FOS Adjudication - Help

[bigpeterlg22]

Hi All

 

I have been having a battle with LLoyds over credit card default charges from 2004 and earlier. Lloyds rejected the case on the basis of it was over 6 years since I closed the card and also that they felt the the charges were appropriate, even tho I have refered to the OFT credit card statement.

I referred the case to the FOS and the adjudicator has written back to advise that the charges of £12 are broadly in line with the actual and estimated costs with the legal principles of OFT April 2006 statement.

The charges levied on my case were £36 a time not £12.

Any help would be appreciated.

[citizenB]

I would have thought in view of the OFT statement, that you would be able to reclaim anything over £12.00. Whilst they didnt suggest that these were fair, they said they would investigate if they were above that.

 

The OFT are no longer in existence the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) swallowed them up in April. I think you should perhaps advise the FOS that you want your complaint escalated and have it reviewed by an Ombudsman proper. You should point out that at the very least you should have the charges over £12.00 refunded to you.

 

I will ask others on the site team to pop in and advise also.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

citizen B is totally correct, escalate to an ombudsman for redetermination.

[citizenB]

 

Appeal the adjudicator's decision and seek a review by an Ombudsman.

 

If that fails, court action would also be possible to recover these penalties.

[BankFodder]

The 6 year rule shouldn't apply here because you are reclaiming money paid under a mistake. The mistake being that you believed that Lloyds acted were entitled to levy charges at that rate.

 

The 6 years started to run from the date on which you could reasonably have known that you were mistaken - say the date that the OFT made its £12 credit card charge announcement. - When was that?

 

What is the value of your claim?

 

As you have gone to the FOS already, you may as well continue - as advised above - but if the ruling goes against you then you could consider court action.

 

Write a letter to the FOS setting out my reasons above as to why Lloyds are wrong on the 6 year limitation.

 

Once again Lloyds acts in keeping with their character and reputation for dishonest dealing and greedy behaviour.

If they ran their bank with the same efficient energy, they wouldn't have found themselves in the shameful position they have been in over the last few years.

[citizenB]

The OFT decision was 2006, BankFodder.

[BankFodder]

Blimey. That far back!!! Could have a problem with SB, then.

 

When was the last charge which was more than £12?

[bigpeterlg22]

The last payment was in July 2004 when the account was closed down. I attempted to reclaim charges in 2008 when Lloyds TSB claimed that they hadn't any records of me holding a credit card with them in a nice letter.

 

I had been pursuing a ppi claim against them and send me details of of the credit card when I made a DPA enquiry, contradicting the above letter of 2008.

 

I had gone back to the adjudicator on the status barred to argue the mistake point and the issue of LLoyds letter of 2008.

 

I have asked the ombudsman for a copy of the bank's file for comment:

 

In defending the level of the fee we would like to rely on the following:

 

AP' report dated June 2010

 

Letter from AP to L B G dated 14'^ June 2010

 

Letter from JR, L B G dated 21^' June 2010

 

Follow up letter from MP to P P dated 21^' July 2010

 

Submissions made by LTSB to OFT in 2005 and 2006

 

Letter from Big 4 accounting firm dated 14'^ September 2010

 

Letter addressed to PP dated 22"'' September 2010

 

The above information was submitted in relation to a number of similar complaints we

 

sought to defend in 2010 including Lloyds TSB vs. X). We

 

understand that you will have access to a central library within your offices where this

 

information is available.

 

In 2005 and 2006, the Office of Fair Trading conducted an investigation into the

 

fairness of standard terms in credit card contracts imposing default charges. We

 

provided full costs data to the OFT at that time. Following this investigation, the OFT

 

indicated that it would not take further action where charges were set at £12 or

 

below. Referred to above is the costs data we shared with OFT in 2005 and 2006.

 

In 2010 AlixPartners, a firm of independent economic experts, undertook a thorough

 

investigation into the level of the fees we charge on various credit card default

 

events. The outcome of that investigation was contained in a report dated June

 

2010. AP report dealt with the three default events. These are when a

 

customer is late in paying, goes over their credit limit or fails to honour a payment to

 

the Bank. The independent findings of AP put our costs per default in 2009

 

at between £18.20 and £31.10 and consistently above or around the £12 mark for

 

previous years.

 

The AP report explains our costs are made up of operational costs, capital

 

costs and credit write-off costs (or "bad debt" in other words). In making their

 

findings, AP relied on financial data. You will also see from the letter from

 

Big 4 firm dated 14''' September 2010 that they have verified the

 

accuracy of the financial data relied on by AP.

 

We only consider refunds on charges applied during the 6 years prior to us receiving

 

a complaint as any claim for charges incurred over 6 years ago is time-barred. As

 

outlined above based on the independent review of our costs we believe that any

 

charges we've made since we reduced our fees to £12.00 on 1st July 2006 are fair.

 

Any comment or thoughts would be appreciated.