Couple of quick questions

[Elky]

I'm thinking about starting a claim against Abbey but I have an overdraft of £1750 that I am well in to.

 

If I start a claim against them now, will they take this overdraft away from me?

 

I only ask because I dont want to start a claim then find myself £1700 down if they take my overdraft away.

 

Am I better off opening a new account somewhere and having all wages, direct debits etc moved to the new account?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Elky

[sam78]

Hi

They can't take your overdraft from you but they may close down your account so I would suggest you look elsewhere for a new account.

 

Good luck

[Glenn UK]

Sam

 

im not sure when you say they cant take the overdraft away, i think youll find accoridng to the T&C they can do just that.

 

However, what the claimant should do is when they initiate their claim they should formally write to the bank telling them that the account is in dispute and under the banking code sec 13.6 they should not carry out enforcement action until the dispute is resolved.

 

JMHO

 

Glenn

[charleyfarley]

I was in a similar position re overdrafts, but then the Abbey pre-empted my decision by taking away my o/d limit. I've just opened a parachute a/c and have negotiated a repayment schedule with the Abbey over 2 years

[Elky]

Ok. I've just opened an account elsewhere. Is it advisable to move my salary and all direct debit outgoings etc over to the new account? Will I need to make sure I pay the overdraft interest in to my Abbey account each month to avoid the account going over this authorised overdraft?

 

Cheers again

[Elky]

Sam

 

im not sure when you say they cant take the overdraft away, i think youll find accoridng to the T&C they can do just that.

 

However, what the claimant should do is when they initiate their claim they should formally write to the bank telling them that the account is in dispute and under the banking code sec 13.6 they should not carry out enforcement action until the dispute is resolved.

 

JMHO

 

Glenn

 

Hi Glenn

 

Would this mean no interest would be charged on my overdraft until the dispute is resolved?

[Glenn UK]

Elky

 

If you pay something into the abbey account monthly then you can argue your repaying them and being reasonable, what they decide to do is a matter for them, but by repaying them you are in effect making it more difficult in principle to do anything drastic i.e. get a ccj for example.

[Glenn UK]

Hi Glenn

 

Would this mean no interest would be charged on my overdraft until the dispute is resolved?

 

I doubt it, the dispute is about the charges not the overdraft per se.

 

So if you were to win the dispute then they would have to remove any associated interest too.

 

In the event you lost, unlikley imho, then the interest would stand.

 

When i said enforcement action they are not supposed to register defaults or send you to the debt collectors or anything, i think it is therefore important to send them a specific letter disputing the account and not leaving them to infer it form your other correspondence.

 

HTH

 

Glenn

[Elky]

Cheers Glenn, I get what you mean now. Do you think I will need to move everything to a new account before I start this process of regaining my charges? I'd imagine this is the sensible thing to do?

[soldier girl]

Hi Elky

IMHO it is best to have another account and move all your DD's etc (at least you won't land up in the s**t if they do take the overdraft away, which they can do under the T & C as long as they give you a reasonable time (A time which will suit them better than it does us!).They took mine away when I complained about charges etc.,

They are not bothered about a complaint to The Banking Code Board as this is not worth the paper it's written on when you need to use it, being voluntary. They have put a default on my account (which I shall have removed as part of my claim) and my formal complaint to the BCB resulted in a reply which says that they can do nothing as the code is voluntary!!!

Grrr! Grrr! Grrr!!

SG:D

[kia]

they did that with my account too ggrrrand its still on my record and that was about 4 years ago made our credit record rubbish ggrr ggrr

[Elky]

How long did it take until they put a default on your account?

 

I've opened a NatWest account and will move everything over to that but it means I'll be £1500 overdrawn with Abbey with no money going in. I'm going to pay £50 in to this account each month - surely they can't issue a default if I do this and also write to say my account in in dispute?

[soldier girl]

Elky - They put a default onto my account on Monday just gone. This was despite their 'Man from Abbey' and me being in the middle of talks regarding my claim etc etc.

However, they cannot put a default onto your account as you are still within the agreed overdraft. The problems come if they take the overdraft facility away from you (which they did with me when I started to take action against them) I am not concerned as their actions are unlawful and as part of my claim stipulates that any default be removed they will have to see me in court if they do not do this.

I would say, however that this process has taken many months ie- it does not happen generally speaking the minute you start to take action. I was also not willing to pay them a penny back regardless of what they did but I can appreciate that not everyone is able to do that.

If you are nervous about this (some of the letters they send can be quite intimidating until you realize that it really is a load of old Bull and the law really is on your side - the more you find out the more encouraged you will become) you do have the option of, as some folk have done, paying off the overdraft prior to taking action but not everyone can afford to do that - I certainly couldn't and you would be paying interest on it whilst you did so.

This is only my opinion and what you do is down to you but feel free to lean on me if you need to - I will help (and there are many out here who will also do so). I may not always answer right away but I will listen out for you.

Just a quick edit - just realised that you may already be aware of all this as your join date was a while back so sorry if I'm saying stuff that you already know - just wanted to lend support !

Kia - you should take action against them x

SG

[kia]

yes i was just thinking that myself that bit of the case id pushed to the back of my mind but it has to be done as we still have that on our account and its not on taxxkia

[Elky]

Hi

 

Its been a while since I was last on here and as of yet, I haven't taken any action - until now!

 

I went £4 over my agreed overdraft last month because of a direct debit. I was charged £20 + £30 for this. I wrote to them straight away (13th march) asking for them to refund the charges as my account has been kept in good order over the last couple of years. I got a response 2 weeks later saying they are investigating it. I sent them another letter on 28th March because they were now charging me another £115 (all due to the original £50). I signed the letter and enclosed the original letter I sent, stating I had still had no response.

 

I get a letter back yesterday telling me that because the copy of the original letter hadnt been signed, they couldnt help. Thing is, it was just a copy - the original sent on 13th March was signed!

 

I rang them this morning (25 mins to get through!) and asked if they could deal with my problem over the phone. The guy told me another £50 was due to come out next month (all rolling on from the original charges) so in total, they are investigating £215 worth of charges but it could take up to 8 weeks. I then said that I may as well write to them requesting my last 6 years worth of statements so they could investigate them too!

 

To my surprise, he told me he could do this over the phone. He asked if it was ok to take £10 from my account then said the last years worth of statements would take 1 week and the rest would take a little longer but its all in hand.

 

I'm quite surprised I dont have to write to them requesting this. Is this normal or should I still write to them?

 

Any help is appreciated!

 

Elky

[philread1]

Hello Elky

 

Seems to good to be true, a little too efficient, but if the've taken the tenner off you, just sit and wait for your statements to come through!!!

 

Keep your thread updated as to when you get them through or whether the shABBEY try it on with their 'all your info is stored on microfiche' excuse, and if you need any more help, just ask!

 

Phil:)

[Elky]

Well he did say that the rest of them are stored away and they would have to retrieve them. He said expect them shortly after the 1st years worth of statements. He said I should expect the 1st lot within a week. If they dont come through then I'll send the SAR.

 

Will you you updated for sure

[Elky]

Hi

 

I just spoke to Abbey on the phone again and asked them what was happening. I've asked them to refund the last 3 months worth of charges because they are screwing me up financially. They said they cant do this but started action on my account on 11th April regarding the last 6 years worth of charges.

 

Basically, the way she made it sound is that they can't refund just the last few months of charges because they are looking at the last 6 years worth of charges instead. They said this process takes 8 weeks (from 11th April). She said I should receive an offer from them within this time

 

Is this normal?

 

Cheers

[Elky]

Can anyone help with this?

[Josie8]

Of course they could refund these latest charges immediately - they're just making things difficult for you & trying to pressurise you.......but at least you know they will have to refund the whole lot eventually

[Josie8]

They won't offer you the full amount they owe you (don't forget to include the interest they've charged on all penalty fees over last 6 years too)............

[andypal]

Elky! To be honest I wouldn't even call them as that also is another expense for you which I doubt you are claiming;) .I started my claim 15 days ago and I am surprised at the turn around in comparison to others. This is my advice to you. Request your bank charges/ summary of charges enforced on the account for the past six years vis a S.A.R. Please do not rush into this, do not call them anymore. There will be enough help and advice here to support your plight. Telephone conversations to deal with your situation is not strong enough " One can always deny that you spoke to anyone about anything", however when you have the letter as proof your case will stand up better in court (if needs be). Wish you all the best and I look at your plight as it progresses.

 

Drew

[Elky]

Cheers guys. Will keep you posted. Received the last years worth of statements Friday and charges totalled about £400. Looking forward to receiving the previous 5 years so I can see how much they really owe me!

[Elky]

They have 8 days now to send me the rest of my statements. Is there a letter to remind them of this?

 

**Sorry, found it!!**

[Elky]

I am still waiting for previous statements but I noticed today that they have refunded £80 worth of charges to my account. I haven't even started a claim against them yet though so just thought this was weird.

 

Anyone else had this?