Speedy v's BoS

[speedy1uk]

Hi there,

New to the forum but have been reading as much as possible before I asked anything too stupid. But I still have a question lol.

 

Have all statements for the last 6 years, (called telephone banking with Bank of Scotland and had all delivered within 2 weeks. The halifax statements were split between 19 envelopes so they pretty much cost themselves more than the £5 I paid for them ).

 

Have totted everything up, (long, long time) and have came to the astonishing figure of over £7000 in 6 years. I was in tears doing the numbers on Oct 2005. They charged me over £800 in one month. How can they justify that!

 

Anyway, have just sent first letter, having used the simple spreadsheet. In the letter it has a space for interest, yet I have now read a couple of times that interest cannot be added til court proceedings have been started.

 

I have put in letter the total charges and the total interest as per spreadsheet, should I have just asked for the charges initially?

Can I amend that on my LBA?? I have had further charges since so will be adding them on also.

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Also its very encouraging to read the success stories. Keep them coming.

 

Jacky

[donaldtramp]

I just went back five years for my case in Scotland. Think this is as far back as you can go withoutout causing hassle for yourself.

 

I don't think it does you any harm to put the interest in at the beginning (charged at 8%?)

 

You have no right to claim the interest back at this stage but don't worry the court will award 8% in the judgement.

[speedy1uk]

thanks Donald. So technically all I can ask for back is the charges back but we can be a wee bit cheeky and ask for the interest at this stage too. I knew about the 5 year thing for Scotland but a few other folk I noticed had been sent 6 years of statements, as have I , and had claimed for them. We are a bunch of chancers, but not as much as the banks lol.

 

Will leave as stands then and add my newest charges on the LBA.

 

Cheers.

[donaldtramp]

I followed the templates on moneysavingexpert.com and same as you added the interest, I'm not shy!

 

Watch what you are doing though. I'm sure all the banks will be well aware that some banks are now using "abuse of process" to get out of paying multiple claims. I think the way forward is to try to claim it in one lump. I would hate for anyone else to get caught out by the banks playing the legal process like this.

 

Have you read Georgemcns post?

 

£7000 is a substantial amount of money! Surely it would be worth at least consulting a lawyer on such an amount. You can get free first meetings with lawyers and then their fees will be picked up by the bank if you win the case. I wouldn't go for a no win no fee lawyer.

 

Can you imagine if you put in multiple claims, got the first £750 back then the bank sent lawyers to defend any further cases and cried "abuse of process" and you got nothing else?

 

Just my thoughts, I certainly don't want to put you off claiming. just the opposite!!! But I don't want to see anyone else losing out to this ploy by the banks.

 

Let me know what you think

Cheers

DT

[speedy1uk]

Hey DT,

Have given this quite a bit of thought. Have read georges thread. That's the worry if you split the claims. I would need to split mine into 5.

 

I think I am going to go down the road of an ordinary claim. It means it can be done in 1 go but the downside is I will need legal representation. Have phoned most of the lawyers here in ek and most of them won't take it on.

 

Someone posted on another thread about the idea of people getting together and employing 1 lawyer to represent all. Don't have any experience of this kind of thing and frankly hoping it doesn't go that far!

Any thoughts on this.

[allybee13]

I'm with Donald on this one! If you want to get back the £7k you will definitely be safest raising an Ordinary Action and using a lawyer. As Donald says, when the bank loses the case it will have to pay all of your costs so you won't have to fork out any of your hard won cash on legal fees.

 

I am not a lawyer, so this is just a layperson's suggestion:

 

1. Whilst you are waiting for the first "get lost" letter from BoS, find a lawyer who offers a free first consultation.
   
2. If you don't like the first one you meet, visit a couple until you find one you're comfortable with.
   
3. Once you've settled on a lawyer, when you send your LBA you could state that you intend to raise an Ordinary Action in your local Sheriff Court, via your legal representative Mr X of Messrs XYZ, Solicitors if the bank do not settle your claim in full within 14 (or whatever) days.
   
4. If they don't settle in the 14 days, give them a call to let them know that their time is up and you are prepared to give them a final chance to pay out before you take court action against them. If they agree to settle, you've paid out nothing.
   
5. If they don't agree to settle, then you will have to take them to court using your lawyer. After this point, don't settle for anything less than full repayment + interest + costs.

They only owe me a few hundred (thankfully) but if I was trying to get back £7k I would definitely want to guarantee as big a payout from them as possible.

[speedy1uk]

Thanks for the advice. Basically what I was thinking, couldn't have put it quite so eloquently though.

I like the bit with the lawyers name in the LBA. Great idea!

Deadline for a response to my first letter is 19th March. They received it on the 5th. Fingers crossed.

Will contact a few more lawyers tomorrow, see if we can get one to agree to see me at least. lol.

[donaldtramp]

I think 7000 is too big a gamble to split. I have split, 1 summary case 1 small claim. The small claim is only for a couple of hundred quid so i do have the option of dropping it if the bank challenge it.

 

I think the main thing you need to do is find legal representation. There must be someone willing to help you out!! You should keep looking.

 

Unfortunately this is new to everyone! So can't give any firm advice, I would hate to see you losing out on £5500 or whatever:shock:. That's a good car!

 

Do you have house insurance with free legal advice or anything like that? A lot of household insurance does this. Just an idea.

 

DT

[allybee13]

Do you have house insurance with free legal advice or anything like that? A lot of household insurance does this. Just an idea.DT

 

Brilliant idea DT! Some employers and Trade Unions also offer free legal advice.

[speedy1uk]

Yeah DT, could do with a new car lol. Actually now that I think about it , to actually get out of my overdraft would be a bit of a novelty .

 

Well its win win isn't it. (she says with fingers and toes crossed). If they don't go all the way I get my 7k back. If they do take it to court I get all that lovely interest on top. (thinking positive doesn't hurt).

 

Will be watching all the other bos posts to watch how they are dealing with people.

 

Jacky

[donaldtramp]

Good luck with the overdraft!

 

Keep an eye on my thread, my return day is Thursday. I'll post up how the BoS respond on Friday. Wish me luck!

[speedy1uk]

good luck DT!! We shouldn't need luck it should be black n white!

 

Will keep a watch on whats happening. Am going to check my house insurance the now lol.

[Egeit]

Hi speedy I'm with you on this one and new to the forum and reclaiming charges, so hello to one and all.

I was interested to see how you got your previous charges and statements. I sent a letter to my bank with a £10 postal order to cover the costs. I then waited to give them time to reply to the request. To date I have had no reply or any acknowledgement of the request (I've seen others at least getting an acknowledgement). The 40days time period has almost gone. I was going to follow up with a phone call but I wanted to see if they had cashed the postal order but the post office say I have to fill in a claim form for them to investigate it. I have heard of others estimating their charges and going for it. My problem is that I have 2 years worth of internet statements/charges but my main time I got into financial difficulty, and incurred the charges was the 2/3 years before this so most of my charges etc was earlier than the 2 years I have statemnets for. Does anyone have any thoughts on either how to follow up the letter to the bank or estimating the charges, your thoughts are welcome.

Robert

[speedy1uk]

Hi Robert,

I think you should call the phone banking and see if they can tell you if your statements request has been actioned. Like I say mine took less than 2 weeks. I too have been internet banking only for over a year but they still were able to send out all statements up to date.

 

I personally would get an exact figure on charges, believe you me I never imagined it would be this amount. I had figured 2-3k and it turned out to be over 7.3k, so in my case it was definately worth taking a bit extra time over.

 

I got a letter this morning with all the statements I had sent them. I was really cheeky and sent all my statements, with charges highlighted, in to them with my first letter. Just to make it easy for them to go through.

Letter said that they had copied all statements and had the "pleasure" of sending my originals back to me. Also stated that my query had been passed to customer relations and someone would be in touch shortly.

We'll see!

[Egeit]

Thanks I'll give it a try. Keep us posted on how you go,

Robert

[speedy1uk]

OMG!. They've taken 120 off me yesterday in charges, which has taken all my money, and my 4 dd's have came off yesterday, so they're charging me another 120 quid next week. Am at my wits end. I think I'll just take my 3 kids into the bank for them to feed and clothe, seeing as they have all my money, tax credits and child benefit.

I am soooooo angry.

All the worse for the bank now. I am going to take them for every last penny. Watch out BOS, you've cheesed off a hormonal mother which is probably the biggest mistake you've made so far.

 

I see there's more and more people looking to start OA's. Thinking of starting a new thread to see if we could all chip in and get 1 legal rep.

Hmmmm.

 

1 week now before I send my LBA, (with 40 million new charges on it).

[donaldtramp]

You go girl!!! It's not long now and trust me revenge is sweet!! The BoS buckled easy. Feel almost guilty posting that i got most of my cash today after reading your post.

 

Don't worry it will just make it all the sweeter when you get that cheque.

 

Trust me it's a great feeling. And you're not so far away now......

 

All the best

 

DT

[speedy1uk]

Thanks DT. Have read your latest on your own thread. Well done!!!

My claim is now roughly 7300. If they wait til court then it will be at least double that with all the interest, (wouldn't that be nice) so am hoping that'll put them off taking this one too far.

Big congrats on your win though. Another one for the little guys, and by no means the last.

Jacky

[speedy1uk]

Right, time to send my LBA. Before I send it I'd like to get some feedback on what I've written, it's basically just the letter template with a couple of tweeks.

 

 

"I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the 04/03/2007.

I now understand that the regime of 'fees' which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

I calculate that you have taken £7387 plus £1481.55 in interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £8868.55

I am enclosing a copy of the schedule of the charges which I am claiming. I have already sent you a copy of all charges on my statements in my original letter of the 04/03/2007.

 

I require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I intend to raise an Ordinary Action in Hamilton Sheriff Court via my legal representative to recover the full amount plus interest plus my costs and without further notice."

 

 

 

Do you think that's okay??

Am nervous about an ordinary action but the amount of money they have taken off me means I would need to do 5 seperate claims and I feel its a bit risky.

 

Jacky

[donaldtramp]

Following your thread with interest, keep at them!!

 

When you state

via my legal representative

, have you found a lawyer or did you manage to get any legal advice???

 

DT

[speedy1uk]

Hi DT,

Sssshhhh, not found a lawyer yet, but I'm going to try the citizens advice. They helped me a couple of years ago with legal representation for an employment tribunal. Hoping they can help me out, but will update my thread when I get anything concrete sorted. Maybe they'll just pay me before then.

Did you get your small claim through yet or have you just let it go DT??

 

Jacky

[donaldtramp]

Citizens advice is probably a good bet.

 

I got my check through for my Summary cause the day after the return day with a letter asking if I would please inform the court that my claim had been settled to get the Court hearing stopped.

 

Waiting on the court judgement coming through for my small claim. I didn't drop it. Should hear back in the middle of this week.

 

DT

[speedy1uk]

Good luck with that. At least you got the majority of your money back so far.

Will keep you all posted with how I get on. Not too keen on raising an OA but feel there isn't really any other option with the amount of money I'm claiming back. Hopefully the bank will be put off as well as they would be more out of pocket than if they just settle now.

 

Jacky

[stevokenevo]

Hi Jacky, just picked up on this thread, after reading through i'd like to point out, for any newbies who might be reading.. .. ..

 

I don't think it does you any harm to put the interest in at the beginning (charged at 8%?)

 

 

although this is one persons opinion, it is bad advice, it is stated clearly in the FAQ's etc, you do not claim the 8% interest UNLESS you issue a court claim. The reason being, the 8% is 'judicial' interest which can only be awarded by a judge. It states clearly if you attempt to claim this you will be showing you don't know what you are doing, and they will attempt to make things as difficult as possible for you.

 

Now, if you were claiming contractual interest, thats a different story.

Contractual interest should be claimed from the outset, in your prelim and LBA letters.

If you are claiming contractual, you should show how you arrive at the figure, e.g i am claiming contractual interest at halifax unauthorised borrowing rate of 29.8%.

 

I am not trying to confuse you here, just pointing out, that there are ways to do things.

 

I see you have a rather large claim, ( ;-) i said claim!!)

All the evidence shows that you are right to request the repayment in full in your prelim + LBA letters, but when it comes to the claim, you could try using the english system, if you had access to an english address to receive mail, would that be possible?? heres a thread of someone local who did exactly that ~~~> http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/halifax-bank-bank-scotland/26972-darren-bank-scotland.html

 

Have a read through that, it might give you some ideas!!

 

Another option for claiming your whole amount is the F.O.S. the financial ombudsman service,

Have a look at this post, and possibly the whole thread if you have time

~~~> http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/scotland/71013-urgent-attention-please-read-8.html#post676755

 

For good measure here is a link to the F.O.S site that may be of interest ~~> FAQs complaints about bank charges

 

I hope this helps and anything i can do to help just ask

 

Good Luck

 

S

[donaldtramp]

Tend to agree with Stevo. I followed Martin on Moneysavingexperts template letters rather than the ones on here. You can just hold off the claim for the interest. I didn't hold off and it worked for me. I got full payment plus interest at 8 % before court hearing.If it gets as far as court you will be awarded the 8% regardless of putting it in letter or not. So if it makes you feel better you can leave it out.

I put it in my letters carefully worded to them (as on MSE) about the 8% the court would award.

 

I reckon that claiming contractural interest puts the banks hackles up and leads to more confrontation with them. (This is just my opinion though)

 

I reckon the FOS service Stevo mentioned in previous post would be the safest way to go for you. Then you don't have to think about finding a lawyer:)