Interest Calculation

[bram stoker]

You're welcome, and thankyou for your donations, they are much appreciated.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

[caro]

I have calculated the interest using Vampiress' spreadsheet, and also using the 8% interest calculation for if (when) I reach that stage of my Yorkshire Bank claim.

 

I should be sending them the preliminary letter now, but want to be sure that I claim everything that I can and think through the interest issue in full before taking the plunge. I closed this account in March 2003.

 

My first thought was to just claim 8% to date as I knew I had paid interest on my charges, and that this would be a conservative interest rate as I was charged a much higher rate than this. I now realise that this is not the accepted way to go.

 

These are the results of the various calculations I have made.

 

Charges £2,902.00

8% from date of charge to present day £982.52

Results using Vamp's spreadsheet £157.63

Actual interest charged by bank £185.58

 

I can happily justify claiming the actual interest charged by the bank, but what about the time since closing the account? Can I claim anything for the 3 years since closing the account or should I wait until reaching the court stage and just claim the 8% if I reach that stage. As you can see there is nearly £700 difference.

 

Any views anyone?

 

(Excuse the shortening of your name Vamp - hope you don't mind. lol)

[roydosan]

The interest calculation is quite easy to do but it can be quite lengthy if you are going back six years. The way I did it (and I am not a mathematician) was to look at the interest rate on each statement I had and then multiply the late fee or whatever by that.

 

e.g £25 at 1.42% (monthly figure) = 25 x 1.0142 = 25.355 and so the interest is 36p (rounded up) for that month.

 

Now here is where it gets complicated but still not especially difficult. The next month you will pay interest on the fine and interest on the interest on the fine. Put simply that would look like 25.355 x 1.0142 = 25.715041 giving a total of 72p of compounded interest for the two months.

 

But remember that each month calculated must take the total figure of fines and compounded interest multiplied by the monthly interest rate (Which does vary so check you have the correct one - it should be printed on each statement).

 

This can be shown in the equation (a+b) x c where a = the fines, b = the interest charged and c = the monthly interest rate - this should be shown as 1.0 and then the figure so 1.42% increase is shown as 1.0142 and that is the figure you use to multiply by. If you're unlucky enough to be paying monthly interest in double figures then it would be shown as 1. and then the figure - e.g. 17% per month would be 1.17. Do not confuse the yearly figure they quote with this calculation - that will give a false figure - only use the monthly figure printed on the statement.

 

Over a long period this can greatly increase the size of the fines - I found that with compounded interest a fine of £20 had increased to £40 over the space of two years and there were still four years of calculations to go! It can take a bit of time to work out the figures as you have to do it for each month but it's surely worth it. I found on one account for the previous six years the compounded interest actually worked out to be more than the total fines.

[roydosan]

I forgot to mention - when you have paid several fines you need to add up the total fines and total compounded interest and then multiply this by the monthly interest rate. The cumulative compounded interest will add up to quite a lot!

[bram stoker]

Roydosan,

 

Your method works only if you are charged interest every month on an overdraft that is higher than the accumulated penalties and interest by that month.

 

Be careful you don't claim more than they took from you.

[roydosan]

Sorry forgot to say - it worked it out for credit cards so the interest was the same for fees and normal purchases. Just be careful that the interest rate is correct for each month and calculate accordingly.

[roydosan]

In response to Vampiress' comments if the total for fines & compounded interest exceeds the balance then you can only claim as much interest as is charged in each month where that is the case. If the balance is higher then calculate as I explained above.

[Johny_the_fox]

Hi, sorry if this question has been asked elsewhere but i couldnt see it.

 

I have used Vampiress advanced english excel spreadsheet (which is excellent, much appreciated) to calculate how much i am owed, however on the interest column whenever i have been charged (sometimes as much as £13 a month) but my balance is just about in credit as i have just been paid, the spreadsheet does not add this interest onto the 'interest on penalties' column.

 

Can i just add these interest charges myself, or have they been ommited from the total for a reason i am unaware of?

 

 

Any help is appreciated.

[Lig24]

Sorry to but in on this thread but I really don't know how to work the interest out on my claim. Can you just add 8% on to the final figure or would this mean your claim would be struck out.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Lig24:confused:

[lucid]

Sorry to but in on this thread but I really don't know how to work the interest out on my claim. Can you just add 8% on to the final figure or would this mean your claim would be struck out.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Lig24:confused:

If you use the forum spreadhseets then you can have your 8% interest automatically calculated for you on each charge. So if you haven't used a spreadhseet it would be a good idea to - certainly means less work for you.

 

When you file your claim you need to work out the daily rate of interest to put on your form. So you start with the total amount of charges without any of the 8% interest added on, so as an example I'll use £100. So you take your total of £100 and multiply it by 8 then divide by 100, which gives you £8 - this is your annual rate of interest. To get the daily rate of interest you take the £8 (your annual rate) and divide it by 365 which gives you £0.02 - and this is what you would put on your claim form.

 

The wording on the form is something like:

 

The Claimant claims interest under Section 69 of the County Court Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum calculated from xxxx to xxxx, which is xxxx and continuing until payment or the date of judgement at a daily rate of xxxx.

So the red xxxx is where you would put the total interest earnt up until the date you file the claim - which is where the spreadsheets come in very handy.

 

I hope this helps. Good luck. Lucid

[lucid]

Hi, sorry if this question has been asked elsewhere but i couldnt see it.

 

I have used Vampiress advanced english excel spreadsheet (which is excellent, much appreciated) to calculate how much i am owed, however on the interest column whenever i have been charged (sometimes as much as £13 a month) but my balance is just about in credit as i have just been paid, the spreadsheet does not add this interest onto the 'interest on penalties' column.

 

Can i just add these interest charges myself, or have they been ommited from the total for a reason i am unaware of?

 

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

Hi Johny,

 

You'd probably be better posting your question in the Spreadsheet with Interest thread. I don't know loads about it myself but it can be a small amount of interest if any that the spreadhseet calculates (as an estimation) that you are entitled to claim back. In the above thread there is a site helper, thewifeandI, who seems to know a lot about the workings and errors of the spreadhseets.

 

Good luck. Lucid

[Lig24]

Thanks Guys.

 

I have used the online spreadsheet and it all looks ok to me so I am sticking with this now.

[Johny_the_fox]

Understand mostly now, thanx very much:)

[cumbria123]

Is there any reason why you can`t just take the interest amount on your statements, and add them altogether, then claim them back...?

[bram stoker]

You can claim most charges.

You can claim any interest deducted from your account that relates to those charges.

 

You can then add statutory interest to those items, on an individual item basis. If you feel brave you can argue that the contract implies reciprocity and claim contractual interest instead of statutory interest.

 

You can only claim statutory interest when raising your court claim. You can claim contractual interest from your very first letter.

 

Thre is a lot more discussion on this elsewhere. Search the word contractual and you'll find a multitude of threads.

 

I have spreadsheets in my Chambers that cover all these scenarios.

 

Good luck all.

[Lynn Newton]

Hi

 

i am trying to complete the spreadsheet with the formula in for the 8% and not having much luck can you advise what to put in the formula sum to make it calculate the number of days and the interest....thanks

[caro]

You don't need to touch the formulas at all Lynn as they are all there for you. Just put the charges in, the dates and what the charges are for and the spreadsheet does the calculations for you.

[Vital Spark]

I have a friend whose accountant is makign the claim for him. Is this wise? Apart from him paying someone else to do wg=hat this friend could probably do for himself. He's not like me with figures.

 

OR

 

Would it be prudent to get an accountant to do the job for us since some of us find it dreadfully difficult even with the help of those generous folk on here sharing their expertise?

 

I second route is advisable, how much should we expect to pay? Should we pre agree something on a percentage of the recouped amount or pay per hour of the accountant's time?

[caro]

I cannot advise you what to pay as this site is about empowereing people to help themselves. If you or anyone else want to pay someone to do it for you, you are on the wrong site. As long as you can make a list of charges and add them up you can work out what to claim. The interest is worked out on spreadsheets for you, and you can get help in Vampiress' Chambers. Is it really worth paying someone to do something that with a bit of patience you can do yourself? Thousands of people have managed it.

[Vital Spark]

It's not a case of can't be botherd. My dyslexic problems are worse numerically which adversely affects my confidence when dealign with figures. This is especially so when takign on an opponent such as my bank who have, to date, knocked me down on every occasion when I know them to ahve been in the wrong. And they do this just by bamboozling me with data and figures or bare faced lying.

 

I am struggling here to manipulate this site. I have been tryign to open a new thread for help with questions that I have regardign which is teh ebst of what appears to me to be a selection of letters requestign data to initiate the claim. I can't find a way to do so.

 

If I make one error in my approach to my bank, I know my entire case is sunk.

 

This is why I asked about the prudence of employing an accountant to do the job: not because I wouldn't rather do it myself.

 

I apologise if I have offended anyone by my query.

[caro]

Sorry VS I misunderstood your intention. When you said about your friend using an accountant and that "He is not like me with figures", I thought you were suggesting that you could manage fine but maybe other people should pay. There are an awful lot of people (ambulance chasers) cashing in on other peoples misfortune. I worry that people who can't afford it might fall victim to the ambulance chasers. We have all been victims to the banks, and this site enables people to reclaim not only their charges, but control over their finances. It is amazing how good that can feel.

 

I hope that clears it up and I apologise again if I misunderstood and upset you.

[Vital Spark]

No problem. I was only upset (too strong a word) that I had perhaps offended you and all the otehr wonderfully generous people who lend their expertise and wisdom to those of us less able in these arenas.

 

I think having reread what you quote from my post, that your misunderstandign wsa entirely understandable. WHEWWWW!

[caro]

You would be best to start your own posts on all of these issues, but if you struggle, maybe just do one at a time. Martin 3030 has started a thread for you in the Lloyds forum, and I have offered advice for you there. If you keep all your problems to do with Lloyds there it will make it much easier for people to see what you are doing and offer advice.

 

The more you read up and understand how to fight these institutions the more confident you will become. Your Lloyds thread is here.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/lloyds-bank/36115-vital-spark-lioyds-tsb.html

[shazzaspannered]

Hmmm I'm not sure if I should add the interest on or not.

 

I am claiming £440 back from Barclays and according to the works spreadsheet my interest comes to another £167.

 

My account was closed by the bank in 2002 though so surely I cannot claim interest back for the epriod between 2002 and 2006?

 

I want to make sure I fill the letter and everything in properly before I send it off because I really don't want to jeopardise my claim.

 

Any advice anyone?

[lucid]

I'd add it. £167 is a lot of money. Don't worry about the account being closed since 2002 - the bank has still had your money for that time so why shouldn't you claim the interest back. But it's entirely up to you whether you want to include it or not - you won't go wrong whichever way you choose.

 

Lucid