Halifax are they stalling? Please help

[clairem]

Hi everyone,

 

I am relatively new but have been reading lost of threads since I started my claim. I do need some advice and help though.

 

I have sent my initial letter then the frst claim letter with statements high,ighting the charges. I go a standard letter. I sent my LBA last week from the templates on MSE, and have had no response yet. It arrived on 7th March (last Weds) registered post, so has at this point been with them for 5 days. Does anyone know if I should start the court douments today which was 7 days since I sent the LBA or wait until Weds to file. I have heard nothing from them and am reluctant to call as I always get an agressive Irish woman:p.

 

I know people say stick to the schedule but i don't want to do this blindly, someone elses experience of this type of situation would be helpful

 

Thanks,

 

Clairem

[centaur]

Hi Clairem,

 

Just stick to all the time schedules as advised on here, use all the letters and advice given and you will eventually win. I am afraid you will have to do this almost blindly.

 

I did, and won £2754 just today, after only sending off my two letters to the Halifax!

 

So just hang in there, and don't lose heart!

[clairem]

It seems on CAG site that the LBA gives 14 days to comply with the claim and MSE gives 7 days. Also do you know if you should send from the arrival date of the letters or the posting date?

 

Did you ring them at all?

 

What did you do that made them cave so quickly?

[Caleb]

Good grief, never done this before, so here goes!

 

I wrote to the Halifax in Feb requesting repayment inc interest - which got a, 'we'll respond within 8 weeks reply'. So kept to my schedule and sent a 'OK, I'm taking you to court if not heard within 7 days' letter. That was 7 days ago and not heard anything.

 

Should I call then to let them know I'm serious, or just start court proceeding?

 

Has anyone got to the court stage and lost - as I am concerned this could work out costly?

[centaur]

It seems on CAG site that the LBA gives 14 days to comply with the claim and MSE gives 7 days. Also do you know if you should send from the arrival date of the letters or the posting date?

 

Did you ring them at all?

 

What did you do that made them cave so quickly?

 

 

This is what happened in my case: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/halifax-if-successes/73329-centaur-halifax-i-got.html#post634840

 

I would give them the 14 days, as I understand it this is part of the the

court pre-action protocols.

 

To be honest I would follow the advice from here as the success rate on this site is very high.

 

And Caleb, go ahead and start proceedings. You must be fully prepared to go to court. They usually back out and try and get away with paying your original claim then, and not the interest etc that they should pay when it gets to court stage. You must not back down, then when they see that you are going the whole hog they will cave in. Good luck!

[clairem]

Thanks Centaur, it's always nice to hear when someone has won.

 

I called Halifax yesterday 13th mar and asked if they had received my letter, it looks lik it might be posted to wrong address at Trinity House so it is being forwarded on. The Custmer advisor was nice this time and advised me to fax in a copy just in case, which I did. She said to call back tomorrow 15th mar to check it was scanned on. Gotta say i am excited in case they make me an offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Will keep u posted!

 

Clairem

[jaxads]

Hi -- good luck Clairem -- I too was successful against the Halifax earlier in the year - have a read of my thread to see how I got on . Stick to the CAG format and you won't go wrong!!!

 

You WILL get your charges back - Halifax appear to be one of the better ones when it comes to paying out before court proceedings. However, there are also quite a few cases where they have had to issue court proceedings. If you do have to go this far, then at least you can claim your "little xtra" in the form of the 8% interest from Howard Halifax.

 

Best wishes.

 

jaxads x

[centaur]

Ha ha ha ha! "little xtra" I wish I had thought of that!

[clairem]

Hey,

 

I got my first offer letter last night- gonna phone in a bit and accept as partial payment of claim. I was really looking forward to this bit.

 

On another note, has anyone else got it in the neck from friends and colleages who are angry about the possibility of paying for their bank accounts from now on? When I told some friemds what I was doing they said they will be coming to me for a hand out when their bank starts charging them! I was amazed I thought everyone would be in favour. Nice that for years my charges have been subsidising the banks and "good" customers and now the worms have turned we get the backlash!

 

Anyway £3000 here I come, and I am gonna make this money work for me not spend it on Frivolous stuff. I want to be on the high moral ground now.

 

For those of you who will come to this site and think this won't be me and I will find claiming difficult, don't worry! Just read as much as you can before taing any action, there is no rush! The bank will try to fend you off but don't panic and keep going.

 

Clairem

[welshcakes]

Hi Clairem

 

Well if any of my friends gave me a hard time I would turn round and let them know they should be thanking me cos up til now, it's people like us that have allowed the banks to give people like them a totally free service (cos we've been subsidising their banking facility).

 

I actually welcome a future where every customer has to pay a small fee for receiving a banking service and I think it gives power to the customer because when there is a contract involving paying for a service, the provider is under obligation to adhere more transparently and fairly.

[jaxads]

Hi Clairem

 

When you phone them, you may get a bit of a slap on the wrist - in the form of a lecture along the lines ..... you realise it costs money to run accounts where items are returned. A good response to this is "yes I do fully appreciated that, but it doesn't cost £39 and I'm sure the interest accrued on my charges will have been more than sufficient to cover any costs associated with the running of my account". Poor guy was stumped when I came out with that little gem . I've given this advice to a few, and it seems to have worked. Good luck and best wishes.

 

I agree with welshcakes above too about the fee for receiving a banking service (as long as its only a small one )

 

Best wishes.

 

jaxads x

[clairem]

Thanks, I will try that, hopefully I can call soon and get this part sorted.

 

The great thing about this site is that you can see the trail others before you have laid and because of that I am really grateful!

 

See this is why I don't have any money usually... it makes me too emotional!

 

Can't wait to put *****I WON ****** after this thread title!

 

Clairem

[MR2Phil]

I've had a very mixed reaction from people who have found out about my claims...it varies from those do gooders that are NEVER in any sort of financial trouble to those that want my help in doing theirs. Ignore the doom-mongers and push on. Its YOUR money, after all!

[clairem]

Oh No trouble... I called and she did give me some speil about how banks do incurr some charges due to accounts going ovedrawn and so said that she would make me another offer of 2664.00 which is what I initially claimed for (total charges)before interest. I explained I would accept this as part payment of the full claim and she shut down and said I would have to take it to court that she could not discuss interest and court was he next step. I guess this is just another step in the dance but it is un-nerving. Can I claim interest now? Have I done something wrong?

 

Clairem

[jaxads]

Hi Clairem --- when you made your first claim did you claim overedraft interest or are you talking about the 8% which can be added at court stage??

[clairem]

Hi Jaxads,

 

Not overdraft interest but used the CAG spreadsheet Simple-charges-calc.xls

 

It adds on the statutory interest for each charge from when it was taken.

 

Is this correct?

Clairem

[jaxads]

Hi Claire --- If it is the 8%, then that should only be added at the court stage, when you file the papers. If they've offered you the full amount that you have claimed then I think you should accept that, as really they're offering you what you've asked for.

 

Stay on line in the hope that someone with more experience than me can answer, but this is how I see it.

 

Best wishes. jaxads

[valerieanne]

Although just at the LBA stage of mine, I have read and re-read threads and believe you are correct jaxads.

 

You only claim 8% interest when you go to court stage, before this you claim for your charges plus all the little interest amounts, which mine in total add up to around £2.20 for 3 years.

 

I would have accepted this offer but am not trying to tell you what to do.

[clairem]

I really appreciate all help offered so thanks.

 

The interest I have added on is the little amounts i.e £30 charge on 30/08/03 + 1293 days since offence at 8% interest APR = £38.53.

 

Still not sure if this is right or not though?

 

Clairem

[MR2Phil]

No, you don't add that on until court. If the court was to hear that you turned down the full offer they may throw you out. Its up to you if you want to carry on and take it to court...you'll more than likely win anyway but I'd take the £2664.

[jaxads]

Hi Clairem --- this is the statutory 8% that can only be claimed at court.

 

From reading again your thread, I think that the Halifax have offered you a full refund of your charges, in which case you should accept. You have been lucky to have been offered the full amount at the LBA stage. If they hadn't offered you the full amount, then you would be right to go to court.

 

I don't think the court would take a good view if you're only claiming through them to claim the extra 8%

 

You could try ringing them back and saying that you've had a think and would be happy to settle for the amount they offered this morning.

 

Best wishes. jaxads

[clairem]

Will do thanks!

 

Clairem;)

[jaxads]

Good luck -- let us know how you get on

[clairem]

Halifax have made an offer of 2750 (which inlcludes the latest charges of 56.00) and I have accepted!!! :D

 

Thanks so much to all who have helped me especially...sorry no long Oscar speech, but a general thanks to all.

 

I will post again when I have received the money!

 

Clairem (very happy lady)

[MR2Phil]

Congrats! Pleased for you!