pru-v-lloyds

[prunella1972]

:? O.K. So I'm probably being a bit thick here... Just been looking at the schedule of charges spreadsheet, I only have a cash account and i am only claiming for unpaid direct debit charges. Am i suppsed to be claiming for interest that i could have earned on the money if they hadn't charged me? I'm a bit rubbish with money....

Also do i only send a list of charges incurred without the interest calculation with the prelim approach letter? and when it says "date incurred" on the simple excel version does that mean the date my d.d didn't get paid?or the date that the bank charged me? Sorry, i have been to faq and have read around the site but i still have these questions and i don't want to mess this up!!

[Michael Browne]

Yes send the schedule (minus the days since and 8% calculation.)

 

Date incurred iss when the bank charged you.

[Mindzai]

Am i suppsed to be claiming for interest that i could have earned on the money if they hadn't charged me?

 

At this stage, unless you feel confident, you should be claiming the charges they have taken, plus the interest you have paid on those charges only (the spreadsheet in the library can work this out for you as it's a bit complicated to do manually). I say 'unless you are feeling confident' because there is a strong argument that you can also claim back contractual interest, ie interest at the rate the bank would have charged you for borrowing their money. More info on this can be found in this thread.

 

If your claim gets to the court stage, you are entitled under s69 of the County Courts Act to claim 8% interest, but NOT if you have already claimed contractual interest. Again the spreadsheet can work this out for you.

 

do i only send a list of charges incurred without the interest calculation with the prelim approach letter?

 

With the prelim, send a list of charges incurred and the interest you have paid on these charges. If you are going for contractual interest too, mention this and the rate. Say something like:

 

I calculate that you have applied £XXXX in levies and further, I also claim interest at a rate of XX.X% as set out in the attached list of charges. I believe this rate to be justified under the principle of mutuality and reciprocity, and is based on your [NAME OF INTEREST RATE, EG UNAUTHORISED BORROWING] interest rate that would be applied under the terms of the above mentioned account. Therefore the total amount owed as of today’s date is £XXXX.

 

do i only send a list of charges incurred without the interest calculation with the prelim approach letter?

 

Date incurred is the date the charge was actually debited from your account.

 

Hope that helps and doesn't just make things even more complicated! Don't be sorry about asking questions, that's what this forum is here for

[prunella1972]

First of all thankyou very much for your speedy response! I'm not sure at all about the whole interest thing as i can't go overdrawn on my account as its a cash account so I guess I need to refer more closely to my bank statements.

[Mindzai]

It should be marked if the interest was a result of going overdrawn / charges etc. Take your time and don't panic. Make sure you get back everything you are owed.

[prunella1972]

Ok, so i took my time but i eventually got my act together and sent my preliminary letter to lloyds. I was a bit confused by by all the addresses given on here so i used the one at the top of my statement, which i sent on the 18th sept, and i neglected to send it recorded delivery, do you think i should resend to Ms. Siddique?

[Michael Browne]

First class is fine. You can always get free certificate of posting at the PO

[prunella1972]

Still no reply, been 14 days now..........shall i just send L.B.A tommorrow?

[prunella1972]

I'm so fed up with Lloyds that i recently transferred my funds elsewhere, on the very day that they were planning to take another 140 quids worth of charges. The cheeky so-and-so's, i have been refused an overdraft on many occasions apparently due to my status as a cash customer, not even worthy of using the counter service to withdraw money; I was recently told to only use the cashpoint to get my cash, (and i read in someone elses thread a letter from a bank stating that when an account doesn't have sufficient funds to pay a direct debit (for example) that the customer is effectively asking for an overdraft, which has happened to me lots also), BUT, I appear to be overdrawn to pay for my charges!!! I thought i couldn't go overdrawn!! Don't get me wrong, i'm not surprised, i just think that it's ironic considering the amount of times i've asked for some flexibilty at the end of the month to pay my D.D.s! Also the post has been ominously silent still, i'm not very patient at the best of times!

[prunella1972]

Well i've received the standard bog-off letter today, so i will be sending my standard reply, the lba today. My partner is a abit worried, however that if the court proceedings last (thats if lloyds actually defend the case) we will be left with large costs if we lose. I did explain that it may not come to that and if it looks like anything has changed re the laws i will reassess whether to proceed!

[lucid]

Hi pru,

 

Definitely proceed. It seems as though Lloyds' tactics now are to draw the process out for as long as possible (which is ridiculous in the long run but it must cost them more money) and give you the impression that this is going to court and that you are going to lose because you've been stupid enough to think you know better than a bank. But don't worry. If you spend time reading around in the successes forum (Wolfcub is a recent winner) plus checking out people's threads like Bean (his joint account timeline) you will see that this is all becoming standard procedure from Lloyds. I guess the reason they do this is because so many people give up but if you're completely familiar with the process you will know where you stand and won't get scared off by them.

 

Congratualtions on moving all of your finances from Lloyds. That's exactly what we did as we got so fed up with our wages being used up for charges. Don't be at all surprised that you are now overdrawn because of their charges. They will take them regardless of whether you have the funds there - their own purposes are obviously exempt from the 'going overdrawn rules' that they adhear to when it regards their customers' bills etc. The good thing is that Lloyds don't tend to charge you when you are overdrawn because of their charges so hopefully you won't receive anymore. If you can, continue not using your Lloyds account and that way you shouldn't receive any further charges. If you're account is now in arrears be prepared for them to begin issuing letters to ask for it to be paid back. Check out our thread (in my sig) to see this whole side of the process and what will hapen if you don't repay the arrears.

 

Good luck. Lucid

[prunella1972]

Thanx Lucid, you guys are a major inspiration! I do read other peoples threads, they are compulsive reading as well as giving me the strength to carry on, good luck with your claims also, although by the looks of it you don't need luck!

Pru. x

[prunella1972]

Only just managed to get the lba sent off yesterday, I know it doesn't look good does it, nearly a month after sending my par. I am already on the case though getting the paperwork ready for the court! I wont be letting that deadline slide. BTW, Lloyds have gone straight to recovery for my overdrawn account, do not pass go-do not collect £1m, sending nasty letters "you have defaulted" etc, they can whistle for it, they can pay themselves back when i get my charges back!!

[prunella1972]

Re, my claim, when/if i get in court, i'm worried that because i didn't apply to bank for details of manual inteventions,that will be a stumbling block. i had all my statements so i didn't have to use a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request. Also i have unpaid dd's every month so will they argue that i mismanage my account and they have to manually intervene on a regular basis?

[prunella1972]

I'm preparing to fill inthe n1, i would have done mcol but i can't even get a step account with natwest so i don't even have a debit card. i have found brill templates for the poc part on other threads but i have failed to find anything formal looking to put in the breif details section, can anyone point me in the direction pref something which mentions the right statutes and fair trading directives? i'm not being lazy i have looked and i 'm sure someone out there has something more official and clever than i could come up with!!!!

[121o121]

YOU ARE NOT IN THE WRONG!!!!!

 

Firstly, you could say you delayed sending your letter before action as you wanted to give them more time to reflect on their decision.

 

Secondly, you didn't need to make a S.A.R. request as you knew what to claim for. I claimed back 4 years from the internet banking site. I was better with money before then!

 

Thirdly, its down to them to prove that charging £30 per returned direct debit is justified. Why won't they disclose this information? If they did it would bring an end to all these claims.

 

Your doing great, GOOD LUCK