additions direct - reclaiming catalogues charges plz help

[clarealex]

Hi- I wrote to Additions direct recently requesting a copy of all late payment/default charges that have been applied to my account along with a £10 cheque- I didnt ask for a SAR specificaly just a list of charges.

I have received back from them today what I can only describes as about 100 pages of complete nonsense!!

Its all computer print outs with abbreviations and numbers and I can not make head nor tail of it.

After spending all afternoon trying to work out what each piece of paper means I have given up!!

Surely after sending them £10 for this information they should of at least sent me something I could understand? A simple list of charges or copies of my statements I could actually understand.

 

Also what I find worrying is mixed in with my sheets of jargon- which are not even in order!- are someone elses details of a PPI claim they have made- info includes their address,date of birth,contact number,account number and outcome of the case !

 

Do I write back to Additions requesting they send me paperwork which is understandable and will I need to send off another £10 cheque ?

 

Thank you in advance for any help

[sea-sidelady]

Hi clarealex,

 

Once you have paid the £10 fee for you information, they have to send you all your information. Here is a link to the letter you need to send. You have a couple of choices, weather it has been 40 days or not, but they are very easy to understand. Once you send that they have 7 days to return all the information you want. It is also worth sending this one recorded delivery so you can make sure it gets there.

 

http://www.consumerwiki.co.uk/index.php/Data_Protection_Act:_Non-Compliance

 

As for receiving some one else's information, I'm just double checking the best way of dealing with it, and I will get back to you.

[clarealex]

Hi sea- side lady- thanks for the reply and link.

 

So am I right in thinking that it does not make any difference that I only requested a list of late payment charges and not any other information-they should of sent all information held on my account regardless as I have paid the £10 fee?

 

The letter I sent was a template letter asking just for a copy of all charges.

 

It's honestly a nightmare trying to sort through what everything means,its literally jut sheet upon sheet of codes and numbers!

 

I have only been sent transactions from 2007-2010 when I specifically asked for the last 6 years.

 

Also I have seen that I was paying account cover plus- is this the same as PPI ?

 

If so should they have also sent information regarding this- policy booklets,signed agreements that sort of thing?

 

Not sure how much I have paid in insurance as the statements only start from 2007 and it stops appearing on my account mid 2008.

 

Thank you for your help.

[silverfox1961]

Hi,

Where they have sent you a list of codes, they should also have sent a shhet with what the codes mean. If they haven't done so, add that into your next letter.

Tell additions about their error re sending another customers details but don't return them yet. Contact the other customer and advise them to report additions to the Information Commissioner.

 

Ideally, you want all the statements going right back to the beginning of the account. Any financial institution has to keep financial records for 6 years AFTER the account is closed.

[clarealex]

Hi Silverfox- thanks for the reply.

 

After being up all night I have started to make a bit more sense of all the paperwork !

 

Yes they have sent me a list of what the abbreviations all mean.

 

I have worked out that the sheets are all related to different aspects of my accounts- a pile of them with orders on, a load with payments on and a few sheets with charges on.

 

Am I right in thinking that the admin charges of £12 are the late payment fees? If so then there is quite a few of them !

 

Also the account cover plus is that the same as PPI if so would I be able to make a claim for PPI miselling if I have grounds for a claim?

can I just total up what I have paid with interest then send off with my reasons for believing why it was mis sold? Or would I need to request a copy of my agreement first and then send a copy of it off with my claim. I unfortunately do not have copy of the agreement anymore

 

Thanks for your help

[silverfox1961]

I do believe that account cover plus is very similar to PPI as it is an additional cost to your normal bill. It would have been good to have a copy of your terms and conditions to see what the cover was for. I assume THIS was the SAR request you used. If so, it does state all data so you could go back and ask for the agreement and terms and conditions.

 

With the charges, you should be collating the charges and month on month adding interest at the rate they were charging you. Any charge(admin, late payment,overlimit) is reclaimable.

[clarealex]

Below is a template of the letter I sent- i found it on another site before I found out about this site:oops:- only wish now I was not in such a rush to get it sent off.

As you can see from my letter I only asked for the charges to be sent- I didnt even realise until I was sent these copies that I used to have account cover plus.

 

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

Account number: [insert account number]

 

I am writing to request a fully comprehensive list of all the default charges for late payments or going over my credit limit that I have paid on the above account(s) over the last six years.

 

Please find enclosed a cheque for the maximum statutory charge of £10. If you are unable to provide this data, I will accept a copy of my statements going back six years; I understand that statements on their own are not covered by the Data Protection Act 1998, yet I’m not requesting the statements per se, but the charges, which I’m entitled to by law.

 

If you store any of the older records on microfiche, please be aware that the Information Commissioner deems this to be a relevant filing system under the Act. As such, any microfiche data must be sent to me in fully legible and comprehensible form.

 

I look forward to your response within 40 days, as [insert name of credit card provider] is obliged to reply under the Data Protection Act. If not I shall seek remedy from the Information Commissioner.

 

Yours faithfully,

[silverfox1961]

As you only asked for the statements, I think a CCA request won't do any harm as this 'should' get back your Terms and Conditions and possibly the agreement. You could do another SAR asking for all the data they hold instead but that will cost another tenner as opposed to a quid for the CCA