pjdudley69 v YB - Round 2!!! ***WON _AGAIN!!!***

[pjdudley69]

Well, here I go again! It's only £75 this time, but it was all taken within a month and I want to nip this in the bud. Also, I don't plan on going overdrawn again, it just occurred immediately prior to them coughing up from my initial claim - see, it's all their fault. If they hadn't been dragging their arse, and paid up sooner, we wouldn't have to go through all this malarkey again lol

 

Obviously, alot of you are aware that I've done all this before, and know most of the ins and outs - but I do have a question.

 

Because this is the second time I'm going up against them, do I still use the standard prelim letter, or is the rumour I've heard about there being an adapted letter available true? I believe I heard it was Seminole who drafted this letter - if so, where can I find it cos I've done a search and come up with nothing/nowt/nada!

 

Caro, if you see Sem, will you have a whisper in his shell-like and ask where it is [if it exists] please hun?

 

PJ xx

[MARTIN3030]

Good luck with round 2......and with 1 thread ha ha;)

[pjdudley69]

cheers martin - ur a sweety

[Guest NATTIE]

PJ Good Luck and look forward to yet another win

[pjdudley69]

Because this is the second time I'm going up against them, do I still use the standard prelim letter, or is the rumour I've heard about there being an adapted letter available true? I believe I heard it was Seminole who drafted this letter - if so, where can I find it cos I've done a search and come up with nothing/nowt/nada!

 

A gentle little bump here cos i'm holding back in case this letter exists

[pjdudley69]

It turns out that the letter I'd been made aware of was sent by Spiceskull. Anyway, here's a draft of a letter which I intend to send to YB. Basically, it's a variation of the standard prelim letter, with a bit of spiceys letter mixed in [i would ask him if it's ok, but seeing as he's gone I can't]

 

Dear Sirs

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER xxxxxxxx

 

I am writing to ask that you refund to me charges, to the sum of £75, which you have levied from my account over the past 3 months.

 

As you are no doubt aware, I have, in the past, asked you to demonstrate to me that these punitive charges are fair and just, that they are lawful, and that they are being lawfully applied. I have also asked you to demonstrate that they represent a true cost to the bank of the bank’s actions, or that they represent a fair pre-estimate of cost for those actions. You have failed to demonstrate this to date, and therefore it is implied by your refusal or inability to supply such demonstration, that these penalties are, indeed, unlawful.

 

Furthermore, you will be aware from my account history that, after raising a claim in the courts, the bank refunded penalty charges to the sum of £665.25.

 

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me regarding this matter, and I write this letter on the assumption that you will prefer to do this rather than merely responding with standard letters and leaflets.

 

If you do not respond, or do not respond positively within 14 days, I shall send you a letter before action giving 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

 

 

I'd appreciate any comments/advice before I send this off please - I'm aiming to send it at the end of the week.

 

Ta, PJ xx

[JulesTools]

Hi Pj

As promised here is my wording as I think

Use or discard at your discretion

 

I am writing to ask that you refund to me charges , to the sum of £75 levied , from my account during the past 3 months.

 

As you are no doubt aware, I have, in the past, asked you to demonstrate to me that these punitive charges are fair , just, lawful and that they are being lawfully applied in accordance with Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. I have also asked you to demonstrate that they represent a true cost to the bank of the bank’s actions, or that they represent a fair pre-estimate of cost for those actions. You have failed to demonstrate this to date, and therefore it is implied by your refusal or inability to supply such demonstration, that these penalties are, indeed, unlawful.

 

Furthermore, you will be aware from my account history that, after recently raising a claim in the courts, the bank refunded penalty charges to the sum of £665.25.

 

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me regarding this matter, and I write this letter on the assumption that you would prefer to do this rather than merely responding with standard letters and leaflets as before.

 

If I do not receive a satisfactory response within 14 days, I shall once again be sending you a letter before action giving 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 further claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

[pjdudley69]

Right, finally got round to sending this letter, well, it's going in tomorrows post! This is what is going [thanks jules hunny, you're a little gem xx]

 

I am writing to ask that you refund to me charges, to the sum of £75, levied from my account over the past 3 months.

 

As you are no doubt aware, I have, in the past, asked you to demonstrate to me that these punitive charges are fair, just, lawful, and that they are being lawfully applied in accordance with Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. I have also asked you to demonstrate that they represent a true cost to the bank of the bank’s actions, or that they represent a fair pre-estimate of cost for those actions. You have failed to demonstrate this to date, and therefore it is implied by your refusal or inability to supply such demonstration, that these penalties are, indeed, unlawful.

 

Furthermore, you will be aware from my account history that, after recently raising a claim in the courts, the bank refunded penalty charges to the sum of £665.25.

 

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me regarding this matter, and I write this letter on the assumption that you will prefer to do this rather than merely responding with standard letters and leaflets as before.

 

If I do not receive a satisfactory response within 14 days, I shall once again be sending you a letter before action, giving 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 further claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

If anyone wants to borrow any/all of it, please feel free. PJ xx

[Ratbaglabrat]

Hiya PJ, sorry to hijack your thread.

You know when you got to the AQ stage on round 1. Because your claim was less than £1500 did you pay the Court fee of £100?

 

Lee

[pjdudley69]

no i didn't Lee - but saying that, i'm on tax credits so i didn't have to pay for any of my claim.

 

PJ

[pjdudley69]

Received a reply from my lovely [not] Branch Manager today:

 

"It appears from our dealings with you that the relationship between Banker and customer has irretrievably broken down. It is therefore not possible for us to sustain with you the sort of relationship which we would regard as necessary for us to act as your Bankers.

In accordance with the Banking Code we hereby give you notice that we do not wish to continue to act as you Bankers and that in consequence we wish your account to be closed not later than 30 days from the date of this letter.

Please return to the Branch any cheque books and Bank cards in your possession and make arrangements to clear any outstanding balance."

 

There was no £75 cheque enclosed, wunches!

 

Anyway, got to admit this has worried me. I've got a Natwest Step account as a parachute, from my first battle, but at the moment it's only being used for saving, just to keep it open. How do I go about transferring everything [DDs, wages etc] to this account? Secondly, I have a £300 overdraft limit with YB, which I do rely on quite a bit [only into it by bout £100 at the mo]. There is no way I am in any position to pay all this off - so what would they do?

 

I'd realise appreciate any help and advice on this.

 

PJ xx

[caro]

Oh PJ you must be devastated - NOT!!

 

See if Nat West can advise you on transferring DD's, wages etc, or failing that I guess you will need to contact all the people that you pay, or who pay you and advise them of the change in account details to set up new DD's. YB should supply you with a list of them all.

 

Regarding the OD, you can't pay what you haven't got, so you need to agree a repayment plan with them. I suggest that you remind them that the account is in dispute so you will not expect to see any negative information on your CRA reports as a result of this. Especially important given Trunnys warning about this. If there is any chance you could clear all but the 75.00 they owe you it will save you a debt, but otherwise you will need to negotiate a repayment plan with them. They can't refuse.

[pjdudley69]

Right, finally got all my DD's/SO's etc transferred to my parachute a/c. Cleared the remainder of my YB balance across too - sod em! lol

 

Still haven't heard anything re the £75 charges, so I assume they think I'll forget about them because my account's being closed - I don't think so!! Sending this letter 1st thing in the morning:

 

Dear Ms xxxxxxxxx

 

ACCOUNT NUMBERS: XXXXXXXX & XXXXXXXX

 

With regard to your letter of 3 November I enclose my cut up Switch card and any unused cheques, to enable you to close both of the above mentioned accounts with immediate affect (as per my message via internet banking).

 

I will be happy to enter into written correspondence to make arrangements to pay the outstanding overdraft of £xxx, at affordable monthly amounts to myself. However, please bear in mind that there is currently a dispute on this amount, due to £75 of charges which you have failed to refund following my letter of 25 October. Once this issue is resolved, I will be pleased to begin paying the remaining balance of £xxx.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Lets see what they try and do now - what's betting my letter will mysteriously go astray and they'll try and make me pay back my O/D all at once lol

[JulesTools]

You go get em PJ,

 

You drag out paying them back the o/d as long as they made you wait for your first lot of charges to be returned.Play them at their own game and take the maximum amount of time to respond to letters as they do.If they lose your letter then the cat must have pawed their letter to shreads ooops naughty pussy!!

 

Jules

xxxx

[pjdudley69]

re the letter I sent on 29th Nov, I received the below today from Account Management Services:

 

Dear PJ

 

We refer to previous correspondence in respect of the overdrawn balance on the above account and are disappointed that we have not received a response from you [what previous correspondence???]

 

We have been left with no alternative but to close your account [doh!!] and transfer the above balance, together with commision of £0/00 and debit interest £0.77 accrued to date, to our Collections Centre. Further costs and charges may be added until the debt is repaid.

 

Collections Centre will be taking furter action as appropriate and specific repayment proposals should be made to them by telephoning 0870 xxx xxxx. If full settlement of the total outstanding balance [including commission and interest accrued] is made within the next 14 days then no further action will be taken against you and no further costs and charges will be added to the balance owing.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Supervisor - Closed Accounts

 

Any thoughts, as they haven't mentioned the amount in dispute, and there is no way i can pay it within the next 14 days.

 

Any help appreciated - thanks in advance

 

PJ xx

[caro]

I take it this letter is from a different person or department than the ones you wrote to before. If so then I would just send another letter stating that the balance on the account is in dispute and once that is resolved you will be able to discuss how to proceed.

 

Have you started your court claim yet? If so tell them the dispute is the subject of a court claim. Don't they ever listen?

[pjdudley69]

yep, different department, and no court claim as yet, only sent prelim so far - which is a few week beyond its expiry, but i wanted to wait til account was closed before i continued with LBA [thought it mite make things abit more straightforward for myself, so that i knew where i was lol]. So I think it's about time I sent my LBA off to my [ex] branch now

 

PJ xx

[kirky]

good luck with this pj - watching with interest! (And what about the 0870 number they gave you to ring - FLIPPING CHEEK!)

[JulesTools]

PJ,

 

You have sent the prelim letter so you are already disputing the account.Write to them mentioning this and say you are in the process of taking it to court if a satisfactory result is not reached promptly.Let them talk to eachother between departments for a change as the left hand never knows what the right is doing .

 

Jules

[pjdudley69]

Right - think this should be my final update

 

Received a phone call a few days before Christmas for YBs Collection Dept in Leeds, advising that a balance of £300.26 had been passed to the from my [ex] branch for collection. Lady on the phone seemed quite nice. I explained that upon closing my account the exact balance was £299.99 [£300 overdraft, so I left 1p in it for their 'helpfulness lol] - I also told her that the account was in dispute due and that I had written requesting the return of unfair charges levied to the account. As I said, the lady I spoke to was extremely reasonable [?? surprising for this bunch really!] and that she would make a note on the account and I wouldn't receive any further calls until the dispute was resolved.

 

I still haven't heard anything from YB re the LBA I sent them on 17th December, however today I received another phone call from YB Collections. Another very reasonable/nice/helpful lady [i really am shocking myself actually saying that!!]. Yorkshire Bank have credited £75 to the account [ so I finally won] so the remainder now needs paying off. I offered to pay in installments, and she advised that it should be paid off over 6 months [making payments of approx £38 a month, which I explained I'd struggle with at the moment]. However, she did say if they reduced the amount owing would I be able to pay it within 14 days - course, I told her it depended how much [i want to make this work in my favour, not theirs, after all the messing about!]. If I pay within 14 days I can make full & final at £170 - a reduction of £56!

 

I think this is very reasonable, considering that none of it is made up of charges now I've claimed them all back, so by juggling my money properly I should be able to get YB out of my life once on for all next Saturday

 

Just as a side note, even tho' I've only been using my new account for a couple of months, I've found that I can actually live and have 'fun' money without going overdrawn - its great, can't remember the last time I saw a credit balance on my account every week!!

 

PJ xx

 

PS - Can a MOD please amend my thread title to show it's settled, and btw survey completed

 

BTW, Caro - You're PM box is full

[moss]

Congrats PJ bet your glad it's all over, Though we'll all miss reading accounts of your battles with YB. Hope you don't vanish all together.

 

Regards Moss

[ladykenco]

Congrats...that showed em!

[caro]

Well done PJ. Maybe you have a credit balance because you've given up paying bank charges. Are you the first to have taken on YB and won - TWICE!!!

 

At the risk of showing my age, a song just popped into my head by Hot Chocolate.

 

Can you just imagine YB singing this:

 

So you win again, you win again

Here I stand again, the loser

And just for fun you took my love and run,

But love had just begun

I can't refuse her

But now I know that I'm the fool

Who won your love to lose it all

When you come back, you win again

And I'm not proud to say

I let love slip away

Now I'm the one who's crying

I'm a fool there's no denying

When will my heartache end?

Will my whole life depend on fading memories

You took the game this time with ease

[JulesTools]

Well Done PJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I don`t know Caro Jammy Git or what?

Two settlements before we are paid out on one .

 

Well deserved PJ , looks like everything is falling into place for you.

See you in Wakefield on the 26th

 

Jules

[caro]

I was forgetting you had won 2 claims as well Jules. (Don't tell me you haven't actually got any money from them yet!) Don't forget PJ was here before either of us and was one of the first ever to get paid by YB.

 

She and Trunny held my hand when I was a newby and I don't think I will ever forget her trials and tribulations completing an N1 for the first time. Deserves every penny in my opinion. PJ is a great example of a CAG success story. Well done hun!