Sarah Vs Abbey - Help please

[Stevie1961]

Hi there,

 

Sorry for the large thread but I am helping my wife sort out her account with Abbey and thought it best to give the whole story so far. After Abbey giving her three weeks notice that they were withdrawing her 6 year old overdraft of £1450 and wondering what she was going to do, I was lucky enough to find your site and so it started!!

 

She had found most of her bank statements and requested others from Abbey. Finally, all that was outstanding was 2004. After reading the articles on here and seeing the delays that Abbeys were making, we decided to send letter one (by recorded delivery) asking for the refund and attached the schedule of charges. The letter was amended to say that the schedule did not include any charges for the 2004 period as she was still waiting copy statements from them. The total amount, with interest, came to £3,569.63. A standard letter came back dated 9th October stating that her "complaint" was being investigated!

 

On 18th October, she checked her bank account and £665 had been paid into her account under misc fee refund. The next day a letter was received from the Abbey (seems to be another standard letter) stating that the charges do not contravene the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 and were offering a GOGW for £713.00. We responded that day by refusing their offer of goodwill and confirmed that she still required full repayment of the bank charges and that so far, as a gesture of goodwill on her part, was not pursing the charges for 2004 which came to over £800 (the statements arrived two days before the money was paid into her account) Daft maybe I know but the deadline for her overdraft was Nov 1st! We are now at the point where we are going to file a moneyclaim form but she needs to check a few details first.

 

Can we send them a revised schedule of charges (No 2) that now include 2004's charges, withdrawing HER offer of goodwill and giving them 7 days to respond before we apply to the courts or do we have to continue with the original amount that we advised them of in October? She is getting really nervous now and wants to make sure she hasn't made any mistakes! Oh and she has already opened another account just to be on the safe side.

 

Thanks for your help

Stevie

[rickdrennan]

I believe that you can send them the new list of charges. This would be different if you had already filed with MCOL but you haven't yet. Think you have to give them 14 days to respond. Would check with someone else though just to be sure.

 

Don't be nervous. I was a bit like you, but quickly realised that there is always someone here to help or has gone through the same thing. Don't forget everyone posting here is on the same side.

[Glenn UK]

If you have made a gesture of goodwill previously and now you wish to withdraw it, personally i would send a new LBA/schedule and give them 14 days.

 

I don't think there is anything i could point to and say this is mandatory but it seems to me that the withdrawal of the goodwill offer on your part is quite a fundamental shift and so i would give them a chance to reconsider.

 

I doubt that it will make one iota of a difference so don't expect them to capitulate.

 

Anyway if it did get to court at least you could show you acted in good faith.

 

Finally the only thing you need to worry about is making sure you give them a chance to give you the money back and can show that you have acted reasonably.

 

Sounds to me like your going the right way, you route might be slightly different to mine but its on the same lines.

 

JMHO

 

Glenn

[Stevie1961]

Thank you Glenn & Rick, the wife will post a new LBA/Schedule out to them tomorrow. She just needs reassurance she is going through the right steps and not doing anything wrong

 

Will keep you updated.

 

Cheers

Stevie

[Stevie1961]

Evening

 

Quick update and advice. My wife sent off the LBA letter yesterday but has received the following letter today (looks like it has crossed in the post!)

 

"Thank you for your letter dated 19th October 2006 about your bank charges and I apologise for the delay in replying.

 

I am sorry you are unhappy with my response dated 13th October 2006.

 

As stated in my earlier letter, I can assure you the charges do not contravene any Consumer Contracts Regulations, therefore I cannot agree to refund anything more in addition to the £713.00 already credited to your account. This money was paid as a gesture of goodwill, and acceptance of this will in no way affect any further action you may decide to take.

 

I am sorry we have not been able to reach a final agreement. As explained in my previous letter, if you remain unhappy, you could refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). I genuinely believe my decision is fair and reasonable. The FOS is there to look at complaints impartially. They will make what they believe to be a fair and balanced decision, based only on the facts of each individual case.

 

Yours sincerely

Ian Marshall"

 

I have just spent the afternoon and evening search through the past threads to see if this is a standard reply and am unable to find anything. Can anyone advise if they have received this response from SHabbey and what happened in their case??

 

She is fully prepared to go onto Moneyclaim if there is no response from her latest LBA letter.

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Stevie

[Glenn UK]

Stevie

 

Its a standard response dont worry wait 14 days then issue your claim

 

HTH

 

Glenn