Alec Trencher vs Abbey

[Alec Trencher]

My apologies if I am posting this thread in the wrong place, I'm a bit confused about what I should post where.

 

I saw the BBC's Money Programme on Tuesday, which convinced me I should try to recleiam my bank charges from Abbey. This has been an issue which has made me very angry over the years, and earlier this year I incurred £340 worth of charges when I went a small amount over my overdraft limit which caused all sorts of payments to fail and snowballed with other charges.

 

This wasn't the first time this had happened, and on a previous occassion I had talked to the bank and they had agreed to refund half of the charges, but on this occassion they wouldn't listen. I tried to explain that I was on benefits (which they obviously already knew), and had no hope of finding £340, and so the situation could only get worse. I got the usual response about me agreeing to the terms and conditions etc and no help whatsoever.

 

I went through my bank statements for the last six years and was shocked to find that my bank charges added up to over £1,000 a figure I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't worked it out for myself, so I wrote to the bank demanding the return of these charges, and sent it recorded delivey the next day.

 

I didn't have to wait long, and received a reply two days later. The letter thanked me for raising my concerns with them, and explained that since I was complaining about bank policy rather a specific charge the complaint would have to be referred to head office, and further, that if we could not resolve the matter satisfactorily they would send me a form with which to make my complaint to the banking ombudsman.

 

This seemed to me to be a delaying tactic, as I am aware that the ombudsman is snowed under at the moment and would not be able to deal with my complaint for some considerable time, so I am now waiting for a response from head office.

 

Whatever happens though, I have no intention of being distracted from my course of action. I will begin court proceeding 14 days after they received my letter as I advised them, and take things from there.

 

As I said in my welcome post, I have suffered such worry and stress over this issue in the past couple of years that I am absolutely livid with Abbey, they can have no idea how much sleep people can lose and how much misery these things can cause, or they have no heart, and now I want to take them to court. I really want to put all this on the record and will be disappointed if they settle before the case comes to court.

 

I suppose if they do offer to settle in full I am obliged to accept, and can't insist on going to court anyway. Is that true?

 

I'll keep you posted on how things go.

 

Good Luck everyone.

[121o121]

If they offer you the full amount your claiming including the court fees and interest (if your claiming it) then the onus is on you to inform the court and close the case.

[Guest Mumofthreeboys]

I suppose if they do offer to settle in full I am obliged to accept, and can't insist on going to court anyway. Is that true?

 

Yes that is true. What else would you be going to court for if they have offered full settlement?

[Alec Trencher]

I thought that would be the case, but is this fair?

 

If I behave illegally I am punished. They have been behaving illegally and all they have to do is give the money back, but they're not punished. Surely this just encourages them to break the law since they lose nothing but their ill gotten gains when they're caught, and get to keep their ill gotten gains when people don't challenge them.

[Guest Mumofthreeboys]

They are not acting illegally, they are acting unlawfully.

 

They have taken your money, you will get it back. If you are reclaiming your charges in court and they refund you in full, what will you tell the courts you're claiming for?