Upon opening a new account with the Halifax...

[Guest]

Dear Sirs,

 

Roll No: D/XXXXXXXX-1

 

Thank you for the Electron Visa card which arrived this morning. I look forward to receiving the PIN for this card in due course.

 

With that card came a list of bank charges that you would like to apply under certain circumstances. I now wish to exercise my right under section 5.1 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts 1999 (statutory instrument 2083) which permits negotiation as I believe that these fees you outline are excessive and cause a significant imbalance in my rights as a consumer to fair treatment.

 

You mention that “For each unpaid item a charge of £39 (maximum 3 per day)” will be applied. This appears excessive, especially considering that there is no detail within the charges of how these are worked out. If an item is unpaid, the bank has lost no money due to not paying it, so a charge of £39 appears to be a penalty to deter account holders from letting this situation arise, rather than an estimate of liquidated damages the Halifax incurs. It has been suggested to me that this charge is a result of a manual review of the account at this point; if this is the case then I expect to be told the name and rank within the Halifax of the person reviewing in each case, so that I may if I feel the decision is wrong take up the matter with that person. Before I agree to the payment of £39 in EACH case, I require more information on how this charge is formulated. If you fail to provide this information within three calendar weeks of this letter, I wish it known that I will not pay these charges. Please also be advised that the law affects the contract that we are now making, yourself as the bank to myself as the consumer and this law does not accept any arguments that a charge is ‘standard across the industry’ as justification for refusing fair treatment to a consumer.

 

Based on the information you provide me about how these charges are calculated, I shall write to you within 7 days of receipt to accept or to propose alteration. This again is my right under statutory instrument 2083.

 

You also mention that there is a monthly charge for unauthorised overdrafts. I am interpreting this to mean that if the account enters a negative balance at any point in the month, you will apply this charge. This also appears to me to be nothing more than a deterrent penalty. Therefore, I propose the following. Commencing for the calendar month of February 2006, each month that the account balance falls below £0.00 I will pay you £28 for letting the account fall into overdraft. Equally, any month that the account balance remains ABOVE £0.00 for the entire calendar month, YOU will pay ME £28 for keeping the account in good order. If this is unacceptable to yourselves I take that as further evidence that this is an in terrorum charge, which as you know is not legal, and therefore I will not pay it.

 

I would remind you of section 5 of statutory instrument 2083 which states:

 

5. - (1) A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.

 

(2) A term shall always be regarded as not having been individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term.

 

(3) Notwithstanding that a specific term or certain aspects of it in a contract has been individually negotiated, these Regulations shall apply to the rest of a contract if an overall assessment of it indicates that it is a pre-formulated standard contract.

 

(4) It shall be for any seller or supplier who claims that a term was individually negotiated to show that it was.

 

(5) Schedule 2 to these Regulations contains an indicative and non-exhaustive list of the terms which may be regarded as unfair.

 

You are required, by law and by good faith, to individually negotiate contract terms with me for my account and my business, as the leaflet you included with my card shows that contrary to section 5.2 above, you have attempted to entirely draft the terms and conditions in advance. Schedule 2.1 (e) quoted above specifically states that “(e) requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation;” shall be regarded as unfair to the consumer, namely me. Considering that if the account fell into an overdrawn state of one penny for one minute of one month you propose charging £28 I fail to see how anybody could see that as not being a “disproportionately high sum in compensation”.

 

I am therefore giving you this chance to negotiate individually with me, and informing you that failure on your part to do so invalidates any schedule of charges you may draw up, and permits me to go forward with this contract without penalties.

 

I look forward to your response.

 

Yours faithfully,

[SPARKY100]

Cracker.

 

Wonder how they'll reply? Probably ask for the card back!! No skin of their nose, I suppose... plenty of other suckers willing to open accounts without a challenge to terms and conditions!!

[mcuth]

Brilliant letter - love to see what their response is!

 

Cheers

 

Michael

[MondeoST24]

 

Thats fantastic, make sure you share response with us!

[sean frampton]

That is absolutly briliant.That is why i left Halifax and joined Barclays.I have since been overdrawn in Barclays and i have had my card declined on occasions but as yet i have not incurred any penalties or charges to my account.I wonder if this has something to do with this forum.I hope so.

[Tom_vRS]

Excellent!

 

What else can I say?

 

Look forward to the reply! 8)

[Russe11]

to be honest will it get to the right person ? I hope so.

 

awaiting the responce, though I feel it may never materialise.

[Realist]

You must of eat your shredies when you sat down and wrote that letter M8.

 

Congrats, well written and thought out letter.

 

Fingers crossed on a winning outcome.

[rmb282]

May I congratulate you on your most brilliant letter.

 

I for one, will be watching for your reply.

 

 

Good luck

[Antigravity]

Well done on crafting a letter of such awe inspiring magnitude!

 

Seriously though, it's very well written. May we have your permission to use it as a draft when opening new accounts with a bank?

 

Your co-operation would be greatly received.

 

AG x

[thoughtcriminal]

Nice one

 

Make sure you post back with their letter!

 

Of course if you actually use the electron card in the meantime it might mean you've accepted their terms. Still, I'm looking forward to reading their response!

[steveo735]

great letter have copied it and sent it too will let you know the responce

 

cheers and good luck

[aram]

what a great place to be right now. people using the internet together for a good reason. I actually have forked out over £1.5k in charges over the last 6 years so I will also have a word with the Halifax. But serious respect to you for the incredible letter and to everyone who is here. may fairness prevail. easy. aram.

[Guest]

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