Standard letter? Standard reply?

[craigyb85]

Firstly, as a newbie, I would like to express my thanks to the creators of this site and the moderators of this forum. It has so far proved very useful, and I'm hoping some helpful person can help me with me latest issue!

 

I have received a letter from the A&L in response to me asking for my money back. The letter they sent seems standard, but I was curious as to whether I can still persue my claim or whether what they say is true.

 

I had a basic cashcard account with A&L for many years, and latterly they even let me have a debit card (oooh!) but still refused to allow me an overdraft facility, although possibly with good reason. The only time I was ever overdrawn was when they failed direct debits. And then once these charges were levied, I became overdrawn which of course they charged me for. Again and again! So I sent the standard letter and this was the reply:

 

"Thank you for contacting us regarding your account.

 

I have noted your comments that you believe the charges that have been raised on your account to be unfair, please be assured our charges are reasonable and are competitive with the charges made by other financial organisations.

 

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has commented that they consider the level of late payment charges to be unfair, however they were actually referring to late payment fees for credit card payments, which are quite distinct from a bank's charges on current accounts.

 

As yet, the OFT have not entered into any discussions with the banking industry regarding current accounts. However, should that position change in the future, then Alliance & Leicester will participate as appropriate.

 

Given the above, I cannot accept you have been unfairly charged as you suggest. I regret, therefore, that I am unable to agree to your request for a refund of charges on this occasion.

 

I am sorry if you are disappointed with my response, but as the charges have been raised correctly in line with terms and conditions of your account, they must stand."

 

Any informed and accurate comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

CB.

[dx100uk]

garbage!!

look at the claims successes.

just a stalling tactic, stick to oyur timetable

 

dx100uk:D

[craigyb85]

Thanks, I'll give it a go!

[Kevyb1]

Yep!

Standard letter. I got the same then took them to court and won. Just a stalling tactic.

 

KB

[kevvy1]

Got exactly the same letter and asked the same question seems that it is bog standard letter

[spacemarine]

hi

the A&L are using the press release from the OFT to hide behind and play for time but if you actually read the press release from the OFT dated 5th April called indeed:Currant credit card default charges unfair, the second paragragh states that these principles also apply to default charges in other consumer contracts such as those for bank overdrafts, store cards and mortgages, so as you have a contract for a bank account I would hazzard a guess the second paragraph applies to every one who has a bank account including yourself, check out the OFT site and read this press release,

good luck

[craigyb85]

Thanks for advice and help.

Following my latest letter to A&L, I received another one quite similar to the one posted above insisting that they are right and I am wrong!

 

On to the next Phase. Wish me luck!

[redgemini]

good luck - I got exactly the same letter & have ignored it & sent my LBA today sticking to my 14 day schedule

[younganfree]

Yeah, good luck dude.

You won't need it though. Just stick to the tested format and you'll get there despite all their nasty scare and stalling tactics.

Think about it. You've already won cos you didn't let them scare you off. I bet there are many poor suckers out there who don't have the benefit of having found this site who take their letter as gospel and fail to follow up their claim.

Let's face it; we're all in this boat cos we've believed the banks were in the right to charge us for our errors and therefore accepted the punishment unquestioningly. It's only with the high profile that claiming back bank charges - and doing so successfully - has received in the last year or so that we have become aware of the unlawfulness of the situation.