First Trust Bank

[bally35]

oh yes noomill.

With the benefit of my six years statements I have uncovered some VERY SERIOUS bank errors.

One which completely wiped ou 32 months mortgage payments £13426.00

nad another which has messed up Mortgage Pymant Protection £2596.00.

The bank, who have always been so nice to me in past are starting to get shirty, which the ombudsman has also been advised of.

Also Ombudsman complaint in about misselling PPI

[noomill060]

Good good! You will, of course, triumph in the end.

 

Of that there is no doubt.

[bally35]

Oh I am so mad.

Will be contacting General Consuer Council today and hopefully try and get some press involvement over the, we complain, they get shirty.

Also on the amount of mistakes made on accounts, which they are refusing to comply with the dirct debit guarantee scheme.

[daverlwilson]

I have my court date tomorrow at Belfast Laganside court. So far I have heard nothing other than the standard letter they seem to be sending everyone. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks

[noomill060]

Advice- turn up with all the stuff you will rely on in your case.

 

What is the standard letter you recieved?

[will77]

dave, my case in craigavon was adjourned, the NI judges have decided that a test case will be heard in belfast before any others will be heard. they will try to adjourn the case to wait for the oft report. my judge told me that judges had decided to proceed without the report so argue against that, you will likely succeed. don't expect them to settle outside, they may do as they know the judges want a test case and have specified belfast for this. please let us know what happens, pm me please my case is posponed on this basis if they settle that will give me something to write to my judge about.....

 

good luck, don't panic, the judge will want to make a judgement and will help you through the trial to make your case. they have more to lose than you. they are in the wrong, be confident and smile when the ft solicitor speaks to you.

[noomill060]

dave- if you had come here sooner we could have been of more help.

 

Good luck for tomorrow, and let us know what happened!

[tiscalcolm123]

I Am Watching First Trust Thread And Was Curious To Know Have You Had Any Response Back .

[Knucklehead]

I'm so glad i've found this thread.

Thought I was ploughing a lone furrow against First Trust in Norn Iron.

Now seems there are a few other people getting the same responses.

Have to decide now whether we go to small claims / financial ombudsman or give up.

We've claimed for referral fees, the quarterly penalty fees they charge when you go over overdraft (sometimes due to referral fees), and arrangement fees.

Not sure about arrangement fees they are £25 or £30 but not sure what these are for.

Anyway, if we go to small claims then do we try to argue the case that the fees are unjustified. What can we use for evidence (watchdog programs, reports etc)?

What is the First Trust defence? Do they have to prove that a referral actually costs £14? Read here somewhere that the judge wouldn't ask them to do this. Does he just take their word?

The letters we have sent have started Nov 2006 so we are claiming from Nov 2000. If we get a court date do we have to adjust the claims so that it is 6 years back from the date of the court appearence? (say court date is June 07 - does that mean we recalculate fees from June 01?).

We are going to a solicitor on Mon so we need to prepare a case if we are going to court (it's free with the union).

Also need to know that what I am claiming is valid. Should I keep the claim as it is and let the bank argue the different charges in court or should I remove some of them before I start (not sure what we can claim for).

Also if the OFT say a figure of £12 is acceptable will the bank use this in court and we will only be awarded the difference of any fee - £12?

Sorry for all the questions I am a novice so info gratefully received.

Best of luck to everyone on their claims.

[sadie123]

I have just received a letter from First Trust today telling me that the charges where all agreed at the time and they have investigated fully and find no fault on their part. Do I just now file the claim.

 

sadie

[noomill060]

Yes, sadie. Go for it. Dont forget you can claim for all the interest they charged you on the unlawful charges as well.

[sadie123]

Thanks noomill060, will do it this week. I know they have paid out before so how can they still try and get away with not repaying the charges. Surely if it gets to court the fact that they have settled other claims should have an impact on any decision. I take it they are just trying to put as many people off as possible. There must be thousands of people now looking their money back from them.

 

Sadie

[lsmmcd1]

I tried last year 2006 to reclaim bank charges from First Trust, only I did not take them to the small claims court.

 

I am back on their case this year 2007, this time I am very willing to go the full distance and take them to the small claims court.

 

Please any help would be welcome...........

 

I have sent new letters requesting First Trust Bank to pay back all my unfair charges of £1995.00 over the past 3 years.

Got reply 2 days later saying they are looking into it.

 

I sent First Trust Bank the next request that if I did not get the charges I will be taking them to the Northern Ireland Small Claims Court.

 

This time they waited the full 14 days until I got a reply HELP

 

Dear .........

 

We refer to your complaint dated 16 may 2007 which requests a refund of al defult charges that have been applied to your account.

 

You had already requested a refund of charges in July 2006 and we fully investigated your request subsequently issuring our final response on 28 September 2006 To allow us to deal with your complaint dated 16 may 2006 can you please provide details of how this differs from your original complaint in july 2006.

on receipt of this information we will be able to progress the mater further.

 

Yours sincerely.

 

HELP NEEDED

WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT ?

ANY IDEAS FOR A TEMPLATE LETTER WOULD BE WELCOME THANKS.

LSMMCD1

[noomill060]

You dont need a template letter.

 

You have told them them that the next step is the small claims court.

 

Just start your claim in the way everyone else has.

[maryspecial]

i'm waiting to hear from f.t. - got standard letter saying ANOTHER 4 weeks so i sent them letter saying i felt another two weeks was plenty i.e. 6 weeks from original. That two weeks is up tomorrow - now have to decide what to do. feelin a bit worried after reading all these posts.seems obvious now that they'll refuse to pay up easily. hate the thought of having to go to court over it - small town - would die if local papers made big deal. does anyone know how system works? i've been dealing with L.Whitsitt in Blefast HQ so thinkin maybe its done through belfast courts etc.or does it go thru one local to me. also i havent a clue what to say or use as evidence etc etc. really dont want to give up as i've heard of a cuple of people who've won over past couple of months but it takes GUTS to go thru with it!!!

[johnspeehs]

hi mary

its not a worry to claim back your money they have paid up so far before it gets to court. if you can go down the small claims route(less than 2k) you will find it very painless and the local papers wont be to interested.

regards john.

[sparky1001]

Hi All,

hope someone can help me from here..got my charges back from first trust last week and from 2002 to last year when i closed the account they amount to £2544 Just to add at this point this was a buisness account.some of the fees were for £11 up to 25/9/02 then changed to £12, on the 8/9/03 they changed again to £13.most of the charges are referral charges with a few letter charges.i have noticed quite a few times when they have charged me this referral fee up to 4 days in a row making that £52 a week in some cases other times 2 to 3 referral charges a week.does anyone know if these charges are deemed fair enough because i have read that others were charged £38 and if not what is my next step.also has a test case ever been heard yet and does anyone know the outcome...many thanks......

[johnspeehs]

no none of these charges are fair and are all reclaimable including letter fees. and in answer to your second question a test case hasnt been heard in ni and not looking likley at the minute.

regards john.

[sparky1001]

Hi John,

thanks fo reply,i will now start the long haul against first trust and try to retrieve my hard earned cash.its looks as by other posts it wont be easy.can you please advise as to the next step should a send template as below http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/671-2-letter-preliminary-approach.html

many thanks

[sparky1001]

in this template it mentions the 8% interest charge ,looking at it it seems to be a bit complicated so i think at this stage i will omitt that bit.

[johnspeehs]

hi sparky

yes just send the standard letter but dont forget to leave out any of the bits in red if they dont apply to your case. you only need to worry about interest when you get to the claim stage.

regards john.

[berniek]

I received my refusal letter last week. They state that all charges are in line with their account conditions and advised me to contact the ombudsman if I am not happy. They owe me approx 2000. Has anyone else got beyond this point?

[bally35]

Yup, File from bank was received by ombudsman on 05/06/07, now awaiting to go to adjudicator.

With the luck Ive been having this will be the first case actually judged on by Ombudsman.

But had foresight to include First Trust t&C which actually refer to charges being penalties (hee hee hee)

[johnspeehs]

thats a good card to play bally,kinda hard to say they arent penalties when it states in their own literature that they are.

regards john.

[bally35]

Yeah John and I know that you may be looking copies of these.

Am determined to get all of this back and have spread the word.

Two busineeses I know ahve just being sucessful in getting £20,000 back rom Northern Bank

Colleagues in process of claimig £1500.00 back from Ulster Bank and other colleague has ssent SAR.

My very own and possibly more successful of the General Consumer Council.

Have asked all thise winning to make a donation here

(KINDA DISAPPOINTING THAT MY OWN IS SUCH A HARD SLOG THOUGH)