Debenhams Account Cover

[yelah4u]

Hi everyone,

I wrote to Santander on behalf of my mother who took out a Debenhams storecard in 1994. The card was takin out in store with the Account Protection box ticked and signed by someone called Audrey (not my mother). She paid this up until 2004/2005 when I cancelled this for her but didn't know at the time about refunding her.

Basically I have reached dead-lock with Santander who have advised me to go to the FLA (I have been told that the FLA are a waste of time).

What do I do next?

It's been 11 months since I last had any communication with Sanatander due to illness but I do have copies of the correspondance that was sent.

Any advice would be appreciated, and I am nervous about a court claim due to the amounts invovled (she paid about £80.00 per month for this policy for roughly 10 years). At the time that the storecard was taken out in Dec 1994 she was only working part-time, for the police who have there own sickness payment scheme, and was diagnosed with diabetes in 2002. She has never claimed from this policy, obvioulsy as she never knew she had it. Nothing about account cover was explained to her at the time she was offered the storecard, and she did not realise that it was optional until she got into financial difficulty some 10 years later. The account was arrears and is now been dealt with by CL.

Please help.

Thankyou

 

Haley

[yelah4u]

:mad2: I have received a list of charges from Santander from account cover that was put on a Debenhams store card in 1994. The charges that they provide go back until October 2003. I have calculated that the charges alone since 2003 which are £2247.21 means that with interest charged as per the credit agreement of 25.9% are £9631.94. Debenhams can also confirm that in total they charged £4455.18 in total in account cover, but cannot provide a list of each transaction that means that £4455.18 - 2247.21 = £2207.97.

 

That there is another £2207.97 in account cover not accounted for. I have added this into my calculation as been charged in September 2004 because I don't know how much was charged and when this gives another £12779.00 that is due in interest. Total amount £24,618.91 and there there is the statutory 8% on top of that, so it's going to be a large claim.

Anyway Debenhams have said no - final response. And referred me to the FLA. From what I have heard the FLA are pretty unhelpful, so I was considering taking this to court. Obviously this will not be allocated to the small claims, so does anyone know what sort of fee's I would be looking at? Or can anyone suggest what I could do next. If it went from the FLA to the FOS would the FOS award the higher amount of interest at 25.9% as stated on the credit agreement (which I have)? Any advice on my next steps would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you.

[ims21]

Hi

 

Is this the same issue as appears on the thread here?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?273364-GE-Money-Debenhams&p=3088886#post3088886

 

ims

[yelah4u]

Yes Ims it is. I've been to the County Court today to have a chat with them. They've given me some paperwork to look over with regards to submitting a claim. I have also made an appointment to see the duty solicitor tomorrow morning. I'll go armed with all the paperwork, credit agreement and see what he thinks. If he thinks I've got a reasonable chance of winning I'm going for it.... if not I'll have to go down the FOS route unless anyone can suggest an alternative.

 

Just a question though does anyone no of anybody who has been successful in reclaiming back money from GE / Santander on storecards?

[ims21]

Two threads merged

 

So it seems that you have a ppi claim and a charges claim?

 

If so, be aware that they will be two distinct claims, one for the charges and one for the ppi

 

Use this thread to deal with the ppi part of the claim and start a new thread in teh store cards forum for the charges refund. Store Cards forum is here

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?49-Store-Cards

 

So with regard to the ppi claim, are you thinking of leaving out the fos route and going straight to court. If that is the cae then you will need to prepare very thoroughly and you will need to prepare a good schedule of claim to quantify the amount you are claiming. In addition you will need to prepare good particulars of claim.

 

Also It seems that this is your mother's card? How does she feel about bringing a court claim, appearing on front of a judge etc. If it is her name on the card then it is she who will bring the action.

 

What have you got in the way of statements on the account?

 

ims

[yelah4u]

Hi Ims, I have a list of the account cover charges sent by Santander from Oct 2003 - Apr 2007 which is when I took over her finances and cancelled the account cover (she didn't know it was optional and I didn't know then about reclaiming it back). They claim that they don't have any records going any further back than this, although they can confirm the total amount she paid. She is willing to go and appear in court if necessary. We only have 1 claim and that's for the account cover (PPI), the charges I got back a few years ago.

[ims21]

OK so I understand your calcs in post #2 above now

 

You mention FLA? I think GE are behind this card and is it due to age that they have told you that you cannot go to fos? Have you spoken to fos at all about it (even a general enquiry)?

 

A fos based award will be a lot less than through court because they do not award pure compound interest. Is it at the stage where you have decided to go the court route?

 

ims

[yelah4u]

Ims - yes, that's why I was thinking about the court route due to the massive difference in which we can reclaim. I'm going to see the duty solicitor at the county court tomorrow morning and show him the paperwork etc that I have. Can I submit a claim the FOS which I presume will take a while to sort out and pursue a county court claim at the same time? Obviously if we were successful in court I'd withdraw the claim from the FOS?

[ims21]

Hi

 

Well if fos find ut that there is court action in progress they will probably withdraw from it.

 

As you said earlier, the claim amount would take it outside small claims and if they defend and you lose then there is the question of costs to be considered.

 

Good idea to have a word with the duty solicitor (free I guess?) and see what they say.

 

Lets try and formulate a plan after you've seen him/her.

 

Of course there are some good legal folk on here whih can help you if you decide to go that route.

 

ims

[yelah4u]

Yes the duty solicitor is free, so I'll let you know what he has to say, and then we can take it from there.

[yelah4u]

O.K. so I went to see the duty solicitor and showed him the paperwork and agreement that Santander had sent. He thinks that they have no case to answer and should pay up , as the account cover part of the agreement is ticked and signed by "Audrey" (the sales assistant). He also says that the other comments in their fob off letters are "jibberish" and they have not addressed the points that I raised sufficiently. He also suggested that I send them a letter before action. Does anyone have any ideas if there is anything in particular that I should write?

[yelah4u]

The account cover (PPI) was taken out in 1994. Can I claim from that far back or will this not be accepted as it's more than 6 years ago?

[candyapple1]

It is my understanding that the six year limitation refers to the time a bank is legally required to keep information. If you have all the statements, etc, then you can, or if you can get them through a SAR. As I look into this issue, it seems a lot of banks etc do have history further back, but seems hard to get it off them. Please correct me if I am wrong, anyone. Just learning all this info myself.