Natwest Battle 2006

[Bookworm]

Ooooh, word for word same as mine...

[pieterclassens]

So Bookworm did you go with the Small Claims Court? Still pending? How are you fareing/did you fare?

 

Cheers

 

Pieter

[Bookworm]

Nope, clock ticking on DPA request.

[Antigravity]

How is your fight with Natsvest going? I'm currently rolling in the mud with them too.

[pieterclassens]

Right guys and gals, sorry I haven't added any news lately but I have been away abroad for a few weeks.

 

Anyways having sent the first letter and basically had a "**** you" type letter in response. See previous post, I decided to send another letter to reiterate my intention to challenge legally their decision not to refund my money.

 

I have since been served a default notice and had £30 added to my account for this, and I received the following letter in reply to the letter I sent them.

 

........

 

Dear Mr Classens,

 

Thank you for your letter of 15 April 2006, received here only today, although I am sorry that we have given you cause for concern.

 

I had outlined our perspective on charges when I wrote on 2 March and to which there is little that I can add constructively.

 

The OFT has been in contact with us and with seven other major credit card companies to discuss the level of charges on credit cards. It is important that I emphasise these discussions were limited to charges on credit cards only. We will be considering the detailed statement made on 5 April by the OFT on credit card administration charges and we have until 31 May to respond to the OFT.

 

Consequently, against that background, we must differ with the comments expressed in your letter and will not be refunding any of the charges applied to your account.

 

I am disappointed to note that you are contemplating legal action against the bank. Whilst I hope you feel able to reconsider, should you decide to go ahead, please ensure that any Proceedings are served on our Registered Office address, which appears at the foot of this letter.

 

Again, thank you for taking the time and trouble to write.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Stuart Higley

Customer Relations

 

.......

 

So there we go ...... they are absolutely adamant that they are in the right and will NOT be refunding me the money. They obviously arent taking me seriously enough so I guess MoneyClaim is my ONLY recourse even though I cannot afford the Claim Fee (yes I know I can add it to my claim) but its having the money in the first place to make the claim that is the problem. Anyways I will scrape it up from somewhere and put the claim in and see what happens. By the way as a side note my wife has a Natwest Account as well and is starting her own fight against them. LOL A family affair or what?

 

Anyways as always I will keep everyone up to date on what happens next.

 

Thanks for all your support and advice so far.

[thecornflake]

They appear to think that everyone is claiming charges back because of the OFT ruling, when in fact that really has nothing to do with it. If anything, it adds weight to the already very strong argument.

 

The fact is that the charges are unlawful, and the reasons for this have nothing to do with the OFT ruling that charges above £12 are automatically unfair.

 

Sorry if this counts as hijacking your thread, but reading these replies from Natwest really winds me up. They obviously have a very low opinion of their customers and are assuming that we are all just jumping on the bandwagon.

 

I can't wait till I get my copy of that letter and get a chance to say this to them in writing (professionally worded, of course).

 

/End rant

[pieterclassens]

Well having written a second letter in reply to them telling me I will not be receiving a refund as they believe the charges are fair I have received a letter.

 

They are advising myself and my wife that we are in default (letter includes a default notice) and that I have 28 days to repay the full amount or face court action and the possibility of having a debt recovery company contacting me.

 

So people whats my next move? I thought, and maybe I am wrong, that I couldnt receive a default notice on any amount that is currently under dispute.

 

Anyways they are also telling me I have to return all my cards, cheques etc etc and that all existing direct debits and standing orders will be cancelled.

 

So guys and gals, get your thinking caps on. I need some advice please!?!?!

 

Thanks!

[thecornflake]

You need some good advice here from BF, Maxie etc.

 

I had them threatning to take my cards back recently, and they were going to charge £300 to send baliffs round to collect them. I was waiting for a loan to come through and Natwest mortgages were not sending the required info to the new loan company. Without my cards etc I wouldn't have been able to use the loan to pay back any of my other debts!

 

There should be a good legal argument against them doing this but in your situation I don't want to offer any advice as you need to get it right. Hence I leave it to the more knowledgeable amonst us.

 

Keep us up to date on how you get on.

[pieterclassens]

So any advice BF, Maxie? I really need your expert opinion now more than ever!!!!

 

I would be very grateful to hear your thoughts!!!

[Guest Lueeze]

The problem is that as you have been asking for this amount back since feb, that has given them time to react back and be nasty, I suspect just out of bitterness!

 

One of the other Mods will offer you some good advice! Lou x

[pieterclassens]

Is there anybody out there??????????

 

Anybody at all?????????

 

Please help me out and offer some advice, especially the legal eagles amongst you!!!!!

 

Thank you .....

[kotum45]

As far as I know they can't default you because the amount is in dispute. I am sure mod will correct me if I am wrong but I think you should write to them telling them that the amount is in dispute so they can't put a default on the account.

Also I think it might be time for you to start your claim through moneyclaim.

Good luck.

[pieterclassens]

Well I am starting my claim as suggested. I was hoping it wouldnt come to this but I guess I am going to have to anyways.

 

By the way as a side. My claim is for about £1300 and my wifes claim is about £400. We received ANOTHER letter yesterday from Natwest saying I have NO claim for ANY refunds and that my wifes case warrants a measly "goodwill gesture" of £37!!!

 

Are they taking the p*ss or what?????

 

Anyways as I said above I'm preparing for battle!

 

Wish me luck!

[pieterclassens]

Ok I havent been on this side of things for a while as I have been busy with a newborn baby and also the hassle of tangling with Lloyds TSB (also bank charges)

 

Anyways I havent gotten round to the MoneyClaim story (I have a cash flow problem --- wonder why that is!)

 

Anyways I got a letter this morning instructing me that Natwest intend to recover the debt I owe them which now stands at £3173.73 for our joint account and £486.18 for my wifes account.

 

Having been this long and not knowing what additional charges are on the account should I start from scratch and request all the statements DPA style and then LBA etc etc etc

 

Or try to continue where I left off (just not sure what the new charges are though?)

 

Any thoughts? Thanks guys and gals!!!

[pieterclassens]

Absolutely ANYONE got ANY advice for me?

 

I'm getting desperate ...... please!!!! Thanks.

 

[Feux Verts]

Pieter,

 

If it's any help (I have already won against HALIFAX - who were a pushover compared to Natwest). You have already started the ball rolling and have had correspondence from Natwest acknowledging - and refusing - you refund request.

 

If you know the amount you are owed then go straight to the Letter Before Action - then after 14 days do the claim at Court (or MCOL).

 

Keep posting - go get 'em.

[kateandpete]

... and don't let them default you. Use BF's template http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/5078-10-data-protection-act.html

[pieterclassens]

Right .... well, this morning I got a delightful letter through the post.

 

It contains the following text (my wife got the same letter). Anything in inverted commas are my own thoughts.

 

..............................................................................................................

Our records indicate that you have failed to respond to previous demands for payment. "Yeah the same could be said of my prelim and LBA letters for the refund of the disputed amount!"

 

We are now considering Legal Action against you, and to avoid any future legal cts we therefore encourage you to give this matter your urgent attention.

 

Our experienced staff have helped many people to repay accounts such as this by agreeing repayment plans in accordance with customers income and expenditure. They are available to take your call from 0830am to 0600pm weekdays and 0900am to 0100pm on Saturdays and can accept debit and credit cards. "Um how? They confiscated my cards and cheque books! Sent a heavy round my house!"

 

Please contact them within 7 days in order to arrange a repayment plan and avoid court action or the instruction of our local debt collection agent.

 

..............................................................................................................

 

So there you have it! I concede that part of the overdraft is fair debt that I owe the bank. However, 99% of my wifes account is charges and about 75% of my account is charges. I will happily sort out a repayment plan for the rightful debt but not the charges!!!

 

Anyone have any ideas how I should respond to this letter? I can't find a template letter in the other forum/faqs. Perhaps one of the mastermind mods wouldn't mind helping me out to draft a letter.... I would really appreciate it a lot as a matter of urgency!!!

 

Thanks in advance!!!!

[pieterclassens]

By the way .... I know there have topics raised elsewhere regarding this but where do I stand with the recent news regarding the high court test case about bank charges?????????

[Guest NATTIE]

With regards to the letter you received, you need to say that the amount is in dispute,that's stops the legal action against you. with regards to Daily Mail article,it is covered in other threads

[pieterclassens]

I am starting to get a little panicked. I have now received a CIFAS? warning letter from Natwest. Firstly what the hell is it? And how does it fit in to my claim for a refund? I am in desperate need of some serious advice? By the way I am sure there are some more charges that have been added since I began. Should I send another DPA letter asking for the statements again so I can claim an uptodate figure? I am really desperate for some advice guys!!!! What to do? What to do?

[cumbria123]

What is CIFAS..?

 

You need to contact them and remind them of the banking code that says something along the lines of not passing on debts while `in dispute` (search around and you`ll find it) and not hassling people while accounts are `in dispute`. tell them you will deal with any issues as soon as this dispute is resolved and not before.

I had a similair threatening letter about five weeks ago, I phoned them and told them this, and wrote to them, not a thing since then.

[cumbria123]

A CIFAS is similair to a default. Something the banks apparently cannot do while an account is in dispute, you need to remind them of this fact.

[pieterclassens]

Well NOW I have been sent an extremely snotty letter from Moorcroft Debt Recovery on behalf of NatWest threatening legal unless I pay back the overdraft immediately.

 

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

What to do? What to do? What to do?

 

Mods? Anyone? I need some urgent advice??????????

 

Please!!!!!

 

Thank you ......

[kateandpete]

I advise you look on the front page, at the bottom is a list of people online, the mods are in green and pink i think. Send a PM to one (or more) of them.