Capital one settlement offer

[khronus]

Woo!

 

Sent of letter for DPA disclosure request on the 06-o4-06 and today ( 22-04-06 ) recieved the statements. They have not yet cashed the £10 checqueeither! I have worked out that there is a total of £540 in charges, the 2 charges were late payment fee and overlimit fee. I have read the FAQ but still not entirely sureabout the interest. On the statement there is purchase interest, is this basically interest on all debits from the account, how does one work out what part of that interest is due to their charges ? Apologies if it is explained well in FAQ I've not been able to get my head around it...

 

 

Khronus

[khronus]

Is it also corect that you can only charge the 8% after they refuse the request for repayment, in other words when you state you will be claiming through court ?

 

 

Khronus

[jonni2bad]

You can claim for the interest that the bank applied to your account solely due to the charges, i.e. NOT for general interest which occured simply because you had gone overdrawn.

 

This, in my book anyway, is more complicated to work out, unless you are one of the 'lucky' ones whose statements break this figure down for you. The Halifax do not

 

It can also be argued that by not claiming this (possibly much smaller) figure, that you are allowing the bank an amount you consider IS proportionate to the costs it incurred dealing with your DD failure etc etc.

 

You can claim 8% interest on each charge made - this is also from the DAY the charge occured, and you use the spreadsheet in FAQs which works this out for you - very simple indeed. THIS IS ONLY CLAIMED FOR AT THE STAGE OF A COURT CLAIM, NEVER BEFORE ONE.

 

We can finally complicate matters by sticking on interest on a daily basis from the time the court case is started until settlement.

 

There is also a calculation for this in FAQs

 

Good luck

[khronus]

I am still getting my head around the interest thing ( not the 8% if it gets to court interest but the interest we were charged by them on our account ). The interest charged to me is a combination of BOTH there charges and our spending so I find it hard to work out what proportion of that interest is claimable. I may leave out the interest and just go for the £540 unless there is a simple solution?

 

Is it only the interest that takes you over the credit limit you can charge for ? And any instance of that occuring I can add that months interest to the total claimed? On the capital one statrement it is down as 'purchase interest' whoch I presume is what they charge on purchases, the question is whether their illegal fee's form part of the 'purchases' and therefore acrue towards the interest charged ?

 

K

[jonni2bad]

There is often a lot of confusion regarding interest - not least because there are effectively 3 types that are referred to....

 

1) You can claim for the interest that the bank applied to your account solely due to the charges, i.e. NOT for general interest which occured simply because you had gone overdrawn.

 

This, in my book anyway, is more complicated to work out because you should ideally know what APR they charged you for general overdraft rates and for 'over limit' rates - unless, of course, you are one of the 'lucky' ones whose statements break this figure down for you.

 

It can also be argued that by not claiming this (possibly much smaller) figure, that you are allowing the bank an amount you consider IS proportionate to the costs it incurred dealing with your failed Direct Debit / Cheque etc etc.

If you had to face the enemy in court, you would at least have an arguement to show you have allowed for actual cost. Remember though, you do not have to give them it.....

 

Another train of thought on this subject is as follows - If the interest is not itemised, then claim for ‘Interest Charges,’ and the onus will be on the bank to demonstrate the proportion they are entitled to.

 

The choice is yours........

 

2) If your case gets to the stage of court action, AND ONLY IF IT DOES, then you may claim 8% interest on each and every charge made - this is also from the DAY the charge occured.

Use the spreadsheet in FAQ section (or the new online calculator) which works this out for you - very simple indeed.

 

3) Additionally, we can finally complicate matters by sticking on interest on a daily basis from the time the court case is started until settlement.

There is also a calculation for this in FAQs.

 

 

Good luck...!!

[khronus]

Is it interest charged for being over the overdraft limit? Or just overdrawn? What with itbeing a credit acrd it is technically overdrawn anyway.

 

The only itemisation I have is my 'cash withdrawel interest rate' and my purchase interest rate' they are actually both the same. I think I will leave the interest out and if needed use it to argue that I have left enough to count as their 'actual' cost of their charges should it actually ever come to that. I will however expect to be adding on the 8% at a later stage.

 

 

Many thanks for your help !

 

 

K

[Spiceskull]

Hi Khronus,

 

As Jonni and others will admit on the site, calculating the pro-rata interest elements is likely to be a dogs dinner. However, if you consider the following, and apply an honest assessment, the court would likely consider that you have made a reasonable effort in the absence of specific details from the bank:

 

Claim:

• Penalty Charges applied to your account. This is for exceeding overdrafts, referral/representation of DD’s and SO’s, cancellation of DD’s and SO’s, card misuse charges - the list is long!
  
• Interest charged to your account for any of the above
  
• When the interest is applied to the penalty charges, then this interest should be included in your claim
  
• If your transaction history identifies what interest is applied for what reason, then be honest about the amount you request
  
• If the interest is not itemised, then claim for ‘Interest Charges,’ and the onus will be on the bank to demonstrate the proportion they are entitled to
  

 

Don't Claim:

• Agreed fees, such as £5 monthly overdraft arrangement fee
  
• In any 'charging month' if you have an interest charge, but no penalty charges, then clearly this is 'legitimate' interest charged to your overdraft. Do NOT claim for this
  
• Additionally, this figure can be used to apply an 'average' to your interest 'proper' charges over the months - i.e. deduct this figure from 'Interest Charges' each month, and the remainder will be an approximate figure for interest applied to penalty charges
  
• Any concept of costs or time at this time
  
• Interest other than that which appears on your statements
  
• Interest at 8% APR (that comes when you raise your claim at court)
  

[khronus]

Preliminary letter for repayment, is it essential or once you have the charges can ytou just send the 'letter before action' and save oneself 14 days? I am very eager to get things moving and although sending the preliminary letter first may be polite we all know what the result will be, is it essential in a legal point of view?

 

 

K

[jonni2bad]

DO NOT DO THAT.

 

You MUST follow the procedure shown on this site.

 

Failure to do so could harm your case at court, and you really don't want to start out on the back foot. It is vital that the court can see that you have given every opportunity to settle this yourself, without their intervention.

 

Please take more time to read the FAQ section, Case Guidance Notes and STEP-by-STEP instruction......

[panther12]

I agree. Should it get to the court stage it will come across best that you've given the other side the opportunity to resolve the matter without resorting to litigation.

[khronus]

Indeed, I sent out the letter for repayment today and will they have 14 days before I send out the letter before action.

 

Oooooh im getting excited! ( and this is one of the smaller claims im working on ).

 

K

[khronus]

OK today I recieved a settlement letter from Capital one. The letter said that the OFT are not objecting to fee's just the amount. They state that the OFT believe default fee's of £12 are likely to be fair and have therfore offered me £8 back on all fee's they charged. To a total of £216.

 

I think they are probably talking from there bums, £12 is the maximum I think the OFT would have thought it could cost, should I write back declining and continue as planned as next week is court action date

 

K

[Bovvered]

I got same letter/offer, and sent them a wicked letter (written by spiceskull) about the OFT statement if you want it. Didn't make a lot of difference in the long run as I started a court claim against them, but was very satisfying sending it...

[GSMGuy]

I got same letter/offer, and sent them a wicked letter (written by spiceskull) about the OFT statement if you want it. Didn't make a lot of difference in the long run as I started a court claim against them, but was very satisfying sending it...

 

Could be a good idea to post the letter as may be useful to others??

 

Mike

[pedro_uk]

Hi Bovvered could you please send me a copy as ive got the same letter sent to me also menny thanks

[khronus]

Hi, yes would love the letter please! I dont know if I havany obligation to reply to them as my LBA specifically says I will take court action against them without furthur notice unless I recieve the 'full refund' but will happily send it anyway

 

 

K

[Bovvered]

Could be a good idea to post the letter as may be useful to others??

 

Mike

I will pm the letter but has to be Spice's decision to post it - I will ask him....

[JMio]

It's a beauty!! Get it & use it.!!

[GSMGuy]

So come on then lol - Just drafting my DPA to cap one as we speak....

 

 

Mike

[khronus]

Hey all !!!

 

 

Today I got a letter from capital one offering the full amount back, they said in their letter though that they still did no believe the charges were unlawful and that it was purely a goodwill gesture. They want me to sign and return a form and they will pay me. Is this ok, seems a lil ****ty by them still, not admitting their wrong doing but its a full refund so is it advised to take it? The only other option is to refuse to sign to any of their letters and wait for them to pay anyway !?

 

 

 

K

[jonni2bad]

As long as they are paying you all that you have claimed, then you must accept it - provided they have not thrown in extras like confidentiallity.

 

Let us know!

[khronus]

No request of confidentiality but they do say that they may still add fee's should U deciede to keep the account open. So by keeping my account open I will be signing to them saying they may still add fee's.

 

I will be accepting the payment , undecieded about the account though. I guess always useful to keep it open but its the principle of them not accepting liability. I know they will not accept liability because if they do its written evidence for the rest of the country to sue them lol.

 

Many thanks to all who have helped on the forum...you are great!

 

K

[jonni2bad]

Even if you signed something accepting further charges, it would not actually mean that you couldn't claim again - isn't the law wonderful?

[khronus]

Cool, letter returned, a checque should be winging its way to me by next week I hope. Thanks again to the great efforts on this forum, I have a few more claims to go and will surely make a donation to help continue this.

 

 

K

[Spiceskull]

Dhum dhum dhum, another one bites the dust. Great result - well done!