Been offered £580 Straight away! What do I do?

[kj99123]

Hi there people thanks for taking the time to read this. I have sent the first letter asking for statements etc and immediately recieved a letter back from them offering me £580. I sent them a letter back saying that they still had not complied with my request by giving me the statements so that I could calculate. I didnt hear from them for ages and then sent the Letter before action and I have not heard from them for over a month. I realise I may have done parts wrong but what can I do next?

[Rooster-UK]

You say you've sent the letter before action, but you still have not received your account info?

How can you sue the bank for the return of your unlawful charges when you don't know how much you should be claiming.

 

All the letters in the library work but they must be used correctly. If you follow the well-tried and tested methods that we suggest then you will get your money back.

 

I suggest that you spend a few days reading the FAQs and the step by step guide in the library section. That will answer most of your initial questions and show you what you should have done.

 

I would hazard a guess that the sum that the bank offered you represents about a quarter of the true value of penalty charges. If you want to get it all back then you must be prepared to put in some effort for it.

Your claim.....Your money.....Your homework.

 

Regards, Rooster.

[gemmabe]

kj, you really should read through the FAQs and step by step guide. You MUST follow these tried and tested methods as the banks will try everything to wriggle out of it, and you face NOT getting your money back at all.

 

What date did you send off your statement request and did you send the 10 pound fee? Add 2 working days, and that date can be classed as the date the bank received your letter. The bank then has 40 days to provide you with your statements. If they DON'T do this, then you can file a complaint against them as they are legally obliged to send you your statements.

 

IF YOU DID NOT SEND THE TEN POUNDS, then ignore the above, as the 40 days only counts from the day they received the money.

 

Please let us know when and what you sent, and we will advise you how to proceed.

[superowls]

do you mean the LBA for the DPA non-complience - i have typed mine up already because the halifax are running out of time fast. If not then you really should have read the FAQs

[gemmabe]

edited

[superowls]

edited

[gemmabe]

sorry mate, i have deleted that now, i thought you were the original poster, then reread it and realised my mistake, big OOPS, very embarrassed lol

[superowls]

lol, don't worry about it - i had to read my post and figure out if i had actually been rude! lol.

 

Never mind!

[kj99123]

Hi there sorry guys I realise I didnt read the FAQ properly to begin with and this must seriously **** off you guys. However, I have read it now and am looking for your help on what I should do next.

 

So far I have done the folowing:

 

I sent a letter (used the template asking for transactions etc and enclosed the cheque) - The subject access request

 

They then replied saying they did not charge for this information.

 

A few days later I recieved an offer of £580

 

 

I wrote back neither accepting or refusing but telling them they had not complied with my request. This is the LBA I sent.

 

 

I did not use recorded delivery on this one so I sent another letter the same telling them they had a certain number of days to comply so I sent that one by recorded delivery.

 

 

 

-------------

 

 

I have not heard anything since. I realise I did not read the FAQ properly but would greatly appreciate anybodys help!

[gemmabe]

Right, you should not have sent the LBA yet. You needed to send the preliminary letter first. Not all lost though. I actually did something similar for my first claim, so I sent a second LBA, which I headed up as "Final Letter Before Action". It's basically so you are giving the bank a reasonable amount of time to respond. However, you still need your statements. Personally, I would phone Customer Relations in the morning and ask where on earth your paperwork is! Make sure you have the dates handy. They responded to your letter which is proof of receipt so don't let them fob you off. Did they not even include a list of charges (sometimes they do that instead of enclosing statements)? If Customer Relations get funny, then just inform them you will be making a complaint as they have not complied with your request within 40 days. That should get them running. If if has been 14 days since they received your LBA (prelim), then you could send the Final LBA like I said, leaving the figures pending as you are not able to calculate them yet. Alter the LBA slightly to reflect this. This will keep things running for you, then once you get the statements, and after 14 days of them receiving the FINAL LBA you can go on to file your claim. That's my advice, hope that makes sense

[kj99123]

Hi there again. Thanks for the help. Its very much appreciated. Let me get this straight not sure if I understand what you are meaning.

 

 

Step 1: I should call customer relations and ask them where my statements are or Ill start to take action.

 

Step 2: I send the very first letter again with the fee for the statements giving them the 40 days?

[crashbandicoot]

Hi there again. Thanks for the help. Its very much appreciated. Let me get this straight not sure if I understand what you are meaning.

 

 

Step 1: I should call customer relations and ask them where my statements are or Ill start to take action.

 

Step 2: I send the very first letter again with the fee for the statements giving them the 40 days?

 

 

KJ, ring customer services and ask them where your statements have got to first of all. You do not need to send another letter with the fee again. If it has been over 40 days since you sent the initial S.A.R. then you need to send them a 'non-compliance letter'. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/6986-data-protection-act-non.html

 

If 40 days aren't up yet, you need to wait for a bit. Let me know how you get on with Customer Services and what their answer is.

[kj99123]

The thing is, when I originally sent the fee they credited my account back with the money saying that they did not charge for this information. This is what is confusing me as to what to do. A few days later iis when they sent me the offer of 580.

[crashbandicoot]

That's ok KJ, you've offered them the fee, whether they take it or not is up to them...your S.A.R. still stands. They've sent you an offer because they want you to accept a seriously reduced amount rather than pushing it further. Call customer services and simply ask them when you can expect to receive your statements which you requested xxx days ago. See where you get with that.

[kj99123]

That's ok KJ, you've offered them the fee, whether they take it or not is up to them...your S.A.R. still stands. They've sent you an offer because they want you to accept a seriously reduced amount rather than pushing it further. Call customer services and simply ask them when you can expect to receive your statements which you requested xxx days ago. See where you get with that.

 

 

Thanks for the help. They have now sent me all the statements and I calculated the last 6 years worth. It came to £2400!!!!!! I cant believe Ive paid that amount!I am now going to send the preliminary approach for repayment with a schedule showing the charges I am claiming for the last 6 years. I take it this is the proper way from what I gather from the FAQ etc?

 

 

 

Again, thanks a lot

[crashbandicoot]

Yes, exactly. Your prelim will give them 14 days to respond. They may come back with a letter saying it'll take them 8 weeks or so to investigate. Ignore that and stick to your own timeline, and send them a Letter Before Action 14 days after the prelim, then file a court claim 14 days after that. You may give a couple of days extra on top of the 14 days each time for posting grace, other than that, as I said, stick to your timeline

[janzer]

Hello all

 

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of Halifax closing accounts - did a successful claim against yorkshire bank last december - now want to tackle Halifax - but I have an overdraft of 1000.00 which is always very near the last few quid - just don't want them to close the account and demand the 1000 back. best of luck everyone