Jump to content


Citicards Demanding Full Payment


style="text-align: center;">  

Thread Locked

because no one has posted on it for the last 5723 days.

If you need to add something to this thread then

 

Please click the "Report " link

 

at the bottom of one of the posts.

 

If you want to post a new story then

Please

Start your own new thread

That way you will attract more attention to your story and get more visitors and more help 

 

Thanks

Recommended Posts

Hi there,

 

I have had my time wasted by Citi for over a year now. They haven't complied with my SAR which, according to my bank statements, has been paid for, and have somehow managed to claim that I am in serious arrears, due to my repayment amount being changed from £65.00 to £90.00 per month, unbenknownst to me. I have been paying them off for four years on a £1,000 debt, which was hiked up to £2,000 in 2005, due to late payment charges, overlimit charges (caused by their charges) and phenomenal interest. They even conveniently "lost" my contact details, so couldn't discuss my account with me, even though this didn't stop them from phoning me every day and sending hate mail through my letter box. I believe that my debt to Citi should be well paid off by now, as I've been paying them £65.00 for four years, which amounts to around £3,000. Three times the original debt! (I can't give an exact figure as my SAR has not come through. However, I know I've paid around £100 per month before in a futile effort to clear the debt quicker) but their charges have meant that my debt has always stayed around the £2,000 mark, which means if I pay them back in full, Citi has made £4,000 out of me on what was originally a £1,000 debt. I have sent them a prelim letter stating my complaint and informing them that I will take them to court. However, they have countered this by requesting full repayment. Can anyone tell me the legal position on this and what I can do to prevent any other intervention. Can they actually do anything if I've been making regular payments? Don't they have to take me to court? Can they send a baillif round, even though I've been paying them £65.00 per month?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Firstly, unless you have a CCJ and have not kept to the payment schedule ordered by the court then no, they cannot send bailiffs round.

 

I would send a SAR and start reclaiming the charges, stating clearly "I do not acknowledge any debt to your company".

 

Then calculate how many charges have been atken and start reclaiming them - follow the guide in the same way that you would with bank account charges.

All help is merely my opinion only - please seek legal advice if you need to as I am only qualified in SEN law.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you. That's a relief! I've sent an SAR, which wasn't complied with and I've put in a complaint about that and the charges, which they're slowly dealing with. I think it's time for court.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I would also suggest sending a request for a copy of the agreement under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to be thorough. If its an account pre-1997 its likely they won't have it.

 

Persue your charges, you have a good arguement for the claim not to be stayed - in that an OFT report is already in place relating to credit cards, and that the Citi continue to burden you with continual charges.

 

But the main thing is that Citi will be unwiling in the extreme to validate its penalty charges, we can help you to get the draft order adopted in a small claim.

 

I also have proof that Citi's "late payment" penalty charges are entirely automated, as I would image are alot of the other charges they apply. Thus costing them a matter of pence per breach as part as an overall IT billing system, and not the highly inflated charges that are levied on customers.

Advice offered by ENRON is without prejudice and is for your judgement as to whether to take it. You should seek the assistance or hire of a solicitor or other paid professional if in doubt.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Follow the standard procedure and make a claim against Citi, if you go the court route get in touch with me at the time you receive your Allocation Questionnaire.

Advice offered by ENRON is without prejudice and is for your judgement as to whether to take it. You should seek the assistance or hire of a solicitor or other paid professional if in doubt.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have put in a formal complaint to Citi and the Financial Ombudsman. The complaint letter included and S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request and £10.00 cheque, which was cashed on the 20th May. Their response to my complaint included this "On Wednesday 15th April 2006 the OFT issued a statement....recommended credit card companies reduce their charges to a maximum of £12....from 28 June 2008 onwards we have lowered our charges to the OFT recommended rate of £12.

 

...In over a dozen recent court cases involving Citi, we have successfully argued the fairness of the above policy and the fairness of the above charges..."

 

Is this true and what took them so long to respond to the OFT?

 

I have replied with the following

 

 

"Many thanks for your standard response to my complaint. I do not believe you have made any effort whatsoever towards resolving my case. I am therefore contacting the Financial Ombudsman forthwith.

 

Please send my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) within the dates specified below, so that I may begin legal action against you and reclaim the money you owe me.

 

I have previously issued a Subject Access Request to Citi and will be claiming back the illegal charges. I am also keeping track of the number of days between my cheque having cleared and the information being received by me. Do not forget to include the details of any manual intervention made by your company since my account opened, so that I can get a clear picture of the amount you owe me.The cheque for my SAR cleared on the 20th of May 2008. This means you must issue the SAR by the 30th June 2008, as required under the Data Protection Act.

 

I notice that, according to your letter, you have changed your charges to the legal limit of £12 and that you have “successfully argued” the fairness of this in court. However, this does not include the astronomical charges and interest you have claimed prior to this change, which will be reclaimed by me, as that is statute law, which is always an implied term of contracts. I believe that Citi has wilfully ignored the legal limit for charges for many years and is responding now, by lowering charges, due to legal and public pressure.

 

I also have access to evidence that the automated processes in place at Citi for dealing with late payments and overlimit charges cost a matter of pence. However, this is immaterial, because your charges are generated solely by your previous charges. They are charges on charges and my original debt no longer exists. Therefore, I am perfectly within my rights to reclaim the whole amount, which I will do forthwith.

 

I have also received a letter from Power2Contact, your collections department, stating that you have not received payment from me. I have been paying you £65.00 per month, or more, for years. I have adjusted this payment to £66.43 following a telephone call from one of your representatives. This is a perfectly reasonable offer to pay and it will prevent you from taking me to court until I claim my charges back, after receiving a timely response to my SAR. I am paying you, safe in the knowledge that you will be forced to return the payments. It is also my belief that your company uses harassment and intimidation techniques to collect outrageous and illegal debts, with automated telephone calls and letters being continually sent. I do not expect to hear from any more illegal “bailiffs” who have no right to contact me, or enter my property.

 

I have read on the Consumer Action Group’s website, that Citi have taken up to seven months to comply with a Subject Access Request. Should you exceed the deadline in my case, then you will be committing a criminal offence. Therefore, I will take legal action immediately and contact the Information Commissioner’s office. "

 

 

 

Do you think it's a bit too arsey? I'm still waiting for the SAR and what's an LBA?

Edited by JH73
Account Number Included
Link to post
Share on other sites

and what's an LBA?

 

 

 

A Letter Before Action is a letter that warns you will take the recipient to court.

Edited by maroondevo52
Any advice I give is honest and in good faith.:)

If in doubt, you should seek the opinion of a Qualified Professional.

If you can, please donate to this site.

Help keep it up and active, helping people like you.

If you no longer require help, please do what you can to help others

RIP: Rooster-UK - MARTIN3030 - cerberusalert

Link to post
Share on other sites

Also, I'm ordering the Lawpack, but can anyone tell me what contractual interest is? Is it the rate you agreed to when you signed the contract? If they change the interest rate, can you claim it back?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi,

 

Your better sending a Postal Order, they can get a lot of info from your cheque ;) Including your signature, which sometimes get's 'lifted' (I'm lead to believe)

 

Regarding the Interest, Steven 4064 has a superb tutorial, have a look, If you still need help just shout.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/145027-interest-tutorial.html

 

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

Edited by maroondevo52
Any advice I give is honest and in good faith.:)

If in doubt, you should seek the opinion of a Qualified Professional.

If you can, please donate to this site.

Help keep it up and active, helping people like you.

If you no longer require help, please do what you can to help others

RIP: Rooster-UK - MARTIN3030 - cerberusalert

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks very much for all your help. Bizarrely, I've found the results of an SAR I requested in January 2005. It has my information dating from August 2002 - May 2004. The letter accompanying the information states "Unfortunately we are unable to issue any statements from June onwards at this moment in time. However (no comma) please be advised that these statements will be sent to you in the near future." If only I'd been more savvy back then! I didn't really know what to do with the statements. They're already in breach and I've got proof in their own words. Hoist and petard! Time for an LBA for my SAR in 2005 and the one from last year, which mysteriously went missing! Me and my printer are becoming very close lately.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi there,

 

I've started the spreadsheet for the statements I've got. I'm a bit confused by column "I". I've entered the payment I've made in this column. Is that right? So say, I paid £60.00 that month. That's what I enter into coumn I right?

Link to post
Share on other sites

What spreadsheet are you using ?

Any advice I give is honest and in good faith.:)

If in doubt, you should seek the opinion of a Qualified Professional.

If you can, please donate to this site.

Help keep it up and active, helping people like you.

If you no longer require help, please do what you can to help others

RIP: Rooster-UK - MARTIN3030 - cerberusalert

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi JH

 

In column 'I' you put the account balance on the date the interest was added - you do that for each month. Look at this example (Nat West) statement

 

statement.jpg

 

Look at A and B (this is a current accont but the principle is the same)

 

In the spreadsheet, for A, put

 

'14/05/07' in column B, 'unpaid item' in column C and '38' in column D

 

I personally prefer to keep the interest seperate, so on the next line for B, put

 

'31/5/07' in column G, '80.65' in H, '5071.48' in I and '0' in J

 

and so on. Hope that helps

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have put in a formal complaint to Citi and the Financial Ombudsman. The complaint letter included and S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request and £10.00 cheque, which was cashed on the 20th May. Their response to my complaint included this "On Wednesday 15th April 2006 the OFT issued a statement....recommended credit card companies reduce their charges to a maximum of £12....from 28 June 2008 onwards we have lowered our charges to the OFT recommended rate of £12.

 

...In over a dozen recent court cases involving Citi, we have successfully argued the fairness of the above policy and the fairness of the above charges..."

 

Is this true and what took them so long to respond to the OFT?

 

That was around the time all the credit card companies dropped their charges to £12 - June 2006 - if it says 08 it is a typo.

 

Citi have won a few in court, but more by default and luck than solid legal arguments.

 

Who was this letter from?

 

I have replied with the following

 

 

"Many thanks for your standard response to my complaint. I do not believe you have made any effort whatsoever towards resolving my case. I am therefore contacting the Financial Ombudsman forthwith.

 

Please send my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) within the dates specified below, so that I may begin legal action against you and reclaim the money you owe me.

 

I have previously issued a Subject Access Request to Citi and will be claiming back the illegal charges. I am also keeping track of the number of days between my cheque having cleared and the information being received by me. Do not forget to include the details of any manual intervention made by your company since my account opened, so that I can get a clear picture of the amount you owe me.The cheque for my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) cleared on the 20th of May 2008. This means you must issue the SAR by the 30th June 2008, as required under the Data Protection Act.

 

I notice that, according to your letter, you have changed your charges to the legal limit of £12 and that you have “successfully argued” the fairness of this in court. However, this does not include the astronomical charges and interest you have claimed prior to this change, which will be reclaimed by me, as that is statute law, which is always an implied term of contracts. I believe that Citi has wilfully ignored the legal limit for charges for many years and is responding now, by lowering charges, due to legal and public pressure.

 

I also have access to evidence that the automated processes in place at Citi for dealing with late payments and overlimit charges cost a matter of pence. However, this is immaterial, because your charges are generated solely by your previous charges. They are charges on charges and my original debt no longer exists. Therefore, I am perfectly within my rights to reclaim the whole amount, which I will do forthwith.

 

I have also received a letter from Power2Contact, your collections department, stating that you have not received payment from me. I have been paying you £65.00 per month, or more, for years. I have adjusted this payment to £66.43 following a telephone call from one of your representatives. This is a perfectly reasonable offer to pay and it will prevent you from taking me to court until I claim my charges back, after receiving a timely response to my SAR. I am paying you, safe in the knowledge that you will be forced to return the payments. It is also my belief that your company uses harassment and intimidation techniques to collect outrageous and illegal debts, with automated telephone calls and letters being continually sent. I do not expect to hear from any more illegal “bailiffs” who have no right to contact me, or enter my property.

 

I have read on the Consumer Action Group’s website, that Citi have taken up to seven months to comply with a Subject Access Request. Should you exceed the deadline in my case, then you will be committing a criminal offence. Therefore, I will take legal action immediately and contact the Information Commissioner’s office. "

 

 

 

Do you think it's a bit too arsey? I'm still waiting for the SAR and what's an LBA?

 

Are you saying that your original SAR was not complied with and you have paid for a 2nd one?

 

Have you actually sent the above letter?

Consumer Health Forums - where you can discuss any health or relationship matters.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

So, I've now submitted three SAR's to Citi, none of whech have been fully complied with. The one in 2005 was partly complied with, but they sent me a letter stating that they couldn't provide all of the information. Slippery aren't they?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Complain to the Information Commissioners Office if they are not complying with your requestes - once the statutory period has elapsed.

Advice offered by ENRON is without prejudice and is for your judgement as to whether to take it. You should seek the assistance or hire of a solicitor or other paid professional if in doubt.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 Caggers

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Have we helped you ...?


×
×
  • Create New...