Whizzkid v Abbey - Round 2

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For those who haven't read story in Sun...

 

 

 

Copyright 2006 NEWS GROUP NEWSPAPERS LTD

All Rights Reserved

The Sun (England)

April 11, 2006 Tuesday

LENGTH: 771 words

 

HEADLINE: I'll send bailiffs into the Abbey

 

BYLINE: Charles Rae, Consumer Editor

 

BODY:

 

 

AN ANGRY dad is threatening to shame a High Street bank -by sending in the bailiffs over a £ 2,500 unpaid debt.

 

Chris Leeves, 44, has successfully sued Abbey for a string of "totally over-the-top charges" for minor infringements.

 

Now the bank is facing the prospect of bailiffs marching into their branch in Aldershot, Hants, and seizing the cash Chris is owed.

 

Fed-up Chris took the bank to court claiming its "extortionate" charges infringed the Consumer Contracts Regulations Act 1999.

 

Slapped

 

He claimed to have been slapped with a bill for up to £ 40 a time for going a few pounds overdrawn or failing to cover direct debit payments for a single day.

 

As a self-employed internet salesman supporting a family, he said the charges were sometimes unavoidable due to late-paying customers and that there was no give-and-take from the bank. After writing to Abbey claiming he would be happy to pay more reasonable fees, the bank refused. So Chris, who lives with long-term partner Claire Underwood, decided to take legal action.

 

He filed his case at Aldershot County Court.

 

Abbey failed to file a defence within a fortnight and jubilant Chris won his case automatically, with the bank ordered to repay the £ 2,590.87.

 

Chris intends to send in the bailiffs if Abbey ignore him again.

 

He said: "If they refuse to respond yet again I will definitely be using the bailiffs. I can't believe they have entirely ignored the court process.

 

"This is money they owe me and just because they're a bank it doesn't mean they can get away with not coughing up."

 

He added "For a long time all the banks have turned around and said the charges are part of their terms and conditions, but people aren't standing for it any more.

 

"I don't deny those charges arose and it was mainly my fault because I had a couple of bad months where income didn't come in.

 

"I did manage to pay them all, but what I objected to was how disproportionate they were to what I had done.

 

"They are way too expensive. One error can often spiral out of control.

 

"A missed payment into the bank can lead to a charge, which then takes you overdrawn and you're charged again. Then a direct debit is missed and they charge you yet again.

 

"It's a vicious circle and it can ruin small businesses."

 

Chris hopes his victory will spur on others to take their cases through the courts.

 

He said: "I know banks are there to make a profit but this is pure greed."

 

A spokesman for Abbey said: "We are sorry that Mr Leeves is unhappy about his bank charges.

 

"However, as stated in the terms and conditions of his account, it is the customer's responsibility to ensure there are sufficient funds to cover any direct debits, standing orders, card purchases or cheques they may write.

 

"Abbey is up front and transparent about all its banking charges. The banking charges which Abbey levies are legitimate and proportionate to the costs incurred by the bank for situations such as returned direct debits.

 

Defend

 

"We have no record of receiving any court claim with regards to this particular case and therefore we didn't, unfortunately, have the opportunity to defend our position.

 

"The judgement was obtained by Mr Leeves by default because Abbey never received the court claim form.

 

"Abbey will be applying to the court to lift the judgment, suspend the warrant of execution and defend the claim. We hope the situation can be resolved as soon as possible.

 

"Abbey's bank account is good value and our charges compare fairly with others.

 

"For most people, banking is free -bank charges are only imposed on those who don't contact us and go beyond their agreed limits."

 

Chris's victory comes just a few days after consumer magazine Which? launched a campaign about bank charges.

 

They issued all current account providers with an ASBO -Anti-Social Banking Order -for the way they charge customers for straying into unauthorised overdrafts.

 

Experts estimate that financial institutions make £ 1.6billion a year from charges.

 

Recently law student Stephen Hone, of Plymouth, was offered a £ 5,000 out-of-court settlement by Abbey after racking up £ 2,000 of charges over six years.

 

The Office Of Fair Trading has also slammed banks and credit card providers for high charges.

 

A spokesman said hundreds of millions of pounds of "unlawful" penalty charges were being raked in by financial institutions each year.

 

They have called on banks, credit card providers, mortgage lenders and other institutions to slash their default charges.

 

He said: "A default charge should only be used to recover limited administration costs. These may include postage and stationery costs, staff costs and a share of maintaining premises and IT systems."

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Don't know if this might help at all... Article in last Wednesdays Mail...

 

Copyright 2006 Associated Newspapers Ltd.

All Rights Reserved

Daily Mail (London)

 

April 19, 2006 Wednesday

SECTION: ED 1ST; Pg. 46

 

LENGTH: 667 words

 

HEADLINE: One overdraft charge led to a spiral of debt;

MONEY MAIL

 

BYLINE: JAMES CONEY

 

BODY:

 

 

ABBEY sent a 19-year-old into a desperate spiral of debt after taking more than Pounds 700 in charges from her account in just one day.

 

Andrea Beaton, who earns Pounds 800 a month as a shop assistant, is facing a bill of more than Pounds 1,320 because she cannot cope with mounting bank charges.

 

The charges have been climbing since August last year, when Miss Beaton went overdrawn accidentally. Each month since then, charges have been added to the account, leaving her less and less to spend the following month.

 

Abbey claims that every time a charge was applied, someone monitoring her account approved it. Yet at no stage was she warned about the growing problem. Nor was her account frozen.

 

Miss Beaton, who admits to knowing little about financial matters, overspent in August 2005, but was not charged a fee because her account was normally well managed.

 

However, when she went overdrawn again in October, the bank imposed a Pounds 35 charge. This led to her going a few pounds overdrawn again in November, costing her Pounds 70 in charges. By December, her budget was so stretched the charges had climbed to Pounds 140.

 

Miss Beaton realised how serious the problem was only when she received her statement in January. She contacted Abbey asking for an overdraft so she could get back on track.

 

But her request was turned down and instead she was advised to contact Abbey's debt management team.

 

Meanwhile, charges were piling up, with another Pounds 365 added in January.

 

Miss Beaton, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, contacted the debt management team and offered to repay Pounds 50 a month. This was rejected and she was threatened with legal action and debt collectors being sent to her home unless she paid back Pounds 300 a month.

 

The debt adviser knew this was almost half of her monthly salary. And while she was discussing repayments, her account was still collecting charges. A staggering Pounds 710 of fees were applied in February.

 

When Money Mail contacted Abbey, it said if Miss Beaton was struggling, she should renegotiate the repayments.

 

She says: 'Each time a charge is made I go more into debt and it makes it impossible not to go overdrawn. No one has offered any help. All Abbey wants is the money.' Like all High Street banks, Abbey charges customers every time they go beyond their authorised credit limit. For unauthorised borrowing, the interest rate is 28.7 pc, there is a monthly unauthorised overdraft fee of Pounds 20, plus Pounds 30 for every transaction while overdrawn and Pounds 35 for bounced payments. Under banking rules, charges should only cover the cost of overseeing the transactions.

 

Abbey says that when a customer exceeds their credit limit and a transaction occurs, a cost is incurred because the credit status of that customer has to be reviewed and a decision made on whether to allow the transaction, bounce it, or freeze the account.

 

This implies someone at Abbey had to be monitoring Miss Beaton's account, allowing her to get deeper into debt and approving the charges every month.

 

Abbey says it was Miss Beaton's responsibility not to go further overdrawn, but she argues she spent only to cover basic living costs.

 

The bank says the charges were implemented correctly and Miss Beaton had been warned about how to manage her account. It adds that the person authorising the charges would only have seen she had a positive balance at the end of each month because that was when Miss Beaton's salary was paid in.

 

j.coney@dailymail.co.uk

 

HAVE you had problems with Abbey?

 

Email or write to us at Problems With Abbey, Money Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT.

 

HOW THE CHARGES ADDED UP

 

STATEMENT CHARGES VALUE

 

Aug 26, 2005 1 unpaid transaction Pounds 32 (refunded) Oct 26, 2005 1 unpaid transation Pounds 35

 

Nov 27, 2005 2 unpaid transactions Pounds 70

 

Dec 27, 2005 4 unpaid transactions Pounds 140

 

Jan 26, 2006 3 unpaid and 8 paid

 

transactions plus unauthorised

 

overdraft fee Pounds 365

 

Feb 26, 2006 6 unpaid and 16 paid

 

transactions plus unauthorised

 

overdraft fee Pounds 710

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Perhaps a few emails to j.coney@dailymail.co.uk pointing them in this direction might be in order ???

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BTW meant to say... Best of luck Whizzkid...

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Is it just me or are all the times up the spout again ?

 

If they are be warned it could lead to posts being out of sync again and confusion about order of the conversation(?)

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This seems to be going dangerously OT into the realms of the Bear Garden...

 

The sooner whizzy gets his report in here the better I think !

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Finally !!!!!

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

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This is absolutely fantastic news for you. Lovely to see Abbey eating humble pie. Don't forget you already have a public face and the public really deserve to hear the outcome!

 

I was thinking this myself... Can I presume that we will be hearing news of this in the popular (& possibly unpopular:) ) press tomorrow ????