Gezuwit vs Halifax (compound contractual interest claim)

[Gezuwit]

Hello. I am currently at the Prelim letter stage after receiving all my statements, but i'm wanting to claim back all my charges along with any interest that the bank has earned off my money and I am going to apply contractual interst on all of this. My previous posts related to this have been on this thread: Why is no one claiming the contractual rate of interest???.

 

I have three accounts - 2 bank accounts and one credit card and they are all with Halifax. So I will hopefully get my own back in due course! Any help, opinions or advice is welcomed!:grin:

[Gezuwit]

I've decided to fob off the contractual interest claim simply because I don't really have time to waste and I have been sat with my statements for a while now. I may pursue it with my other accounts. I ended up sending a combined claim for all my accounts and adjusting my Prelim letter appropriately - I also included a few phrases from the BBC news website's template letters.

 

Bit peeved that I didn't take them on at a contractual rate but I'll be happy if I get all this back - keep you posted.

[Gezuwit]

After 9 days wait, I've finally received a reply from Halifax but something tells me they didn't actually read my last letter:

 

21st February 2007

 

Mr G A Quinn

1 A Higher Place

SHEFFIELD

S1 8DJ

 

 

 

Our reference XXXXXXXXX

Roll Number: D/XXXXXXXX-X & D/XXXXXXXX-X

 

Dear Mr Quinn

 

Thank you for your letter, which was received at this office on 19 February 2007.

 

We are sorry to learn that you are unhappy with the charges debited to your bank account. Please note the complaint handling rules set by our regulator, the Financial Services Authority, gives us 8 weeks to investigate and respond to complaints.

 

Our commitment to you is that we will respond to your concerns at the earliest possible oportunity. However, we want to ensure the issues you raised are thoroughly investigated. If, for any reason, we are unable to respond fully to your concerns within the next 4 weeks we will write to update you of our progress.

 

You will find enclosed a copy of our leaflet, which tells you how we will handle your complaint.

 

Your concerns will be dealt with as quickly as possible, but to help us deal more efficiently with your enquiry, please quote XXXXXXXXX when writing or telephoning the number at the top of this letter.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

Matthew Baxendale

Customer Relations Officer

Customer relations

 

Enc. Personal Customer Complaints - Here's what we'll do

 

I'm just wondering where to go from here, I have given them my terms already - pay back my charges in 14 days or I'm taking court action!

 

I can see this is a stalling letter so is it still advisable to stick to my actions - ie sending out the LBA on 28 February (5 days time)? Or...

 

They mention that they received the letter on 19th February 2007 - does that mean I add on 5 days? Or....

 

Do I have to just wait for them to respond under their "Financial Services Authority" regulation 8 weeks...(fat chance!!! )

 

Also, I can see that this letter only refers to my two bank accounts NOT my Credit Card so I can probably expect a similar letter from them in a few days. If it is advisable to send my LBA exactly on the date said, then I suppose I will have to keep to my original claim (this is what I'm going to do anyway, but If anyone knows of any reasons why I should not do this, then I would be very grateful to know the reasons).

 

Thanks for any help on this matter!

[Gezuwit]

Yesterday I received a reply in reference to my Credit Card, so that's claims for all three accounts now underway. They offered me £400 - I have charges amounting to £800 and calculated interest of £10.15 - so that's about 1/2 way. This is unacceptable. A copy of the letter is below:

Card Services

Pitreavie Business Park

Dunfermline

Fife

KY99 4BS

 

23rd February 2007

 

Mr G A Quinn

1 A Higher Place

SHEFFIELD

S1 8DJ

 

 

Dear Mr Quinn,

 

Our Reference XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

 

Thank you for your recent letter rearding the charges on the above account and I am sorry you have found cause for complaint.

 

I am sure you will appreciate that like other organisations we incur costs for administering your account for late/unpai payment or overlimit situations. The bBank believes it is fair to pass these costs on to the account s affected, rather than absorb them into other areas of our organisation, penalising all our other customers as a result.

 

HBOS clearly outlines our charging policy in the Terms and Conditions that apply to your account. In addition we are committed to complying with the Banking Code, which sets out standards of good banking practice for banks and building societies follow when dealing with personal customers.

 

To demonstrate our commitment to you as a valued customer I am prepared to offer you a refund of charges to the value of £400 representing half of the total charges applied to your account.

 

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to tell us of your concerns. I hope my response is to your satisfaction. For your information please find a copy of our Complaints Leaflet, which details your choices and confirms our affiliation to the Financial Ombudsman Service. If I do not hear from you within the next eight weks I will close my file.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Chris Munday,

Complaint & Consumer Guidance

 

I'm wondering if there was some sort of standard refusal letter - there's an acceptance form with the letter which I'm unsure whether to sign. It is entitled "In Full and Final Settlement" I accept £400... - I don't want to send this off because that would confirm it is all done!

 

Another funny thing - I only have a £500 limit on my credit card and they owe me £800 - what happens when my credit card is £300 in credit :grin:?

[flirtytitch]

Hi Gez...

 

I'm new toall this but....!

 

From what I have read (And that is a lot!)....

You are correct....it is a standard letter that is sent.

 

Advice in regards to this that I have seen given and followed, is to stick to your time frame set ie:14 days.

In other words after YOUR set 14 days are up, send them the LBA...regardless of the reply you have received.

 

 

Just started my ball rolling by requesting statements.

 

Goodluck...I'll follow how you get on!

[Gezuwit]

Thanks flirty.

 

Havin had a bit more of a read and lookin through the A-Z Index (link in my signature), I have found a rejection letter and altered it a little and will send it back to Chris Munday at Card Services in the FREEPOST envelope provided (even though my claim is actually against Halifax plc) and claim back the £810.15 separately. I have to send it tomorrow (from work) because I don't have a printer at home!

 

Template rejection letters can be found here!

 

I ended up sending their contract back to them in "an appropriate state as to emphasise my non-acceptance of their offer" - ie ripped in half!!!

 

How much do you think you will be claiming back?

 

I wish you luck in your claim (re)quest flirty.

 

I'll be glad to be of any assistance to you as your case progresses. I would also suggest going the contractual rate route if you really want to f*ck them over good style.

[flirtytitch]

Hiya Gez,

 

Yeah sounds good to me!

Mind you I'm still learning lol!

 

No idea yet as to what claim ammount....only sent the SAR on Fri...so have a bit of a wait still.

Exciting but nervy process isn't it.

 

I find myself reading and reading through this site all the time!

Some great stories on here that really inspire and fire you up to get the barstewards!

 

Tc,

Speak soon

[Gezuwit]

Hello lovely people at CAG!

 

I haven't been on this site for a while but TODAY IS THE DEADLINE for when I'm meant to issue my County Court claim! I received a letter from Halifax referring to my Bank Accounts offering £784.00. For both of these accounts I'm owed a total of £979.70 so that's the offer was around 80 % the full amount.

 

I came close to accepting but realised the deadline was one day away. For the Credit Card, I was offered £400 instead of 810.15, which was totally unacceptable. So in total the offer I was given was around 66 % of what I was asking for - in my opinion that's a pisstake!

 

Anways...I just had to wait and then I would be able claim the 8 % too! So TODAY, the deadline has finally arrived. I have sent back the most recent offer with a rejection letter, telling them that I am now pursuing a County Court claim.

 

Unfortunately, I currently do not have the £120 I need to make my new claim of £2118.05!!!!!!!!! This would be for all 3 accounts I hold with Halifax (including interest and the 8 % on top of everything).

 

Feeling very frustrated! I guess I'm just going to have to wait (or ask a trusting friend for a favour)!!!!

[TUTTSI]

You should accept the offer on a partial settlement basis, when they pay you you then only have to purse them for the smaller balance, also, I suspect that the fee for a smaller claim would be substatially lower. I did this on a few of my claims and used the money I received on account towards my legal fees.

Good Luck

DS

[Gezuwit]

Hi DS.

 

Thanks for the advice - unfortunately, the contracts that they sent out had "Full and Final Settlement" written on top of them, so I [foolishly?] sent them back ripped in half, to reinforce the fact that I did not accept their offer...should I have drawn up my own contracts or something? They had not already paid me into my account, so I thought this was the best thing to do!!!!

 

Have I f*cked up a little?

[TUTTSI]

Hi DS.

 

Thanks for the advice - unfortunately, the contracts that they sent out had "Full and Final Settlement" written on top of them, so I [foolishly?] sent them back ripped in half, to reinforce the fact that I did not accept their offer...should I have drawn up my own contracts or something? They had not already paid me into my account, so I thought this was the best thing to do!!!!

 

Have I f*cked up a little?

 

In my veiw you should have written back a rejection letter, there are letters in the template liabrary for this purpose.

So basically the answer is YES!!!

[deedee1310]

Hi Gezuwit.

 

Your last post was in March. How did you get on?

 

deedee

[Gezuwit]

Hi guys. Long time no post. I received £900 for both my bank accounts.... which went on paying some debt I had accumulated in the last four years!

 

But the credit card people have refused to budge on their £400 offer, so I have now filed my court claim. In total (with interest added) it amounted to £999.53 so my court fees were £80.00 but only just!!! Sorry I haven't been keeping you all informed, I have had a few personal issues to deal with...

 

Today I received a Notice of Issue from the court stating that:

 

"Your claim was issued on the 25 July 2007. The court sent it to the defendant by first class post on 30 July 2007 and it will be deemed to be served on 01 August 2007. The defendant has until 15 August 2007 to reply."

 

But I also received a Notice that Acknowledgement of Service Has Been Filed document also, stating:

 

"The Defendant filed an Acknowledgement of Service on 06 August 2007. The defendant responded to the claim indicating an intention to defend all of the claim. The defendant has 28 days from the date of service of the claim form with particulars of claim, or of the particulars of claim, to file a defence."

 

My interpretation of this is that I am to now wait until the 28 August to hear from Halifax with their defence and if I have not heard from them, send the Request for Judgement (which came with the Issue of Notice) back to the court.

 

I am not sure if I am entirely correct but I would be very grateful for any advice, pointers to parts of the forum that might help me prepare for an impending court case and/or views on what I should do next.

 

Thank you once again.