2nd Letter sent, no reply after 3rd week, what do I do now?

[Lousalo]

Hi

I sent my 2nd letter to Abbey on 15th August. I got a reply from them saying that if they don't reply within my 2 week timescale, then to give them 4 weeks to investigate.

It's now in the 3rd week, and I'm not sure what I need to do.

Since sending these letters, we have changed accounts and money is no longer going into our Abbey account. However, now no money is going in, they have now cancelled our overdraft and have sent us 2 letters, one explaining why they cancelled it (gone over the overdraft limit, not our fault, their charges of £765 for August took us over the agreed overdraft!!!), and the 2nd letter was saying that we need to contact them to discuss repayments.

I realise I have let it go over the 2 weeks I gave them in my 2nd letter, but am now sure what I need to do next.

I have looked at other threads and to be honest, I'm now getting confused.

Could someone pls advise? Many many thanks

[ayzi]

They treated your letter as a standard complaint hence the 4 weeks to investigate. You should have stuck to the 14 day timetable and proceeded to sue them.

 

All is not lost, just send them a letter telling them it's not a complaint but a demand before court action and give them 14 days to reply.

[Lousalo]

Thanks. Is there an example of the letter I should now send?

Many thanks again.

Lisa

[Lula]

Lou it is in the bank templates letter, there is a link in my signature, I would read a few threads and the FAQ's and familiarise yourself witht he process thoroughly as you need to know what you are doing and what you are letting yourself in for as theywill mess with you no end

[kia]

good advice lula as my heads set to explode as well as my printer with overuse but never go by there timetable lesson one stick to your timescale then you stay in control

[Lula]

blush

[kia]

oh lula

[Glenn UK]

YOu may also want to write to the bank telling them you disupte the debt owing due to the charges.

 

if you inform them the account is in dispute they should not take any enforcement action or enter a default on your credit file until the dispute is resolved. This is set out in para 13,6 of the banking code, a copy may be useful for you to see what they are supposed to do do a search on here or inline dont know the link of the top of my head if you cant find it post on here and ill try to find the link for you.

 

HTH

 

Glenn

[Lousalo]

Many thanks all, for the info. Will now go off and find the 3rd letter that I need to send.

 

Lisa

[Lousalo]

Ok, just checking. Do I need to fill in the N1 form now? I know I keep getting told to read the threads, but the more I read, the more I'm getting confused. I just don't want to send out the wrong letter and have it all backfire on me.

 

If I do need to do the N1 form, do I then take it to my local court house and get them to stamp it? I am COMPLETELY new to this and completely confused. Sorry to be a pain in the ....!

 

Please help.

Lisa

[Glenn UK]

Lousalo

 

For my part the problem is i dont undeerstand exactly where you are with the letters you have sent and your claim.

 

Is this the only thread you have posted in?

 

If it is then set out which letters you have sent and some details of your claim.

 

If not then copy and paste a link to the thread where you have posted the information people need to help you.

 

All of the template letters have names, so it would normally be a SAR, followed by a prelim then LBA and then court action.

 

IF you want to understand what you should do then click on the link at the bottom of LULAs post.

 

post back here with the info and im sure somoene can help with your specific problem.

 

HTH

 

Glenn

[Lousalo]

Hi Glenn

 

Here's a copy of my first letter...

 

Abbey

Prescot Street

London

E1 8RP

 

1st August 2006

 

Request for repayment of charges.

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXX

 

My request:

I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account over the last 7 months.

I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals,

exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations.

If you say that they are not, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to

which you have been put by as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect

your costs.

Additionally, it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by

the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to

the contrary.

 

Your responsibilities:

Considering I have been an account holder at your bank for over 20 years, I am frankly shocked that you have operated my

account in this way, as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have

deceived me into agreeing to pay them.

 

Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.

 

What I require

I calculate that you have taken a total of £1590.00 (deducted £50 refund) in unpaid DD’s, and going over OD limit,

which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken, dating back to December 2005. I was

given a measly £50 refund earlier this month, and notified the bank of having difficulties 2 days prior to the refund.

This refund clearly wasn’t enough!

I enclose a schedule of all the charges which I am claiming with this letter. Due to these charges being made, it has made it

even more difficult to keep up with the household bills, thus causing us to fall behind with the payments and letters

being received from companies chasing for their money.

 

My targets to resolve this matter

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the

assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by

which I will receive payment.

 

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action

giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company

such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Lisa Salo

[Lousalo]

Here's a copy of my 2nd letter....

 

 

15th August 2006

 

Abbey

Prescot Street

London

E1 8RP

 

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXX

 

I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the 1st August 2006.

I now understand that the regime of 'fees' which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

I calculate that you have taken £1590 plus £77.26 which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken. Plus £765 of charges you wish to take out of our account on 26th August 2006. Total £2432.26.

I am enclosing a copy of the schedule of the charges which I am claiming. I have already sent you a copy of this in my original letter of the 1st August 2006.

 

Additionally I feel that you may have entered a default notice against my credit record. This default occurred merely in respect of unlawful charges levied by you or was the result of impecuniosity caused directly by the taking by you of penalty charges which you had applied unlawfully to my account.

In addition to full payment of the sum mentioned above I require that you remove the default entry from the register. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the entry will not be acceptable.

I require repayment in full of this money and removal of the default notice. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest plus a claim under ss.7 and 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998 plus my costs and without further notice.

 

 

 

 

 

-2-

 

Furthermore, I shall submit a Consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT upon the basis that you have failed to comply with the OFT's direction of 5 April 2006 and are therefore not a 'fit and proper person' to hold a consumer credit licence under the 1974 Act. If you do not understand what this means then seek advice from your legal department.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

Mrs L J Salo

 

 

 

That's as far as I've got. What should I do next? I received a letter yesterday from Abbey explaining that it's taking longer than they had hoped!!

 

Many thanks for your help.

Lisa

[DoctorWhat]

Lousalo,

 

You've sent your preliminary approach letter and your Letter Before Action. In each you gave a clear indication of your timetable and you have had neither a settlement nor an offer. There's no need for you to send any further letters. You should proceed immediately to MCOL stage (or your local court if you're not using MCOL). Include all your charges and the s.69 8% interest.

 

No need for any further delay, as far as I can see.

[Glenn UK]

I agree proceed with your claim either via MCOL or N1 at court.

 

HTH

 

Glenn

[Lousalo]

Thanks very much. Will go ahead and contact my local court.

 

Thanks again for the info.

Lisa

[Lousalo]

Me again!

 

I've just phoned Abbey to tell them that our account is in dispute and to stop them sending my details to default and they have just told me that they have put £1125 into our account!

Apparently they sent out a letter yesterday (haven't got it yet), telling us that they have paid this £1125 into our account as a "good will gesture" and that they have declined the rest (this being £1307.26!!!).

Obviously, I'm not happy with this and told them that they owe me the rest and what they have done is illegal, then I got told that it's in the terms and conditions (I don't remember signing anything because we've had this account for over 20 yrs!!).

 

Anyway, do I still go to court to claim for the rest? I'm guessing I do, but wanted to check it out with someone in the know before I go ahead.

 

Many thanks again for all your help.

Lisa

[pugsley]

there is a rejection letter template on here, that accept it as only a part payment.

 

 

you should really delete all your personal information off that letter by using xxxxxxx,

[pugsley]

here is the link

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/25716-rejection-settlement-offer.html#post200476

[Lousalo]

Hi Pugsley

 

Many thanks for the link, I will go ahead and send it to them.

 

Also, many thanks for pointing out the fact that I hadn't removed my account no. Ooops!! I've just edited it.

 

Thanks again.

 

Lisa

[pugsley]

your welcome xx