Late charges

[wiggins]

Please can anyone tell me if i can claim back late fees from a credit card account?? Surely if the payment is made does it really matter when they receive it??

 

Any advise please.

[surreyscouse]

yep, claim 'em all back. have a look at the faq's to see what letters you need to send etc. that will put you in good stead for when you deal with them.

[dgezza]

My claim was all about late charges, sent the prem lim letter and got 60% back without doing anything else ! Your get a standard letter back claiming they did nothing wrong and they will offer u some money to shut u up. Read the posts it will give u some encouragement to go all the way to the full amount.

[ajk]

Hello to all.Just a quick one about late charges.I have got on the phone to the Halifax about late credit card charges,to ask for statements for the past six years,and they told me that if its for puting a claim in for charges it is only for current bank accounts not credit cards or late payments is this right.Then he stoped what he was telling me and says he should not be telling me this and told me there was a fee of £10.00 for the statements for credit cards and i have to send a letter to them for the statements and went of the phone ? with no address to send to.Ajk

[Hedgerow]

Hello ajk,

 

It sounds like the person who you spoke to may well be using delaying tactics, or just hoping that you won't pursue a claim at all.

 

You can claim for credit cards, bank accounts, building society accounts or any type of account where charges are considered to be excessive, unlawful and unfair!!!

 

You will need to send them a letter & a £10 fee in order to get your account statements, but don't worry, you can claim this back too, that is if they don't send this payment back to you as some banks have.

 

The link below will give you a letter template you can use to request your statement/breakdown of charges

 

1. Data Protection Act, Subject Access Request letter - List of charges

 

 

Here is a link for the contact details of the banks, hopefully what you need is here.

 

Contact Details For Banks

 

There only appears to be one address for the Halifax, I don't know if this address is for bank accounts and credit cards. It might be worth while phoning them on the number listed on your credit card statement just to make sure.

 

Alternatively, if Halifax credit cards are managed by MBNA then it will be a different address from the one shown in the contact details link.

 

Best of luck

 

Hedgerow

[ajk]

Hi Hedgerow vbmenu_register("postmenu_762752", true); thanks for your email sorry for the delay i sent a letter to the halifax with the dates ect of the charges,and was waiting to get a reply before coming back to you.Well today i got a letter back from them saying that they have carried out an investigation of my complaint and they are satisfied that the charges have been correctly applied to my account.They say i opend the account and agreed to there terms and conditions which explained that charges would be applied if you did not keep to the termss of the account.We apply these charges because when customers have insufficient funds in their account to cover a payment this means additional work for them as a result they feel it is reasonable to charge for this service.I would not mind but i have been short by pence for a direct debit can i still claim or is it not worth the effort i worked out its only around £280.00 and all for up to 4p short in my account thanks Ajk

[Hedgerow]

Hello ajk,

 

The response you have received from halifax is a standard reply, I have had letters with similar replies from my banks to.

 

Don't be put off by this, they will try anything they can to deter you from making a claim.

 

It's a pain when they apply charges for the sake of a few pence, I've had this happen, but they have to draw the line somewhere.

 

I would claim for everything you can, although £280 is a smaller amount it is better off in your pocket than theirs. The fact of the matter remains that they are in breach of the 'unfair terms and conditions act' with their excessive charges.

 

Best of luck

 

Hedgerow

[ajk]

Hi thanks for your reply should i send another letter to them saying i do not agree and i would like to take more actions against them or what would be the best action to take now thanks Ajk

[brett48]

ajk

 

I agree with Hedgerow, ignore the standard letter stuff and go for it! - you need to start with the prelim letter.

In my own experience of claiming against 3 banks, Halifax have proved to be the easiest to deal with and offer a little xtra. On the bank side, they settled in full to the tune of £4200 after initially offering £2500 after prelim. On the credit card side, they offered £300 after prelim on my claim of £600 for repayment of late fees - this is now on LBA for the full amount and I expect settlement soon in line with their banking brothers.

Of the other 2, Lloyds TSB are the most stubborn and will go all the way to a court date before coughing up - no offers made and currently in court action for £3800.

Finally at the bottom of the pile there is the nightmare that is MBNA administration - say no more! After waiiting 80 days for my SAR to come back, this is now on LBA for £800.

[Hedgerow]

Hi ajk,

 

I would start the ball rolling now with the preliminary letter (link below) and just keep to your timescales. They have to reply to you.

2. Letter - Preliminary approach for repayment.

 

The 14 days will soon slip by then you can send the LBA

 

3. Letter before action - Consumer version - asking for it back

 

After that, it's showtime!

 

Hedgerow