Alphageek Vs Capital One ***WON***

[WendyB]

If I were you I'd pay the minimum amount you can get away with to stop them defaulting you. Once a default is on your file they don't like removing it, and beleive me they're really sharp about putting defaults on. drp of a hat is the term I'd use. If you have to include a default removal in your claim it takes longer and is more of a pain in the butt. Then file your N1 for your charges, purchase interest etc. You won't get anywhere with them until you do, then on past form they pay up fairly quickly after filing the N1. No point talking to them on the phone, they'll stick by the party line and you won't get anywhere.

[steven4064]

I agree absolutely with what Wendy says.

[Alphageek]

Ok guys, I have paid them a token payment.

 

You both should get a job working for CapOne. You have more success getting me to "pay up" than they do LOL

 

Oh, hang on - I know why. You've got my interests in mind and not the shareholders.

 

Thanks all.

[steven4064]

Oh, hang on - I know why. You've got my interests in mind and not the shareholders.

You got it!

[Alphageek]

Just a couple of items I missed in my time-line updates (need to keep the thread complete)

 

On the 19th June 2007 I got this from Ofcom via email. It looks like an auto-reply response to the form I filled in on their website.

 

Please note: We do not investigate individual consumer complaints. However, we record and monitor complaint levels. If we identify an area of concern we may raise the matter with the management of the company directly.

Your information will be passed to the relevant Ofcom team.

 

You submitted the following details:

 

Title:

Mr

 

Forename:

Alpha

 

Surname:

Geek

 

 

Contact phone number:

0xxxxxxxxxx

 

Organisation (if applicable):

Capital One Bank (Europe) Ltd

 

Flat number and building (if applicable):

Home

 

House number and street name:

Home

 

Postal town:

Home

 

Postcode:

Home

 

Email:

Email

 

Please untick if you do NOT want your details disclosed to a research agency working on Ofcom's behalf:

I do not want to be contacted for research

 

Please untick if you do NOT want your details disclosed to the phone company or Internet Service Provider:

You may disclose my details

 

Are you...:

A residential customer

 

Name of your phone company:

BT

 

Number that has been calling:

0800 422 0295

 

Brief summary of your experience/query:

I have an account with this bank that is in dispute. I wrote to them on the 13th June 2007 telling them that all communication from them should be in writing.

 

Also, the number and frequency of calls they are placing to me are personally harassing and in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and the Communications Act (2003) s.127.

 

This letter was tracked by Royal Mail and delivered to them on the 15th July 2007.

 

My call logs show the following calls placed to me by this company.

 

14th

====

13:17

15:11

16:45

17:28

18:04

 

15th

====

14:46

 

16th

====

13:55

14:06

 

17th

====

17:25

 

18th

====

19:12

 

19th

====

13:22

13:33

15:31

16:50

18:08

20:56

 

Each time my answerphone takes the call, it is silent. Each time I take the call, I tell them that my instructions to Capital One Bank is that if they have any business to discuss with me then they are to put it in writing.

 

All their operatives say is "we will continue to call you back."

 

The calls late on Sunday evenings and the frequency of call during the week where there is no message left is appalling.

 

Please investigate the actions of this company.

 

******************************************************************************************************************

Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services.

 

For further details and to register for automatic updates from Ofcom on key publications and other developments, please visit Home page | Ofcom

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

 

If you have received this email in error please notify the originator of the message. This footer also confirms that this email message has been scanned for the presence of computer viruses.

 

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifies and with authority, states them to be the views of Ofcom.

******************************************************************************************************************

 

In itself, a waste of time... but if enough people complain then perhaps someone might take notice?

 

Yeah, thought not!

[Alphageek]

On the 25th June 2007, Nottingham TS sent me this via email;

 

Your Ref xxxxxx

 

Dear AlphaGeek,

 

I am writing in response to your e mail dated 23.06.2007 regarding a debt with Capital One that is in dispute.

 

You should send the trader a recorded delivery letter, outlining everything to date, and "make time of the essence" for the matter to be resolved within a set period of time (i.e. 14 working days). Make it very clear as to what you are claiming from the trader and it is also worth retaining copies of everything sent, for your records. For assistance and guidance on making a complaint in writing please refer the template letters section on our website Consumer Direct.

 

 

State in the letter that the debt is in dispute, that you would prefer that they no longer telephone you and that if they believe that money is owed you would rather the matter was taken to court.

 

If the matter isn't resolved then you will need to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service in order to escalate your complaint against the bank.

 

 

They can be contacted on tel 0845 080 1800 or Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

If after following the above protocol your complaint is still not resolved then please contact Consumer Direct to request that your case be referred to Trading Standards for their consideration. In accordance with the referral you will receive a call back from an officer within a set timescale to inform you if Trading Standards can offer any further advice or assistance.

 

I trust the above information is of some assistance to you. If you require any further information or clarification on this case please do not hesitate to contact Consumer Direct quoting your above reference number on Tel No: 08454 04 05 06 our offices are open Monday to Friday 8am - 6.30pm and Saturday 9am - 1pm. If this is not convenient and you are unable to contact us by telephone regarding this matter please contact me via email.

 

 

Kind Regards,

 

Gill Sullivan

Consumer Adviser

Consumer Direct

Tel: 08454 040506

Fax: 0113 2013692

Consumer Direct

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the originator of the message. This footer also confirms that this e-mail message has been scanned for the presence of computer viruses.

 

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifies and with authority, states them to be the views of West Yorkshire Joint Services.

 

 

Fabulous, why didn't I think of that?!?

 

Do TS ever do anything about these banks?

[Alphageek]

I am just updating my SOC.

 

Should I include any purchase interest and cash interest they have charged me since they defaulted on the CCA request?

 

Is that the correct date to include it from?

[Alphageek]

Also, just looking at the new CapOne POC

 

How do I know the claim number (1st line of POC) before the court has issued the action?

[Alphageek]

I am confused

 

Let's say I have amended the red text in the POC so it looks like this;

 

17. The Defendant wrongly applied Charges to the Account totalling some £500.00 between 01/01/2005 and 01/11/2007. Particulars appear from Schedule 2.

 

18. On 01/07/2007 the Claimant demanded repayment of the sums wrongly applied.

 

19. The Defendant has repaid £80 of them.

And the Claimant claims:

 

(1) A declaration that the sums totalling £500.00 have wrongly been applied to the Account

 

(2) Payment of the said sum of £500.00 and interest of £300.00 applied by the Defendant thereon.

 

(3) Interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of payment of the Charge to date in the sum of £[xxx.xx ], and at the daily rate of [ xx ] until judgment or sooner payment. (4) Court costs of [ xxxx].

 

 

The £300 in 19(2) is what Excel has worked out for me at an interest rate of ~35% from the date the charge appeared on my statement.

 

It looks to me as though in 19(3) I would be asking for s69 at 8% as well.

 

Surely, I can't claim both?

[ukaviator]

Hi

 

You can't claim 8% as well as the Contractual interest. You put in a reference to 8% as an alternative, in case the judge is'nt happy about Contractual Interest.

 

As you don't have a claim number just yet, use your account number on the N1 form. This is normally typed in at the beginning of the POC.

[Alphageek]

Thanks UKA.

[Alphageek]

They just called me at work. Told chap the account was in dispute and he went away, putting me on hold for "2 mins"

 

5 mins later, he came back after what I guess was him actually bothering to read the notes on my file.

 

He said they had already settled the dispute. I countered that they had settled it to their satisfaction not mine and just because they think it's settled does not make it so.

 

Also asked him to take my work phone number off their system. He said he had done so... but I got the distinct impression he was not being honest. Will find out in 8 days unless I get my N1 sorted out first.

[Alphageek]

Received a letter dated 25th Nov 2007 today.

 

Same clap-trap as in post #70 of this thread.

[Alphageek]

Here is my first draft of N1 and POC details.

 

Breif details of claim

Repayment of charges and interest on amounts charged by the defendant and debited to an account with the claimant for purported breaches of a contract to supply credit services. The claimant avers that these charges and the interest thereon were levied in contravention of the Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999) and the common law.

 

The Claimant claims:

a) the return of amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £5xx.xx

a) the return of the interest of £3xx.xx charged on amounts debited in respect of charges.

b) Court costs

POC

Account No 0000000000000000

 

IN THE X COUNTY COURT

 

 

BETWEEN

 

 

Alphageek

 

Claimant

 

and

 

CAPITAL ONE BANK (EUROPE) PLC

 

Defendant

 

 

 

 

PARTICULARS OF CLAIM

 

 

 

 

 

1.The Claimant entered into an agreement (“The Agreement”) with the Defendant on or around xx/xx/2005, whereby the Defendant was to advance credit facilities to the Claimant under a running credit account, Account no 0000000000000000 (“The Account”).

 

2. “The Agreement” essentially consisted of the Defendant providing the Claimant with a credit card (“The Card”) which would allow the Claimant to make purchases and receive cash advances on credit. In return the Defendant was entitled to charge interest at the published rate.

3. The Agreement was a Regulated Agreement for the purposes of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

4. At all material times the contract was subject to the Defendant’s standard terms and conditions which could be varied from time to time.

 

Summary

 

5. Throughout the course of the Agreement, the Defendant has added numerous default charges to the Account for the Claimant’s failure to make the minimum payment on the due date and or for exceeding the credit limit and or if a payment is returned and or for miss-sold payment protection insurance(PPI). (Full particulars are set out in schedule 2).

 

6. The default charges were applied in accordance with the standard terms of The Agreement which were:

a). A penalty payable on breach of contract and thus unenforceable: and or

 

b) An unfair term under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (“The Regulations”) and therefore not binding on the Claimant.

 

7. The Claimant is accordingly entitled to repayment of the sums wrongly added to the Account.

 

The Charges

 

8. The standard Terms of the Agreement in substance provided as follows:

(a) The Defendant would provide the Claimant with the Card. The Claimant was entitled to use the Card to make purchases and receive cash advances up to a credit limit (“the Limit”) set by the Defendant. The Defendant could unilaterally change the Limit by giving the Claimant notice in writing.

 

(b) The Defendant was entitled to charge interest on the purchases and cash advances at the published rate.

 

© The Claimant was to pay the minimum payment of 3% of the amount owed or £5 (whichever was the greatest) by the due date as notified in the monthly statements.

 

(d) In addition the Defendant was entitled to charge default fees (“the Charges”) where the Claimant exceeded the Limit, did not pay on the due date, had a credit cheque returned or had a payment returned. The Charges are currently £12. Prior to 2006 the Charges were £20.

Penalty

 

9. The Charges were payable on breach of contract by the Claimant.

 

10. The amount of the Charges exceeded any genuine pre-estimate of the damage which would have been suffered by the Bank in relation to the Claimant’s transgressions.

 

11. In the premises the Charges were punitive and a penalty and thus unenforceable at common law.

 

The Regulations

 

12. At all material times the Claimant was a consumer within the Regulations.

 

13. At all material times the terms of the Agreement providing for the Charges were unfair within regulation 5 of the Regulations in that contrary to the requirement of good faith they caused a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to the detriment of the Claimant.

 

14. Without prejudice to the burden of proof, the Claimant will refer to the following matters in support of the contention that the terms are to be assessed as unfair as at the time of the conclusion of the Agreement, and of each revision to the Standard Terms.

 

(1)The terms relating to Charges were standard terms; they would not be individually negotiated.

 

(2)The Charges were a penalty for breach of contract.

 

(3)The Charges exceeded the costs which the Bank could have expected to incur in dealing with the exceeding of the credit limit, late payment or returned payment.

 

(4) Accordingly the Charges were a disproportionate charge incurred by the Claimant for their failure to meet their contractual obligation and thus within the ambit of Schedule 2 (1) (e) of the Regulations and indicative of an unfair term.

 

(5) As the Defendant knew, the Charges were of subsidiary importance to the customer in the context of the Agreement as a whole and would not influence the making of the Agreement.

 

(6) As the Defendant knew, the Claimant had no means of assessing the fairness of the Charges.

 

(7) In the premises, the effect of the Charges would be prejudicial to the customer who incurred them, and cause an imbalance in the relations of the parties to the Agreement by subordinating the customer’s interests to those of the Defendant in a way which was inequitable.

15. Without prejudice to the burden of proof, the Claimant will contend that the terms imposing the Charges are not core terms under regulation 6 of the Regulations and relies on the following matters.

(1) The assessment of fairness does not relate to terms which

define the main or core subject matter of the Agreement.

 

(2) The assessment of fairness does not relate to the adequacy of the price or remuneration as against the goods or services supplied in exchange (in other words, whether or not the relevant services were value for money).

 

(3) The Charges are correctly described as default charges by the Defendant in the published tariff of charges.

 

 

16. By reason of the said matters the terms were not binding under regulation 8 of the Regulations.

 

17 (a) The Defendant wrongly applied Charges to the Account totalling some £5xx.xx between xx/xx/2005 and xx/xx/2007. Particulars appear from Schedule 2.

(b) The Defendant wrongly reported the account status to third-party data controllers including, but not limited to, Experian, Equifax and Callcredit.

 

18. On xx/xx/2007 the Claimant demanded repayment of the sums wrongly applied.

 

19. The Defendant has repaid £80 of them.

And the Claimant claims:

(1) A declaration that the sums totalling £5xx.xx have wrongly been applied to the Account

 

(2)

(a)Payment of the said sum of £5xx.xx and interest of £3xx.xx applied by the Defendant thereon, and at the daily rate of xxp until judgement or sooner payment.

 

Alternatively

(b) Interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of payment of the Charge to date in the sum of £xx.xx, and at the daily rate of xxp until judgement or sooner payment.

 

(3) Removal of incorrect account status data from third-party data controllers including, but not limited to, Experian, Equifax and Callcredit.

(3) Court costs of 80.00.

 

I believe that the facts stated in these particulars, comprising of 9 pages, are true.

 

 

Signed

 

Dated

Schedule 1

 

 

From Terms and Conditions as at Oct 2007

 

4. Credit limit. We will determine the credit limit from time to time under this agreement and tell it to you in writing. Your credit limit and the amount of credit you have left are shown in your monthly statement. You and any extra cardholder can use the card, account or credit card cheques to make purchases or cash withdrawals and you, but not the extra cardholder, to make balance transfers which, added together and inclusive of interest and all other fees, charges and expenses, do not exceed your credit limit. If you go over your credit limit, you (and any extra cardholder) must not use the card or credit card cheques and you must immediately pay us enough to bring the outstanding balance within the credit limit.

 

8. Monthly payment. You must pay the outstanding balance by paying to us at least the monthly payment by the date stated in the monthly statement. The method of calculating the monthly payment is stated in the “Monthly Payments” section of “Key Financial Information”. Prompt payment is essential.

In addition, you must immediately pay any amount borrowed under this agreement in excess of your credit limit or which is overdue and the amount of any transaction made in breach of this agreement.

 

12. Other Charges and Default Charges. You must pay to us the ‘Other Charges’ and ‘Default Charges’ referred to in the ‘Key Information’ (as varied from time to time) and in our tariff of charges from time to time in force, as notified to you in writing from time to time. A cash withdrawal handling fee which is a percentage of the transaction (with a minimum amount) is payable on cash withdrawals. The current amount is shown in ‘Current Amounts of Other Charges and Other Features’. All charges may be varied as set out in section 18. We may require you to pay our reasonable charges for the following:

 

(a) Late or failure to pay charge: a charge if we do not receive your minimum payment by the due date shown on your monthly statement

 

(b) Returned payment charge: a charge if a cheque, credit card cheque, Direct Debit instruction or other method of payment is not honoured.

 

© Overlimit charge: a charge for each statement period during which the outstanding balance is over your credit limit by £1 or more.

 

(e) Returned credit card cheque charge: a charge for any credit card cheque we return unpaid for any valid reason.

 

(f) Administration charges: we may charge you for dealing with any special requests you make, including if you ask us:

 

● for information under the Data Protection Act 1998 where we are entitled to charge;

● to make a payment to your account through any express payment service; or

● to stop processing a credit card cheque.

 

You must pay to us all reasonable court costs to which we may be entitled against you, reasonable collection expenses we incur in collecting any amount you owe us under this agreement, reasonable costs incurred by us in trying to retrieve the cards and credit card cheques, and placing your account on a restricted list. Charges will be debited to the account when they are incurred and will form part of the outstanding balance.

Schedule 2

 

2 pages of SOC

 

Any glaring errors, omissions or comments?

[steven4064]

In para 5 you mention mis-sold PPi and then (as far as I can see on a quick read through) youdon't mention it again.

[Alphageek]

I was just treating it in the same manner as late payment etc charges and including a line on my SOC for each time they have charged me it.

 

I have already told CapOne in my prelim (post #31) and LBA that they have been charging me unauthorised and miss-sold PPI and would be reclaiming it.

 

Do I need to make this clearer on the N1 for the Judge?

[steven4064]

Do I need to make this clearer on the N1 for the Judge?

I think it ought to have a paragraph explaining how it was mis-sold.

[Alphageek]

Added this as 17©

 

© (i)The Defendant wrongly applied charges for Payment Protection Insurance to the account. The claimant did not request this insurance and no documentation supplied by the defendant in response to a request under the Data Protection Act 1998 or the Consumer Credit Act 1974 had any indication that such a request was made.

 

(ii) The defendant initially applied this charge during a period for which they were subsequently find by the FSA for failing to have adequate systems and controls for selling Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) insurance and for failing to treat its customers fairly between January 2005 to April 2006, The FSA stated in their press release of 15th February 2007

“The firm's failure to provide customers with a policy document at the right time meant that affected customers did not have the opportunity to consider all aspects of the PPI policy, and whether it may have met their demands and needs, prior to conclusion of the contract.”.

(iii) The Defendant failed to supply any policy or other documents relating to any alleged insurance service.

 

Any comments?

[Alphageek]

Changed the 2nd paragraph numbered 19(3) to 19(4) and changed the value to £65.00 as well.

[steven4064]

17©(ii) 'find' should be 'fined' - otherwise OK.

[Alphageek]

Good spot - thanks

[Alphageek]

I don't really want to keep this company's product when I have finished with this claim.

 

Would it be wise to put in the " And the Claimant claims:" part that they close the account and remove all CRA data?

[steven4064]

You have already requested data to be removed from CRAs

(3) Removal of incorrect account status data from third-party data controllers including, but not limited to, Experian, Equifax and Callcredit.

I wouln't bother requestingthey close the account - you can just do that yourself afterwards (or before come to that)

[Alphageek]

Thanks again - I'll get this all printed out this evening and in the post tomorrow.

[Alphageek]

Where do I put that I wish to claim back my £10 SAR fee?