Studio Cards

[carolbl]

Sent a letter before action to Studio, they have replied that they are currently reviewing their administration charges, but in the meantime have removed administration charges from my account to the value of £133.70.

 

My claim with them is £716 not including interest.

 

Although they claim is for £716 which is Administration charges and service charges, they service charges increased with the administration charges. i.e. service charges are another word for interest (I believe).

 

Therefore I assume the removal of £133.70 is not acceptable and will send them another letter or do I go for Court action.

 

Carol

[ukaviator]

Hi Carol.

 

You can accept their offer only as a part payment to your original claim.

It's your money,so claim it all back.Her is a sample letter Joni2bad wrote to help you:

 

BANK NAME

Address

Address

Postcode

Re: Account number XXXXXXXX

Response to settlement offer.

 

Dear [named sender or Sirs]

Thank you for your letter dated xx/xx/xx

I respectfully decline your offer of settlement and request, once again, that you return to me all charges imposed on this account, totalling £xxxx

 

I will accept the sum offered only as part settlement and on the clear understanding that I will pursue recovery of the remainder, with a County Court claim if necessary.

 

My letter before action sent previously indicates that you have until xx/xx/xx to respond before Court action commences. You are reminded that there will be no extension to this timescale.

 

I trust this clarifies my position.

 

 

Yours faithfully

[signature]

Good luck

Ukaviator

 

 

[carolbl]

Thanks for that. Letter to them in the post today

 

 

Carol

[carolbl]

Two days past the deadline for them to pay me my money. Heard nothing. Just waiting for my lawpack and I will be issuing.

 

Carol

[carolbl]

Received a letter today from Studio saying

 

Having investigated our records, it is clear that you have chosen to pay your account by instalments and are therefore subject to the terms and conditions detailed in the credit agreement sent with your first order.

 

As a recent OFT investigation only referred to penalty charges added to an account we do not feel that your request for service charges to be refunded in this matter to be a valid request

 

However we do acknowledge that the administration charges has resulted in a higher service charge been applied to a number of your statements. In order to rectify any amounts you have been charged incorrectly I have credited the last two service charges and can confirm that credits to the value of £43.09 will be detailed on your next statement

 

Please be advised that on our next update to our Credit Reference Agencies your details will be amended and I can confirm that no adverse payment details will be held as a result of this matter.

 

This is the final action in respect of this and now consider the matter closed.

 

 

 

Any advice would be appreciated on how to take this further.

 

Carol

[carolbl]

Please advise

[chezt]

Hi carol - just reading your posts as i too have started a claim with Studio - I'm certainly no expert but would presume this could be accepted as another part payment as I presume this does not cover the admin charges on your account. I've only claimed admin charges on my claim with them but mine is 'only' for £155.80 over 2yrs so didn't bother with the interest

 

Good luck with the rest of your claim x

[caro]

What service have they provided because you are paying by instalments Carol? What does the administration charge cover? I think you should see if they can provide you with a copy of the credit agreement and terms and conditions.

 

You need to esablish if it is a genuine service charge, or if there are any penalties. If penalties then you should claim. The administration charges definitely sound like penalties.

[carolbl]

I am going to write to them again asking for a copy of the credit agreement. The service charge increases substantially if they dont get paid on time and as I have refused to pay them any more money until I get this sorted. The service charge is getting higher and higher.

 

I assume the service charge is another name for interest on goods I have had.

[carolbl]

I have sent the CCA letter to Studio

[chezt]

Carol - I agree - the service charge I think is another word for interst - I've not heard anything from them after my prelim letter yet so gonna look into claiming the interest ('service charge') on the fees back too

[chezt]

Carol - Just been looking into claiming back interest (service charge of 2.5% of brought forward balance) charged on charges & have re-entered into a new spreadsheet (used the complex credit card one in library) ... makes a difference of just £9.05 extra (better in my pocket!) & of course it all adds up when the 8% int on top too .....

[carolbl]

Hi chezt

 

I have sent my CCA letter (as I have done under my Shoe Tailor forum). Lets see if they can provide the right documentation.

[chezt]

Surely you have a right to reclaim all the interest (service charges) you have paid on the portion of the monthly amount which is unlawful fees anyway? Why do you need a copy of the CA?

 

Good luck - I'm keepin an eye on how u get on - I've started a thread for my claim called 'chezt v studio cards' I'm looking for a cheque as my balance is clear now.

[jellybabe]

Hi there, just stumbled across your thread.I have claimed and got all my money back of studio.

I claimed the charges and the interest (service charges) relating to the charges. They gave me the same Bull.... about the service charges, you know....you paid in installment thats why you pay service charges.

I send them the following reply:

Dear Mr Rapson,

Thank you for your part refund of my charges which i am claiming back.It is accepted as part settlement only.

I note that you have not added the interest i am claiming, as you state this is a service charge for paying by installments.Just to clear something up:

Every time you put a charge on my account, my balance increases and therefore my interest on the balance increases.I am claiming that part of interest back that is relating to my charges to the account.Therefore i am still persuing the outstanding balance of £xx.xx.

Therefore i will give you 10 days to

to pay up the outstanding interest i had asked you for in my letter before action to you dated the 26th July 2006. If the money is still outstanding by the 28th September 2006, i shall begin a claim against you for the full amount of £xx.xx plus

my costs and without further notice.Blah Blah Blah.

Please take note that they also sent me the money in form of Vouchers.You do not have to accept that kind of payment.

I did send mine (recorded post of course!) back explaining that

i paid in pounds sterling and would expect the same of them.

And i did get it.

Sorry for the long post, just thought it might be helpful.

Good Luck,

jellybabe

[carolbl]

Hi jellybabe

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

I sent my letter asking for a copy of the credit agreement and received two replies. One stating that this account is now in the hands of an External Collection Agency and the other stating my letter has been forwarded to the Specialist Department and they should be in contact shortly. That letter was sent on the 3rd November. So basically they have 14 days and one full month to send it.

 

I will just have to wait and see what happens with this one.

 

To be quite honest this whole thing (and other accounts) is getting me down. I really need to issue against A&L so I have some money to take the others to Court but finding £80 this side of Christmas is an impossibility. Not sure where I stand with threatening to take action and not actually doing it until months later. Do I need to start the whole process again or can I just issue.

[jellybabe]

Hi, know what you mean. I threatened Cahoot a few months ago with action, but couldn't find the money yet.

As far as i know you don't have to start all over again. It just looks to the courts that you have given them a little bit more time to settle. Which is not considered as being bad i suppose.

[caro]

I don't know your circumstances, but if you are on certain benefits you can claim exemption from court fees. I'm not sure of the exact detail but it could be worth you looking into it. You would need to do this at your local court office before putting in a claim there. Why not ring the court and find out the criteria?

[jellybabe]

i'm not on any benefits, am therefore liable to pay court fees.

[caro]

Certain tax credits qualify, but can't remember which.

[carolbl]

No I am not on any benefits to be able to claim exemption. Just in debt and dont have a lot of money to spare

[caro]

Well I know that feeling. Remember if you can scrape it together for A&L you will probably have it back within a month.

[chezt]

Carol - did you get a cheque for your initial offer? I've had my cheque today for all charges plus the interest (Service charges!!) charged - They haven't paid the contractual interest I was charging them though so I need to send another letter.

 

I don't understand what is happening with your claim - I haven't even got to LBA stage yet.

 

If I were you I would forget about seeing the credit agreement (if you read my post they mentioned it in my letter but contradicted themselves!) and I would issue another request for payment - they really should not have forwarded this to a debt collection agency as your debt is in dispute - surely?!

[carolbl]

No I didnt get a cheque they said they would deduct it from the amount I owe. I have yet to see this on paper.

 

Whatever they offer will only get rid of a debt it wont give me any money at all. They have increased it so much with service charges from the original debt

 

I will look at your post and maybe send another letter

 

Carol

[chezt]

They have increased it so much with service charges from the original debt

Carol

 

Remember you can claim the charges & the service charges - this is what I have just had refunded in full. I'm now going to persue the claim for contractual interest (I sent them a revised Prelim letter a while ago) as they seem to have ignored my request for this. Basically I'm charging them interest at their rate for MY money whilst they've had it.

 

Please let me know if I can help you in anyway with this - perhaps you could try sending a revised prelim if you haven't already done your LBA? May have to check with of the mods if you've done LBA already but I'm sure there is a way round it - why not try going for contractual interest too? Anyway - think about it & let me know if you need help