Halifax charges - update

[Bovvered]

Yeah, ok I think I'll have to now. Will drop it in tomorrow...

[Bovvered]

I am still really concerned that:

 

1. I am moving too fast on this and the court will think I haven't given the bank reasonable time

 

2. I didn't ask the bank about manual intervention because I already had statements and didn't apply using the dpa request.

 

I am stuck home today unwell, so can't drop off the court claim until tomorrow when (I hope) I am better.

 

In the meantime, bearing in mind I don't want to send the LBA as it is, because it is very similar to the preliminary letter I sent them already, I have since had an idea, based on a post I saw earlier today about manual intervention.

 

I have drafted the following letter as it is a follow-on to my previous letter, and I think I'm ok about the 7 days having slightly lapsed as today is day 8 of 7 working days. Here is the draft:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Penalty & unfair charges – request for refund for xxxxx ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxx

 

 

UNPAID DIRECT DEBIT 11.04.2005 charge £35.00

UNPAID DIRECT DEBIT 09.03.2006 charge £39.00

 

Further to my letter of 9th March 2006, I would now ask if you have evidence to show that my account required manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, relating specifically to the charges as listed above. I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention.

 

In such circumstances, I would require you to show the name and position of that person, the action or decision taken and the reasons for doing so.

 

I calculate that you have taken a total of £74.00 in charges for these unpaid direct debits and again would request repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

I do hope you don't think I'm being dense about this, but this is very daunting and scary for me, and I don't want to get to court (if that happens) and not be as prepared as possible, and I certainly will go to court if I have to.

[Bovvered]

Any thoughts?

[Bovvered]

Ok, today I got an offer of 50% refund...

[Spiceskull]

Great - you are half way there!

[Bovvered]

I know it says in FAQ to accept, but not sign anything (like their acceptance form), so shall I write them another letter to say I accept but I want the rest or phone?

[BankFodder]

Write to them. Don't phone. tell them you will not accept any conditional payments from them and that the clock is still running

[Bovvered]

Ok thanks I will - watch this space...

[Bovvered]

Here's the letter I'm sending them:

 

Donna Goring

Halifax PLC

Customer Relations

PO Box 548

Leeds

LS1 1WU

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Ref: Your letter of xxxxxxx reference xxxxxxxx

 

Thank you for your offer to refund £39.00, however I must advise that I will not accept any conditional payments in regard to my application for full refund of £74.00 and again would request repayment in full of this money.

 

As stated in my letter of xxxxxxxx, if you do not comply fully within 14 days (now 7 days) then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

[Bovvered]

No response from them so filed online claim at moneyclaim website today

[chipsandsausages]

Bovvered, That letter you have just posted from the daily mail is the one I had been looking for as my LBA!!!!

 

I had the usual "sorry you are not happy" letter today with the standard leaflet. But they have since taken a further £88 which has caused me to go over my limit again. Now they haven't paid my council tax today - which will mean another £39 to the bank and a letter from the council!!! This is getting ridiculous, and I keep having to amend my request for refund of charges!!!

 

The only thing that's keeping me going are the success stories I have read about and the fact that their first 14 days deadline is approaching.

 

I will copy down that letter and use it on Tuesday when I give them their final deadline. Thanks for that and good luck with your case! I say, when we've all got our money back, we buy some nice vouchers for the guys at the action group to get some law books, and then all raise a glass and congratulate ourselves on all our efforts!!!!

[Bovvered]

Thanks and hoping you get a good result in the end!

[Bovvered]

I am so angry...let me explain:

 

Last week I paid a bill for £50 using my debit card having just checked my balance online, and then logged back on to my online account, and sure enough the available balance had got down by the expected £50 - great no problem!

 

Think nothing more about this, pay a few more bills, and yesterday withdrew £50 for my weekly shop and £30 to pay my mum for using her credit card to file my online claim against Halifax yesterday, from the ATM at Tesco. Of course I checked my balance before withdrawing any cash and my availablke balance was fine.

 

Lo behold, I check my online accounts, and I am £32 overdrawn. Not only that but a DD for £2 showed up yesterday as well which wouldn't have been a problem, but ofcourse will be now that I am overdrawn!

 

Do they do this on purpose? How many times have I been to the ATM in the past and been advised 'insufficient funds for this request'

 

then suddenly I am making noises, and the ATM advises I have £95 available funds, when in fact I only have around £50...

 

So, I tried to call the bank - keep getting an answer machine. I would leave this and just add on their inevitable extra charges to my claim, but I can't afford to! It will take all my money for next week!!

 

Ok, rant over, I guess I'll have to keep trying the bank (and repay the £32 I'm over by, which means I can't pay my mum back yet for paying the court costs of my claim)...

[Bovvered]

Just need to ask, how do I add extra charges to my claim? (Obviously I can't do it till they actually charge me, and they will - the gits are doing this on purpose I am sure!!)

 

I am now expecting another 2 x £39 charges next week (read post below), so that doubles my claim...

[Bovvered]

Well I am off to pay in the £32 overdraft to put me back in credit, but I just betcha they charge me anyway...

 

As asked in previous post, how do I add further charge(s) to my already submitted court claim?

[Beardedlaydee]

What a nightmare you are having over what is to them a tiny amount of money. I feel for you as the Halifax did a similar thing to us this month (not the first time either). My child benefit and tax credits went in on the Monday and Wednesday (this is our food money for family of 6 for the month) and on the Thursday they had the lot in charges!

We are now persuing them ourselves (see seperate thread) so will watch this thread with interest.

Good luck

[Bovvered]

Thanks...btw can you post link to your thread please?

[Josh]

Thank you, your letter was a God send!!!!

J

[Bovvered]

Received 2nd offer today, this time for £74.00 (which is 100% of original charges), but phoned up and advised I couldn't accept as I had already filed a county court claim for that amount plus interest plus court costs amounting to £107.01.

 

I also told them I wanted the pending unauthorised O/D fee from last week removed. They (Senior customer relations) asked me if I had an invoice I could fax them, I told them no but I have court documents and so did they as they were served officially today and probably would have got court papers earlier this week as they were posted by court on 7th April.

 

Anyhow they didn't know about the court claim, and asked me to fax the documents, plus the letter about unauthorised O/D fee which I asked them to remove.

 

Have faxed all the documents (they gave me a direct fax number)...

[Bovvered]

Halifax have acknowledged the claim so they've bought themselves another 28 days from 12th April...so that's hmm let's see....oh yeah, 10th May....

[Tinkerbelle]

Idiots... no doubt so they can hang onto the dosh a bit longer so they can gamble it on the stockmarket to fill up their coffers even more...

[Bovvered]

Yeah considering they already offered to refund all the charges - unfortunately they made this offer they day after the claim had been filed, so for the sake of £30 costs and a couple of quid interest, they're stalling...

[Bovvered]

Got the Notice of Acknoledgement from county court in the post today stating Halifax intend to defend

[chipsandsausages]

Don't worry..... wait now for your next post. And keep an eye on your bank account in case they refund the money and don't tell you. x

[onlyme]

What an excellent post BOVVERED! It has answered almost all my questions. I had a DD refused this week and the usual £39 charge plus a £28 unauthorised OD fee!! (Not to mention an unpaid DD!)

And as i dont get paid til end of month i am sure i will get more charges added - It has always confused me why if theres not enough money in your acount, fair enough the dd will be returned but they always manage to make sure their fees come out of the money you havent got! Wouldnt mind if they paid the dd anyway, and added a slight charge but in this day of automation not as if someone has to sit there manually working out / saying now £32 in the account minus £34 direct debit equals:confused: for each and everyone of us, then having to apply the charge.

Goodluck anyway with your case, thats it im off to me bank this week.......