Kev vs The Halifax

[angry-in-suffolk]

After long, painful and unhelpful conversations with the Halifax the time has come for me to take action.

 

I have over 60 hours of recorded calls. Proof that the Halifax CC dept withdrew funds illegally from my current account.

 

Proof that the Halifax CC dept REFUSED to accept a payment from Halifax Insurance Ireland when I claimed. and the list goes on...

 

Proof that the Halifax CC dept recieved details from the CAB that they couldn't read but rather than contact me or the CAB, they decided that they were in reciept of complete details, froze all of my accounts and caused even more problems.

 

In short, the unreasonable charges of one department led to significant cascading charges on my other current accounts, credit cards and mortgage.

 

And yes ... Halifax also messed up my credit reference.

 

Today I am sending of my DPA subject access request for details of all of my accounts. And no, I'm not messing about and I will go to court. It's not that I need the details of my charges ... I want to see if the 'manual intervention' records actually reflect what my records calls prove I said.

 

I even had a 'head office helper' tell me on the record that it was 'Halifax policy not to talk to anyone who was recording calls' - I know it's not true and I did get confirmation about that at a later date.

 

I have numerous questions and over the coming days I'll be asking for help and advice here as well as keeping you all up to date and giving you all as much encouragement as I have had reading others posts.

 

My first questions are:

 

1. Can I claim back the charges applied to my mortgage account as a result of funds not being available in the current account because Halifax took their 'charges' first?

 

2. Is 'maual intervention' the notes made during my various conversations with telephone advisors.

 

3. Is it worth claiming for damages on top of my charges as this will take me well over the small claims limit?

 

Stay tuned all and .... watch out Halifax

 

Kev

[angry-in-suffolk]

Update: Well I've been to the post office, bought myself a £10 postal order and sent off my DPA subject access request letter by recorded delivery.

 

Total cost £11.88 ( + one envelope and two sheets of paper )

Time taken in total to write, walk, queue and post - 1 hr 14 mins - Can I claim compensation for my time?

 

Kev

[sea-sidelady]

somehow i think you might just be pushing your luck with that one..!

[angry-in-suffolk]

I hope they do go the whole hog and take it to court. I want to get my charges plus interest first and then after that I want to get compensation for lost time, harrasment and one broken phone

 

I won't be including time at this stage but if I can, I will push hard after I've got my charges back.

 

At least I hope I can ?

 

Kev

[mousey]

Hi Kev,

 

Just thought I would update you, Halifax have confirmed (3 times) that they have received my SAR and that statments will be due sometime next week. The only reason I was calling was that Royal mails website was saying the letter still hasn't been signed for, royal mail are now sending me £3.00 worth of 1st class stamps as an offer of goodwill!! Hope the Halifax will be more generous!!!!

 

Mousey

[angry-in-suffolk]

Good for you Mousey! If only every organisation were as fair as the Royal Mail huh?

 

For anyone else reading I could do with some advice please.

 

Now that my S.A.R is in the post I'm using the time that Halifax will give me ( ) to put together my case and spreadsheets.

 

Where I have a number of current accounts, mortgage, CC's and loans etc that were all affected by the wrongful charges applied, I want to claim my charges back on every account I have with the Halifax.

 

Q1. Do I make a request and bundle all of the charges for all accounts in to one claim - with breakdowns - or do I prepare to submit claims for the individual accounts?

Note: In total all accounts will take me well over the 5K threshold.

 

Q2. I have decided to claim contratual interest and Over the years where I have stood my ground I have had some of the charges they made refunded to my account. When I am putting my spreadsheet together do I include these charges and show the repayment else where (at the end) or do I add the charges in date order?

Note: The reason for asking is that although some of the charges were refunded they were refunded after the 'unauthorised over limit fees and interest' were applied and I lost out.

 

Q3. I have read in the forums that when claiming contractual interest that we should use the prevailing rate at the time I make my claim. This makes good sense but ... the halifax lowered their interest rates on sept 15th 2005

 

Current rates: Interest rates and charges - Halifax UK

Previous Rates: Interest rates and charges - Halifax UK

 

If I claim at the todays lower rate they get away with it for the higher amount they charged prior to sep 15 2005.

 

So should I claim at the higher rate for the whole amount or do I need to break down my claim?

 

Q4. At what point do I claim for damages and the time I wasted trying to get the mess that Halifax caused sorted out. Bear in mind that I have over 60 hours of admissible recorded evidence to back up my claim?

 

Thanks

 

Kev

[angry-in-suffolk]

Bump.

[angry-in-suffolk]

UPDATE: The Royal Mail website tracking system shows my SAR was delivered on the 27/1

 

Roll on March 7th

 

I am very interested if 'manual intervention' will include all of the notes that should have been made every time I telephoned them.

 

Are they duty bound to provide these?

 

Kev

[mousey]

Hi Kev,

 

Have you received a letter from Halicrap confirming that they have your SAR and are dealing with it?? I haven't but I notice on some threads that alot have.

 

Mousey

[angry-in-suffolk]

Hi Mousey,

Nope. Haven't rec'd squat from the halifux - and to be fair I didn't expect too.

 

They are a disorganised rabble and deserve everything coming their way.

 

Like you I have PROOF of reciept from Royal Mail - If halicrap can't get thier heads round how to organise things, it's their problem, not ours.

 

Personally I have 99% of my statements so I can work with that and on day 33 I will send a reminder letter to them outlining the court action that I will be taking if I don't get EVERYTHING within the time frame perscribed by law

 

If you NEED your statements send them another letter again by recorded delivery.

 

Above all don't panic - we are in the right - just keep up a nice gentle pressure on them.

 

Kev

[angry-in-suffolk]

Well well well .. 12 days down the line and still not even a letter confirming that the people who give you xtra have rec'd my SAR. Am I surprised ? No.

 

I still have a few question above that I could do with some suggestions on. The main one being can I make one claim for all of my accounts with halifax. i.e. the current account and the credit cards - is it best to put in multiple claims.

 

thanks

 

Kev

[mousey]

Hi Kev

 

Received my confirmation of receipt of the SAR last week, today received statments, all 6 years worth - hightlighter at the ready, when I get a chance!! Just had 2 days off work, that would have been nice time to do it, but never mind - concerned already about the spreadsheets etc, I have never been able to grasp them!!! I would give them a quick call, I rang a couple of times - let me know how you get on.

 

Mousey

[sea-sidelady]

Mousey try not to worry about the spread sheets. If you need any help just shout, they look harder than they are.

[angry-in-suffolk]

Funny enough, Today I just rec'd notification from 'them' that they had my SAR. The funny thing was, I don't think they bother reading the requests any more. It was the word IF in the sentence "If you requested information relating to manual intervention on your account, I regret HBOS plc is under no statutory obligation to record this information ...." blah blah, bleat bleat.

 

It took them a while and a call from me to get this far ....

 

But I'm sure I read somewhere here that they do have an obligation ... and I'm really sure that every time I called them, one of the 'agents' made a note on my account record. This was stored within a computer system and hbos should at least make an effort to let me have that personal information?

 

Sea Sidelady: Any pointers on should I make one big claim or do it in little bits. I'm tempted to wrap it all up in one claim?

 

thanks

 

Kev

[sea-sidelady]

You should do the credit card seperate, you can put the accounts together, but i know some people like to keep them seperate as not to confuse them selves.

 

I have 2 accounts and did them seperate.

1 has been paid and im fighting for the second which is over £5k.

 

It is up to you which is the best for you.

 

You are best waiting until all your statements arrive and you can see exactly where you are.

[mousey]

Hi Kev

 

Just wondered how your claim is going??

 

Mousey

[angry-in-suffolk]

Hi Mousey and everyone else,

 

Things seem to be heading in the right direction (so far)

The statements are dibbling through the letter box a bit at a time and get this ... you'll all love it ...

 

I was asked to be reasonable by 'them' - in particular their Data Control team ...

 

Here's the story.

I sent the standard SAR to them on the 24/1

 

On the 12th Feb I got a letter back from them which was along the lines of:

Thank you for your letter requesting specific information on your accounts with us .......... blah blah

 

If you requested information relating to manual intervention on your account, I regret HBOS is under no statutory obligation .... blah blah.

 

Needless to say I wasn't happy with this And I wrote back to them.

 

snip >

Referring to your letter dated dd mm yyyy you appear to be under the impression that I only wanted information relating to some of the accounts I hold or have held with your organisation. This is not the case – I would like a complete list of transactions, charges and details of any manual intervention relating to my banking history with you. The reason I included # of my account numbers that I hold with your organisation was so you could quickly verify and cross-reference my request.

 

 

I am also concerned that your letter indicates that you are refusing to send me details of manual intervention. The data protection act is specific and I can see no justification in you not complying with my request in full. I must insist that that you reconsider. Given that your employees have recorded numerous notes to your electronic systems over the years, I am entitled to ALL of that information. No disproportionate effort is required on your part to provide this information.

 

So then I got another letter back from them saying

 

We are not refusing to send you details of manual intervention. We do not keep notes of manual intervention and therefore would not be able to provide you with such information. However if legislation .... blah blah

 

Since you are now requesting additional information the 40 Days begins from the receipt of your letter dated dd mm yyyy

 

Urrmm - I don't think so people. I wasn't requesting new info.

 

So I phoned up to tell them that and the result was stunning - apart from them asking me to be reasonable.

 

The nice lady that I spoke to confirmed that who ever originally dealt with my first request must have 'assumed' that I wanted just my statements - basically because they are getting so many requests they are 'pushed' .

 

When I pointed out that if the bank didn't make any notes, how could they make accurate assessments about my credit worthiness and 'what about the notes your staff make when I call in with an enquiry' - she effectively caved in.

 

When I asked her to read my original request which clearly stated in the second paragraph I wanted 'indication or notes' and this also related to the notes that appear or are typed in by any customer advisor she relented and stated that someone misinterpreted my request.

 

If you are slightly confused let me explain a bit more - I don't want just the statements - I want details of all of the notes that appear on their systems that relate to me and my business dealings with them.... in all departments - and that includes the emails.

 

That's what we all asked for and put simply - if they don't produce the 'system notes' as well as the statements they are in breach.

 

Now ... those of you that read this who really want your moneys worth, can go back and get your 'notes' - you originally asked for them so if you didn't get them within the first 40 days you have a choice Not that I'd condone you clogging up their overstretched systems further.

 

Personally I also want proof of the number of times I tried to correct their cock-ups, the number of times they called me - everything!

 

Then I'm going to get my unlawful charges back and then I'm going to complain.

 

Hope this encourages you to stick to your goals.

 

Kev

 

 

 

[Batgirl]

Hello Kev

 

I am following your journey as it unfolds, with great interest! I love your spirit, and found your latest post very encouraging, so thanks for sharing. I find it amazing that they expected you to believe they don't keep notes. The number of times I have been told "I'm just checking the notes on your account..." etc... for flips sake!

 

Halifax received my SAR on 27th Feb. While I wait for signs of life, I come to this site as often as I can. The info and support here is fab, and greatly appreciated.

 

All the best Kev

[mousey]

Good for you Kev!!

 

I sent my LBA off on Tuesday, I had also sent a letter or appropriation along with my initial request for payment, no mention of that it the fob off for 40 days letter!! So you are right, they just assume!! I only get family allowance as I work full time but they where taking their charges out of that which always came to more than my allowance taking me overdrawn on an account where I have been refused an overdraft facility of any kind, they always know when your monies in don't they, it wouldn't of been so bad if they had waiting until my monthly pay day which has been the same since I banked with them over 10 years ago!! I am going to wait until the 14 days is nearly up then will be giving them a call asking what they are going to do about it prior to MCOL which I must admit daunts me!!

 

Also last weekend I got a second set of complete statements, 6 years worth of course, so they just don't have a clue

[mousey]

How's it all going Kev?