Threat of legal action (lloyds) excess overdraught wholly their charges

[dontbringlulu]

Hi, I'm new to the forum I was just wondering if anybody can help me. I have an overdraught facility with lloyds which I exceeded(about 3 months ago), when a direct debit put me over my limit, although a payment was due to go into the account the following week which would have covered it. Since then I have accrude £199 in bank charges. I paid £78 pounds last week(which brought it down to this figure). I have since received several phone calls (which were quite threatening & intimidating, in their tone & content), and today received a letter informing me that unless I pay the full ammount within 18 days they will take me to court, detailing everything that will happen to me. I would like to make a claim for all my previous bank charges as these would be quite substancial, but in the first instance is there anything I can do now which will hold back the bank from its threats.

[GuidoT]

Here is a letter on harassment:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/37006-harassment-telephone-response-letter.html

 

Then to claim back your charges read here:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/24031-frequently-asked-questions.html

[dontbringlulu]

I think I understand the process, but by the time I send off, and receive all my bank charges for the last 6 yrs (which from what Ive read the banks will drag their feet as much as they can) this threat of legal action will have taken place. I didn't want to jeperdise my claim in the future, just have something concrete to tell the bank, e.g something like, that I will be making a full claim in the near future, for all my punitive bank charges, and that I will be making a counter claim for the charges incured recently as they were all bank charges. Would this work or has anybody got any ideas, I'm desperate to get this sorted as we are hopefully moving within the next month.

[GuidoT]

If they do follow up their threat of commencing proceedings (unlikely) then you can counterclaim for your penalty charges in extinguishment.

 

Banks use intimidation tactics, it is really sad and they do work on a lot of people.

 

Just follow the FAQs as above and take things one step at a time. You will find around 4 years of statements on line if you do not have them, do a prelim and LBA based on those years and estimate the other years as appropriate. Then by the time you come to file your claim at court you should have the remaining statement to firm up your previous estimates.

[dontbringlulu]

Thanks guidoT, very helpful, I thought that when you wrote to the bank that they were legally bound to send out all of your bank charges, the ammounts & dates they were incured, not all of your statements, is that right?

[GuidoT]

I am not sure on the legal position, but I know Lloyds usually send a schedule of the charges rather than the actual statements.

[PeterAnderson]

I too was trying to recover my 'real' statements but with no luck, so I stamped my feet recently as they had passed the 40 day allowance in response to my SAR request and also my 14 day reminder letter.

 

I have now managed to get a list of the charges AND a full photocopy of statements for two accounts - I got these in a flood of mail THE FOLLOWING DAY - eek!!

 

What I found interesting was where I had sent the letters, and where the replies had came from? 1st ltr sent to my business centre in Southampton - but it was received in Manchester but the reply came from the Copy Statement Centre in Birmingham. 2nd ltr sent to CSC, Birmingham, BUT the reply came from my OWN branch in Littlehampton (signed, pp Copy Statement Unit - ah ha), with full copy statements going back to 2001.

 

I noticed that the first 'Dear John' ltr came from the Customer Recovery Centre, Andover (apparently according to them they are the guys who will eventually repay you): Tel: 01264-832297/832915/725214/832238. I rang them, very helpful, gave me an update off their computer and was told that they would chase the Copy Statement Unit, Birmingham.

 

I was now made aware that because of the huge number of requests they were just sending the list of charges to keep up with the DPA. THEN I found out that anything before Sept01 was kept on microfiche - this is obviously a time consuming task to recover, print and send, and where were they kept?

 

So, realising that the 'real' statements had come from my own branch I rang them; lady told me that they could only go back to Sept01 (she was quite snotty at first), and it seemed to me that this is what she had been told to say; I told her this was rubbish as they had to comply with the DPA and that 6-months were missing from my claim date. I also told her that some members of the CAG had managed to go back 15yrs - so after a short while she fiddled with her computer, her attitude changed, and even wished me good luck with my claim; she also told me that the 'flood' of applications had now slowed down - the next day I received a list of charges from CSU and full statements from Littlehampton

 

Lessons learnt (I think imho) are requests for copy statements go to CSU, BHX (this would have saved me 7 days if I had done this). Prelim ltr to Andover and not BHX, another saving of 7 days; likewise LBA to Andover and not LDN.

 

Hope this helps

[invictus]

I recently saw off Nationwide's solicitors, Bryan Carter and Co, and their debt collectors Fredrickson International Ltd with this letter....

 

Obviously edit it to fit your own circumstances, since you don't have an actal amount yet you could just say you estimate the charges will be far in excess of the alleged debt.

 

 

 

This debt is disputed, as BANK NAME knew prior to instructing you. I believe that your instruction and subsequent correspondence is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate me and I will be bringing this to the attention of the District Judge if you issue proceedings against me. Rest assured that I am not in the least intimidated by your threats and should you issue proceedings I will file a counterclaim for the sum of £XXXXXX, being the total amount of unlawful charges debited in the last six years, plus statutory interest and costs.

 

In any event, should your Clients fail to repay the above sum within the next 14 days, with statutory interest since they have unlawfully deprived me of this money, I will be issuing proceedings against your Clients. I enclose a copy of a letter [this is the standard L.B.A in the templates section] which I have today sent to your Clients together with a schedule of charges and interest.

 

As regards the final paragraph of your letter, I am fully aware of the pre-action protocols and I consider that the above mentioned copy letter, which outlines the basis of my counter claim, fulfills the requirements of the protocols. Furthermore I do not consider that your letter does fulfill the requirements because your Clients allege a debt which is entirely made up of unlawful charges and you have not stated the basis on which your Clients will attempt to prove the fairness of these charges if you issue proceedings. I therefore look forward to hearing from you with these details so that I can understand your Clients arguments.

 

 

Got a letter from Nationwide's sols about a week later saying they were no longer instructed and had returned the file to their Clients.

 

 

Maybe you'd be best not cutting'n'pasting but type up something of your own along these lines or even look in this thread

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/83228-help-totally-confused.html

 

Where ChloeJane gives some excellent advice.

[Taz34]

Hi,When I asked Lloyds for my statements they did post the last six years of statements to me. I bet my postman had a fit, there must have been over 100 envelopes all delivered to me at the same time. But don't let it put you off, just set aside a quite afternoon and go through it.