FSA To Review Waiver

[MacBoy]

I'd be more than happy to pile in with this - Halifax are now so far outside the 40-day compliance period to supply me with all data they hold about me (83 days outside!) that I have just filed an N244 for pre-action disclosure, just to get in a position to be able to properly quantify my claim.

 

They have acted wilfully and contemptuously towards me and dressed it up as incompetence.

[MacBoy]

I've sent a shortened version of DoS's letter to my MP today (yours was excellent DoS but I thought a little too long)

 

Mac

[MacBoy]

Here's what I sent - updated 09/12/07 to cover the two month waiver review by the FSA.

 

Read through and change for your circumstances as appropriate.

 

Rt. Hon Keith Hill, Member for Streatham

 

Date Here

 

Dear Mr Hill

 

I am one of your constituents in Streatham. I write to you to highlight

the recent (and in my view unjust) arrangement between the OFT, FSA and

UK retail banking industry to freeze out further overcharging

complaints whilst a test case is being brought; yet continue to allow

the banks to carry on levying their exorbitant penalty charges on

customers.

 

The FSA has also allowed the banks to apply for a stay in all court

proceedings of this nature until the case has finished. The Banks are

now to apply to the Master of Rolls to issue a blanket stay on all

court hearings.

 

This will mean that any active claims against banks will be put on hold

and will not be processed for what could take several years, if any

cases or appeals are indeed to be allowed.

 

This is an unjust situation for customers, including many of your

constituents, who are in the process of reclaiming charges.

 

Although I myself am happily in a position to be able to bear the cost

of making a claim, a number of people I have spoken making similar

claims to my own to were not able to afford the court fees required to

take their claims to the next step. They have had to save every spare

penny to raise the £120.00 needed so they could take the bank to court.

In some cases where the claim was over £5000.00 they have had to stump

up £250.00, something which was extremely difficult for some of them,

especially considering it was the high cost of these charges that have

put them in this position in the first place.

 

I am aware that some even have even taken out short term loans in order

to be in a position to take the bank to court to try and recoup some of

these charges. They are now left with no claim, no compensation and

hundreds of pounds out of pocket. Although there may be a slim chance

of them being able to recoup some of the court costs, they should be

allowed to continue with this claim and get their charges back, like

the thousands of others who have had their cases settled.

 

To allow the banks to still charge and not allow the consumer the right

to reclaim stands contrary to everything the FSA and the OFT and the

FOS were set up to do. Let's take a look at the mission statements of

our so-called Consumer Champions. The OFT web site states:

• The OFT is responsible for making markets work well for consumers.
  We achieve this by promoting and protecting consumer interests
  throughout the UK, while ensuring that businesses are fair and
  competitive

 

The FSA website states:

• We have a wide range of rule-making, investigatory and enforcement
  powers to enable us to meet four statutory objectives summarised as
  one overall aim: to promote efficient, orderly and fair markets and to help retail consumers achieve a fair dea

 

The FOS Website states:

• So when we look at a complaint, we give both sides a fair hearing.

 

Protecting consumer interests? Help retail consumers achieve a fair deal Give BOTH sides a fair hearing? One word that appears in all of

their statements is fair. Yet their behaviour shows little fairness to the consumer.

 

I'm sure you will agree, sir, that these words begin to ring a little

hollow when we look at the deal that was reached behind closed doors

and without consultation with any of the organisations representing the

millions of consumers affected.

 

Furthermore, it is arguable that this action may also interfere with rights given under the ECHR directly, and as enacted in the Human Rights Act 1998.

 

Art.6 1. of the Convention states: “In the determination of his

civil rights … everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within

a reasonable time.”

In my view, It is unreasonable to allow an indeterminate stay, which

depends on litigation unconnected to the instant case; between other

parties who have no relation to the parties in the instant case.

 

I sincerely hope that you will do what you can help us in persuading

the FSA to amend this unfair and biased agreement and allow the

consumer to continue to fight for what is rightfully theirs.

 

The review two months into the waiver has now been completed and the FSA has unilaterally decided that the waiver continues to be fair - and by extension that nobody is being treated unjustly. But their main criteria for the success of this process (that those in experiencing hardship should not be adversely affected) is in my view far too narrow.

 

There are thousands like myself who at this point do not know when we will ever be allowed access to Justice. The test case and any subsequent appeals could take years and all the while the banks are still being allowed to levy excessive charges.

 

The FSA waiver review report can be read at the following web address:

 

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/two_month_review.pdf

 

Yours sincerely

MacBoy

 

Links to write to the politicians:

WriteToThem.com - Email or fax your Councillor, MP, MEP, MSP or Welsh, NI, London Assembly Member for free

[MacBoy]

We could actually do to get some buy-in from some of the 'higher-ups' on this site first - Money, could you use your influence?

[MacBoy]

Excellent stuff kog!

[MacBoy]

Guys/Gals

 

It's great that you're posting these letters to MPs and the regulators - but now we effectively have templates for this in te thread, could I suggest that people refrain from quoting the whole letter in their posts, please? It makes the threads over-long and harder to navigate (and therefore read) for others - thanks!

 

Mac

[MacBoy]

from what I can see jjppcc, you've edited it to personal taste, not to provide an option (people will choose to mention whether they can/can't afford the court fees for themselves) - which is fine, but I think we have enough samples on the thread now.

[MacBoy]

kog

 

I think what you've done is great already - the only thing I would change would be to make a more specific statement by including CAG and MSE URLs, as opposed to suggesting a Google search; which could in my view lead some people into the arms of the 'no-win-no-fee' ambulance-chasers, who pay to advertise on Google and other search engines.

 

If you need any help with putting it into a distributable format let me know - I'm able to convert most filetypes into PDF format, which is a great way of distributing stuff like this!

[MacBoy]

kog/All

 

Have PM'ed a Moderator with regard to mentioning the CAG URL on kog's leaflet; and also to consider providing a sticky in which to store it and the letter template(s). I'll keep you posted.

 

Mac

[MacBoy]

push them under the banks doors when they are closed on sundays, fax them to the banks also

 

Not sure if that's going to achieve too much, BBMan? They'll only bin them before they open - the bank staff are merely doing the bidding of their fat-cat bosses, they dont make the rules.

 

I think the best way is for people to put them in shops, libraries, post offices etc., where they have permission. Even consider (now that we seem to finally be getting a little bit of a summer!) doing a little leafleting of our own neighbourhoods?

[MacBoy]

Originally Posted by MacBoy

They have acted wilfully and contemptuously towards me and dressed it up as incompetence.

Doesn't is say something about how the banks are regulated when they actually dress things UP as incompetence.

 

It speaks volumes, Dave!

 

Moneyhelp - I'll let you know if I receive anything from the Mod I PM'ed - or perhaps the appearance of Dave is as a result of that?

 

On the question of the cartoon - I really like the idea of the higwayman cartoon - extremely eyecatching and effective. Even if there are likely to be potential issues wtih copyright with this image, surely we have a cartoonist among our number who could draw something along similar 'Highwayaman' lines?

 

I'd be more than happy to then take the image and kog's text and put it into DTP to get something professional made up.

[MacBoy]

Oh this is great guys - I've been away working for a few hours and the thread has been transformed - it's taking off now!

 

Just a thought - anyone here with a bit of rep over at MSE? - we could do to share this idea with them, methinks - they vastly outnumber us and it would really add some traction!

[MacBoy]

Great stuff DoS

 

PS - kog: Unfortunately the mod I wrote to this morning has stepped down, unfortunately - have passed my PM over to the lovely Sea-SideLady to get some feedback on using the CAG URL - will keep you posted as I said!

[MacBoy]

Guys

As before - please could we cut down on unnecessary quoting of long passages? It makes navigating and understanding the thread really heavy going. Cheers!

[MacBoy]

Some UK banks reported their half-year financials this week - here's how they did:

 

RBS/NatWest

Half-year profits 11% up at £5.1 billion

 

Barclays

Half-year profits 12% up at over £4 billion

 

HBOS

Half-year profits 12% up at just under £3 billion

 

Lloyds TSB

Half-year profits 15% up at over £2.01 billion

 

Anyone feeling sorry for them? Anyone need another reason to carry on claiming

 

Mac

 

(i'm also going to cross-post this into a thread of its own - everyone should read it and weep...)

[MacBoy]

Great idea Jade! I'll go and add mine.

[MacBoy]

Excellent, kog - can't wait to see it I'll make it into a PDF if you like when you've finished. This should give a nice small file size and make it easy to distribute

[MacBoy]

what about the FSA holding the old lady's hands behind her back while the banks rob her... after all that's what they are doing to us!!!!

 

Excellent idea, Peter! What do you think, kog?

[MacBoy]

Great start kog!

 

A suggestion from me: 2nd highwayman (with gun more obvious), called 'FSA/FOS/OFT', with 'Consumer Champions' written on the toothless donkey; saying 'Don't worry madam, I'm right behind you' ?

 

If we can find a cartoonist among our number who can help kog bring this to life that would be great! I could also help with any DTP/Photoshop work, or putting comic speech bubbles and text into the cartoon (I have special software for that!); and generally cleaning up the background etc. (I can design and do layout pretty professionally, but can't draw to save my life, I'm afraid!)

 

Anyone?

[MacBoy]

The toothless donkey of government consumer protection - I like that

 

I think he should be offering to help the woman myself, but it's your call - my point being that that's what he's supposed to do (I'm sure they haven't deliberately set out to help the banks), but ends up helping the banks indirectly anyway! This ties in better with the idea of the toothless donkey...

[MacBoy]

Determined dsamsel - that's great thanks! Could you please also list your MP here too? Ta!

 

Mac

[MacBoy]

tifo - I'd certainly write to him, but in his capacity as an MP, not a Dept. Of Justice Minister. As such, he is likely to be be extremely wary of doing anything that might be perceived as trying to influence the Judiciary.

 

But he's still your MP!

[MacBoy]

stondecroze - use this edited version I created, which is shorter and passes through OK.

 

Mac

[MacBoy]

Somefriendly - why don't you modify this template? It's just as valid a complaint to the FSA or OFT as it is to a political representative. J.barton1 modified it for that purpose I believe.

 

And while you're at it, why not drop a copy to your MP here too and have it recorderd here?

 

Thanks

Mac

[MacBoy]

please remove - duplicate post