Messed it up?

[klemenza]

Right... my story is that ive sent off my first letter asking for my £2252. I was given template letters from a friend before i even knew of this site so until now, have not discovered what i should be doing. My mistakes are, that i have sent of my 1st letter, but rather than a breakdown of charges using the spreadsheet thats mentioned on this site i have mearly sent the statement sheets back with any charges on circled in pen. I assume this may be ok as it says dates and reasons etc? Also after reading up now i've realised i have not sent the 1st letter to the correct, Canada Square address and just sent it to my local branch F.A.O Customer Relations. I really wish i'd of known about the site before as i've learnt so much already, and everyone seems to be very helpful towards each other and its very encouraging to see so many people get back what is theirs. I look forward to your advice on my matter and thank you in advance.

[steve_n]

Hi,

Right first things first - sit down, take a deep breath and put the kettle on - you have NOT messed up . . .

The fact that you have sent you first letter in this was is really inmaterial . . allow them 14 days to respond (which is usally doybtful) and then send your second LBA (Letter Before Action) recorded delivery and again allow 14 days for a response !!

 

here's a link to the 2nd letter - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/92-3-letter-before-action.html

 

As far as the address, sending to your local branch is absolutely fine, they will only forward to the correct office anyway - however to speed things up a little send all future documents to the 8 Canada Square, London address

Come back to your thread and keep it updated with your progress, that way we can all monitor your progress.

 

Steve

[klemenza]

Cheers Steve, i skipped the kettle and settled for a beer I will keep people updated with my progress, but already expecting it to go to court as to not get my hopes up for an easy settlement. Are you with HSBC yourself? I see you havent had your payment as yet.

[steve_n]

Your welcome, yep on the beer myself

 

Yep I'm with HSBC and it has been very drawn out so far, they have only yesterday sumitted a full defence

 

I'm not worried (much) just fingers crossed at the moment !!

[klemenza]

By submitting full defence what does that mean for you and where do you go with it at this point? What i find strange is that there doesnt seem to be any sort of standard proceedure with the way they deal with the claims. Some it seems get pay out without court and others seem to have to go the full hog. Im willing to go all the way (as i want my LCD TV lol) and so i can put a smug grin on my face. Should i of also added interest when i sent of the letter asking for my refunded charges or do i do this at a later date?

 

Cheers

[lateralus]

klemenze, i'll jump in here as steve is feeling sorry for himself because he's not heard anything today...

actually, them filing a defense just moves things on a s tage further - it's not a biggie, just a day closer to getting his money back.

let's get back to your claim. steve is right - you haven't messed up - just needs a little tidying. before you go any further you should read this:

Newcomer? Here's A User Guide.

now, when it comes to interest, it seems to confuse a lot of people, so, i'm going to say here - if you have interest debits on your statements throughout the last six years - you have been charged interest on your overdraft and a portion of that is reclaimable. i've written an easy to read thread about interest and how to do the spreadsheet to get it back. i'll pass it along to you and hope it clears things up. if you try it and find your claim is different to what you originally asked for, then (if 14 days have passed since your first letter - you move to the lba letter in the step by step instructions and if you do the spreadsheet - a copy of the s/s/ becomes your breakdown of charges. if you do find it is a bit or a lot more - just add this line to the template of the lba when you write to them next. "Because you have not responded to my original letter of XX/XX/06, I am now revising my charges to include overdraft interest which brings the total I am asking you to return to me to: £XXXX.XX.

Please find enclosed a revised copy of my breakdown of charges."

 

now, get another beer and read this:

 

ok, take it from the top. you have all your statements for the last six years, right. go through them and mark all the charges: Charges description on statements - Please Read this is the list of charges you can claim for. now, next to those charges there is often an debit for "interest". so, as you are marking all the charges, mark all the interest items as well. look at everything with a DR next to it, if it is on the list in the link, mark it, and all the interest with DR next to them.

then, go to:6. Interest calculation spreadsheets go on England, Advanced - Works (or excel) to get the spreadsheet. now, at the bottom, click on Charges & Interest. this will bring up a blue and yellow spreadsheet.

start with the oldest item marked on your statements and start entering them, the date listed on the statement, next column the charge - just call it exactly what the bank called it and next column put in the amount.

when you come to an interest one, move tab to the right hand side and put in the date, the interest, the balance at that point (here i will tell you that if the balance is in the minus numbers, a portion of the interest will go onto the spreadsheet - if you are not in negative balance - nothing of that interest will be added - so you will only see an amount come up if you have a negative balance at that point). as for the agreed o/d amt.

"you only fill in that column if your overdraft was interest free, - leave it blank otherwise. to find out if it was interest free (which is unusual) simply look back to see if you were charged interest when you were in overdraft but within your overdraft limit."

(i left it blank - i'm using bong's words here as i never understood it until she wrote that)

proceed through your statements from the oldest to the newest adding on all the charges and interest debits. you will see a total emerging, one on the left side and another on the right side. at the end those are the "you have taken £XXXXX(left side) plus £XXX(right side) which you have charged me in o/d interest.....total £XXXX.

That's about as clear as I can make it - i don't claim to understand it - it just worked for me. This is the information you will need for your prelim. letter and the spreadsheet is your schedule of charges.

 

more info but not for the prelim. and lba letter:

when you have the spreadsheet done that far, you can click on the 8% button at the bottom and reenter it all again with the date (put a date about 30 days from now - that way, it will be figuring your 8% interest that you can add at the mcol stage at about the same date as you will be filing) it figures the 8% for you based on how many days have elapsed since you incurred the charge. this gives you the 8% interest you will add when you file your mcol.

 

again, i really never understood what i was doing - just followed the step by step instructions at the top of the site and honestly - the spreadsheet was pretty simple - even for me and i'd never done anything like it before.

good luck with it - you'll soon be ready to send that prelim and you'll be on your way to getting it all back!

 

hope that helps get you even more back from them! let us know how you did with it.

[klemenza]

Cheers fella, you my friend are a star! I shall go through that once i,ve not heard from them after my peliiminary letter. Got to say i'm well immpressed with the help and friendliness of everyone on this site so far. Fills you with confidence thats for sure.

Cheers again pal.

[stoppaRed]

Laterus, may I just compliment you on an excellent explanation.

This is the way I have done it, but I read a thread earlier in the week and they said that interest should not be claimed at this stage and ONLY the 8% at the N1 stage.

So, I am glad you have cleared this up and I will be aslo claiming 8% interest on this interest at the court stage.

Once again thanks

[lateralus]

stoppa, thankx for that, but i'm not sure i understand - they said - i don't get what you said they said. you can do the spreadsheet but you cannot claim for the 8% until the court stage (be it mcol or N1, whichever you choose). the overdraft interest, yes, claim from the beginning. the 8% interest figured on the same s/s but with the different tab at the bottom is for use when you file. are we singing from the same hymn sheet??????