Caveman Joe versus Halifax - Compounded contractual interest & DPA non-compliance

[CavemanJoe]

Hey, all.

This is a bit of a long story, but I'll do my best to try to remember it all and be as concise as I can.

After pestering my bank for statements pertaining to my personal loan account for several months, I found this site and realised I could reclaim my charges - and I sent a SAR on the 21st of September last year, covering two credit cards, two bank accounts and one personal loan account.

Only the credit card statements arrived.

I disappeared to the USA in November, and stayed there for three months. I got back a couple of weeks ago. Before I left, I made mention to the Halifax that I expected the statements to be delivered in my absence. You can probably guess where this is going.

Not a dicky bird.

To sum up, here's a copy-paste from the file I'm keeping my notes in:

 

Customer Relations number:

08457 253 519

 

Spoke to Sally Kaye at customer relations 21/02/07 12:30pm, informed her of the outstanding statements. She said she'd request that the statements be sent as soon as possible.

 

Chased up with Bernadette Murphy at customer relations 10:30am Friday 23rd February, who said that she would E-mail the department again as a matter of urgency and chase it up for me.

 

Spoke to customer relations Monday 26/02/07 2:30pm. Was told that no record of my two previous calls existed. Told them that this behaviour was unacceptable, and that I would put it in writing, and that they have seven days to comply before I seek resolution through the county courts.

 

Posted Letter Before Action for DPA Non-Compliance via recorded delivery 26/02/07 3:30pm. Tracking number (DELETED).

 

1st March - received list of charges (only penalty charges, no transactions) from Halifax, for account (NUMBER DELETED). Handwritten address on the envelope.

Rang up customer relations and spoke to Steven Brown. He says that Cheryl Brash read the letter today at 9:41am. He took my number, and assured me that Cheryl will call before the weekend.

 

2nd March, 4:45pm - spoke again to Steven, who said that no action had been taken. He apologised profusely. I told him I'd hold off until Tuesday since the complaints department is closed on weekends, and would then pursue court action as per my letter.

 

Now, I have a few questions to ask. I've decided to go ahead and claim for the bank account and the credit card, while I wait for the details on the other bank account and personal loan account.

 

I've been reading up on contractual interest, and this is my understanding thus far for credit cards:

 

I add up all the charges, then to work out the interest that the bank charged upon said charges, I would compound it using the interest rate stated on the card. In this case, 17.9%. This adds, as a single example, £29.10 of interest onto a £20 charge taken in 2001, more than doubling that particular charge - and turning my £495 claim into £717.28. This is roughly what the bank has taken from me, in interest and charges.

I then use Halifax's unauthorised borrowing rate (28% if I recall correctly), in the same spreadsheet, again compounded, to figure out what they would have charged me if I had borrowed the money without their consent. This adds £411.66 to my £495 charges, and the £222.28 that the bank took in interest applied on those charges, making a total of £1,127.94.

Aha, BUT, is that the correct way to figure out contractual interest, bearing in mind that the interest that I'm adding for contractual interest isn't being applied to the interest that the bank charged, but only to the original amount? I fear I may be going about this the wrong way!

 

Simply adding the 28% to the 17.9% results in an interest rate of 45.9%, making the total amount for claim jump to a massive £1,440.50.

 

But, I still don't think this is accurate! Let's investigate further:

 

By creating a new column in the spreadsheet which adds the interest (at 17.9%) and the original charge, I create a list of the total amount of each charge after the card's interest is applied.

I copy the output (not the formula) from this column, and paste it into the "Charge Amount" column, and then change the interest rate to 28%. The total amount owed is now £1,441.05. 65p - not as big of a difference as I would have liked, but anyway, moving on...

 

Am I correct in assuming that contractual interest at the unauthorised rate is applied after any interest that the bank has applied for themselves, or am I simply being ridiculous?

 

Thanks for any replies - looking forward to taking the Halifax to the cleaners.

[TideTurner]

CavemanJoe

 

The crux here appears to be the obtaining of information you are entitled to - on time! They are clearly in breach of the DPA. It should be noted that you are entitled, after you make your SAR, to make further requests to the Data Controller, providing a 'reasonable amount of time' has elapsed since you last received information from them.

 

I would point out that they are in breach of the DPA and state again quite clearly what information you are requesting.

 

It's always a good idea to try and deal directly with the department responsible for data provision, and mention a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office should they not comply fully with your request.

 

Different banks have different interest rates, and also different methods of applying such interest. They have refused to provide these methods in the past claiming they are 'Commercially Sensetive'.

 

If you are £0.65 out, I would progress and leave the onus on them to explain exactly how interest was applied to your account.

 

Tide

[CavemanJoe]

After reading some of the other threads, I've decided not to pursue contractual interest. It seems I might invite a lot of unnecessary legal complications... If anyone wants to correct me, please do!

In any case, the N1 gets filed for DPA non-compliance on Tuesday. Should I also file a complaint with the ICO, or not bother?