My story (so far), First Direct

[barrymason]

Hi folks,

 

Thought Id give you my story regarding the recovery of my bank charges.

I found out about this through 'Moneysavingexpert.com', and thought Id give it a try.

 

I emailed my bank and asked for all my bank records going back 6 years and quoted to DPA. They duly responded and within a few weeks I had a ream of paperwork on my doorstep.

 

I went through one account (which is now closed), and sent the letter off recorded delivery. It was a standard letter which I got from this website, except that I listed the charges I was requesting a refund for - total £417.

 

I got a standard letter back from them, telling me they were looking into my complaint, and would respond within 14 days.

 

The 14 days passed, and due to a bank holiday weekend etc, the deadline ended up being more like 21 days. Having still not heard from them - the next stage was for me to send the 'letter before action'.

 

The day I was about to send this - I had a letter from first direct basically offering me the refund.

 

The jist of it was as follows...

 

'Thank you for your letter dated 30 March requesting refund of £417.00 bank charges.

In circumstances where you have authorised a payment that would, if met by us, lead to your account going overdrawn or to exceed an agreed overdraft limit, we have to consider whether to make this payment. A fee is payable for this service provided by the bank, details of which are clearly set out in our Account Terms and Conditions, a copy of which was provided to you when you opened your account. We are confident of our position and believe that if your claim for a refund proceeded to Court, we would successfully resist any legal challenge in relation to these fees.

first direct is, however, mindful of the management time and irrecoverable legal costs we may incur in relation to such a claim. For those commercial reasons alone, and without any admission of liability whatsoever, first direct is prepared to make a payment to you in the sum of £417.00 representing the charges applied, in full and final settlement of this matter.

If you accept our proposal please sign and return the enclosed declaration to us in the prepaid envelope provided and we will arrange for a refund to be made to you.

...

...

Clearly I do hope you will not find this course of action necessary and thank you, once again, for taking the time and trouble to bring your concerns to our attention.

 

signed Chris Broom, Head of Credit Services'

 

 

I have signed the declaration and sent it off - awaiting cheque.

 

I have a copy of the letter in pdf format if its of use to the forum collection?

 

When I receive the cheque, I intend to do the same again for my present current account, of which Ive calculated about £600 in charges.

 

Can anybody forsee any problems with my action plan?

 

This was actually easier than I anticipated.

 

Comments welcome.

[Bookworm]

Wey-hey, that's what I call a result!

 

Welcome, well done, and yes, could you please let me have a copy of that at:

 

research@bankactiongroup.co.uk

 

I'm particularly interested in the pathetic attempt at justifying the charges as a service... Good one!

[oops a daisy]

Well done Barry - I think I read here somewhere that FD tend to pay out if the claim is under £500 before it gets to court and then for claims over £500 they allow it to go to court. Well not exactly 'go' to court as they settle before that happens but they wait untill court proceedings start. Good luck with your other claim - I have another one to do with FD aswell but I went for the biggest first

[barrymason]

Hi,

 

Just wondered if anyone knew how long it takes them to transfer funds, or in my case send the cheque. I sent back the declaration form last friday.

 

Also was wondering if anybody has had their accounts closed at all due this process?

[Bookworm]

Some do, some don't. Head you win, tails you lose... Who knows?

 

Of all the questions we get asked here, this is the one to which no-one has a definite answer!

[Movingon]

To which I should add that they may not be permitted to do this if it can be shown that it was retaliatory... see the info in the green section!

[barrymason]

I got my £417 cheque today!

[oops a daisy]

that was quick - well done

[barrymason]

This topic was closed on 09 March 2019.

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