Mrgreengenes V Citi Cards

[Mrgreengenes]

I have just received an interesting reply to my initial DPA request from Citi Cards. The reply was sent by Special Delivery.

 

Firstly, they cannot locate the fee of £10 I sent them even though it has been cleared by my bank and was sent with the initial DPA letter. Would you believe that they have asked me to send the fee again!

 

Secondly, they have enclosed a Subject Access Request Form which has to be returned with copies of proof of identity. Only when these are received will the 40 days start ticking. I already know from other posts that the 40 days started with my initial letter and there is no requirement to send a SAR form as my initial letter states quite clearly my requirements. However, they have asked for proof of my identity. Should I send it and will it start the 40 days off again?

 

Finally, the last paragraph makes very interesting reading by it's implication.

 

"As you will be aware, the fee of £10, which we charge for the provision of data is a statutory fee which we are allowed to recover for the effort neccessary to obtain your data. That amount is independant of, and nothing to do with , your request ................... As a result, we will not be reimbursing that cost which is legitimately incurred. "

 

Reading between the lines, does this imply that all other charges are not legitimately incurred? If the other charges are legitimately incurred, why did he not state they would not be returned either?

 

Personally, I think he has just shot himself and Citi Cards in the foot!

 

I will now be replying to him advising him not to employ any more delaying tactics and that he has until the 19th May to comply with my request.

 

Don't let the fatherless chillen get ya!

[Mrgreengenes]

Here is my reply to Citi Cards' delaying tactics. Please feel free to use it for your own purposes.

Richard Cooke

Data Protection Officer

Citi Cards

CitiFinancial Europe

1 Exchange Quay

Salford

Manchester

M5 3EA

I am in receipt of your letter dated 25th April 2006.

 

I am sorry that you seem to have misplaced my cheque for £10, which is the mandatory payment for the above request. The cheque has now been cleared by my bank and, therefore, as far as I am concerned, the fee has been paid. The purpose of the cheque was clearly stated in my letter dated 10th April 2006. I have since received a statement from Citi Cards dated 21st April 2006 and a payment for £10 does not appear. My account Number was not entered on the reverse of the cheque to hopefully prevent it being paid into my account.

My request was for a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my account since 10th April 2000, in short, a list of charges with dates and amounts, alternatively, a complete set of account statements for that period will be acceptable. This should be retrievable from your accounting systems, and easy for you to produce. I will accept a computer print out of these transactions.

 

Non-compliance with my request will force me to bring the matter to the attention of the Information Commissioner should it prove necessary. I would also draw your attention to Smith v Lloyds TSB Bank plc (2005) EWHC 246 (Ch).

 

This letter has been sent by first class recorded delivery, and therefore should have reached you by 3rd May 2006. As you will be aware, as of this date you will have just 19 days in which to comply with my request. As stated above, a complete set of account statements for the period in question will be acceptable, and I expect this to be provided within the time period for DPA compliance. The Subject Access Request form is not necessary in this case, as my requirements are clearly stated in my letter dated 10th April 2006. The latest balance on my account is £xxxx.xxThis should prove my identity. Furthermore, the information will be sent to my address.

 

Should there be any further attempts to delay compliance, I will be left with no alternative but to escalate this matter into an official complaint to the Information Commissioner and/or the County Court under s.7 and/or s.13 Data Protection Act.

 

 

I will keep you informed of any progress.

 

 

Don't let the fatherless chillen get ya!

 

 

 

 

[alanfromderby]

Hopefully that should focus their attention - keep us posted.

[Mrgreengenes]

I finally received the Statements from Citi Cards. Here is the initial claim letter I have just sent to them recorded delivery. Mark Clibbens seems to be the best man to deal with.

Dear Mr Clibbens,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXX

 

I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account over the last 6 years.

 

I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, overlimit charges, late payment fees and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations. If you say that they are not then you will be pleased to demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs.

 

Additionally it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary. I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them. Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.

 

I calculate that you have taken £XXXX.

 

Additionally you have entered a default notice against my credit record with Experian and Equifax. This default occurred merely in respect of unlawful charges levied by you or was the result of impecuniosity caused directly by the taking by you of penalty charges which you had applied unlawfully to my account.

 

In addition to full payment of £XXXX, I require that you remove the default entry from both registers in their entirety. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the entry will not be acceptable.

 

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting unconditionally my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive full payment.

 

If you do not respond or you do not respond positively within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

 

There has been other successes with Citi Cards and my progress will be reported here.

 

 

Don't let the fatherless chillen get ya!

[Mrgreengenes]

Surprise, surprise, I have just received the standard reply from Citi Cards.

Thank you for your enquiry of 16th May 2006 concerning charges applied to your Citi Card account.

 

On Wed 5th Apr 2006 the OFT issued a statement regarding the default charges levied on customers by credit card issuers for breaches of contract such as making a late payment or going over their credit limit.

 

Within this statement the OFT has stated that it believes that those charges are too high and has recommended credit card companies charges to a max £12.00 unless there are exceptional reasons why a higher level should apply. Card issuers have been requested to review and respond to the OFT by 31st May 06.

 

Although not a party to the OFT investigation that led to its report, Citi cards is aware of the report and recommendations and, in accordance with the OFT's requirements is undertaking a review of our charges.

 

Notwithstanding the OFT's statement, we continue to believe our charges are fair, transparent and lawful. They are clearly set out in our published Terms & Conditions, to whichyou agreed to be bound, and we are not implementing any immediate changes to these. We do however reserve the right to amend this position once our review of both the report and the wider industry response has been concluded. We envisage that we will be able to conclude our review in line with the timeframe set out by the OFT.

 

We have noted your request and will advise customers once our intended position is known. Until that time our usual T&C of business remain applicable.

 

Yours sincerely, Mark Clibbens.

 

I shall ignore the reply and send the Letter Before Action at the expiry date of the initial claim as stated before. This will be followed by the Money claim.

 

When are these people going to wake up and smell the coffee?

 

 

 

Don't let the fatherless chillen get ya!

[adamski]

Any News??

Read your thread with interest

Regards

adamski

[Mrgreengenes]

Thanks for your interest Adamski. I have been saving up for the court fees and on Monday should have just enough to pay for my claim against Citi Cards. They have, up to now, paid out days after the court papers have been received. I hope so because I also need to pay for my action against Barclays.

 

 

The fatherless chillen won't get me!

[Mrgreengenes]

Here's an update and a request for advice.

 

I still haven't initiated the court case through lack of funds. I would need £120 for the initial claim plus £100 for the AQ. My victory against Barclays would pay for it, but we all know how long Barclays drags it out.

 

As it has been over 3 months since my last correspondence with Citi cards, should I send another initial claim letter and then an LBA or can I simply issue a claim as and when I have the money, regardless of the elapsed time period?:-?

 

 

Don't let the fatherless chillen get ya!

[MARTIN3030]

They usually regard an elapsed 8 week period as a shutoff to consider the case closed.

If I were you when you are ready send them an Lba with any additional charges since your last spreadsheet.

 

Use any Citi ref Nos they have allocated you by looking on the last letter they sent you.

Reply to that one.

 

You could indicate in the body of the letter that you are continuing the earlier claim.

 

I am in the same position myself having stopped at the court stage.

I have good reasons to have done that.....tho I will not put them here.

Smithy and Co are known to be avid readers of this site and I would hate to be the one to make things easier for them.

[Mrgreengenes]

I have just received a strange letter from Citi Cards. I have not written them since my LBA letter in May.

 

"Thank you for taking the time to write to me about the refund of default charges to your Citi Card account.

 

I understand that you have contacted us previously about this matter, which we will now look into again for you. To allow me to review your request I may be required to obtain copies of your statements. Unfortunately, if this is the case, it may take between three and six weeks as they are retrieved from our archives, however if I am able to get this information sooner I will do so.

 

Once I have the information and assessed your request I will confirm in writing the outcome. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience, in resolving this matter and if you have any further questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me on the number below and I will be happy to assist you.

 

Mark Clibbens

Tel 0800 146 088

Email citicardsman.customerfeedback@citigroup.com

 

On the surface it seems like a nice polite friendly letter. However, we all know Citi Cards better than that. They have revealed their true colours on numerous occasions.

 

They will probably refund to me the difference between my charges and £12 over the last six years.

 

When I am ready, I will go after the remainder through a court claim.

 

One advantage of this is that we now have a freephone number to him and an email address.

 

I will not be holding my breath on this and...

[lickthewallfatboy]

oh,yes-we all know what citi are like!!

[Mrgreengenes]

LTWFB, I have just read your Thread on perjury.

 

Maybe Citi Cards are now getting scared over all the potential court claims out there, mine included, and I am claiming almost £2,000. This may explain their "nice" letter to me. They may be trying to pacify us all into not entering into litigation.

 

I have news for them. Refund my charges in full or I will issue a claim!!!

 

I think that we are winning the battle against Citi Cards and it appears that heads are starting to roll.:grin:

[MARTIN3030]

This is a new one on me yep they are definately up to something here........ :rolleyes:

[andrew1]

This letter seems like the basic one returned after the first prelim letter - sounds more like a c..k up than a flush of guilt!

[adamski]

Knowing how slow on the uptake Citi are including the fact they look on here for Stages of litigation from members via case numbers, this would not surprise me, but i think maybe Citi are trying to pacify people at the Prelim/LBA stage with the unaceptable £12 OFT difference rubish refund rather than just ignore you and hope you will go away atitude i think most of us at court stage have had.

Try again Citi!!!

adamski

[MARTIN3030]

This may have been the case early on.......but they know we are outsmarting them in every area these days. Mess with the Bag claimants and face the consequences............

[andrew1]

I'm sending him my letter with a couple of CAG stickers on - do you think he'll open it ?

[MARTIN3030]

Difficult one to answer..........but yep he will oen it ...at arms length :lol:

[Mrgreengenes]

Here's an update. I have just received a letter from Brian Smith. This is a bit fishy as why would a solicitor become involved before a court claim has been issued?

[texel]

Mrgreengenes V Citi Cards.

 

For what it is worth Today I received an EXtract for Payment from Perth Sheriff Court on an undefended small claim against CITI for £ 457.00 plus 8% from 23/11/2006 plus expenses etc. So I will have the Sheriff officers do their thing. I also have as of today an undefended small claim against B.O. S. so things might be looking up. Your situation sure looks as if it has taken a long time to get going. Best of luck.

[Mrgreengenes]

This topic was closed on 09 March 2019.

If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there.

If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened.

- Consumer Action Group