Would it be possible to use this spreadsheet to apply for costs as the bank are behaving "unreasonably" by forcing the litigant to waste a lot of time and outlay more of their hard earned cash to persue the return of the litigants own money unlawfully taken in the first instance???? Possibly show the court that the banks are meerly abusing the court service in order ro "scare" people off claiming. I'm sure, as you's are also aware, there will be many who only have a few charges and simply don't justify the time and expense to recover them, considering the fact that applying for costs is generally speaking a no-no.

Just wondering how long it takes from complaining to the fos before a response/decision is heard?

I got a similar reply today too: Dear Mr. xxxxxxx Thank you for your letter dated 29th March 2007 which has been passed to me for investigation and reply under the Society's Internal Complaints Procedure. Whilst there has been some recent media coverage on the subject of fees this has, to my knowledge, been focussed on those applied in respect of credit cards and current bank accounts where a fee is automatically charged that is not proportionate to the work undertaken. I do not believe that the Society has acted unlawfully in its charging of fees. (Interesting at this point to note that they are still charging £30, as on their website for a "broken arrangement fee" and now only £50 for arrangement of a home visit, for which I was charged £125). The charges made by the society will only constitute a penalty at common law if they do not relate to the Society's actual losses but represent an extortionate exaggerated sum. The same reasoning applies when evaluating the fairness of the Society's charges under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, Schedule 2(e). With regard to your reference to the OFT, I confirm that I have no knowledge of the OFT considering that our mortgage charges are unfair. I believe that you may be confusing its general publications of bank account charges. If this is the case then as I understand it the OFT were concerned that consumers were being charged fees that could not be justified and this is the matter I have addressed in my response. The Society is a mutual organisation and has a duty of care to protect its member's assets. Therefore where a decision to advance mortgage funds is made this is done within a formal mortgage contract that sets out the terms and conditions of a loan and establishes the Society's ability to charge fees according to its standard scale of charges. The Society mortgage offer documentation (which forms the basis of our contract) includes a tariff of charges and the Society notifies borrowers of any fee changes in advance through the annual statement mailing. Details of the Society's standard charges per any given breach are also provided in the Society's tariff of charges. A copy of the tariff would have been included with your mortgage offer documents and you would have been notified of any fee changes in advance through the annual statement mailing. The commentary below outlines the activities that the Society undertook. Unpaid direct debit charge. Where an account is set up with a Direct Debit, Society systems would ordinarily automatically collect the required payment. Should the funds not be available a work event is created that requires the account to be reviewed by our collections team. The account is monitered and further attempts are made to collect the overdue payment. A charge is applied because this administration would not have arisen had the terms of the mortgage loan been adhered too. Arrears administration fee (Arrears letters) where the actions of the collections team continue to be unsuccessful in collecting the overdue payment a letter is sent to the borrower to establish contact. The content of these letters may vary dependent on the account history. This charge is made to cover the collection team's additional monitoring, reporting and management. Home visit chrages are applied when, as a result of failure to establish an acceptable arrangement, the Society feels that it has sufficient concern to require an arrears counsellor to visit the mortgage address. These charges cover both the additional administration generated within our collections team and the costs that directly arise from a home visit. Solicitor's costs and arrears litigation charges are applied when the Society feels that it has sufficient concerns about the conduct of the account to initiate legal proceedings. These charges combineactual legal fees and central administration costs. Questionnaire, Approval 2nd Charge or Full Questionnaire Where charges have been noted as Questionnaire, Approval 2nd Charge or Full Questionnaire these relate to the cost of responding to third party enquiries or in approving their application to request a further charge over the Society security. These enquiries are only completed once the borrower has been notified of the charge and with the borrowers consent. On review, the charges made to your account relate to costs incurred as a result of the additional management and administration of your account from it being in arrears. In summary, the Society has acted at all times in accordance with the terms of its contract with you. In addition, the charges applied to your account are fair and proportionateto the cost of the additional management and adminidtration that the Society was forced to undertake as a result of your failure to fulfil your contractual obligations. As such, the Society's charges cannot be construed as a penalty at common law or as unfair under the provisions of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and the Society does not therefore propose any refund of charges in this matter. As part of our statistical reporting of complaints, we are required by our regulators, The Financial Services Authority, to advise you that this matter will be treated as closed if we do not hear from you within eight weeks. Yours sincerely David Jones Team Manager Collections Department

Thanks for your input. However all my mail that I have personally sent, that haven't appeared on Royal mail's track and trace have indeed been sent to head office, Ann st. Do you, like me suppose that they are getting a lot of mail delivered, maybe in bags??? and therefore dont sign for recorded mail? If this is the case can Royal Mail not be claimed against for failing to fulfil the agreement of signature on delivery, considering that the extra cost charged for this sevice is specifically for a signature???

sounds to me like they are chancing their arm, it's good to note that they have mentioned that their charges are benchmarked againt others in the industry. Personally I would be inclined to point out that the other banks, mortgage companies etc are all having to refund the chrges, which obviously they aren't doing for the fun of it. Speak to someone in the chat room and ask them to comment on your post, they will probably say carry on regardless, but might be able to tell you other cases/legislation to quote in your letter. I've read loads of very useful info on this site, but have problems relocating it again at a later date lol. If you haven't already, i'm sure you have though, have a good read through a lot of stuff on here, theres probably peops receiving similar letters, and you might just stumble upon a very good response to it!!! By the way, did you reclaim the arrears visit arrears litigation fees? Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you had any response from Leeds? Was wonderind what to claim for as well, I have the same type fees as you. Can you tell me if you are also claiming back anything over 6years ago, some people say not to try, some people say do????

Not sure what you mean by Tyrone. I have now sent 5 letters to First Trust, none of which are showing on Royal Mails tracking system, 3 of them have definately been received as a postal order (crossed) has been cashed and I have had a response to another two! I am assuming that the bank is in receipt of a lot of mail on a daily basis and simply doesnt sign for the recorded items. Is there any way of claiming from Royal Mail for not upholding their service, after all that is what the extra cost of postage is for, to ensure a signature and be able to track the letter? As far as my letters are concerned Royal Mail think they are are lost, when told about the ones I know have been delivered, they say maybe the paperwork has been misplaced, what am I meant to do? Really don't want to let them away with it as it makes my dealings with the banks a littlke trickier. Furthermore if your mail is in fact lost Royal mail will only refund the actual loss (up to £32) of what was sent, which is less than what they compensate for late mail, which again doesnt make sense, as at least late mail gets there and tou dont have to re-type letters, aquire another postal order, chace the first postal order and stop it, resend letter etc. Quote from Royal Mail's website: "Has your mail item arrived five or more working days after it was posted? If so, your mail is classified as ‘delayed’, and we’ll give you compensation of 12 First Class stamps. If you provide additional evidence of delay and your claim for compensation is accepted, you will be sent a cheque for £5, or for £10 if your item has suffered substantial delay (i.e. was delivered more than eleven working days after the day of posting') and you provide additional evidence or proof of delay." Sorry about the length of this post lol, i've got it off me chest now!

Just wonderin if anyone has checked the delivery of recorded letters to first trust on Royal Mail's site, as I have sent 4 letters to first trust, none of which have regestered on Royal Mails site. However I know for a fact at least two of them have been received by the bank. Trying to figure if they dont sign for their recorded mail????

Just wonderin if anyone has checked the delivery of recorded letters to first trust on Royal Mail's site, as I have sent 4 letters to first trust, none of which have regestered on Royal Mails site. However I know for a fact at least two of them have been received by the bank. Trying to figure if they dont sign for their recorded mail????