Halifax (personal account - closed)

[tifo]

Hi,

 

I sent a prelim letter to Halifax, 14 days ago today.

 

Charges were £924 and i asked for £3,428 inc contractual interest at 29.8% (current unauth rate). It's now £3,502 at todays date.

 

With stat interest it would be £1,306 at todays date.

 

They refunded £252 at the time of closing the account (nearly 6 years ago).

 

I've received an offer today for £336 which is 50% of the charges taken.

 

Shall i refuse this and continue with my claim or accept as part settlement and continue for the rest (payment will be sent when i send acceptance letter back)?

 

Or shall i ask for a sum of maybe 50% of what i am asking which will still get me more than the charges + stat interest?

 

Thanks for any help

[Josamolly]

forget the interest when making your decision. Basically they haven't offered you the full amount of charges, so on that basis IMO i would refuse it.

 

On the contractual interest issue. I would be surprised if you get the full amount, it has no legal basis and you need to be prepared that it may go to court. If you end up getting offered your full amount of charges , i would take it and forget the interest, unless of course you have already filed.

 

If you just push on to court having been offered the full amount a judge may see you as being unreasonable and you may end up coming unstuck.

 

just my opinion.

[tifo]

thanks for the reply.

 

i assumed contractual interest was based on the principle of 'fairness and balance' or 'mutuality and reciprocity', i.e. they have unlawfully taken my money so i charge them the same unauth interest they charge me, for having use of my money over the years?

 

i am aware of many people receiving their fair share of interest on here.

 

however, as i have a partial offer then i don't want to spoil this and end up losing the case.

 

To be fair, they have taken £924 so why should i accept £336? They haven't yet offered the full amount and i have not send my LBA.

 

So, send a letter accepting as part payment and asking for the remaining amount or it will be court?

[victimnomore]

So, send a letter accepting as part payment and asking for the remaining amount or it will be court?

Yes, absolutely.

 

If you do issue a claim you should then claim for contractual interest (which does have a very strong basis in law - although it CAN be debated) "or in the alternative" the statutory interest rate. That way you'll get one or the other and won't lose out.

 

For a full discussion of contractual interst rate claims, see this thread.

 

Hope that helps.

[tifo]

If you do issue a claim you should then claim for contractual interest (which does have a very strong basis in law - although it CAN be debated) "or in the alternative" the statutory interest rate. That way you'll get one or the other and won't lose out.

 

Thanks.

 

I'll go for the contractual interest for the moment as it makes a HUGE difference to the claim, though some people say there is NO legal basis for this (as Josamolly says above) and some people say THERE IS where they have claimed this. I'll allow for stat as the alternative.

[tifo]

they're offered all the charges back.

 

do i have to accept this or take it to court for contractual interest?

 

if i ask for stat 8% in the alternative, the judge might say, well they've offered you a 100% refund, you're getting greedy for the interest now.

[tifo]

Halifax have offered charges plus stat 8% interest through the Ombudsman. Shall i accept this?

 

I have always asked for contractual interest from the start, which more than doubles what they have offered.

 

The Ombudsman is now asking me to outline my case for this but i have made this clear in the letters i have sent to Halifax and them.

 

Anyone help?

[jaxads]

Hi -- just my opinion and based on how I understand things --- if you're offered all of your charges back then you really should accept.

 

I think it is frowned upon if you go down the court route purely for the interest (although what a huge difference the interest would make!!!).

 

That is just how I see things, but I wish you the very best of luck, whatever route you take.

 

Best wishes.

 

jaxads

[tifo]

Thanks..

 

I understand that, but in a way they have NOT offered what i asked for from the beginning.

 

But, even the Ombudsman advises me that they are entitled to charge the interest they do, just doesn't say that i can as well!

 

I think i will accept as charges + stat is good enough. I've been around the threads and contractual interest has its fans and doubters.

 

By the way, has anyone won charges + contractual from Halifax (or the group)?