Mechs & Wife vrs Halifax Card Services ** WON **

[Joh7n]

Hi Mechs

How did you work out how much they owed you, as the calculator on the site seems to be designed for bank charges, and there are all sorts of different interest amounts on my card

Thanks and Good Luck

We are about to put in out moneyclaim against Halifax Bank!

[mechs]

Hi Mechs

How did you work out how much they owed you, as the calculator on the site seems to be designed for bank charges, and there are all sorts of different interest amounts on my card

Thanks and Good Luck

We are about to put in out moneyclaim against Halifax Bank!

 

Hiya Sub,

 

Well my wife just entered in the spreadsheet the overlimit charges and the late fees ... course once we file the claim at court we'll add on the additional 8% interest.

 

and there are all sorts of different interest amounts on my card

I don't think that you can claim back the interest as this is from goods you have purchased? However if I'm wrong on this point I'm more than happy for someone to tell me otherwise

 

Good luck with your Halifax bank claim ours is now filed at court

 

mechs

[halidebt]

This is a complicated issue.

 

When you make a payment to a CC, this goes towards paying off the debt with the lowest interest rate first. Of course this is exactly the opposite of what you'd rather do.

 

For arguments sake, say you have a CC with balances of:

 

£100 cash at 25% APR

£200 purchases at 20% APR

£250 (illegal) charges at 0% APR - no interest is charged on fees

 

You go ahead paying (say) £10 a month. All this does is pay off some of the charges-debt, meanwhile the interest on the other two is racking up. Only when you've covered the £250 on charges can you start to pay off the purchases-debt.

 

So the argument goes: IF the charges weren't there then that £10 per month would be going towards paying off the purchases, THEREFORE the interest accrued on the purchases other the whole period would be lower (since you'd have paid some of it off). Eventually you'd move on to the cash-debt. The problem is working out exactly how much lower the interest would be.

 

In my case this is quite a lot, since even when I've been paying the debt off the charges have been piling up (ie overlimit fee) so I've never got on to the purchases. It sounds like your case is quite similar.

 

What I've done is essentially re-write my statements as the y would look without the fees, calculating the interest accrued each month using the rates provided on the statements. This can be a bit arduous but it's reduced my 'debt' by over a thousand.

 

Good luck.

[mechs]

Thanks my friend ...if I send you our statements would you like to calculate ours?

 

It sounds like hard work ...but will give it a try

[Joh7n]

Thanks Halidebt

 

I assumed that my late payment fees simply got added to my balance and so accrued interest on an on-going basis. I also assumed that debts were paid off cronologically. So let me get this right...

 

I have some higher rate debt (cash advances). These will NEVER get paid off unless I clear all other debts first. Is that right?

 

Also, another thought has occured to me. It doesn't matter that the charges carry no interest, since they are paid off immediately (because lower rate debts are paid first). They could attract ANY rate of interest - it doesnt matter because they are covered by the monthly minimum payment. What DOES matter is that the higher rate debts are not getting paid off so more interest is added on to the debt. Surely the end result is exactly the same as if they HAD charged interest on the fees. Either way they get to add interest on to the balance. It's a clever con.

 

I think we should try to claw back interest on the fees at the credit card rate since the balance will have gone up by this amount. And this should form part of the claim amount before we add the stautory 8%. What do you think?

[dan-rides-bikes]

thinking of persuing this now, i just won my claim with them, never gave it a second thought that i was accumulating extra interest due to payments made only paying charges

 

my question is

 

halifax has just refunded my charges

 

if rewrite my statements based on the intrest rates stated in my original agreement and DO NOT include the charges i will eventually arrive at the true figure i would have had if the charges were not added

 

i assume it will mean pulling apart the terms and conditions on the credit agreement to arrive at a true interest figure, but ultimatly it will be worth the work

 

i would say to do it AFTER you have been refunded for charges, becuase once refunded they are admitting these charges shouldnt have appeared on your statements ?

 

views ?

[Joh7n]

This could be very significant.

 

What we need is for one of our more technically minded members to design an Excell spreadsheet that shows a layout similar to a bank statement and will calculate correct ongoing balances. This would make the job of rewriting statements much easier and the process of reclaimng fees much more profitable.

 

Anyone fancy a try?

[mechs]

Mods, I was wondering if you could move part of this thread (from post 28 ) to thesubstation thread entitled: Reclaiming interest charged on credit card as this may prove to be a very enlightening discussion.

[halidebt]

Thanks Halidebt

 

I assumed that my late payment fees simply got added to my balance and so accrued interest on an on-going basis. I also assumed that debts were paid off cronologically. So let me get this right...

 

I have some higher rate debt (cash advances). These will NEVER get paid off unless I clear all other debts first. Is that right?

 

Yes, that's right. Same thing's happened to me. Because more charges are added each month I've never even got close to paying off the cash advances. All the while, these have been attracting interest of 24.4%APR

 

Also, another thought has occured to me. It doesn't matter that the charges carry no interest, since they are paid off immediately (because lower rate debts are paid first). They could attract ANY rate of interest - it doesnt matter because they are covered by the monthly minimum payment. What DOES matter is that the higher rate debts are not getting paid off so more interest is added on to the debt. Surely the end result is exactly the same as if they HAD charged interest on the fees. Either way they get to add interest on to the balance. It's a clever con.

 

I think we should try to claw back interest on the fees at the credit card rate since the balance will have gone up by this amount. And this should form part of the claim amount before we add the stautory 8%. What do you think?

 

The balance has gone up because of the fees but no interest has been charged on the fees. I think what you should be able to claw back are (i) the fees and (ii) the difference between the balance-less-fees and the balance had the fees never been applied, which will be less as your payments would have paid off some (genuine) debt rather than just their fees

[halidebt]

thinking of persuing this now, i just won my claim with them, never gave it a second thought that i was accumulating extra interest due to payments made only paying charges

 

my question is

 

halifax has just refunded my charges

 

if rewrite my statements based on the intrest rates stated in my original agreement and DO NOT include the charges i will eventually arrive at the true figure i would have had if the charges were not added

 

i assume it will mean pulling apart the terms and conditions on the credit agreement to arrive at a true interest figure, but ultimatly it will be worth the work

 

i would say to do it AFTER you have been refunded for charges, becuase once refunded they are admitting these charges shouldnt have appeared on your statements ?

 

views ?

 

I see your point. Might involve going through the process twice?

 

I haven't paid Halifax CC anything yet - I just have a massive bill. I'm hoping to work out what the balance on thie should be legally and argue from there, charges and interest together.

 

I should point out that I'm figuring this out as I go along so I may have got some things wrong; or, even if I've got them right, we might not be able to get the money back.

[mechs]

 

I should point out that I'm figuring this out as I go along so I may have got some things wrong; or, even if I've got them right, we might not be able to get the money back.

 

but it will be fun trying! Just got to get the wife to sort it now ;-) but as she finds it a bit confusing, it may take a while.

 

Halidebt a sincere thank you for your advice! Marvellous!

[mechs]

Just an update we or rather the wife has filed a moneyclaim for the Halifax Credit Card

 

Claim no 6QZ43284

Date 03 07 2006

amount 713.54

[callumsgran]

"here"

[mechs]

Another update

Claim issued on 4th July deemed to been served on the 9th July defendant has until 23rd July to reply

[Marilyn]

Fingers crossed and good luck coming your way mechs and wife!!!

[mechs]

Thanks Marilyn ....the wife has started going in and out of our account to see if it has swelled pmsl

[Marilyn]

yep think ld be doing the same, it'll become an obsession!!! LOL:)

[Keithowedalot]

Thanks Marilyn ....the wife has started going in and out of our account to see if it has swelled pmsl

 

Its a common thing, I've been doing that for the past week!

[mechs]

she even goes in late at night and early mornings I think she thinks the fairies are putting it in there for us

[Marilyn]

well l can understand her excitement, and it is a bit like the fairies isnt it, dont have to work for it, it just appears!!! lol

[halidebt]

This could be very significant.

 

What we need is for one of our more technically minded members to design an Excell spreadsheet that shows a layout similar to a bank statement and will calculate correct ongoing balances. This would make the job of rewriting statements much easier and the process of reclaimng fees much more profitable.

 

Anyone fancy a try?

 

Work is progressing on the spreadsheet!

 

(This is for Credit Card probs where the payments have offset fees not debt and so interest has accrued on that debt which wouldn't have done had the illegal fees not been levied)

 

Will post it when it's done.

[mechs]

Just checked online banking and the Halifax have paid our credit card charges back to the sum of £713.54 ... they will need to receive a gentle reminder of paying back s.69 interest

 

Once again we must thank Dave and Bankfodder for all the hard work they have done and are still doing to help people like ourselves get back these unlawful charges. Also, of course, to all the mods, pinkies and members who have contributed their time and knowledge to help us win. It was easy! But only 'easy' because of the procedure we followed faithfully to the letter! hmmm pun there.

 

So thank you again CAG!!! ........ donation once again on its way guys!

[mechs]

Donation sent guys! Well worth doing so for all the help and advice! Thank you once again!

[Marilyn]

Good news Mechs!!!!

 

And keep on keeping at 'em for that interest dont want them thinking they are getting away with anything....

 

Have just sent off my DPA for Halifax CC so the waiting game begins again:smile:

[mechs]

Good news Mechs!!!!

 

And keep on keeping at 'em for that interest dont want them thinking they are getting away with anything....

 

Have just sent off my Data Protection Act for Halifax CC so the waiting game begins again:smile:

 

just think of the extra interest Marilyn ... you wait ... they pay :lol