Anyone dealing with Alliance & Leicester over charges?

[BankFodder]

Don't issue a claim if you are not prepared.

read the guidance notes in the library and start undersatdning what you have to do and what the arguments are.

Have a look at any correspondence you have from them. Is ther naything there which admits that they are charging a penalty - maybe says that they are recovering their losses?

To have come as far as you have now you shold have already been familiar with the possible issues.

 

Hunt around for others who are dealing with the same bank. contact them for copies of helpful documents.

 

Read it all up then come back here.

[Miss T]

O I have been reading up, becoming a blinkin obsession!! Got a pack of notes, letter and info from a friendly guy on this forum who won against Nationwide, (really got it for my sister) but I might as well get reading up on that .......every little helps.

[Miss T]

How many letters!!!!

Recieved ANOTHER letter today from another person, from the same department.( this makes 4)

This is quite funny thinking half the work force is sending me letters, maybe if they spoke to each other they could save time and money.

 

The letter states again that they are 'well within their rights as these were correctly raised charges'

 

Roll on Monday, never know might have recieved another 4 letters by then

[Miss T]

Preparing to put my claim into court.

What Address for the Alliance & Leicester should I put, any ideas?

Am thinking the Customer Contact Centre, Bootle,

 

Also have charged me another £50 since I sent my first letter to them with the initial amount, should I add this on to the amount I am asking for.

[BankFodder]

Read all of the guidance notes inthe library

[Miss T]

Gonna apply to small claims tomorrow when the post has been, have been reading about applying during the weekend.

 

If anyone has any info that would help me in my case against Alliance & Leicester I would be very grateful.

[BankFodder]

get your case togethr first

[Miss T]

Update: Filed my claim at the local court Monday, just the waiting game now!!

[richardc]

Miss T. Don't forget to pm Dave or Bankfodder with details of your claim

[Miss T]

Thanks was gonna PM adetails on claim but was waiting for the papers as I took the claim in person, I need to wait for it to be processed, thenI will know the case number.

Any ideas if the 14 days to reply is from the date I handed the papers to the court or the date they recieve the summons.?

[mcuth]

Any ideas if the 14 days to reply is from the date I handed the papers to the court or the date they recieve the summons.?

 

I believe it's 14 days from the date the court deems that the papers have been served (to allow for post, that's probably 3 working days from the court accepting the docs from you).

 

Good luck on this one - am eagerly following your thread with interest, as I'm taking on A&L too (my thread is here)

 

Cheers

 

Michael

[SUEACLARK]

I wrote a letter asking for details of all the charges (copied from the sample letter in the Library).

 

A&L have just replied thanking me for my "enquiry about personal data that they may hold" with a data Protection form and request for £10!!

 

Has anyone else encountered this and, if so, what did you do? Surely I am not asking for all personal data, just account charge info??!

[SUEACLARK]

Apologies....I have just looked at FAQs and it appears that some banks are asking for the £10 Data Protection charge. I guess I'll just have to cough up the dough!!

[Miss T]

I have all my statements from the last 6 years, but I have applied for the DPA it will be interesting to see!!

I received the same letter, standard print outs

[mcuth]

I believe it's 14 days from the date the court deems that the papers have been served (to allow for post, that's probably 3 working days from the court accepting the docs from you).

 

I knew I coulda found that online

From the notes for defendant:

 

If this claim form was received with the particulars of claim completed or attached, you must reply within 14 days of the date it was served on you. If the words 'particulars of claim to follow' are written in the particulars of claim box, you should not reply until after you are served with the particulars of claim (which should be no more than 14 days after you received the claim form). If the claim was sent by post, the date of service is taken as the second day after posting (see post mark). If the claim form was delivered or left at your address, the date of service will be the day after it was delivered.

 

Cheers

 

Michael

[cosmictigger]

This letter was drafted by a contact of mine (I can't reveal any more, sorry) and was sent to Alliance & Leicester once the necessary details had been completed:

 

 

"

Name of Manager Your name

Profiteering / Racketeering 1st Line of address

Co Name 2nd line of address

Address etc Address etc

 

The date 2006

 

Dear Sir / Madam [Name them]

 

Due to the recent media coverage about bank / building society charges, I am now aware that you [name of bank or building society] have been charging me, bank / building society charges that are contrary to the unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Subsection 1(e) of the said regulations gives a non complete list of terms which may be regarded as unfair, such as a term which requires me as a consumer who fails in his / her obligation, to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation.

 

I understand that your charges are disproportionately high. Therefore they are contrary to the unfair Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999. In addition I understand that your charges are a penalty. Penalty charges are irrecoverable at common law. The precedent for this was a Scottish case. Castanede and Others V Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co [1904] 12 SLT 496. Along with the English case of Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd V New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79.

 

It was held that a contractual party can only recover damages for an actual loss or liquidated losses. It is therefore clear and conclusive that your charges do not reflect any actual and or real loss.

 

Your charges appear to be nothing more than a lucrative profit-making scheme. Therefore I require you to refund my entire bank / building society charges for the past xx years, a total of approximately £xxxx.xx. I hereby give you 14 days to refund the charges back into my account. If this is not done within 14 days I will be forced to take legal action. You will receive no further notification. Please expedite my request and your investigation as above.

 

Furthermore in expectation of a blind refusal to recognise the aforementioned case laws; please particularise, qualify and clarify in lawful terms, any excuse, opinion, or conclusion which you or your legal representatives come to.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

 

 

Your Signature i.e

A. N. Other fleeced customer."

 

 

After about 10 days I had the standard acknowledgement letter. On March 17 I had this letter:

 

 

"Thank you for contacting us with regards to the charges on your account, which I was sorry to learn have been the cause of dissatisfaction.

 

I have now had an opportunity to thoroughly review this situation and would confirm the charges have been applied to your account correctly. I regret I am therefore unable to make any adjustments to your account.

 

I would refer you to either the reverse of your statement or our website where it gives the details of charges that may be raised on your account. This explains why the charges have been made and I hope this will provide some guidance as to how these charges may be avoided in the future.

 

In accordance with regulatory requirements, I must advise that if I do not hear from you within the next wight weeks our file on the issue will be closed and I am enclosing the leaflet explaining how to progress this matter, either through out internal procedures or, if necessary, via the Financial Ombudsman Service, should you remain dissatisfied.

 

I do hope, however, that we have now resolved this situation and if you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

T. Loughlin

Sales and Customer Service."

 

 

 

THEY THINK IT'S ALL OVER!!!!!

 

So, what's the next step? All contributions gratefully received...

 

:twisted:

[Bookworm]

Well, the very first step is actually to move this into your own thread. You are currently hijacking someone else's and it's going to complicate things enormously when it comes to reading answers.

 

But quite simply:

 

Sue.

 

You said you would sue if they didn't pay back, they haven't paid back, so sue!

Link to Moneyclaim is in the Library if you want to do it online.

 

Move your thread, file claim and keep us posted. Life can be that simple

[cosmictigger]

Sorry, you're quite right, it was the only reference to the Dalliance & Fester I could find when I searched the forum index...

[clairus99]

I think it's almost time for A&L to have their own thread?

 

I think so too!

[angry cat]

HI!

I sent my preliminary (Library) letter today-

My concern is about Mortgage Account Penalty Fines-

However, these are still Unlawful Fines.

Of course, I will post their reply, if they respond

angry cat

[Miss T]

Hi today I have received a letter from an Solicitor working on behalf of Alliance & Leicester stating that they intend to defend the claim. Just waiting for a court date now, if anyone has any evidence that will suppot my claim in court it would really be appreciated, very nervous now!!

 

Also been charged £37 for a £10.50 cheque not being paid rang them as the payment is waived under £10, very stroppy woman said it had gone over by 50p so it cost them £37 for someone to decide if it was going to be paid or not.

[martinwhite]

That's a heck of an hourly rate for someone to look at that cheque for long enough to determine its over £10.

 

 

Either that or a VERY thick person.

 

 

Who knows. Could be either.

 

 

Martin

[colinalred]

Just been charge £25 for going 16pence over the authorised overdraft limit for less than one day (account shows below limit at the close of the day).

 

Letter going in today.

 

 

Is a fine of 156.25 times the amount of exceeding the limit by for less than one day a record? What would that be if it were an APR???

[Connie1963]

Hi

My son is having horrendous problems with A&L. He went £4.98 over his Overdraft facility of which he rectified well before a deadline given and then suddenly a letter arrives stating that he was having his banking facilities withdrawn and he must pay off the O/D immeadiately giving him no chance to act. Also he was being charged £5.00 per day on top plus a £25.00 referral fee ( of which he hasnt a clue over what that was about) and so he has tried in vain to contact someone at Bootle asking them to explain what was going on, but to no avail. He was put on hold yet again for the upteenth time and eventually cut off as has always been the case. he has written to offer to pay off the amount but via installments of £5.00 per week as he is only on £80.45 per week in Carers Allowance and Income Support and also asked for Interest and other charges to be waived so it could that he could clear off the debt. There has been NO REPLY to his letter and 8 days later the debt spiralled to £127.98, meaning £73.00 had been added. Again he has written and sent it by recorded delivery which he will check that it has been recieved tomorrow and also he telephoned Bootle but was put on hold and again cut off. Now a letter threatening to hand the case to a Debt Collection Agency has arrived and then Court Action. This has happened in the space of three weeks, despite an offer and claiming Financial Hardship. If it went to Coourt, at least he could have the Charges frozen .He looks after his father who has cancer and is Disabled. He has no other Income and the only assets he has to his name is his personal belongings. The house and all its contents are in either my name or his Fathers. A&L have not even responded, Surely they must abide by the Banking Code, FSA and OFT Rules when someone is in Financial Difficulty? He cannot get through to A&L as they keep leading him in circles. Surely this constitues deliberatley misleading a client and is breaking the Fairness Rules? The letter also clearly states that he can go in and pay off the amount in FULL at the branch nearest to him immeadiatly but he cannot do that as he does not have the means to do so. He can only afford so much per week. He has attempted to get things sorted out at his local branch but they have said he must go through customer services at Bootle. How the hell is he going to sort this out serious problem when he A&L keep passing him round and round? And the charges will keep going up. I think that A&L are putting up the amounts to grow the debt bigger so it becomes sufficent to Bankrupt him which is a Deliberate Act on their part. My son desperatly needs to get proper Legal Advice now as this account needs investigating. A&L have said he can view his charges on their Internet Banking Facility. What damned Insult! He does not do Internet Banking with them and they know that he has never wanted Internet Banking and they have persisitantly tried to bully him into using it but he has stood his ground always refusing it and has kept on requesting paper statements always. They will not let up with their demands. He needs a solicitor now and fast. Even National Debtline were useless.

Please! can someone give me sound advice here to help him with his case. I'm really worried that he may do something stupid as his mental state of mind is very worrying

 

Connie:-(

Edited May 17, 2009 by Connie1963
Incorrect spelling

[Miss T]

This topic was closed on 03/05/19.

If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support their.

If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened.

- Consumer Action Group