Begining My Claim!

[jscouser2002]

Spent the past few days reading this site! Realise that I have been ripped of big time. So I am going to begin trying to make my claim, mine should not be as much as some cases ive seen. Should be more around the £500 mark!

 

I am sending this letter to them on friday.

 

14th April 2006

Data Protection Act disclosure request

Dear Sir/Madam

SORT CODE:

ACCOUNT NUMBER:

Please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my bank account since 01/09/04. Alternatively a complete set of bank statements for that period will be acceptable.

Additionally where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my banking business with you.

If you are unable to supply data relating to manual intervention because there has been no such manual intervention then please be kind as to confirm this in your response to this request.

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply. Furthermore, if I discover that you have levied disproportionate penalties against me then I shall be reclaiming them and also reclaiming the enclosed £10 DPA disclosure fee.

Yours faithfully,

 

Its basically just the template, but i wonder if anyone here can advise on anything i should add to get started, that you or others may of added that has quickened things a bit and works in my favour!

 

Also to rush things up a bit im going to hand it straight in to my bank to rush things along a bit! Is this recommended is there any downside to this?

 

Thanks

[neilloffhagen]

also reclaiming the enclosed £10 DPA disclosure fee.

I'm sure you can't reclaim this back, as you're asking them to perform a specific service for you.

 

Neil.

[jscouser2002]

I'm sure you can't reclaim this back, as you're asking them to perform a specific service for you.

 

Neil.

 

ok i will take that off, i am feeling very confident about this too! Looking forward to it aswell

[jscouser2002]

Also if i take this letter down the bank, with 10 pound cash in hand. Can I actually recieve it all there and then or would i still need to wait for it to be sent to me

[file_wizzard]

Also if i take this letter down the bank, with 10 pound cash in hand. Can I actually recieve it all there and then or would i still need to wait for it to be sent to me

You can make your application in person and they will give you an acknowledgement of receipt for your request, and a receipt for the £10 Cash, however the 40 days to respond remains.

 

With regards to the £10 DPA fee, if the matter went to court and you won, you could ask the court to award the £10 DPA fee as part of the over all settlement.

[neilloffhagen]

With regards to the £10 DPA fee, if the matter went to court and you won, you could ask the court to award the £10 DPA fee as part of the over all settlement.

I didn't realise that. Sorry for mis-informing you. You may get the letter I got after my DPA request, which said they would refund the £10.00. I hadn't actually paid it anyway and was waiting for them to take it from my bank account.

 

Neil.

[Damon999]

I sent off the DPA letter and didn't include payment. This was for an account that has been closed over a year.

 

They sent me the statement and said they would waive the charge. I think they were trying to butter me up having gathered what I wanted the list of charges for lol.

[jscouser2002]

Before i read about this website i contacted the bank via telephone, and ask for a printed copy of my account statement which includes all transactions and charges. This morning before i have got around to sending a dpa letter that i was about to do. My account statements arrived. This does include my charges although it does not include any manual intervention. Would it be best to go ahead and calculate my charges etc and then send the "request for repayment of charges" letter. Or still send the dpa letter to help make my case look more professional and also to get a list of anything that may have been altered manually.

[jscouser2002]

??

[neilloffhagen]

I'd send the DPA request. I know it delays things, but as you say it does add that bit

of extra professionalism to it all. Others here may disagree though.

 

Neil

[jscouser2002]

If it is against the law to take excessive charges, why do they still do it, just about to send my letter and noticed that a charge of 36 pound is due to be took out of my account on the 8th may!

[jscouser2002]

Ok before i became aware of this site i telephoned hsbc and requested they sent me my account statements for the past 6 years i have caculated the charges which appear on them statements and i have decided to go straight to the second letter!

 

What do you think of this should i make any changes?

 

Request for repayment of charges

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

SORT CODE:

ACCOUNT NUMBER:

My request

I recently contacted yourselves asking to supply me with a full list of my transactions since I started using the account regularly in 2004. The transactions include multiple fees for overdraft limits, direct debit refusals and charges for card misuse.I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

As a result of thisI am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account since april 2004. If you say that they are not unlawful then you will pleased to demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs.

Additionally it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.

 

Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them.

You concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.

 

What I require

I calculate that you have taken £508 between 24th April 2004 and 17th March 2006. I also calculate that you have taken an additional £75 in charges between 17th March 2006 and 27th April 2006. This comes to a total of £583.

 

I will require a full refund of the above charges and any other charges that may been applied to the account unlawfully.

Additionally you may have entered a default notice against my credit record. If so then this default occurred merely in respect of unlawful charges levied by you or was the result of impecuniosity caused directly by the taking by you of penalty charges which you had applied unlawfully to my account.

 

In addition to full payment of the sum mentioned above and any other charges that may have been applied to the account unlawfully, if you have entered a default notice against my credit record then I also require you remove the default entry from the register. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the entry will not be acceptable.

My targets to resolve this matter

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting unconditionally my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

 

If you do not respond or you do not respond positively within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you 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 will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

I also would like to know what would be the best address to send this too?

[neilloffhagen]

I also would like to know what would be the best address to send this too?

I sent mine to my local branch addressed to the manager. Got a reply from Mr Alan Pretty in Leeds, offering not even a third back, so have just written asking for the rest.

 

Neil.

[jscouser2002]

Ok finally got round to sending the letter, i took it into the branch personally on Thursday 4th May. Handed it in and asked them to forward it to the correct department. She said ok i asked gfor a reciept and she obliged!

 

I didnt send dpa letter because i knew the amount of charges so went straight for pre lim letter. 14 days til next step

[jscouser2002]

Sent letter, two days later my unadvisory limit of £100 has been removed! Can not go overdrawn any more

[jscouser2002]

Can i just add that i think these charges area disgrace in 13 months i have been charged now 630 quid. Thats over 10 pound a week.

[jscouser2002]

Ok sent the pre letter on 4th and today recieved this letter on the 12th may dated 11 may

Dear ....

 

Thank you for your letter dated 4th may2006 concerning your bank charges

 

I am looking into the matters you have raised and will contact you with a full response as soon as i have completed my investigations.

 

In the meantime, i enclose a copy of our leaflet which explains how these matters are dealt with. If you do need to contact us please quote reference number ....

 

Yours sincerly

 

 

Paul Archer

Service Quality Officer

 

The letter was hand signed.

[jscouser2002]

I will be sending the LBA letter on the day that the 14 days i give them is up. That is 5 days away.

 

Are there any points that people can highlight i put in them. That have helped with other cases, and are not it in the templates section. Is there anything i should highlight in the letter, any extra paragraphs i should put in. Is there any extra things i should mention.

 

Thanks

[jscouser2002]

Another thing i need answering after i send them the lba letter and if they just reply with a standard response or refusing a refund. I then go ahead and file for a claim on money claim. Do money claim then contact hsbc or do i need to make them aware ive filed for claim etc!

[jscouser2002]

If someone would be able to answer my above questions i will be very grateful.

 

Tomorrow the 14 days will of expired. I am now ready to send my LBA letter. Here is a draft of it. Anyone recommend i take anything out or add anything. Thanks. All comments appreciated.

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Sort Code:

 

Account Number:

 

 

I recently sent yourselves a letter requesting a full refund of all charges that were applied unlawfully to my account or if you believed the charges were not unlawful then a full breakdown of costs for these charges was required. It has now been 14 days since I sent the letter and I have not received any notification of when you will be refunding my charges nor a letter stating a full breakdown of costs that you have occurred as a result of my breaches.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law. The fees that you applied to my account were deemed as unlawful on ( ANY ADVICE ON WHAT TO PUT HERE WILL BE APPRECIATED. SOMETHING THAT HIGHLIGHT GOVERMENT LAWS ETC ETC……)

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

As in my previous letter I calculated that you have taken £583 between 24th April 2004 and 27th April 2006. This comes to a total of £583. Since then however an additional charge of £36 was applied to my account on the 8th May 2006. This comes to a total of £619.That is £619 over a two year period, which works out approximately £25 a month.

I am frankly disgusted by the way that these charges were operated.

 

Take for instance on the 7th June 2005, three charges were applied to my account one for £100 and two for £30. Totaling to£160 all applied on the same day which would of led to me going further overdrawn creating more charges. This is quite frankly disgusting and I would find it very difficult to believe that these charges are applied with intent to only cover bank costs.

 

I require repayment in full of £619 for the unlawful charges that were applied to my account. Additionally a further charge of £50 is due to be withdrawn from my account on 7th June 2006 also if this charge does get withdrawn from my account before this matter is resolved then I will also be pursuing for that charge. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest, plus my costs and without further notice.

 

Furthermore, I shall submit a Consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT upon the basis that you have failed to comply with the OFT's direction of 5 April 2006 and are therefore not a 'fit and proper person' to hold a consumer credit licence under the 1974 Act. If you do not understand what this means then seek advice from your legal department.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jscouser2002]

I also want to add that i did not have an overdraft facility but hsbc still allowed me to go overdrawn 100 quid 150 quid at times. Since i sent them the first pre letter, they then put a block and stopped my going overdrawn. Which does mean they control and monitor this allowing us to go so far overdrawn, Its probably there just so that they can gain an extra 25 quid here and there for going overdrawn. I want to be able to highlight this in the future and question there reasons for letting me go overdrawn so much without an overdraft facility. Surely this is a security issue.

 

Any idea how i can word this to put in the letter

[Spiceskull]

When you file your moneyclaim, they will provide you with an issue date and claim number. This may take a few days, but they will issue it to the bank.

 

It is important to remember that their 14 days to acknowledge the claim starts from the issue date, not the day you raise your claim.

 

As for your LBA - this is my trimmed down version. Whether you choose to use it or not is up to you:

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Sort Code:

 

Account Number:

 

 

I recently sent you a letter requesting a full refund of all charges that have been unlawfully applied to my account. It has now been 14 days, and I have not received any notification of when you will be refunding my charges.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law. The charges that you applied to my account are unlawful under common, statute and contract law.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way, as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

To clarify my request: I calculate that you have unlawfully taken £583 from my account to 27th April 2006. Since this date an additional charge of £36 was levied from my account on the 8th May 2006. This has led me to revise my claim in the sum of £619.

 

I require repayment in full of £619 for the charges that been unlawfully levied from my account. Additionally a further charge of £50 is due to be unlawfully taken from my account on 7th June 2006. If this charge is levied from my account before my claim is resolved then I will revise my claim to recover this additional charge. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest, plus my costs and without further notice.

 

Furthermore, I shall submit a Consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT upon the basis that you have failed to comply with the OFT's direction of 5 April 2006 and are therefore not a 'fit and proper person' to hold a consumer credit licence under the 1974 Act. If you do not understand what this means then seek advice from your legal department.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

Good luck.

[Spiceskull]

I also want to add that i did not have an overdraft facility but hsbc still allowed me to go overdrawn 100 quid 150 quid at times. Since i sent them the first pre letter, they then put a block and stopped my going overdrawn. Which does mean they control and monitor this allowing us to go so far overdrawn, Its probably there just so that they can gain an extra 25 quid here and there for going overdrawn. I want to be able to highlight this in the future and question there reasons for letting me go overdrawn so much without an overdraft facility. Surely this is a security issue.

 

Any idea how i can word this to put in the letter

To be honest, you would be wasting your time even asking. If they apply charges ask for them to be refunded. Once you have hadone set of charges refunded, the process for repeating the request gets a lot easier...

[jscouser2002]

To be honest, you would be wasting your time even asking. If they apply charges ask for them to be refunded. Once you have hadone set of charges refunded, the process for repeating the request gets a lot easier...

 

Ok thanks for your advice very helpful just a few questions just so i can learn. Why did you take out this paragraph

 

Take for instance on the 7th June 2005, three charges were applied to my account one for £100 and two for £30. Totaling to£160 all applied on the same day which would of led to me going further overdrawn creating more charges. This is quite frankly disgusting and I would find it very difficult to believe that these charges are applied with intent to only cover bank costs.

 

Just so i learn from your experience. Also why did you think it would be better to narrow it down. I tried to talk as much as i could to get my point accross and to make it look much more professional

[Spiceskull]

just a few questions just so i can learn. Why did you take out this paragraph. Also why did you think it would be better to narrow it down. I tried to talk as much as i could to get my point accross and to make it look much more professional

In a nutshell - they will not even bother to read the letter - they will just see 'refund of charges' and pass it along to the next person.

 

The removed paragraph - you have made your calculation, and given a total, you don't need to tell them anything else. As for the reason they applied the charges, well, why tell them something they already know.

 

At the end of the day you need to be resolved to them ripping you off, and then you claiming your money back. The why to's and wherefore's are a complete wast of your time.

 

However, once you HAVE got your money back, you are free to vent your spleen to all and sundry. For example, the next time you see 'charges pending' on your account, you will be in the position that they have already refunded you, so you can give them a good kicking the second time around.

 

Better to do the work first, and then enjoy the game later