Spreadsheet with interest

[thewifeandI]

I've just used the new spreadsheet and added almost 10% to my wife's basic claim. What I ended up doing was to use the lowest balance in the preceeding month as the balance, especially as in many months there was a credit balance at the date the interest was deducted. If I didn't do this I ended up with no interest to claim back in that month even though I was being charged interest (if you see what I mean). I'm sure that my method doesn't skew that figures too much - it is only an estimate based on the data available (and without access to a mainframe data centre ).

 

Also the way HFX charge their interest is not (usually) for the current month, but the one preceeding it. I took this into account when I calculated the balance to use.

 

Anyway, thanks for the spreadsheet - I was wondering the best way to claim this related loss back.

 

Cheers.

[thewifeandI]

This sounds like the way I calculated my interest with Halif*x. I used the largest overdrawn figure in the month that the charges referred to (sometimes the same month, other times the month before that). I gave me a suitable figure, but without the computing power (and the original formulae that they use) there's no way we'll reach the same figure that the bank would. But it's close enough for me - I labelled it 'Best Estimate' in my Moneyclaim.

 

You will find the Step by Step Guide in the FAQ forum here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=5.

[thewifeandI]

Hi there

 

I am trying to download the spreadsheet but keep getting a page saying "You are not authorized to view this page". I have excel, I use internet explorer, and my security system is Zonealarm. I have tried to go through Opera instead of Internet explorer, but get the message "The object has been blocked" Have also tried to download the open office version but cannot open file.

Please help as I have looked everywhere for an answer but can't find anything. Am getting quite frustrated....

 

Thank you

It sounds to me that you have some form of attachment blocking turned on - you might be able to disable it temporarily in ZoneAlarm, but I've not used that for a few years, so I can't help to much - sorry.

[thewifeandI]

I'll see if I can explain by way of an example:

 

The bank charged me interest for the period 05/04/01 - 03/05/01 of 0.35.

During this period, the maximum amount of my overdraft was 55.23.

BUT 14.50 of that was charges from the previous month (the first month I had any charges), so if they hadn't imposed any charges, my overdraft would only have been 40.73.

 

The instructions on the spreadsheet say put the account balance for working out interest at the last day of the interest charging period i.e. 03/05/01 in this case. At that point, my account was in credit by 200.00+ so the spreadsheet shows zero for 'interest on penalties'.

 

What I want to do (and apologies - I got the fraction upside down before) is work out roughly what the interest on the 'legitimate' overdraft of 40.73 would be and reclaim anything over that as 'interest on penalties'. So my calculation is:

 

40.73 _ x 0.35 = 0.26 (this is the interest they should have charged)

55.23

 

In this case I can reclaim 0.09p interest that was charged on the illegal charges. (I know these figures are small but I picked the earliest example for simplicity and it soon adds up over the years)

 

In some later months, I would not have been overdrawn at all if they hadn't taken charges from my account for the previous month. Using this way of working it out would allow me to reclaim the whole amount of interest charged in those months.

 

Hope this is clear - it's not easy to explain at a distance!

Baineth

As I said before, this is exactly the way I calculated my interest, so I'm agreeing with you! ;-)

 

The only trap to watch out for is where they use the 'Interest as previously notified' line - this is where they calculate the interest for May at the end of May and don't charge it until the end of June - at least Halif*x do it. In this case you need to go back to May to look for the lowest balance there. This might not be the case with your bank though.

[thewifeandI]

Hello!

 

Thanks for the very helpful spreadsheet, started off my claim nicely.

Forgive any bad etiquette this is my first time!

 

When filing in the column for interest charged, do I include the interest charged ONLY on months when bank charges are made? There was one amazing year in six when they did not charge me bank charges (but they did interest!). Do I leave this period of interest charged out of the spreadsheet?

 

Thanks again,

 

Trigger.

Still include the interest - it could be caused at least in part by the fact that your balance was lower than it would have been if previous charges hadn't been deducted - the spreadsheet will work out what percentage is due to charges.

[thewifeandI]

Hi,

 

I have been using this extremely helpful spreadsheet but had one query on the interest charges calculated using Vamp's enhancements.

 

This thread has answered a few queries I had already, but one outstanding question I have is related to how it handles the interest in a month when charges were levied on multiple days in the month. If the interest figures are entered on each charge then the sheet calculates a refund of interest each time. i.e. Charges on 3 different days equates to counting the interest as owed back 3 times.

 

Am I right in thinking this isn't right and I should just enter the interest figures against the last charge of the month?

 

Thanks!

If I understand what you are asking here correctly, then all you need to do is enter the interest debited from your account along with the date it was debited and the relevant balance at that time (or the lowest value for that month if it was in credit on that date).

[thewifeandI]

It's more a case of how the sheet works when there are multiple charges in the same month. Take the following example:

- Charges are extorted on the 3rd, 15th and 25th March.

- Interest is applied on 30th April (Halifax). e.g. £6.

 

The spreadsheet will then have 3 lines for the 3 charges and then be claiming the interest back 3 time. i.e £18 interest claimed back rather than the £6 charged. While we can make the argument that the overdraft wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the charges, I suspect we'd struggle to claim it multiple times.

 

For now I'm going to go with only entering the interest figures against the last charge of the month.

 

Or do you think that's the wrong thing to do?

I think I know what's going on now...

 

What you need to do is to put the charges in on the left side of the sheet in date order, oldest first. Then go back through the statements putting in the interest debited in the righthand side of the sheet, but don't try to align it with the relevant charges, just list it down with the date and balance - this lot will (probably) be shorter than the list of charges - it doesn't matter.

[thewifeandI]

I'm not sure I've done this correctly. My interest on penalties is £212.19 and my total penalty charges are £2125. Does this look right?

Looks OK from here.

[thewifeandI]

Hi all,

 

Just a quick catch up on spreadsheets. I haven't been able to be around much. I notice now that some of you are are fully competent on the ins and outs of the spreadsheets provided here, and able to advise each other.

 

This forum is designed for us all to help each other. As I am not now as available as I have been, it's nice to see you all helping each other, and hope you continue to do so.

 

I'm just completely gutted the world hasn't fallen down whilst I've not been around. Lol.

 

Keep it up folks. We're all here to help each other. Thanks.

No probs, it's been enjoyable to pass on my experience and help others out! Thanks for the Rep!

 

The only area I've stayed away from is the subject of interest charges on CCs, although I'm about to claim on the first of many soon, so I'd welcome your input.

[thewifeandI]

Hi,

 

Is the spreadsheet supposed to print in red - or have I got a printer problem?

 

Thanks

I wouldn't expect it to - sounds like you are out of ink of one or more colours or got a clogged printhead in your printer. Check your ink levels and if they are OK, run it through a cleaning cycle (see your manual for instructions).

[thewifeandI]

Hi,

 

2 days to go until i send LBA. I dont mind admitting i'm really struggling with the spreadsheet.

 

Problem 1) How do i know what the interest rate was charged to put in the column "interest charged" on the spreadsheet. On my statements it just says the amout of £ debited and the balance.

 

At the end of each month on my statements it says "Interest debited £2.11" etc etc.

 

Should i just total these up and use this as the interest charged??

 

Could it be that easy??

 

Hope someone can help.

 

Rob

Hi Rob,

Enter the amount of interest charged into the righthand side of the enhanced spreadsheet. In the blue columns, enter the date the interest was charged, the amount debited and the lowest balance for the month that the interest refers to (either the same month or the one prior to it). The spreadsheet will work out how much was due to the accumulated charges on that date and the amount will show in the yellow column. This is all assuming that you have entered all the charge information into the lefthand side of the sheet (ALL entries are made on the Interest and Charges sheet). Don't forget to enter all this information in date order, oldest first with no gaps.

[thewifeandI]

I'm probably missing something obvious here !! Once i put a figure in the interset charged column then it works out the interest on penalties, but what do i put in the interest charged column.??

In this column you put the full amount of interest debited from your account. EDIT: See post #57 above for an example. The calculation looks at the total amount of charges up to that date, compares it with the overdrawn balance that you had in the month that the interest applies to and works out the proportion of the interest that was due to charges. You will notice that as you get more and more entries filled the proportion goes up to 100% as the entire overdrawn becomes due to charges. Please make sure that you don't try and align the interest with the charges - leave no gaps in either the charges or the interest columns for the sheet to work correctly.

[thewifeandI]

ok, now ive got headache!!

 

so going by post #57 as example, should i be inserting the total interest debited from each month on my statement into spreadsheet ??

Yes - that's right

 

If this is right then there will only be one lot of interest deducted for each month?

Yes - that's right

 

startng to make sense. ( i think)

 

Just thought of something else :

 

What do i put if i have 3 or 4 charges a month ?

Rob

You only enter one amount for interest each month - it doesn't have to align with the charges on the left side, just start from the top and put in the interest charged in date order. It doesn't matter how many charges there were in the month, the interest is based on your balance, not specific transactions.

[thewifeandI]

Cool, only taken 4 days so far !!!!

 

So just to confirm i'm doing it right ---

Put all of the interest charges one after the other - there shouldn't be any gaps in either list, and there is no need for the charges to align with the interest. You will almost certainly end up with the right hand list being shorter that the lefthand one. That's OK. ;-)

[thewifeandI]

Put all of the interest charges one after the other - there shouldn't be any gaps in either list, and there is no need for the charges to align with the interest. You will almost certainly end up with the right hand list being shorter that the lefthand one. That's OK. ;-)

When you delete an entry, only delete what's in the blue boxes otherwise you will lose the formula that calculates the amount of interest. Best bet is to open a brand new copy of the spreadsheet in a new window, then copy and paste the blue box entries from left side of the old sheet to the new one - don't copy anything that isn't in a blue box. Once you've done that start entering your interest data into the right side of the new sheet, starting from the first blue row and entering each item on a new line directly below the previous one. Once this is all done save this version of the sheet with a new name and use this one from now on. The old one can be deleted once you have all the data in the new sheet and it has been saved.

[thewifeandI]

Hi all,

 

I'm struggling to figure out how to get around the issue of the blank interest field if my account is in credit at the end of the month!

 

ie: Period ending 30/03/2001 - Interest charged £17.41 - End Balance £420.60

 

But the interest field remains blank??!!!

 

 

Can anyone give me a deffinative answer to this? I'm getting balder by the minute

 

Ta very much

I have done this by looking back through the month in question and entering the highest overdrawn balance in that month. If there isn't one, then your interest may be charged a month in arrears (does it say something like 'Interest Debited as Notified' on your statement?), in which case it itsn't the current month but the previous one that you have to look at.

[thewifeandI]

Bugger !! Time to start again!!!

Sorry, I don't make the rules...

[thewifeandI]

30/01/2001 15.13 -975.80 3.95

02/02/2001 16.67 -1,116.92 3.81

30/03/2001 17.41 -1,116.92 4.60

30/04/2002 0.45 -36.72 0.45

30/05/2002 0.44 -37.16 0.44

01/07/2002 0.43 -37.59 0.43

30/07/2002 0.45 -38.04 0.45

That looks OK. When your overdraft reduced almost all of it would have been due to charges, whereas when there was a far larger overdraft, only a small part was due to charges (if you see what I mean). You can check this by looking at the running total of charges where the charge date is after 30/04/2002 for the first time - this will almost certainly be more than the size of the overdraft (more than £36.72) - if so, all is OK.

[thewifeandI]

From the first line of interest I would expect to see about 13p being due to charges (£30 out of £90). By 28th Feb, all of the overdraft is due to charges, so the rest looks OK. For the sake of 30p I wouldn't worry about it too much - you can always overwrite the result for the first row with 13p to 'fix' it. I'm not sure why the calculation isn't working though.

 

You could try highlighting the righthand blue and yellow columns from a blank line lower down and copying it to the top line. Re-enter the values for the top line and see if that fixes the calculation - it might have been corrupted for some reason.

[thewifeandI]

Hi I also need some help with the spreadsheet. I am filing my moneyclaim today and am having trouble with the 8% interest page as shown here:

00/01/190000/01/19000.000.0000/01/19000.000.0017.02.2000cheque card misuse fee17.50#VALUE!00/01/19000.000.0017.02.2000unpaid direct debit fee25.00#VALUE!00/01/19000.000.0018.02.2000unpaid direct debit fee25.00#VALUE!00/01/19000.000.0029.02.2000unauthorised o/d fee 10.00#VALUE!29.2.20000.00#VALUE!31.3.2000unauthorised o/d fee 10.00#VALUE!31.3.20000.00#VALUE!

 

Please can you tell me what I am doing wtong. Thank You.

Hi - it looks like the problem is due to the dates not being filled in, although it is very hard to tell from the way it is pasted into your post. All your dates are showing as 00/01/1900 - overwite these with the date the charge came out on your statements.

[thewifeandI]

Hi Rob, just looked at your sheet again - it's all OK. My fault for not looking hard enough!

 

The first interest charge is on 31st Jan. By this time you have £95 in charges, more than the overdraft, therefore it is all down to charges. Sorry to have mislead you!

[thewifeandI]

See this thread (especially #4) for an explanation. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/12647-preliminary-approach-repayment-help.html

[thewifeandI]

Hi

 

I have filled out the spreadsheet as per instructions and nothing appears to be happening! I've read thru and now i understand what to do when charged interest whilst in credit, but i can't get the spreadsheet to do anything. When i look at the 8% page it simply has #value where the 8% should be.

 

Have i erased something? Please be nice as first time i've ever filled a spreadsheet in.

 

Thanks

Sugar:p

Hi Sugar, How have you entered your data - did you enter it into the second sheet only (don't enter anything into the third sheet - it gets filled in automatically)? On the leftside enter your charges (in date order), filling in all the blue boxes for each charge. When you've done this, go back to the first statement again and pick out the interest debited and enter this into the righthand side blue boxes - again, fill out each blue box in the row with the relevant information (see earlier in this thread for a full explanation of what to put in and where to get it from). This should give you the correct info on the third sheet. If it doesn't, then I suggest starting afresh with a new copy of the spreadsheet, as you may have overwritten or deleted stuff from the yellow columns.

[thewifeandI]

Good for you! This site is empowering - feels good, doesn't it!

[thewifeandI]

Sorry, I must be dense. I've read this thread three times, but I still manage to get interest of £8.37 on my penalites, when the whole interest on a 4700 overdrawn balance is £34?

 

17/04/2001Excess O/D Charge£20.001,088.0027/04/200134.32-4,706.988.3719/04/2001Excess O/D Charge£20.001,108.0027/04/200134.32-4,706.988.3724/04/2001Excess O/D Charge£20.001,128.0027/04/200134.32-4,706.988.3727/04/2001Excess O/D Charge£20.001,148.0029/05/200130.65-4,376.148.6602/05/2001Excess O/D Charge£20.001,168.0029/05/200130.65-4,376.148.6603/05/2001Excess O/D Charge£20.001,188.0029/05/200130.65-4,376.148.66

The amount of interest due charges will depend on the proportion of the overdrawn balance that is due to the charges at any time. I'd need to see the whole spreadsheet to be able to get a real idea of how it is made up.