Hawkes vs Halifax

[hawkesi]

Hi people,

 

Just read the article in Martins Money Expert today. I have been banking with the Halifax for about 10 years and am ready to go into battle to recover my bank charges. I have printed off statements from the online service that cover nearly a whole year and it already comes to over £700! The annoying bit is when one £30 charge takes you over your overdraft limit so that they can charge a further £39.

 

As I understand it I need to send a letter asking for the details of bank charges (the 'DPA' letter) and then once I have that I can send the preliminary letter and then if that fails I issue the letter before action.

 

If someone can confirm this, I will get the appropriate letter off and keep this thread updated with my progress.

 

Cheers.

[alanfromderby]

That is correct - but I would seriously advise you to read through some of the other threads in the Halifax forum, and have a good read through the legal principles. It is vital that you understand fully what you are embarking on as there is still a chance you may have to face the bank in court.

[hawkesi]

Thanks for you reply, I have already stared reading through some of the threads.

[torsen]

because i ordered my bank statements over the phone from Scallyfax (£10 for 6 years worth) I didn't think to ask for:

 

"...where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my banking business with you."

 

I've just clicked how useful this info really is if it were to go to court in so far as it really proves how little actual human work gets done on your account and therefore how unjust the charges are. I realised the day after i sent my letter before action so hastily wrote another letter stating just the above and sent it to the the same person in their complaints dept. at least i know i'll get the info before the court date if it goes that far.

 

anyway - make sure you get this info asap and don't make the same (hopefully inconsequential) mistake i did.

[hawkesi]

Thanks for that little bit of info. They have reversed a couple of charges in the past so would they come under the heading of 'manual intervention'?

[torsen]

basically the bank's argument for charging so much is that someone has to personally go into your account whenever a dd or cheque bounces or you go over your od limit and write you a letter etc etc which is obviously crap. when they confirm little or no manual intervention has occurred they basically leave their argument in tatters...

 

manual intervention are any notes, comments or decisions made about you and your account.

 

refunds of a few charges as a goodwill gesture (which is classed as manual intervention ) makes no difference to your claim - although obviously you can't claim them twice...

 

good luck

[hawkesi]

DPA letter written and ready to go off in tonights post. I toned down my DPA access letter as suggested in some of the other posts and play the 'interested person' role. Once I get my sticky mits on the info, it will be time to go in properly!

[hawkesi]

DPA letter went off last night by recorded delivery. I have checked RM Track n Trace and it has been confirmed as delivered. Their move.

[hawkesi]

Here's a question. Financial institutions state what it costs to borrow money as the AER (annual equivalent rate - formerly known as APR). If they charge you for going over the overdraft limit then this is a further cost. How then can they state an AER when they don't know how many times you will go over your limit?????

[mechs]

DPA letter went off last night by recorded delivery. I have checked RM Track n Trace and it has been confirmed as delivered. Their move.

 

:? that was quick! I posted our letter end of last week and its still not showing in RM Track n Trace!

 

I tried going in just now and site down due to broken or busy server! ... wonders how many CAG members are doing a TnT!!

[hawkesi]

Copy statements (all 167 pages) arrived last week. Finished calculation my charges last night and have sent preliminary letter asking for the return of £2800.

[hawkesi]

Have now received a letter from the Halifax telling me that they are not going to refund my charges.

 

I am now issuing my letter before action.

[hawkesi]

Ih have received my first derisory offer from the Halifax. If have chosen not to accept this although am giving them a few more days to consider my claim before I take it to the small claims track.

 

Beware, their settlement acceptance form tries to get you to signing away your rights for other accounts!

 

Letter I am proposing is:

 

We are in receipt of your letter dated 12 July 2006 offering us the sum of £213.00 in respect of charges unlawfully deducted from our account as detailed in our letter date 27 June 2006. We would advise you that we will take your offer of £213.00 as an interim payment (which may be credited to the above roll number) but DO NOT accept this as full and final settlement of our claim.

 

In order to prevent further action which would result in further costs and the recovery of interest as allowed by the Court, we would ask you to reconsider your offer. In order for your offer to be acceptable to us it must: -

 

• Be in an amount and form acceptable to us.
  
• Be in full and final settlement of charges deducted as at the date of the claim.
  
• Relate only to the bank account against which the claim is made (roll number D/35501741-6).

As a gesture of our goodwill and willingness to see an amicable solution to this matter, we are prepared to allow you an additional further 7 days over and above the timescales set out in our letter of 27 June 2006 to consider our request. Therefore, we will defer submission of our claim until 12 noon on 25 June 2006.

 

We look forward to your prompt response.

 

Ian

[hawkesi]

MCOL claim filed!

[cariad]

You might find this interesting hon:

 

From a letter I had from the Halifax dated 17th May 2006 in relation to my current account.

 

"The majority of the transactions on your account are automated and all application of charges is automated. The only manual intervention around charges would be when a refund is made."

 

It's signed by Shirley Clark in Customer Services.

[hawkesi]

I also had the admission that the bank is run by robots who print a signature on every letter!

 

We had another offer today but although it was 3 times the first offer it was still well short of the mark. It was too late anyway, claim form issued this morning.

[hawkesi]

Well, they have coughed up, sort of. They have credited my account with the value of the claim and the court fee. However they have not paid the interest and then on top of that they have nicked most of it back to pay off my overdrafts and arrears on my credit card (I assume). I am not going to notify the court that they have settled untill I have the interest. Then I'm going back into business on another Halifax account and try and move that cash before they can take it again. B******s.

[mechs]

We had to chase them for our interest ....they wont just pay it unfortunately.

[hawkesi]

But surely. if they don't pay they interest, the claim cannot be settled?

[hawkesi]

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