Craig Verses NatWest Bank**WON**

[Scoodle]

Hi all,

 

right, I was advised to do this following a friend's successful claim against HSBC. I no longer have an account with Natwest but when I did, I found myself constantly buried further and further into debt as a result of their extortionate charges.

 

I am sending my letter off today requesting back dated statements from Natwest along with a cheque for £10. I'm sending it to Alex Lyons at Edinburgh EH12 1HQ.

 

Wish me luck - I'll keep you updated!

 

It seems to me that Natwest seem to be much harder to crack than the other banks from what I've read on this website? Is this fair to say?

[chriswatkins]

good luck craig

[Scoodle]

OK,

 

after much delay I have finally posted the initial letter requesting details of my charges today! I will post on here again when I have a response from them.

 

Craig

[Scoodle]

Received an envelope of statements on Friday, no contact details or cover letter.

 

The statements they sent were only for 2001-2002 and the account was open until 2005, am I right in thinking they still have to send me ALL the statements as I clearly requested within the initial timeframe I gave them?

 

I can't believe they use such childish tactics to try & slow things down. This is getting boring already but I won't stop until I'm much richer!

[Scoodle]

So, whilst I was on holiday last week I received full statements from the bank, having sent them a letter requesting them again.

 

I also received, in a separate envelope, a letter from Joyce E Tudor from the Retail Regulatory Risk dept as follows:

 

2nd Floor Business House B

P O Box 1000

Edinburgh

EH12 1HQ

 

Dear ********,

 

DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998

 

With reference to your letter dated the 9th October advising that you have only received some of your statements, I have ordered the missing ones today and they will be with you as soon as possible.

 

With reference to your requests concerning any 'manual intervention' to the adminisitrative charges debited, these charges have been processed in accordance with the terms and conditions of our current agreement with you as a result of the activity on your account. In the event that you breach the terms and conditions, we will take the appropriate action, contacting customers when appropriate, or handling customer services enquiries regarding their account status. When a customer has raised a concern in relation to this process, the decision will be communicated to the customer and where appropriate noted on the account.

 

If you have any problems please do not hesitate to contact us at the above address.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Joyce E Tudor

Retail Regulatory Risk

 

Has anyone else received this same letter?

 

I'm also intersted to know from anyone in the same position as me - I closed my account with NatWest when it was in excess of its overdraft limit and agreed a repayment scheme with them, which I am currently still paying. Do you think this will give them any leverage when dealing with me?

 

I have calculated my charges and interest using the Simple Bank Charges spreadsheet I got on here (thanks SO much whoever put that together!) and it totals over £6,000 when taking the 8% APR interest into account. I've decided to put a claim in for less than 6k to start with.

 

My Schedule Of Claim For Charges spreadsheet is as follows:

 

8/10/01 - 28/2/05

 

Charges Amount: £4,907. Interest Amount: £1,041.20. Total amount I'm claiming: £5,948.20.

 

I'll be sending Natwest my schedule of claim for charges tomorrow!

 

Wish me luck.

[cheddar]

Yes i am sure i have seen that letter before. As for the interest is this the 8% you are adding? You are only to add that if you are making a claim at court.

[Scoodle]

ah! ok,

 

thanks - will remove the 8%, thanks for the advice.

 

Craig

[cheddar]

Have a read thru the Step-By-Step guide again and make you know what you are doing hun!

[Scoodle]

OK,

 

just to keep you all updated, I have now completed the full list of charges that I will be sending off to Natwest tomorrow - they charged me £5,570 during the time my account was open with them.

[cheddar]

Nice one go for it scoodle!

[Scoodle]

Preliminary letter was sent off yesterday - Tuesday 17th October. Bring. It. On.

[Scoodle]

A question for someone in the know - as my claim is for over £5000, what implications does this have?

 

I've read on here that any claims over £5000 don't go via the Small Claims route. Just wanted to gather a few facts really to start preparing myself.

 

Thanks, Craig

[zootscoot]

Claims over 5k generally go to the fast-track and will be heard by the County court should it get that far.

 

The main implication here is that you will be liable to pay their legal fees if the case proceeds to trial and you lose. Although on the plus side standard disclosure applies in the fast track which means the banks will have to disclose their losses to the court. Something they will want to avoid at all costs!

 

The 5k mark is not set in stone and you can express a preference for small claims in your allocation questionaire. You could do this on the grounds that it is a consumer dispute (the small claims court is specifically designed for small claims) and that you are a litigant in person (ie have no legal representation). Also some claims lower than 5K have been allocated to fast track.

 

Hope this helps

 

Zoot

[Scoodle]

Thanks very much for the information. All good to know.

 

On a practical level, does going on the fast track alter the 'standard' procedures? IE: after I've received the inevitable 2 Sod Off letters (everyone seems to receive these from Natwest from what I've read!) do I then still file a claim through Mcol? Or do I need to take alternative action?

[zootscoot]

You can still go through money claim. You will still get your allocation questionnaire.

 

You will, however, have to respond to the CPR part 18 request.

[Scoodle]

Right,

 

received my first 'sod off' letter today from the infamous Mr Higley. Total standard response, as I've read on this forum numerous times. They did, in true NatWest style, managed to make a mistake though by thanking me for my letter dated 10th October depite my letter to him actually being dated 17th October.

 

So, LBA is going out today.

 

I'll keep you all updated.

[Scoodle]

I've sent the LBA out. Was this the right thing to do? Or should I have waited for the 14 days to pass since I sent the prelim letter?

 

Thanks, Craig

[Michael Browne]

I've sent the LBA out. Was this the right thing to do? Or should I have waited for the 14 days to pass since I sent the prelim letter?

 

 

Bit late to ask the quetsion after the event. It is advisable, but you knew that already. make sure you give the 14 days before moneyclaim.

[zootscoot]

You should really wait 14 days, not to worry too much, provided you leave it 28 days since the prelim before issuing your claim. The important part is giving 28 days notice in writing of court action and attempting to communicate at some point between this time.

 

Hope this helps

 

Zoot

[Scoodle]

Excellent - thank you both.

[Scoodle]

Received my second sod off letter from Stuart Higley yesterday after sending my LBA. Just waiting now for the 28 days to be up before filing my MCOL now. This is a pretty boring process huh!?

 

Can't wait to get this properly moving.

 

The 28 days are up on 14th November so I will file with MCOL then.

[Scoodle]

OK, 28 days have now passed since I sent off the first request. I am going to file my claim on Moneyclaim tomorrow.

 

Really quite scared now - it's becoming a reality that I'm actually setting the wheels in motion to take a bank to court. Not something I could ever imagine doing. My family are convinced it's not possible to reclaim the charges. Thank god I've got this forum for support!

 

Craig

[The cobbett slayer]

You will be fine - follow the advice on the site - any questions, ask but do keep to one thread so we can follow it.

 

I won't say good luck as you don't need luck - just dedication!

[Scoodle]

Thanks Paul.

 

Ok guys - I have a question. I'm filling in my claim online and want to be sure I dodn't make a mistake with the following:

 

Claimant claims: (a) return of the amounts debited of £xxxx; (b) Interest per S.69 County Courts Act 1984 of 8% - £xxxx continuing at 8% until judgment or settlement at a daily rate of £0.xx

 

The first 2 amounts are fine - I know my total charges and I know the interest so far.

 

Now - the third figure I need to calculate. Am I right in thinking this is the total of charges (in my case £5750) multiplied by 0.00022. If so, am I right in thinking the correct amount is £1.265 ?

 

If someone can confirm that's correct it would be much appreciated. Really don't want to make any mistakes on the claim! Thanks.

[Michael Browne]

Yes, £1.26