Reclaim credit card charges more than six years old

[cavern]

Hello all,

 

I was told that I can reclaim £18 and £15 Late Payment and Over Limit charges on my old Natwest Credit Card account from more than six years ago.

 

Natwest say that because the charges are so old I cannot claim as the Limitation Act prevents it. However a friend says that as I didn't learn about reclaiming these Natwest charges until 2011, Section 32 of the Limitation Act 1980 could entitle me to claim;

 

“the period of limitation shall not begin to run until the plaintiff has discovered the fraud, concealment or mistake (as the case may be) or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it.”

 

In that respect I paid the charges mistakenly thinking they were lawful, the bank deliberately concealed their true nature. It was a random conversation in 2011 that led to my being alerted to the possibility of reclaiming.

 

I still have statements from 2000-2003 showing the individual charges which total approx £250 when you include 8% flat court rate interest.

 

The correspondence so far:

 

August 2011 - I sent in the claim. Natwest replied “you have no valid claim as the OFT confirmed the timescale is a maximum six years. ……..as the account was closed more than six years ago we no longer hold information on the account”.

 

Sept 8 2011 - I quoted section 32 of the Limitation Act and enclosed copies of the statements showing all the charges.

 

Sept 2011 - Natwest reply "unfortunately you are only able to claim back charges dating back six years; these time periods are limited by law. This includes late payment and 'over the limit' fees".

 

Aug 13 2012 - I read some forums then wrote to Natwest re-stating section 32 of the Limitation Act.

 

Aug 21 2012 - Natwest reply, "thank you for contacting us again with your complaint. We are unable to address your claim for a refund as the account has been closed for more than six years. We therefore no longer hold any information on file. The 6 year time period to which you refer applies to the length of time we are obligated to hold on to a customers information for. As this time period has elapsed we no longer have this information.

For the purposes of the FOS this letter may be considered as the Bank's Final Response."

 

Natwest's seem to have dropped their time-limit objection. They claim they no longer have the information but this is not true as I sent them copies of the statements in September 2011.

 

Please can I have some advice on my options now to pursue the matter. Should complain to the FOS, send Natwest a Letter Before Action or something else? Also can I claim contractual interest rather than a flat 8%?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[citizenB]

If you have the information, then I dont see what their problem is !!

 

I am sure someone with more knowledge will pop in and advise soon

[havinastella]

Hi caven and welcome to CAG!

 

I would hit them with the LBA, give them 14 days (copy all your statements in) AND then Issue 14 days later.

[dx100uk]

urm..

 

if you are going to court

 

you claim int in restitution

 

with 8% stat ON TOP>

 

lots more than £250!! for charges of that age.

 

This second spreadsheet is a compound interest calculator and can be used both for PPI claims and Charges Reclaims on Revolving Credit Accounts such as credit cards. Compound interest is not an award that fos will give in respect of PPI claims but it can be used in PPI cases that are pursued through the courts. It is the standard sheet that is also used for charges reclaims both on credit cards and loan accounts where interest in restitution is claimed.

 

CISheet v101.xls

 

 

dx

[42man]

You are spot on in my opinion, however I would stop litigating by post, and give them a final chance to pay you or take them to court !!

[MARTIN3030]

It is very important that you are clear it is section 32c.

You will be relying on mistake as opposed to concealment or fraud since these are near impossible to prove.

[cavern]

Thanks for all the input.

 

Now I undertstand that as a result of Natwest's mistakes over the charges I should claim restitution as compound interest with the flat 8% court rate on top. I read the interest tutorial and have some queries.

Please can someone explain how to calculate compound interest on charges from 2000-2002 when I only have Natwest's credit card interest rates for those years. Does anyone know how to get hold of the rates for the last ten years? Without it I cannot see it is possible to calculate accurately.

 

Secondly, how is the 8% flat interest calculated. Yearly on top of the compound interest calculation or another way?

 

Lastly, If Natwest refuse my claim, I want to be sure my Particulars of Claim for the court are as watertight as possible. I cannot find a sample POC for credit card charges reclaiming on here but perhaps I haven't looked hard enough. Please could someone help with this?

 

thank you

[dx100uk]

avg out the int that you know use - that.

 

you cant claim int in rest & stat.

 

just fill out the spready i sent

 

it does it for you.

 

dx

[dx100uk]

sample poc is in shelleys barclays thread in the bc success forum.

 

dx

[SabreSheep]

bump this went quiet....

[dx100uk]

user not been here since aug 2012

 

dx