Harvest V FD

[harvest]

What a mess....Advice Needed Please!

 

1. Received another offer from First Direct (Paul Adams) when the post arrived half an hour ago. It is for the full amount Before I submitted my form to the court.

 

2. It is for the same amount I had asked for before I realised last week that they had already refunded me money back in 2003.

 

3. My claim submitted to the court was for charges which before interest (contractual) is added, is less than their offer but which if I include interest is slightly more than their offer.

 

4. If I include my court fee but NOT interest their offer is a little bit above.

 

5. If I include my court fee AND Interest claimed their offer is a bit below the total.

 

All this after they had told me in a phonecall that they had withdrawn their last offer.

 

They obviously haven't received the court notice otherwise I'm sure they wouldn't have made this latest offer?

 

Oh dear...what to do.

 

I'm tempted just to accept their offer which is about right excluding the interest. It certainly covers all my charges and my court fee (and a little bit extra for my efforts).

 

Decisions, decisions...

[superward]

"LEGAL CHARGES LETTER REQ REFUND OF £XXXX.XX ON A/C xxxxxxxx REQ BREAKDOWN STATS ORDERED LTYC SENT

 

"PLEASE IGNORE ABOVE NOTE CREL TO REVIEW FEES SLA. COM REQUESTED £XXXX.XX BUT ALREADY HAD REFUND OF £XXX.XX AND £49 WAIVED ACCRUING OF £30 SO OFFERED £XXXX.XX WILL APPLY ONCE DEC RETURNED."

 

"AGREED TO HONOUR AS EXC ACC HISTORY SINCE 96 AND NO ISSUES"

 

Don't worry about the Manual Intervention stuff you have received. All it is, is notes left on your file from when you call up to FD and ask them to do something. The advisor will leave a wee note on the system just so if you phone up again the new adviser can see what has happened before (thats the plan anyway... ). It can also be used in disputes and that sort of thing as evidence so to speak.

 

We are always getting told at work not to leave nasty/funny notes about particularly annoying, shall we say, customers etc cause under the Data Protection Act a customer can ask for to see them all...which is what you now have in front of you!

 

Nothing to worry about just something sent under the Data Protection rights.

 

Cheers,

superward

[harvest]

Thanks Superward

 

Do you work for FD then?

 

If so, how does it feel claiming against your own employer? Bit weird I expect. Do they take a dim view?

 

Only asked because I noticed in your signature that you've got claims against RBS and FD.

 

Thanks again:)

[lateralus]

boy, that was complicated!

i may be totally wrong here - but this is what i'm thinking -

send a letter saying thanks for the offer but you need to include my court fee as i've filed. i'd take it and run - mainly because - my take on contractual interest is that you need to let them know from the first letter that you are claiming for it and i sense - sort of got - that you were going to do 8% interest before they made you upset - then decided to go for contractual - and as such - i think you could maybe have a problem defending it down the line - i think you'd be happy with a resolution that was what they have now offered plus your filing fee, yes or no?

 

if you like this approach - use this letter and tweak it.

 

Date

Dear Whoever

Ref: Your Offer of Settlement

 

Account: xxxxxxxx

Sort Code xx-xx-xx

Claim No: XXXXX in XXXX County Court

 

I acknowledge receipt of your letter date xx/xx/xx and your settlement offer of £XXX

 

Unfortunately your offer has failed to include my court filing fee of £XXX and therefore I am unable to accept your offer as full and final settlement until you agree to refund this amount. The total amount I wish to be refunded is £XXXXX (here - put their offer + court filing fee)

 

As soon as I receive confirmation from you that you agree to this increased figure I will accept the new offer without prejudice and I reserve the right to make any further claims should you apply future charges that may be considered unlawful under common law or in violation of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 or Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

 

I will be willing to withdraw my claim upon receipt of unconditional full settlement of my claim of £XXX

 

I am also not prepared to agree to any confidentially clauses you try to impose, unless of course your client wishes to make an offer of due consideration in addition to the amount of £xxxxx, in order to be afforded this privilege by myself.

 

I look forward to receiving your revised offer

Yours Sincerely

 

that last sentence is a bit of cheeky fun a lot have used - use it (with the figures which would bring it to your full offer or put £100 or put whatever you want) or leave it out.

 

 

just double check that that wording refers to what you used in your particulars as i know nothing about cc claims - i'm just applying my experience to you situation.

 

as i seldom get onto this site - let me know on my aq thread what you decide and how you get on.

hth

 

p.s. as i haven't specifically addressed the question of the questionable charges - refund, not refund, etc. forget it!

your letter on the previous page was brill and if they didn't get it from that - i say take the offer (plus the filing fee which i think you will get) and go!

[harvest]

Thanks Lattie,

 

Really, really appreciate that

[superward]

Hi Harvest,

 

I used to work in the Personal Loans department in First Direct a couple of years ago and we sometimes had to do overflow banking calls so I got to know how the system worked. Worked for RBS and Clydesdale Bank also actually and they are all pretty similar systems wise.

 

I dont feel any different about claiming back against an old employer as its not really a personal thing. Both were pretty decent to work for - so no revenge tactics or anything!

 

Now I work for Abbey.... .

 

Cheers,

superward

[harvest]

Good for you Superward - as they would say (the banks that is): "It's nothing personal...if we repossess your house or take your money, it's just business".

 

OK - I accepted their full offer today using (mainly) Lattie's letter above (thanks Lattie) with some amendments.

 

I did sign their 'declaration form' because all it said was 'I accept this sum in full and final payment' and I made clear in my letter that I reserve the right to make future claims and to carry on with this claim if the money isn't credited to my account within 7 days.

 

So that's it - I've won - pending the account being credited. Feels like a bit of an anti-climax after just over 4 or 5 weeks from start to finish.

 

Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining or anything - I know people have waited far longer - it just feels weird.

 

So as soon as the money's in my account I'll make my donation and pop back to offer encouragement to others.

 

Thank you to everyone for their encouragement and support on this site - I think we all really do need a helping hand with this, especially when we first start off.

[elorenzo]

New to all this but after reading some of your thread you have insired me to pursue my claim with FD, Today i have recieved an offer from FD for 50% of what i initially tried to cliam back and the letter also stated that they did'nt have to pay me back any of the recall charges and interest, when writting my decline of offer letter how long should i give them to respond? has anyone had a successful claim over two account of over 8K Excluding interest and has anyone been successful claiming back an amount like this and got the interest back too?

[madhouse5]

congratulations:D

 

 

Well done, enjoy

 

madhouse5:)

[koalaattack]

Nice one mate!

 

By the way, you've got me hooked on all of this. The sad thing is, despite years of being in a punk band this is probably the most punk rock thing I've done!! I'm thinking of changing my name to Wolfie or Che - all I need is a beret and I'm there...

 

Power to the people!

[tomcody]

Well Done & Congratulations Harvest!!!

[givememymoney]

Excellent news harvest well done

[lateralus]

hey, harvest - that was pretty fast!

and i had to come looking - weren't you going to tell me!!!!!!!

congratulations, well done!

hope you don't feel deflated - i think you may have gotten away with murder almost - it could have been a lot trickier!

i'm very pleased for you! an excellent result in my book - and you just sent that letter a few days ago - remarkable!

good for you.

i'm well chuffed for you!

[harvest]

Thank you so much Lattie, Givememymoney, tomcody, madhouse5 and Koala Attack.

 

The money has been paid into my account by FD today!!!

 

I'm now going to make my donation, complete the survey and PM the mods to change my thread title to those magic wordsw 'Won' and put it in successful claims if that's what they do.

 

Thanks again. I think I'll start reading the threads on claiming beyond 6 years...Nat West here I come!!

[harvest]

Ok survey completed, donation made and smile on my face.

 

It's a wonderful life!

[Tiffla]

Well done, Harvest:)

[koalaattack]

In the words of Mr Bates "good work fella"!

 

We'll have a drink to your, and my impending (!), victory on Saturday mate. Looks like I'm joining J for football in the afternoon (first competitive match in 3 years I think!) so I may look a bit worse for wear - we'll still celebrate though mate.

 

Nice one!

[harvest]

Thanks Tiffla - thanks for all your support.

 

KA - thanks mate. I'll see you on Saturday.

 

My brother wants me to help him with his claim (he's been using other websites and it sounds like he's been getting confused/ bad advice) - he's got four closed accounts (Personal, business etc) all with claims looking at about £4K each.

 

..onwards and upwards:)

[28bagk]

Well done Harvest, you must be thrilled.

 

Lets hope its that quick for all of us

 

[harvest]

Thankyou 28bagk - much appreciated.

 

Yes, I am thrilled, especially as I was waiting for a BACS payment today (delayed because of the problems) so the refund means I haven't gone overdrawn and they can't sting me for charges (again!)

[givememymoney]

Well as they say every cloud has a silver lining!!!! So pleased you've got your cash now!!