Norwich & Peterborough / 1st Right to Appropriation

[kregrs]

We had a leter from N&P this morning, I'll scan a copy on at some point, but the general gist of the letter is that they believe they have acted lawfully with the charges, quoting from the letter "We believe that the charges are proportionate to the costs incurred in dealing with unpaid items", that they can justify charges of £29.50 per time, if we want a breakdown we wont get one and offering to pay back 25% of what we have been charged. The letter ends with the statement that "Such payment would be without admission by the Society". My partner says to go for it, I say no deal, they originally charged us over £500, then halved it to £265, so as far as I'm concerned we want the full £265 back. At the end of the letter there is a section for us to sign, accepting the offer and agreeing to no further action. What do we do? They claim it is a goodwill gesture, I see it as a sweetner to stop us going any further. The offer they have made would be v useful at the minute, how can we word it so as to accept this offer but let them know that we want the full amount as setlement.

[lickthewallfatboy]

it is of course entirely your call,but if you can afford to hold out and refuse the "goodwill" offer you will get the lot back-plus of course 8% interest if you have to file a claim.

 

Not much wonder why they are refusing to provide a breakdown of costs!!

[bettyboo1923]

Hi kregrs

 

have you tried phoning head office and speaking to the banking operations manager. I claimed from n&p for mny son & girlfriend. sent the lba, and a second chance lba then phoned the banking operations manager who said he would refund 50% and close account. I said don't bother and he sent a letter offering 100% with account closure. girlfriend phoned him and he agree to 100% plus accounts staying open. we never filed in court at all.

 

might be worth a try.

[daipp]

Norwich & Peterborough were VERY easy for me, they paid me my £90.00 after just one letter without account closeure.

 

We don't use the current account at all so we wouldn't hace cared if they had closed it !!

 

David

[kregrs]

How ould we word the 2nd LBA? Would we need to state that we refuse the 1st offer, or do we keep schtum about it? We tried speaking to the banking ops manager yesterday, but unfortunately he was unavailable.

[bettyboo1923]

second lba we sent :

 

'We are writing with reference to our letter dated 20th January 2007 requesting refund of the above charges placed on our accounts. We are very disappointed with the reply received from dated 31st January 2007.

Due to extensive media coverage on bank charges we are aware that Norwich and Peterborough Building Society have been charging us, charges, that are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Schedule 2 (e) of the said regulations gives a non-complete list of terms, which may be regarded as unfair, such as a term that requires us as consumers who fail in their obligation, to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation. These ‘penalties’ total £xxxx, which you will see from the spreadsheets attached.

As stated in our earlier letter, we consider these penalty charges to be unlawful and as such we are requesting once again that the sum of £xxxx be refunded to our accounts. We are sure that Norwich and Peterborough Building Society would wish this matter to be settled without court proceedings being instigated. However, should the funds not be refunded to our accounts, or should we not receive your assurance that this will be done, then we shall start court proceedings within 7 days.

Should this happen you will be aware that not only will Norwich and Peterborough have to refund £xxxx but also interest, which at the moment stands at just over £xxx, rising daily, and our court costs which we anticipate will be in the region of a further xxx, as well as your own solicitors fees.

Furthermore we would wish to continue operating our accounts with Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. We believe any threat to close our accounts would be malicious and a punitive reaction to our "penalty charges” complaint against N&P. In doing so you would act against the advice of the The Banking Code Standards Board.

We would draw your attention to the fact that the Financial Ombudsman Service has just adjudicated in a complaint against the Alliance & Leicester, on a complaint regarding the closure of a customer’s account in response to a claim for "penalty charges". The FOS decided that the closure was indeed unfair as it was punitive and retaliatory. The FOS awarded compensation to be paid by Alliance & Leicester.

We are certain that you, acting for Norwich & Peterborough, would wish this matter to be settled out of court and look forward to receiving your reply within the said 7 day period'

sent it to the Banking Operations Manager and then if no reply within 7 days, or however long you give them, phone him and speak directly to him. He is a very approachable guy and I think is keen for things not to get to the court stage.

[bettyboo1923]

instead of a second letter you could try phoning the banking operations manager again on Monday. he is very approachable. we sent the first lba on 20th Jan and received refunds into bank on 12th March - no court.

[kregrs]

A few weeks ago my gf managed to claim some of her charges back from N&P, their offer was to refund half her charges, and at the time, as we needed the money, she accepted. She has now thought about it, and would like to try and claim the full amount back. Is there a letter on here, or can anyone help compose a letter that she can send?

[PPMAN159]

Did she sign a letter sent to her by N&P?

 

If so did it state that the payment was in full and final settlement of her claim?

[icytundra28]

Hello,

I'm in a pickle here and feel as though i have exhausted all means of resolving my dispute with Lloyds TSB. After sixteen months of them charging me on my student overdraft facility which has nothing going into the account and nothing coming out of it and they couldnt and still cant explain the charges. Every month they have sent me letters demanding payment of crippling charges but when i call them they cannot explain them so refund anything taken from the account which has made me go over my overdraft limit which then of course incurrs more charges which they also removed from the account. Although in December of 2007 they decided that they were no longer going to refund the charges and demanded payment even referring it to a solicitor. I sent all documentation i have to the financial ombudsman including letters of apology from the bank, but nothing has been done. I have made the banks solicitors an offer of payment over the phone which they declined. I had to close my classic account because the solicitors took control of both accounts which meant i couldnt pay anything. The solicitors had advised me to close my classic account so my entire months salary wasnt taken and i did so. Only to find that three weeks later they have taken my wages from a closed account anyway. Is this legal? the account was closed! Now i have no rent money for the second month, my car insurance is being cancelled on the sixth of june and i have nearly one hundred pounds worth of late payment charges on my barclay card. Shouldnt they have told me that they were going to do this at least? I have no idea what to do anymore, i cant afford to live. Taken the day off work to try and resolve this but getting nowhere even after contacting legal aid and the ombudsman service again. Any suggestions very welcome! I feel like they have taken so much money from me and now i am loosing money by not being at work to try and sort this!