French v. Abbey (3) - Into the breach once more my friends!

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Ah well..................... as I was rummaging through some old boxes I found some old Abbey Bank statements from 1997, 2000 and 2001.

 

I perused the statements to check if I had any charges and LO £911 worth!! :o

 

"Borrocks!" says I, I'm having those back!

 

Except this time I'm charging them Contractual Interest at their Unauthourised Overdraft rate of 28.7%.

 

So letter sent a few days ago asking for it back as follows:

 

Abbey

PO Box 382

Prescot Street

London E1 8RP

 

13th March 2007

 

Request for repayment of charges

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

 

My request:

I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account for the period 7th September 1997 to 5th March 2001.

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. If you say that they are not, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs.

Additionally, it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.

 

Your responsibilities:

I would like to 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 consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them.

Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.

 

What I require:

I calculate that you have taken £911.50 from my account over the said period.

 

Please find attached to this letter a breakdown of the charges I am claiming which includes reciprocal contractual interest at a rate of 28.7% (your unauthorized overdraft rate). This comes to £1746.18 as of the 13th March 2007 and continues at such a rate until settlement.

The total amount I am claiming from you as of today’s date, (13th March 2007), is £2657.68

You will notice that whilst the Limitations Act 1980 limits claims going back to a maximum 6 years from date of claim this does not apply here as you have deliberately concealed the facts of your true costs.

My targets to resolve this matter:

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

 

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Ah....... the waiting is heaven in itself

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PMSL

 

 

Just testing, just testing

 

Too much time? I've got to fill in @ 8 hours a day and after breakfast, luch and a scratch I'm left with 15 mins....... just enough time to get another claim in

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Anyone want to buy the rights to a DVD set?

 

French - The Beginning

French - The Revenge

French - The Historical Inept!

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Me too........... but not perhaps the reigns of Henry I and Henry V

 

The same thing happened to Matoy III

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Ah....... an unfortunate monarch from Italy who totally lost the plot and decided to play with toys instead

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Signature amended........ smartarse

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Hmmmmmm..... as usual in ALL my claims I seem to have made a wee mistake regarding Contractual Interest

 

I shall reveal all shortly!

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OMFG........ I've underestimated!! :o

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Right then....... Letter Before Action now sent:

 

Abbey

PO Box 382

Prescot Street

London E1 8RP

 

27th March 2007

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: RinkyDinkyDoo

 

 

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

 

I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond positively to my letter of the 13th March 2007, if at all.

I have noted its contents and I again would like to remind you of your duties as my fiduciary.

I appreciate that like all other organizations you incur costs for administering my account for late/unpaid payment or over limit situations and that the Bank believes it is fair to pass these costs on to me, rather than absorb them into other areas of your organization, penalizing all your other account holders as a result.

However, I am sure you appreciate that you are only legally bound to recover/charge your true and actual administrative costs in doing so. It is unlawful to make a profit on such an exercise. If there is any doubt as to the above I suggest you liaise with your legal department for clarification.

I am also pleased that you subscribe to and comply with the Banking Code. You will, I am sure, be fully familiar with its contents therein with regards being fully transparent and open in your dealings with me. If you do indeed profess to follow and adhere to the aforementioned code you will also be obliged to honour my following request:

I would like to 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. The level of levied fees which you have been applying to my account is unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. If you say that they are not, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs?

Please also be advised, that it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.

The current settlement as of the 27th March 2007 (please see attached) stands at £6391.80 (£911.50 penalty charges + £5480.30 compound contractual interest at 28.7%)

I require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days of the date of this letter then I shall begin a court claim against you for the full amount plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.

If you wish to defend yourselves by using the argument that your charges accurately reflect your costs, then I will require you to disclose a material breakdown of your charges to support this.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Ooooooooooo............ happy days

 

 

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For you Scooter................ of course............... fish and chips................in the Maldives?

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I don't

 

I just wear it

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Welcome the Hades Kimmy

 

I just know in my heart or stomach (can't differentiate yet between heartburn and hunger) that Abbey will try their usual "Limitations" and "Contractual" arguments on us to virtually tell us to get stuffed.

 

All you need do is quote verbatim from the book od put-downs to remind them of Law and their responsibilities. If they don't understand them suggest they seek legal advice! PMSL

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Ok, have on Friday submitted my N1 claim form into my local court. REceptionist gave me a smile, and I'm on cloud-nine

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I heard that Jules You're just jealous PMSL

 

Anyway POC:

 

Particulars Of Claim

 

 

1. The Claimant has an account XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (“the Account”) with the Defendant.

 

2. During the period in which the Account has been operating the Defendant debited numerous charges to the Account in respect of purported breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant and also charged interest on the charges once applied. The Claimant understands that the Defendant contends that the charges were debited in accordance with the terms of the contract between itself and the Claimant.

 

3. A list of the charges applied is attached to these particulars of claim.

 

4. The Claimant contends that:

 

4.1. The charges debited to the Account are punitive in nature: are not a genuine pre-estimate of cost incurred by the Defendant: exceed any alleged actual loss to the Defendant in respect of any breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant: and are not intended to represent or related to any alleged actual loss, but instead unduly enrich the Defendant which exercises the contractual term in respect of such charges with a view to profit.

 

4.2. The contractual provision that permits the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable by virtue of the Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999), the Unfair Contract Terms Act (1977) and in Common Law.

 

5. Accordingly the Claimant claims:

 

5.1. The return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £6477.78 as of 12th April 2007 plus continuing COMPOUND contractual INTEREST WHICH IS AN IMPLIED TERM AT the rate of 28.7% until date of judgement or settlement as set out in the attached list of charges or at such a rate and for such periods as the Court deems just.

 

5.2. a declaration by the court that the LEVEL OF charges LEVIED are unlawfull and unenforceable.

 

5.3. Court costs.

 

5.4. ADDITIONAL COSTS DUE TO THE DEFENDANTS UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUR.

 

 

I believe that the contents of these particulars of claim are true.

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Corrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! Can I watch and even join in....... this could be fun!

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Well..... a little shock in this mornings post.

 

It was my N1 forms returned with a cover letter saying that my claim is out of date and that a claim must be within 6 years of the reason for the claim!

 

Well..... again!.............. I went back into Court an hour later armed with the Statue of Limitations Act 1980 and asked to see a Clerk, preferably a Manager. I went into a private room and very assertively but nicely asked where in the Statute does it say so! Usual expected answer and I then (nicely) asked if she was legally trained? She said no and I then "educated" her as to Section 32 (b) & © and the easy English layman breakdown of what it means. She was still a little adamant until I reminded her of her depts obligations that they are there as a service and not an Authority. That is the Judges domain and not hers. I think she saw the light then and stutteringly came out with in her defense that they have to advise us of the consequences or problems of any actions brought. Hmmm...... don't you think I/We have done the homework?

 

Anyway, claim now back in with the Court with a promise that it won't get sent back again!

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Fear The Reaper!

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lol @ Noob

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I think I already know the answer to this question....but what the heck, it's a useful question to answer.

 

Hypothetically........

 

If you claimed your charges back say a year ago and were successful with only the 8% stat interest also applied and was settled.

 

Could you now go back to them following the section 32 (b) part stating that they must never benefit financially from unlawfully taking money from an innocent party, I could apply to the Courts to recover the compound contractual interest that would have been gained in the eyes of mutuality and reciprocity and deduct what I had already "won" from them in that claim?

 

Just a thought after all, we didn't know at the time about Section 32 and their refusal to disclose the information asked and the consequences of the law of Mutuality.

 

Love to know everyones thoughts and even those of a more legal nature.

 

Cheers

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Tes you're probably right on that front.... once a claim has been settled in full... that's it!

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Ooooooooo.... found even more statements going back to 1996!! Oh JOY!!

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I knowwww..... can't help myself

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lol Very interesting this:

 

BBC NEWS | Business | Judge warns 'unreasonable' banks

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Received shAbbeys defence today

 

Same as all my others including the denial that I cannot claim past 6 years.

 

Here we go again invoking Section 32 (b) & © and interestingly they are not challenging the CCI level 8-)

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Ok....watch this space then and I'll inform you of my AQ arrival and send/post my draft AQ up here for comments et al.