What next? ***WON***

[SickofA&L]

After A&L put me £700 overdrawn with their fees I called to say I wont pay them which annoyed them as they then sent me a letter telling me they had closed my account and were getting debt collectors in. I called again and told them in a polite way that they were going to have to fight me for the £700 and the kind lady told me they would stop the debt collection action until the matter was resolved. After reading everything on this website thoroughly I sent them a letter based on a template from this site about returning my fees and have now received a letter telling me that my facts are wrong, the OFT report was only about credit cards and they still want the money. There is no way i'm going to pay but what next? Do I send them another letter telling them there's no way I'll pay or do I hold on till they try contacting me? Somebody help becaue I'm tempted to visit Bootle and tell A Cooper to shove it up his or her a**e:mad:

[Bettynomates]

Just do exactly as the advice or here says,, in the timeframe as indicated on here. I had exactly the same letter... just follow the advice to the letter! read through all the postings and you will find we all have the same letters... I have today received a cheque for £838 pounds...cant belive it!! and dont forget to donate when you have your money back!!! :o)

[wombat]

if you havent already go to the FAQ section in red an read the step by step guide, I found it invaluable. good luck

[caro]

Good advice here. Read the FAQ's and stick to your timetable, not theirs.

[SickofA&L]

Hi everyone. I've been following all of the advice on how to get my charges back and got a letter today following up on my LBA. The letter is from their Debt Recovery Division (I'm assuming this is because I refused to pay off the overdraft which they put me into). The letter basically thanks me for raising the issue then says that the charges are clearly shown within their literature. It then follows on by saying that they are going to keep my complaint file open for 8 weeks then shut it. Finally S Scott says that if we cannot agree a way forward I need to go to the financial ombudsman. Is this standard or have I got caught in the aftermath of A&L's bad publicity on tv over the last week.

Would like some advice or to know if this is the response anyone else has had before I move to the next step

[caro]

Apart from the Debt Recovery Division doing it, everything sounds standard, so time to do your court claim it seems. I would perhaps just pop them a note to confirm that as far as you are concerned the account is still in dispute so they cannot take further action until the dispute is resolved.

[SickofA&L]

Thanks for the advice. Getting nervous now but there's no way they're going to scare me into backing off. Will do the mcol and keep you informed

[caro]

Nothing to worry about. I would be surprised if the problem doesn't go away in the next 3 or 4 weeks.

[Guest Battleaxe]

Sick of A & L,

 

 

Don't worry bog standard letters but if you want why not send you next letter to Mr Ian Wade,

Head of Customer Relations, Current Accounts. He's at Bootle.

 

I had their credit control lot ring me trying to placate me, but I am sticking to the time lines and sent off my letter before action. if they don't reply by next Friday I'm filing my claim the following Monday

 

They offered me £100.00 goodwill, told me they would close the file in eight weeks and for me to contact the FO. I replied and told them to sod off. They are hoping you will back off.

 

I had great satifaction today, going down and taking my daily limit out and I am going to do the same tomorrow, they can chase me for the overdraft. I paid all my bills today manually.

 

All transactions went through, so if I end up with paid item charges, who are they going to blame as I have all the transaction numbers. I will claim back these charges also.

 

The Mods and others will help you through this.

 

Stand strong and get your charges back. Take no notice of what they write. it's BLUFF.

[SickofA&L]

OK. Don't know if I need to panic but I was greeted this morning by a letter from their debt recovery division giving me 28 days to clear the outstanding balance (which is entirely made up of their charges) before entering a default. I've just called them to point out it's in dispute and i'm going to file a claim and got told that this will be noted but they are still going to put the default against me unless I cough up the money. Any advice or has anybody else had this?

[SickofA&L]

Quick update. Just filled out all the MCOL paid up and submitted it. Fingers crossed now! I know from the forum that so far everyone has been successful but I am 'bricking it' that I may be the first to end up in court and lose. Claim number 6QZ78033 for £1,070.42

[caro]

I am 'bricking it' that I may be the first to end up in court and lose.

 

If I had a pound for every time that I had read that I would be able to retire. If you end up in court then I'm the Queen of Sheba. This time next month you will be wondering why on earth you were worried. As long as you have followed the process and done your particulars of claim properly I fully expect you to have a very prosperous Christmas.

[SickofA&L]

Evening everyone, I need some quick advice. I entered my mcol on saturday and just checked on it. Getting a message asking if I want to enter judgment by default or by admission. Am I right in assuming I should go with the default option? Any help much appreciated, just lost my job so need the money asap

[Beserker]

Hiyas. Sorry you have lost your job

 

The MCOL is deemed served on A&L 5 days after it was issued you then have to wait 14days before you can go for judgement by default (if they don't enter a defence). MCOL won't let you go for judgement before the 14 days are up.

 

As my dad used to say, patience - it all comes to those who wait.

[SickofA&L]

Afternoon everybody. Can anyone else help me with this question? A&L have told me they're actioning a default against me in roughly 25 days. Am I right in thinking they're not allowed to do this because the account is in dispute?

[caro]

You are right. I should write to the person who wrote to you and remind them of the fact.

[SickofA&L]

Thanks Caro. Just gave them a call and they must be getting very used to all of the charge repayment requests. At the end of the phone call the helpful but nervous lady enquired "By any chance are you claiming in court for all of your charges to be refunded?". I just laughed and thanked her for her help.

I've got this image in my head of some poor sod with a desk overflowing with LBA's and court proceedings letters

[fizzerfox]

LOL, perhaps if they employed more people to deal with the LBA's etc. they could then justify their inflated charges with the extra wages.

[SickofA&L]

Please help! I've had another letter today from Alliance & Leicester telling me that they are starting legal action against me to recover my overdraft (which is made up of their fees) and on the 11/11/06 I will be ordered to pay the overdraft plus costs plus 8% interest and have a ccj against my name. I've called them and pointed out yet again that the account is in dispute and the exact wording I was given was "I don't care if the account is in dispute pay us now or you'll pay through the courts including the costs". I asked to speak to somebody senior and he refused saying "Somebody has investigated the dispute and decided we haven't done anything wrong so we demand payment be made now".

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

The best bit was when he said "I'll do you a deal, pay us £400 now and we'll forget this happened and call it quits" basically the £400 is 50% of what they are demanding I pay them

Any help would be appreciated as they dont have to reply to my claim till 18th November and I dont know whether to gamble on the CCJ threat hoping they pay up what they owe me

[kingliam]

They will pay up, on the my MCOL they had until the 15/11 and they alledgedly (another story see my post) paid up this week on the 30/10.

 

By my reckoning if they are working on the same timescales they should confirm to the court that they are paying up today.

 

This obviously isnt guaranteed.

 

I am sure someone a little more knowledgable may be able to point you in the direction as regards the CCJ threat's.

 

This did not happen to me.

[caro]

They are bang out of order doing this. Your claim for charges exceeds the amount they are claiming back. I wouldn't gamble on the CCJ as that would damage your ability to get a mortgage or credit for 6 years. It is better to fight it before it happens rather than allow it to happen and then have a much harder fight getting it removed.

 

The person you spoke to was clearly unaware that they were at fault pursuing this. I suggest that you try to keep away from phone calls and insist on everything in writing, unless you have recording equipment that you can use. I suggest that you respond in writing telling them, again, that the account is in dispute and that you already have a court claim against Alliance and Leicester, quoting the claim number and the amount.

 

You might suggest that once that dispute is resolved the overdraft will be cleared in full, (assuming that is what you intend) as it is entirely made up of unlawful charges which you fully expect to be removed from your account. I believe, although you need to check this for accuracy, that under the Data Protection Act they cannot pass information on an account in dispute to third parties, including credit reference agencies.

 

I hope that helps.

[SickofA&L]

Thanks for the advice Caro. I received a letter this morning from their solicitor - Jackie McGuirk, all it says is "Please find enclosed a copy of the acknowledgement of service that we have filed with Northampton County Court". Will be interesting to see how far they pursue this

[sharmore]

Hiya,

 

Just read the bit on your post about the CCJ's the Alliance & Leicester will have to retract these if they pay up. it might take time to remove them but they should.

 

What are they like it's like talking to people at your local market it costs £10 no i'll give you a fiver and call it quits, there a f***ing bank!!!

 

That just really sums up how unlawful the bank charges are to me.

 

[SickofA&L]

These lot are a complete bunch of muppets! Just called them to get the best contact name for sending a letter and the woman read through my notes. After reading through the notes she said and I quote "How can we be chasing you while its being handled by one of our solicitors?". My response - "Exactly". I've now got to send her the letter pointing out the error of their ways and she is going to work with Jackie McGuirk to resolve the matter......somebody at A&L is actually going to take responsibility for the case and offered to be the main contact! Never seen that on any of the threads, wonder if they've realised that I'm not going to back down

[caro]

The lady you just spoke to obviously realises that you are right and they are wrong. I would be inclined to send the letter anyway just so that you have evidence if they do continue to pursue you.