Emma Vs Halifax **WON**

[emmaf01]

Hi everyone.

Last week I sent off my SAR for my 2 Halifax accounts. I'm at the mcol stage with Nationwide, and this has given me the confidence to go for the rest of my financial providers, past and present.

Its so nice to know that I'm not the only person to incur charges! Certain financial institutions make you feel like a leper, when in fact they are making money out of your "mistakes".

The Halifax has been the institution who has charged me the most so I'm looking forward to getting these statements. Of course, by the time I get my statements, I'll be spending New Years eve with my highlighter pens and a calculator!

[emmaf01]

One account is in credit, the other (my old and much abused student account) is about £2K overdrawn. I haven't had much activity in the first since about 2002. The other hasn't been in much use (apart from payments to slightly reduce the debt) since 1997-8. I've got to wait and see what they come back with in response to the SAR.

Whatever I get can get back, is a plus.

[emmaf01]

So, last month (20/11) I sent off my SAR. No response until today when I got a letter apologising for the delay, that my statements for the last six years would be with me shortly and that all of the letters/charges require no manual intervention and are all automatically issued.

 

Isn't that proving that the charges they are applying are illegal before we even start?

I wonder if by admitting this at the beginning we can shorten the process. Or more likely give me a bigger laugh if they try to refute it later.

[emmaf01]

Well, statements for one account arrived today. !9 days- must be a record!

I am doing the prelim letter, but also looking at the spreadsheets. For the nationwide I did statutory interest (I was scared).

Witht this I want to use contractual. Now I have read through as many posts and faqs as I can locate, I've got the spreadsheet down but I don't know what the hell I'm doing!

Is the contractual rate the same as the unauthorised overdraft rate?

Do I change the 8% to 29.8%?

Argh!

[emmaf01]

I have just received the statement from my second (and incredibly overdrawn) account. No charges on that. I am a bit worried as this is more overdrawn than I remember, not having received statements or any correspondance fron them about this account for 5 or so years. All the charges on this account took place up to 1998. So I have no info on them (statement only went back to 2001).

Even if I go back to the account with charges in the last 6 years and add basic contractual interest it covers less than a third of the overdraft on the other account.

I don't know what I am doing and am getting into a right tiz over this!

[emmaf01]

Argh! I'm getting really wound up over this!

I've already been through the process (and won) with Nationwide. But I only did statutory interest on that.

I've been shafted repeatedly by the Halifax, and so going for contractual compound interest would be preferable- I just can't get my head around the (wonderfully put together by the mighty Vampiress) spreadsheet.

If I'm claiming this sort of interest, do I have to get my spreadsheet together and numbers before the prelim letter, or just put the charges on alone?

Help!!!

[emmaf01]

Thank you for all help!

Finally got my head into gear. I think I just needed time to get my focus back.

And thanks to this site full of lovely people, I got what I needed.

So, prelim for one halifax account done.

And DPA non-compliance letter done for both, as I only got info from 2000 for one and 2001 for the really overdrawn one.

I feel so much better now!

[emmaf01]

Still waiting. Now I've got to wait until I've paid my card bill before I can mcol.

I've also got to follow up on the dpa non-compliance as well.

I don't want to have to go to court- can I first refer it to the information comissioner?

I'm going to have to get back on this next week!

[emmaf01]

I've got my Info Com complaints form- I haven't got much time at the mo (sick toddler) so I'm doing that before resorting to the court.

 

Should I still mcol for the charges from 2000, and leave anything else for a separate claim once I've got the info?

[emmaf01]

So- today I received a lovely letter from the Halifax offering me £168 to shut up and go away.

I think they've been lulled into a false sense of security because I haven't made it to my local court to put in my 3 N1 forms- 2 for non-compliance for dpa and one for bank charges totalling £703 including contractual interest- plus £10 sar costs.

I think that's a no then!

[emmaf01]

So, on this letter they sent me, they asked me to call if their offer was not acceptable. So, after I had written the letter saying "no thanks" to their minute offer- which did not even cover the charges taken, I thought I'd ring to see what they would say.

 

Well, that was an insight into their thinking. I found out they only offer a refund of charges within six years of the complaint reaching their specific office. This means that although my SAR was in November and my prelim in december, they only got my complaint through to them on February 1st- so will only refund charges from February 2001. Errm?

 

I asked them why they ask me to call if their offer was unacceptable, if they would not change/increase their offer if I was unhappy with it. They just said they had no authorisation to offer more.

 

After I got off the phone, my child unfortunately heard a phrase I hope he never repeats!

[emmaf01]

Claim issued on MCOL yesterday!

 

I've only gone for statutory interest, due to conflicting info on the contractual at present.

However, I'm interested in the DPA non-compliance claim you've made, Hagenuk. I've looked at the particulars of claim (in the templates), But I'm confused about the damages aspect- what sort of things do you count as damages in this sort of claim?

 

I've sent them a nasty ish letter regarding this today- with much help from Tanzarelli's letters to the Barclays-monster! And also asked them to produce signed contracts as per Consumer Credit Act 1974!

I hope it all helps to get them a) to give me my money back, and b) not to play nasty with regard to my old student account- a nightmare of student mismanagement!

[emmaf01]

Funnily enough, they have agreed to send the missing statements out today!

Odd- they've seen I'm serious about court action, so they'll concede on the DPA.

 

Also- I found out they closed my student account in 2003- first I had heard about it.

What does this mean for my refund from the other account? I thought because I had two open- one in the black and one in the red, they would shift any refund on to the overdrawn account- will I get a cheque now- or what??

Anyone got any ideas?

[emmaf01]

So, I got my statements from the start of my account today (less than 24 hours and back to 1994!)- and I've got another £100 of charges- all 1998 to 2000. But I've also received the MCOL infor for my claim.

 

Should I add them to this or clear this and start again with a separate claim for them, doing a new prelim etc?

[emmaf01]

Anyone got any idea whether I should/can add these to my existing claim- it adds £100 in charges and another £64 in statutory interest?

 

Any advise/help appreciated!

[emmaf01]

Thanks- I think that sounds good- as, if they pay out in full on my present claim, with some charges over 6 years, they will have some difficulty denying any further refunds!

[emmaf01]

They still haven't even acknowledged the claim via MCOL!

 

If they have 14 days to acknowledge/defend, and it was issued on the 19/2/07, does that mean on the 3/3/07 I can go for a judgement (if they don't respond at the last minute)?

[emmaf01]

Just as you said, Crusher, they acknowleded yesterday.

 

So, what is their present form- are they paying out soon after, or hoding out for the full 28 days/until they are about to go into the court room?

 

I'm looking forward to this!

 

And what the hell has happened to the edit signature box in user CP? I can't shout from the rooftops that I scalped the A&L!

[emmaf01]

Thanks, hagenuk. Didn't mean to be lairy about it- and higher than usual traffic is a good thing. Even my local taxidrivers (who are almost personal friends, they've known me for nearly 20 years), are taking the website address, and in some cases my phone number, as they don't have internet access.

 

And, did you know firms are popping up saying they will claim back your charges, all for a measley 20%! ? I've said I'll get the templates for them for nowt!

[emmaf01]

The complicated bit about this Halifax claim is that (until they closed it in 2003 without telling me) I had a second account with them, which was really, really overdrawn. It was my old student account. Now it is closed I am waiting to find out if they will try to use any money I am claiming and "offset" it towards this other account.

 

When I found out they'd closed it (only a couple of weeks ago), it was before I did the mcol, so I put in my poc I wanted payment by cheque or bankers draft, to edge around this issue. I just don't know what they'll do.

 

Has anyone else with a second, closed but overdrawn account , claimed and got a cheque?

[emmaf01]

EEEr, does that mean there's no-one?

 

Still no word from the Halifax.... I can see a court in the none to distant future...

[emmaf01]

Still nothing from the Halifax. At least I've already given them a copy of my marriage cert, so the account/letters/cheque(!) will be in the right name!

[emmaf01]

Right everyone, I need your help urgently.

 

The Halifax have sent me a new offer, the same amount of charges as before, plus some interest and court costs. About £150 less than the claim amount (so paying about two thirds of the claim amount).

 

Also, they refuse to send me a cheque, saying they are paying it into the bank account direct, and that this is the only method they can use, even though I have stipulated payment by cheque in the court claim.

 

I rang them saying their offer was too low and I wanted payment by cheque- they refused, saying they intend to defend fully the rest of the claim, and they will be crediting my account tomorrow, even though I haven't used the account in four years and they know I don't even have a card to use the account anymore.

 

Argh- I don't know what to do, they acknowledged on the 2/3/07, so the defence should be lodged next week- I don't know what they can defend against the rest.

 

Help!

[emmaf01]

bump

[emmaf01]

Well, I decided to get a bit pro-active, so I went in yesterday, closed the account (seeing I didn't even have a card for it and haven't used it in nearly four years), took out the money they put in (and the £1.51 that has been there since 2003) and used some of it to send a Special Delivery letter to their legal department saying "thanks for the partial payment, I've closed this account, send me a cheque for the rest".

 

Okay, so the special delivery bit was a treat, so they'll get it by 1pm, so they now have six days before it goes any further, and I don't want them wasting any more of my precious time with this bull.

 

And as soon as they do it, I can start on the pre-2000 charges I found on the statements they sent me after I had issued my MCOL.

 

Happy days- remember it's your money, ALL OF IT, so whether it's £50 or £500, get it all back. After all, they wouldn't hesitate to do it to you!