DeadD requires help please

[DeadD]

Hello all,

 

It is now well over 14 days since I sent my LBA to Halifax and suprise suprise no response whta so ever. So I am now in the process of completing my N1 form, however I think I may be going wrong somewhere when filling in the daily interest section. Below is the information I am going to put on the N1 can anyone tell me if this is right?

 

Also can anyone explain point 5 (a) and the sum of £3, sorry if I sound a bit stupid but this is the first time for me and I just simply copied the template N1 and added my own figures from the daily interest calculator.

 

Brief details

 

Money claim for return of penalty charges applied to the Claimants bank account by the Defendant

Value

 

Charges £3150.00

Overdraft Interest £733.03

Interest under s.69 County Courts Act 1984 £0.84

Court Fee £120.00

TOTAL £ 4003.03

 

Plus interest pursuant to S.69 County Courts Act 1984 from date of issue to date of judgement/settlement at £0.84 per day OR at such rate and for such periods as the court deems just.

Particulars of Claim (attached)(to follow)

1. The Claimant had the Account with the Defendant which was opened on or around July 1998 and closed on or around January 2007.

2. During the period in which the Account was 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:

a) 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.

b) The contractual provision that permits the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable by virtue of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999) and the common law.

5. Accordingly the Claimant claims:

a) the return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £ 3 and any interest charged thereon;

b) Court costs;

c) The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year, from 31/12/2001 to16/07/2007 of £733.03 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of 0.84%

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

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated since I don't want the claim thrown out of court.

DeadD

[DeadD]

Thanks for the reply UK, the £3 pound figure may have been a typo I assume here I should have added the figure £3150.00 which is the cost of all the charges?

 

Also the first charge I am asking them to repay is for 31/12/2001 so doesn't that mean I have until December this year before it would be over 6 years? I don't want to try and claim for anything over six years because I heard this can cause problems????

 

Hope you don't mind if I ask you another quick qustion but the account may not be closed just inactive since I am still paying of a small overdraft on the account. I no longer use the account and do not recieve statements etc, will this make a differnce since I have mentioned the account was closed on January 07 (when I stopped using the account and switched banks).

 

Thanks for your time and help

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Dusary

 

To be honest my first bank charge was on 31/12/2001 which is less than six years I may have had the odd charge before then but I do not have any statements etc.

 

Unlike the banks I am not greedy so claiming from the 31/12/01 is pretty much okay with me besides once I get this claim done with I need to concentrate on the credit card!!!!!!

 

Out of interest if you have had a chance to read my my first post today regarding the N1 do you think it's okay?

 

Oh and do you know if because the account is or was a joint account if both me and my partner need to sign the N1?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read and help

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Sorry to be a pain but could anyone tell me if I need to have had a response from Halifax after sending my LBA before I can go to court? I was just reading some other threads about missing post and was worried that maybe they haven't rec'd my LBA.

Also if anyone as completed an N1 before does the figure below of "Interest under s.69 County Courts Act 1984 £0.84" seem right? I have no legal training (like the vast majority of people) and it just looks like I am claiming 0.84p!!!!!!

Finally I need to enclose copies of the charges should I send the list that halifax sent to me or the spread sheet calculation showing interest etc?

I am a getting a bit worried now that if I go to court I will make a simple mistake with the figures or the forms and get the whole thing thrown out.

Thanks DeadD

[DeadD]

Thanks Dusary

 

I will go with the N1 I have prepared (included in this thread) and head down to the courts when I have a few pennies available!!!!

 

Still don't know if both I and my partner have to sign the N1 because the account is a joint account.......do you have any idea.

 

Also do you think I should send the list of charges that I did using the CAG calculator with interest showing on it or just the list of charges Halifax sent me or both?

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Thanks for the response SSL so far we have both been signing the letters to Halifax (you could say it's a joint effort) but I think I will just sign the N1 since I will be the one in court if it goes that far.I will be submiting my N1 soon and will let you all know what happens, by the way do you know if I should send the spread sheet interest calculator with the N1 or just the list of charges that Halifax sent me?Thanks for your time.DeadD

[DeadD]

SSLSorry just read all your reply no need to respond to my last post.........sorry should read the whole thing before typing!!!!!!!DeadD

[DeadD]

Well as you can see from my earlier posts I have issued my LBA at the begining of June and have now completed my N1 and I am ready to submit it to the court.

 

However before I do this I was thinking of ringing Halifax to try to come to some kind of settlement. I was planning on saying some thing like "I am going to claim £XXXXXX through the courts for unlawful charges you have debited from my account but before I do this I am willing to try to negotiate a settlement" and sort of play it by ear from there.

 

I know that chances are they won't offer me a suitable settlement but at least I can go to court (if we get that far) saying I tried.

 

As anyone tried something like this before?

 

Do you think it's a good idea?

 

If we do end up in court will this count against me?

 

I am I getting cold feet?

 

DeadD:confused:

[DeadD]

Hi all,

 

I was jst checking the FSA website regarding the test case and it states that if you are suffering finacial hardship the banks are obliged to continue investigating your complaint under the banking code.

 

Well after the amount of money the Halifax as taken of me I am pretty confident that I am suffering finacial hardship due to thier actions.

 

Does anyone have any idea how this would work? Should I contact Halifax and tell them I have suffered finacial hardship and wish them to resolve my complaint?

 

Any ideas welcome.

 

Thanks

DeadD

[DeadD]

Hello all,

 

Does anyone have a e-mail address for customer relations at Halifax, I tried the one on the Halifax contact details thread but it doesn't work.

 

Thanks

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Thanks Money,

 

Got a bit miffed so started sending of e-mail to variations of customerrelations.halifax.co.uk. Have a nasty feeling some poor bloke called halifax might get a rather terse e-mail that makes no sense!!!

 

Did manage to send an e-mail to $customerrelations.HBOSplc.com.uk and got an automated reply saying thanks for your e-mail.......from bank of Scotland!!!!! Since there the same group maybe someone will pass it on???????

 

Guess I will send my letter by snail mail Monday morning.

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Thanks SSl

 

I will be sending the original in the post tomorrow. A question for anyone really in light of the OFT announcement I have decided to concentrate on reclaiming my charges on my Halifax credit card (I am continueing with the account). I was going to do them one at a time but well might as well get going on the credit card now.

 

Do i follow the same procedures for the bank account I.e. same SAR request, same preliminery letters, etc or are there different templates for credit cards?

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Sorry for doing this and I hope I don't get into troubl but I was wondering if someone could give me some dvice on a direct debit problem I have.

 

On Friday our local council took a direct debit from our account (nat west) to cover our council tax unfortunatly we did not expect them to take it out until the 1st August (they normally take it out on the 1st of each month). Nat west allowed the payment to go out which means that when we went shoppping on satuarday our account was overdrawn by £67.00 we don't have an overdraft on this account so bank charges may apply!!!!!

 

I rang nat west yesterday and they told me it was the council fault for requesting the payment. The nice lady told me she would re-call the direct debit and the money would be placed back in my account today.

 

Surprise surprise no money in account today, I rang this morning and was told the money would go in Tuesday! If I'd know this I would'nt have bothered because there would be funds available to clear it.

 

Does anyone know who is in the wrong here? The bank or the council?

 

Sorry I realise I should possibly have started a new thread but it was just a one of question.

 

Thanks for any advice in advance.

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Thanks Tilly

 

Will keep you posted on the saga that is about to begin.

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Tilly

 

That was what I thought, my partner is heading to the council offices tomorrow (she is not a happy person). I kind of feel sorry for the first person from the council tax department she meets!

 

Although thinking about it don't they request direct debits each day until there are adequate funds in there to cover it or until you are in breach of the agreement. I still don't understand why the bank would let them take the money when there wasn't enough in to cover the DD???

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Okay Tilly

 

Still gonna rasie a complaint with nat west though for been giving dodgy information regarding the payment going back into my account today. Hope to be able to use it as leverage to stop any charges?

 

God over the past couple of months I've turned into a real victor meldrew I complain about everything at the moment....god bless the internet!

 

DeadD

[DeadD]

Hello all,

I know this thread is for Halifax but I just thought I'd let you know what happened regarding my Direct debit with council/Nat west (see last few posts above). I did a bit of research on Sunday evening on the FSA and FO website and it turns out that the direct debit guarantee means that if you report an error with your direct debit i.e. payment taken early or for wrong amount and you haven't been notified within 10 working days of any changes) you are entitled to a full and immediate refund from your bank even if they are not at fault (see below copied from Financial ombudsmen web site).

If the originator or the bank/building society makes an error, the customer is guaranteed a full and immediate refund of the amount paid.

I rang Nat West at 8.00am this morning was told I'd been given wrong number and was transferred........to the section that deals with computer faults???!!!!???? (This is important because there is a strange trend here regarding computers).

Finally 8:15am I was but through to right department. I was told that no one had in fact cancelled or recalled my payment at the weekend despite what I had been told because they can't do such things at weekend because their IT system won't allow it (ZX spectrum 48k on every desk top by the sounds of it). I was told they would cancel my direct debit and the money would be in my account tomorrow (Tuesday).

I told them that wasn't good enough....

They told me it wasn't their fault and that was all they could do. Even if it was their fault the earliest their system would allow the money to be transferred was tomorrow.

I told them that I lived two minutes away from the local branch and that it had a safe and that I assumed the safe had money in (I was getting a bit annoyed).

I was then transferred to a "care team" or some such thing (complaints to you and me).

The "care Team" told me there was nothing they could do because it was the council’s fault and their systems wouldn't allow them to transfer the cash to my account until Tuesday.

I told them that under the direct debit guarantee they had to provide me with a full and immediate refund whilst the error was investigated.

They told me it didn't have to be immediate.

I told them that according to the financial ombudsmen it did.

I was but on hold whilst she consulted her manager I was then told, "that as gesture of god will (that old chestnut) they would refund the money into my account".

So off I went to work when I got to work I checked my bank and lo and behold they had refunded the whole lot.

So if you have problems with your direct debits quote the guarantee and if need be threaten them with the FO.

And also if you get put through to the incident management team that deal with their computers hang up immediately they need all the time they have to work on upgrading Nat west’s ZX spectrum 48K’s to commodore 64's!!!!

DeadD