Hi folks Just wondering what the general consensus for my situation would be, as noted a previous poster missed out the LBA stage & went to MCOL. The salient facts in my case are ... Two FlexAccounts (first one is 'suspended' or 'frozen', partly due to massive amount of charges exceeding overdraft etc. ) for just under £11k & £1k (the latter account still being 'live') Nationwide have failed to respond in anything like a timely manner to my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) or Prelim Letter, in fact I had to ring them to gee them up. I still haven't received statements, although they sent me an abstract of charges (that I based my figures on), promising full statements within 7 days. Rung them again this week & they promised will issue all statements & respond to prelim letter. I haven't claimed any contractual interest, for two reasons - not having the statements but also (optimistically) an attempt to incentivise a quick payment As Nationwide have proved extremely unresponsive during the normal process (probably due to overload), I was wondering if it was worth just jumping directly to MCOL stage? I could then apply the 8% SI to my abstract of charges, and possibly save time in waiting to send a LBA and then be told to go forth and divide? In the meantime, I'm waiting for these statements to calculate contractual interest - if I omit the LBA and issued MCOL, I guess I could revise my claim subsequently if there were discrepancies in the abstract of charges, or the contractual interest was significant? Think this forum is fab BTW, don't know how people cope without it. To think some folks are paying some 'companies' 25% fees to reclaim!! Cheers

Hiya Thanks for the reply, your help is gratefully appreciated (as is everyone's on this fab forum!) As it seems Nationwide are dragging their heels responding to my prelim letter (I guess that's part of the game, as well as with them being over-run), I'm now chasing my statements in full to work out the possible interest I can add. Rung the DP team again today - they told me my statements would take 'about a week' on 22 May - and they say will resend them, but they also admitted to 9apparently) not keeping recordings regarding progress, therefore being unable to confirm if my statements were in fact sent at all? I'm also looking to prepare my LBA to send next Fri - which will be when their 14 days is up, but I'm unsure whether I will be able to add interest (contractual) to my schedule of charges after I've sent the LBA (in case I haven't received my statements)? I guess I will just add the same proviso, but also explain I cannot add the contractual interest because of their tardiness in replying. The Non-compliance links you noted are very useful, thanks again! I think my biggest concern here is timescale, I realise it's well worth waiting for but I've pressing situation financially away from this, and although would like to consider any refund as a bonus (not wanting to count chickens etc.), I may need to take alternative action in the short term. I know the timescale is set in stone, which will be send LBA next Fri (8th June), which would put us at raising a claim/MCOL 14 days hence, which would put us end of July for (hopeful) resolution. Well, will address my other issue directly & independently of this case, and with all the help I've got from CAG hopefully be cracking the bubbly end of July! Cheers !

Hi y'all Well, isn't this exciting? Consumer power in action, power to the people ! right, heres my story so far, will try and add any new info (contact nos etc.) as I go.. Sent S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) letter on Tue 24 Apr, decided to allow about 25 days before I called them to chase up. After approx 5 calls, being passed on etc I struck lucky with a nice lady called SADIE (see separate thread by myself giving detailed contact nos for DP team). Turns out they had 16,000 SAR on their in tray, but she agreed to run off an abstract of my charges overnight and post to me, with statements to follow DATA PROTECTION TEAM (for SAR) - (01793) 583061 or 583062 I received said abstract of charges on Wed 23 May, so sent the prelim letter on 24th, with an offer to settle just for the amounts as charged, providing settlement was made within 14 calendar days. At this stage, one account was over 10,000 and the other just under a grand, which isn't bad really I guess They received the letter on 25th, so I rung them (BRANCH SERVICE CENTRE TEAM 1 (my surname starts with C I guess?) - 01793 712480, 712468 or 712478 today to chase up. The last number is apparently the managers (Sarah Jane Dollymore), so guess which I rung? I don't believe in waiting, especially given what happened with my SAR. They claim not to have received my letter (AGAIN), but when I said it was a CAG template he admitted to knowing the format, and asked the amounts I was requesting. He offered to Email 'upstairs' to Customer Experience, as they are the ones who reply to the letters. He said they are allowed 28 days to reply, but when I pointed out as they had lost my letter, how could they count forward 28, he then said would be actioned today. However, they have a 5-10 day turnaround to reply to complaints. I then pointed out it's in their intersest to reply within my 14 calendar day timescale, not with an acknowledgement but an answer, as I would be adding interest to my schedule of charges - I thought I would pass on charges 'as is' in the hope of a quick settlement. In the meantime, I'm waiting for all my statements and going to review all charges and the interest calcs, as it's a safe bet they're going to fire me off isn't it?

Hi folks Thanks heaps for the great advice; checked Track & Trace yesterday & though sent a letter each to Equita Northampton & Equita Manchester, neither have been received/signed for? From experience, recorded delivery is often delivered the next day (Friday in this instance), so I'm a tad suspicious at the mo. Will see if they've been received on Tue, then try the SAR route, as well as confirming my intended actions with Council.

Herbie thanks for a great reply; I've actually taken some steps myself, inspired by what I read on this forum. I contacted the Recovery Officer of the council, agreed to pay them the debt direct - he said much the same as you, as well as saying they've had loads of problems with Equita. As they haven't levied, they can't issue removal of goods, so I then sent a letter to Equita MD and regional office, recorded delivery. In it, I asked for breakdown of all charges, certification of baliffs involved, and explained I had already entered into a arrangement with the council to repay the amount due to them. I explained I would consider paying the baiiff for their two visits, providing they first provide me with details of the levy that allowed them to issue the removal letters. I explained I would seek to resolve the amount due to them by law, but only after reviewing the info as requested, and only then if after analysis of previous charges, they don't actually owe me money! I then said I would issue a SAR with a request for information & recompense of interest & expenses, but extended them the opporunity to comply in the first instance before this. Thanks for your superb info though, it's only increased my knowledge & motivation to play them at their own game, which I guess is kinda the aim of this forum! Please feel free to let me have any more info as you see fit, it's very much appreciated Cheers

Hiya Fab forum here, I'm addicted, so useful & knowledgeable just keep reading & reading! Wish I had found it sooner, as there's a pressing matter I need resolving, and any advice would be gratefully appreciated. Right, hopefully someone can help me with a problem, that's tres urgent, and TBH I'm not sure best way I can deal with. Firstly, Blackburn Council passed my council tax debt to Equita, which I settled ultimately, though not easily. Basically, the sum got bigger & bigger as they said I had to deal with the bailiff not the office, obviously charges started appearing & ultimately, becuase of circumstances I reluctantly paid it all off. Anyways, council then raised another sum against me - I should have checked their initial sum was for the full year, which seemingly it wasn't. This Sum was £273 on the liability order - 15 Feb 07 letter. 22 Feb - Removal Notice issued by Mail. 04 May - visit by bailiff, same one as before, things kept formal enough and I stated I aimed to pay the complete sum within the month. In this time, however, a catalogue of circumstances has led to me being very short of money, although I'm trying to work through my debts - with the leverage of £11,000 hoping to reclaim from Nationwide. My problem is twofold in this instance, primarily I now don't have the money to settle within the timescale - he is saying they need payment in full by Monday at the latest. Secondly, the amount passed to council was recovery was 234, so that's over 200 in costs (they claim full sum due is £456.06). I know I should have addressed this sooner, but at minute can't really see the wood for trees. I'm trying to balance appealing to them for easing the pressure without them thinking I'm fobbing me off. Their stance is that they have not heard from me since last visit, and because of past problems, they are stepping up the urgency. I DO NEED to pay something, but they're angling for sum in full claiming past hiccups, demonstrates why they have a lack of faith on (partly understandable). Should I ring the council, pay them something - say £117 now, with a view to pay £117 within say 2 weeks, or will they say as it's been passed for recovery I need deal with Equita? I should say that in my past dealings with Equita, I've found the bailiff visiting to be pleasant & practical enough, but when the office gets involved it seems to get messy. I made a payment to them direct (trying to save costs on bailiff visits), and the sum they quoted me was less than the bailiff did. However, the bailiff soon put a stop to this (possibly to charge more for the 'service'), and I found their internal communication, and the outstanding cost, to be variable at best. Now I'm in the situation where something urgent needs to be done, but simply I can't pay the claimed full amount within such a short timescale. Bailiff has demanded I ring him today to confirm my intentions, he's coming over all heavy & saying if I don't, then it will go to next stage. I made the mistake last time of struggling to cope with their increasing costs, but paying in full without questioning or complaining, simply as I felt I needed to (which I'm sure is intentional on their part!) However, don't want to make same mistake again, whilst I do want to resolve it, I would like to do it a smarter way with the help of this forum. Thanks in advance for any advice or support given, and cheers for taking the time to read this!

Hi all Hope this helps, I've had a massive chase around this afternoon trying to get to bottom of my SAR, but if other people can benefit from the knowledge I've gained, cool. I sent my SAR on 24th April, recorded del - was received 25th - to the DP team. Heard nothing, so rang today (gave myself a cut off past 25 days & would call if not received info). I rang the Account Services team (details at top of post), who passed me onto Complaints, then in turn gave me number of (01604) 854828 & Name of KATH BARFORD. Rang that number, spoke to SUE TAYLOR who told me that due to weight of demand for SAR, they have set up a new team (FLEXACCOUNT STATEMENT REQUESTS) with tel no (01793) 583061 & 583062, but both numbers will be very busy. So, I rang second, got straight through to SADIE, who (like everyone else I dealt with this afternoon) was very pleasant, friendly, professional & helpful. Basically, she explained that have been deluged with requests and constantly keep revising processes, teams, departments & staff to cope. As requests are not logged anymore on the database, they are wading through the in tray & dealing with them in that order, but because of my delays she will request details of my charges instantly, computer process them overnight & as it's after 3pm they should be ready by 1300/1400 tomorrow. She said it will be an abstract of both account's charges, one single A4 page each (no need for statements unless for cross-checking at this stage), and will telephone me when they are about to be sent. I asked if she could give me the 'bottom line' verbally from these abstracts and she agreed. RESULT ! So my strategy is this, see what the figures come out to be, then request refund as normal. In meantime re-request statements to cross-check against, and while I await their response to my refund request also determine if the abstract amount matches the statements. So, to be honest, I'm quite surprised. Bit deflated they not been in touch already, but I expected would take a while due to weight of numbers. However, it's nice that for now at least, they seem to be sugar coating their interaction with customers, I expected a more terse and adversorial approach. Hope this info helps others waiting to find out what their charges are, at least as considered by the bank or BS. Good luck !