Friends Halifax Packaged Account Claim***Successful***

[Ftgab19]

Hi all again,

 

After winning my claim with NatWest, my friend asked me if I could have a go at his Halifax bank charges.

 

A lot of his charges happened when he lost his job last year. He's got back on his feet now so I'm wondering, since the charges happened when he was in financial hardship, can he still claim them back even if he's back on his feet now?

 

Any advice please

 

 

Thanks

Andrew

[Ftgab19]

Not sure if this would make a difference, but he will be laid off soon from his work. This is why he wants to try and get this sorted now so he'll have some money to fall back on.

 

Andrew

[Ftgab19]

Hi all again,

 

After working out how charge claims work in the court with my littlewoods. I have decided to make a claim for my friend in the same way.

 

I will upload a copy of the preLBA letter, spreadsheet, LBA Letter and the N1 I'll be using.

 

If I should change anything please let me know. I plan to send this out soon, as he will need the money due to him losing his job soon.

 

 

PreLBA Letter:

 

Headquarters

Trinity Road

Halifax

West Yorkshire

HX1 2RG

L70 1AB

 

Date:18/02/2015

REQUEST FOR REPAYMENT OF CHARGES

 

Account number: 00000000

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account over the last 5 years.

 

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 and contrary to consumer regulations. If you say that they are not, then will you please 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 charges really do reflect a genuine pre-estimate of your actual 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.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that this account was opened. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law, and in consideration of fair business practices and good faith. It is my contention that you have failed to operate my account in a manner conducive to the above, and have demonstrated a lack of fiduciary duty.

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

 

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

 

I calculate that you have taken £1,341 in charges, in addition to which I also claim 8% simple interest of £274.33 which totals £1,615.33. I enclose a schedule of the charges which I am claiming with this letter.

 

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 dispute that I am entitled to a refund of these charges, I request that you forward within the above mentioned time scale, a copy of the Terms and Conditions that were in force at the time my account was opened, and any subsequent amendments to those Terms and Conditions. These are requested under CPR Pre-Action Protocol 4.6©, and failure to provide them will be brought to the attention of the court, should it be necessary to commence a county court action.

 

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, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

I request that payment is made directly to me by cheque and that any refund in whole or part should not be allocated to any set off or third parties.

 

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Friend Signed

 

Friend Name Printed

 

 

LBA Letter:

 

Headquarters

Trinity Road

Halifax

West Yorkshire

HX1 2RG

L70 1AB

 

Date:00/02/2015

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

 

Account number: 00000000

Dear Sir/Madam

I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the 18/02/2015.

 

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 unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and may be unlawful at Common Law.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that this account was opened. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law, and in consideration of fair business practices and good faith. It is my contention that you have failed to operate my account in a manner conducive to the above, and have demonstrated a lack of fiduciary duty.

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

 

I calculate that you have taken £1,341 in charges, in addition to which I also claim 8% simple interest of £274.33 which totals £1,615.33. I am enclosing a copy of the schedule of the charges which I am claiming. I have already sent you a copy of this in my original letter of the 18/02/2015.

 

If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus a claim under ss.7 and 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998 plus my costs and without further notice.

 

You are also reminded of my request that you forward a copy of the Terms and Conditions that were in force at the time my account was opened, and any subsequent amendments to those Terms and Conditions.

 

These are requested under CPR Pre-Action Protocol 4.6©, and your continued failure to provide them will be brought to the attention of the court, should it be necessary to commence a county court action.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Friends Signed

 

Friends Name Printed

 

 

N1

In the - ***** county court

 

Claimant – **** of ******. Telephone – ******

 

Defendant – halifaxicon PLC, Trinity road, Halifax, West Yorkshireicon HX1 2RG

 

Brief Details of the Claim – Claim for the return of unlawfully imposed bank charges and interest

 

Value – Charges £1,341 plus 8% interest

 

Defendants Name and Address – Halifax PLC, Trinity Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX1 2RG

 

Particulars of Claim – 1. The Claimant [has] [had] an account 1 ("the Account") with the Defendant which was opened on or around 27/10/2009

 

2. During the period in which the Account [has been] [was] operating the Defendant debited numerous charges to the Account in respect of purported breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant and also charged interest on the charges once applied. The Claimant understands that the Defendant contends that the charges were debited in accordance with the terms of the contract between itself and the Claimant.

 

3. A list of the charges applied is attached to these particulars of claim.

 

4. The Claimant contends that:

a) The charges debited to the Account are punitive in nature; are not a genuine pre-estimate of cost incurred by the Defendant; exceed any alleged actual loss to the Defendant in respect of any breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant; and are not intended to represent or related to any alleged actual loss, but instead unduly enrich the Defendant which exercises the contractual term in respect of such charges with a view to profit.

 

b) The contractual provision that permits the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable by virtue of the Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999), the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the common law.

 

5. Accordingly the Claimant claims:

a) the return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £1,341 plus 8% interest

 

b) Court costs;

 

c) Interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts Act as set out on the attached list of charges or at such rate and for such periods as the court deems just.

 

I believe that the contents of these particulars of claim are true

 

Signed:

 

Date:

 

Statement of Truth - Signed by you.

[SabreSheep]

STOP

 

If this is a bank account your case law is sadly very out of date.

[Ftgab19]

Hi SabreSheep,

 

So your saying making the bank proof the charges really did cost them that much wont work now? Is there anyway to get the charges back?

 

Thanks

Andrew

[SabreSheep]

Correct. OFT Lost in the high court the case regarding current account charges. That judgment however had no impact on Credit cards.

 

The way to challenge overdraft charges now is via BCOBS, treating a customer fairly in the event of financial hardship. This is a bit more tricky. Others here are more versed on this approach than myself.

[Ftgab19]

Thanks for the help and bringing this to light, I can just see the banks laughing at my request now...

 

My friend could lose his job soon, so maybe it's best waiting until then. But he could do with the money before then to fall back on.

 

He got a lot of charges when he was on JSA last year, surly that is classed as unfair? But would he be able to claim on that? And if he could, would it be for all the charges or just the charges when he was on JSA?

 

Thanks for your time

Andrew

[Ftgab19]

Hi all again,

 

I'm currently trying to put a bank charge claim for my friend,

I've stop because I need to find out if he can claim hardship.

 

When looking at his statements, I found he has paid a lot for his Halifax account. I asked him why does he pay?

 

He said he was told he had to get the "Ultimate Reward Monthly Account" to get an overdraft.

I've found online that this is textbook miss-selling,

he also doesn't use and has never needed any of the insurances with the account.

 

I'd like some advice on if I'm going the right way on this.

 

I've drafted the moneysavingexpert letter for claiming back the charges and worked out the 8% simple interest.

Not sure if you can claim the 8%, but i found a few sites saying you can.

 

I'm sure my letter needs a bit of work, I'll upload it with the spreadsheet.

 

 

My Letter:

 

Account Name: Ultimate Reward Monthly

 

Account No: 0000000

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I have had the above account since 07/10/2009 but believe it was mis-sold to me on the basis that, I was told at the time I had to get the account in order to take out an overdraft.

 

I calculate that you have taken £704.74 in fees, in addition to which I also claim 8% simple interest of £169.47 which totals £874.21. I am enclosing a copy of the schedule offees which I am claiming.

 

I look forward to your response within eight weeks, otherwise I won’t hesitate taking my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Friends Signed

 

Friends Name Printed

 

Thanks

Andrew

[Ftgab19]

Could anyone tell me if this letter would be ok to send?

 

I've seen people getting there claims a lot sooner then the 8 week time scale I'm giving the bank in my letter. Should I rewrite the letter?

 

Thanks

Andrew

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

Letter looks ok to me, you can only send it and see what they say.

[Ftgab19]

Is there anyway to go down the court for packaged account? My friend is going to lose his job soon and would need the money in at least two months. He can't really afford to be told no and take it up with the FOS who could take months to even look at it.

 

Thanks

Andrew

[slick132]

Hi Ftgab,

 

SS is right about not taking court action for a reclaim of bank account charges. The case brought by the OFT against the banks was taken to the Supreme Court and the ruling meant that the general reclaiming of bank account charges was no longer feasible.

 

Penalty charges can, and should, be reclaimed on credit cards, bank loan accounts, mortgages and catalogue accounts. Such penalty charges are unlawful and CAG has helped thousands of folk reclaim their charges, plus interest on top.

 

If your friend is experiencing Financial Difficulty, he can ask his bank to put a freeze on interest and/or default charges on a bank current account. This can be done with an Income and Expenditure summary which shows what disposable income is left to offer creditors.

 

Where there is lending involved (eg bank overdraft or credit cards) you can use The Lending Code s.224 - s.227 to support a request to freeze interest and/or default (penalty) charges.

 

It doesn't matter what type of income is received. What's important is the level of all income and the relevant outgoings that have to be paid from that income.

 

[Ftgab19]

Just to update

 

I sent the above letter and he got the money paid in two days.

 

I asked for £704.74 in fees and 8% simple interest of £173.03. I also gave them 8 weeks to resolve my complaint. They sent £781.12 in fees and £153.13 in interest.

 

Andrew

[maroondevo52]

That's great news Andrew, well done.

Your friend will be pleased.

[Ftgab19]

Thanks maroondevo52,

 

Can you update the title to let people know my friend won and the case is now settled.

 

Thanks

Andrew

[AndyOrch]

Thread title amended to reflect the outcome.

 

Well done Andrew.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Ftgab19]

Thanks Andy

[citizenB]

Well done

[intend]

Excellent - given me the boost needed to start a claim for my son-in-law with Lloyds.