think they defaulted me because i managed to open a tsb account, mind you it was just a cash account.

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

Have a read of this.........

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-bank/110542-urgent-all-new-mcol.html

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[therealslimady]

thanks for the link scott,

so i guess i have to go to the court and get an N1 form.

Cambridge is still on the list of courts where the decision to

stay all cases has not yet been made, so i may still stand a

slim chance, i hope.

as one of my two claims is a visa and they've already made

a ruling on those does that mean i will get the visa settled but

wait and see on the other?

[**Tilly**]

hi

you can download the n1 you can type your claim on the form then print it out as it will not save here is the link

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/c...ms/n1_0102.pdf

[sallysas]

You will qualify for exemption as you only have benefits to live on. I suggest you take 2 months (3 might be better) bank statements showing your source of income. Really hope you hear something soon for both accounts. Just keep asking questions and look forward to a better New Year.:p

[therealslimady]

Thanks a lot everyone, i really don't think i could have got this far without this website and the people involved,

 

anyways I've been getting my claim ready for court , its been pretty taxing to say the least but i thinki,ve got it nailed now apart from one bit under the heading "particulars of claim"

 

 

a) The return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £ X and any interest charged thereon;

 

does this sum include the court fee or is it the total without the fee?

 

maybe i'm just too tired and can't figure anything out anymore.

[therealslimady]

oh yeah also what is the date when the money became owed to me,

is it the date they put the charge on my account or when i first contacted the bankabout the matter,?

 

"c) The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year, from [date when the money became owed to you] to [the date you are issuing the claim] of £ [amount] and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of [enter the daily rate of interest]"

[therealslimady]

just a quick interesting note.

 

if anyone has any doubts as to whether they should take their bank to court take a look at the Zeitgeist - The Movie, 2007 any watch the section about the world banks and the federal reserve in the good ol' us of a, scary stuff.....

[hedgey06]

oh yeah also what is the date when the money became owed to me, is it the date they put the charge on my account or when i first contacted the bankabout the matter,?

 

The date the money became owed to you is the date of the first charge as entered into your Schedule of Charges (spreadsheet)

 

"c) The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year, from [date when the money became owed to you] to [the date you are issuing the claim] of £ [amount] and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of [enter the daily rate of interest]"

 

Ok, so it's the date of the first charge (e.g., 12th March 2002) to the date you intend to issue the claim at your local county court (e.g., 20th December 2007) of (insert the amount of the total charges as shown on your SoC/spreadsheet) plus interest of (as shown in the 8% column on the SoC) plus interest pursuant to s69 ............ daily rate of 00.25pence per day or at a rate................. (etc)

 

The court fee is added on top of the charges as opposed to being included in the calculation for interest.

 

Hope this helps a little hun.............. give yourself a break and do it tomorrow! x