Lloyds Bank - The Template Response Letters

[Comp0]

I will do mate once I get my first response. Lord knows I'll want all the help available.

 

/me is broke.

[peetypies]

Here's the response I received today (15/2/07) from Lloyds after the prelim letter sent on 5th Feb;

 

09 February 2007

Dear Mr & Mrs [XXXX]

 

Thank you for getting in touch with us. I am sorry you are unhappy about your account charges.

 

Like any business, we do make a charge for some of our extra services. When customers don't have enough in their accounts to cover a payment, this always means extra work - and it has to happen very quickly. We have to agree to make the payment by setting up or increasing an overdraft, oe tell customers we can't agree it. We feel it's fair to charge for this service.

 

Of course it's only fair too, that we're completely open about any charged-for services before you take them up. That's why we take care to give every new customer the latest guide to our charges. You can also get up-to-date details about fees and borrowing rates at all our branches, through our helpline and on our website.

 

Just as importantly, we do everything we can to help our customers avoid these charges altogether. I'm sure you'll know how easy it is to keep a running check on how much is in your account. You're free to get an up-to-date balance at any of our cash machines, over the phone, on line and by weekly text to your mobile.

If you know a payment is going to take you over the limit we've agreed, you're welcome to see if we can raise it - and we can usually give you an answer straight away. Again we can do that by phone, on line or at any of our branches.

 

I do hope you can see that we make our charging system as fair as possible - and why I can't agree to cancel your charges.

 

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do. If we cannot come to an agreed solution after this I will help refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for independent advice.

 

If you are happy wih the way I have dealt with your complaint, there is no need to reply to my letter. If I have not heard back from you bye the 06/04/2007, I will close my files, though I will be happy to reopen it should you come back at any point afterwards.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

[photocopied signature]

 

Debbie Gilbert

Team Manager

Customer Service Recovery Centre Andover.

[Bart Noodler]

Hello all

The "Thank you for getting in touch... Like any business... Of course it's only fair", etc, etc, blah blah seems to be the latest template from LTSB.

Still doesn't claim to be legal thjough....

[iamnathan2002]

I have now sent my prelim letter (no response other than acknowledgement letter saying they were investigating my complaint) and 14 days later my LBA (sent last Wednesday). Today I have received the following letter from them but I'm not sure if it's in response to the prelim or LBA. Is this the same as received by others?

 

"Thank you for getting in touch with us. I am sorry you are unhappy over your account charges.

 

Like any business, we do make a charge for some of our extra services. When a customer doesn't have enough in their account to cover a payment, this always means additional work. We must either make the payment for you via an overdraft or send the payment request back. Either way, it has to happen speedily. We feel it's only fair to charge for the extra work involved.

 

 

Easy Kate:

 

I got the same letter as you. Its a reply from your

 

Of course it is only fair, too, that we're completely open about any charged-for services before you take them up. That's why we take care to provide every new customer with the latest guide to our charges. You can also get up-to-date details about fees and borrowing rates at all our branches, via our helpline and on our website.

 

Just as importantly, we do everything we can to help our customers avoid charges altogether.

 

I'm sure you'll know how easy it is to keep a running check on how much is in your account. You're free to get an up-to-date balance at any of our cash machines, over the phone, online and nowadays even by text to your mobile.

 

If you know a payment is going to take you over the limit, you're welcome to see if we can raise your limit - and we can usually give you an answer straightaway. You might know, too, that we don't usually charge fees if it's the first day in 12 months that you've gone overdrawn without agreeing it with us beforehand. And we never charge an overdraft excess fee more than three times in any one month, however many times you go over your limit.

 

You've mentioned the new guidelines from the Office of Fair Trading on credit card default charges. We don't agree with the OFT's thinking on this and we're still talking it through with them. But the important point is that the guidelines only concern 'default' charges. The fees we charge for going over an overdraft limit and for returned payments are not any kind of default penalty. They are fixed standard prices for the service we provide in these situations. So according to our legal experts, the OFT's guidelines on credit card default charges do not in any way apply.

 

I do hope you can see that we make our charging system as fair as possible - and why I cannot agree to cancel your charges.

 

This letter is the bank's final response, which means thatr if you remain dissatisfied you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. If you decide to pursue your complaint throught the Financial Ombudsman Service you must do so within six months from the date of this letter. I have enclosed their leaflet that outlines how to contact them.

 

Thank you once again for taking the time to raiise your concern with us.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Ms Musarat Siddique

 

 

So is this pretty much the standard response to the prelim letter or is there anything I should be aware of? By the way my claim relates to a current account NOT a credit card as stated in their letter.

 

 

 

 

Easy Katel30UK,

 

I got the same letter as well. Its the response from the prelim letter. I'm in the process of sending my LBA letter.

[andrew631138]

STUNNING VICTORY !!!

In today's post, the letter every claimant wants to hear....

 

"We refer to the above matter and confirm that our Client will be settling your claim within five working days by depositing the sum of £8293.11 (inclusive court fee and interest) into your Bank Account. We note that our client refunded the Claimant £750.00 on 17th January 2007 into this account and the above stated amount is the remaining balance to fulfil the claim.

You are advised at this stage that it is not to be treated in any way as an admission of liability. This is merely an attempt to resolve the matter amicably between the parties concerned..." etc

 

So £9043 . 11 back from LloydsTSB. :grin: :grin: :grin:

I followed the advice on here to the letter starting back on 9th October with the SAR. 2001-2007 three accounts, 2 personal, 1 business.

The Request for Repayment went on 4th December. The LBA went on 28th December. They offered me £750 as a sweetener in mid January. I declined and began Court Action 16th February. Their Solicitors filed the 9 point defence on the 23rd February. I submitted the AQ on 15th March. They settled at once.

It shows it can be done!! Keep at them. Banks are the only businesses on the planet that help themselves to your money!

Thankyou Barty, ReLoad and everyone who has helped. Fat donation on its way!!

Celebrations here !!!

 

Andrew

[kfdh1962]

Andrew,

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS!!!! What an excellent victory, well done!!

[BARTY]

STUNNING VICTORY !!!

In today's post, the letter every claimant wants to hear....

 

"We refer to the above matter and confirm that our Client will be settling your claim within five working days by depositing the sum of £8293.11 (inclusive court fee and interest) into your Bank Account. We note that our client refunded the Claimant £750.00 on 17th January 2007 into this account and the above stated amount is the remaining balance to fulfil the claim.

You are advised at this stage that it is not to be treated in any way as an admission of liability. This is merely an attempt to resolve the matter amicably between the parties concerned..." etc

 

So £9043 . 11 back from LloydsTSB. :grin:

I followed the advice on here to the letter starting back on 9th October with the SAR. 2001-2007 three accounts, 2 personal, 1 business.

The Request for Repayment went on 4th December. The LBA went on 28th December. They offered me £750 as a sweetener in mid January. I declined and began Court Action 16th February. Their Solicitors filed the 9 point defence on the 23rd February. I submitted the AQ on 15th March. They settled at once.

It shows it can be done!! Keep at them. Banks are the only businesses on the planet that help themselves to your money!

Thankyou Barty, ReLoad and everyone who has helped. Fat donation on its way!!

Celebrations here !!!

 

Andrew

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!:grin: :grin:

Barty:)

[yoshimi176]

12/07/06 S.A.R

15/08/06 Chase S.A.R.

12/09/06 Preliminary Letter

27/09/06 L.B.A.

01/03/07 Filed claim at Moneyclaim

13/03/07 Received acknoledgement of claim

 

I'm assuming I'll receive the defence soon by 4th April - that'll be 28days after notice was issued.

[photoman]

STUNNING VICTORY !!!

In today's post, the letter every claimant wants to hear....

 

"We refer to the above matter and confirm that our Client will be settling your claim within five working days by depositing the sum of £8293.11 (inclusive court fee and interest) into your Bank Account. We note that our client refunded the Claimant £750.00 on 17th January 2007 into this account and the above stated amount is the remaining balance to fulfil the claim.

You are advised at this stage that it is not to be treated in any way as an admission of liability. This is merely an attempt to resolve the matter amicably between the parties concerned..." etc

 

So £9043 . 11 back from LloydsTSB. :grin: :grin: :grin:

I followed the advice on here to the letter starting back on 9th October with the SAR. 2001-2007 three accounts, 2 personal, 1 business.

The Request for Repayment went on 4th December. The LBA went on 28th December. They offered me £750 as a sweetener in mid January. I declined and began Court Action 16th February. Their Solicitors filed the 9 point defence on the 23rd February. I submitted the AQ on 15th March. They settled at once.

It shows it can be done!! Keep at them. Banks are the only businesses on the planet that help themselves to your money!

Thankyou Barty, ReLoad and everyone who has helped. Fat donation on its way!!

Celebrations here !!!

 

Andrew

 

Andrew,

Notice you've only made 2 posts? Could you PLEASE post some further details of your case ?

Most importantly:

1/ Was your claim for Contractual interest?

2/ Was your claim for more than 6 years?

 

How long did this claim take from start to finish?

Could we see some of your particulars of claim, AQ etc ?

 

Are there any conditions of confidentiality etc that they are trying to impose upon you in retuurn for settlement?

[andrew631138]

Hi Photoman,

 

I only went back to 2001 when my accounts became difficult for me to manage after my girlfriend left me and took the children. She went on legal aid and started demanding half the house etc. etc. Prior to that there were few charges to include.

I claimed Statutory interest at 8% as advised.

I have briefly outlined the chronology of the claim in my statement.

The AQ was N150 and I simply requested the judge to order Statutory Disclosure, but I did fill it out according to Jonnie's suggestion.

The reason I have not posted along the way was because I am a bit superstitious and didn't want to appear complacent to the Money Gods

There were no conditions attached.

 

I really did just 'paint it by numbers' and followed Barty's and Reload's leads.

Hope this helps! Good luck for everyone else's claims. Persevere!!

 

Andrew

[photoman]

Andrew

BIG CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!!

 

That was an astounding amount just in charges !!

Roughly reckon that equates to an average £30 charge every single week since 2001 !!!

They really twisted the knife when you were down !

Considering you did the simple ABC route, with claims of that size, they usually kick up a big fight, but I reckon as you were keeping things simple they couldn't not pick any holes in the basic issue, so just coughed up.......reckon this is a sign that they are starting to realise they are in the wrong ?

[Suzwa]

Hi I just recieved the oh so personal standard response, can I send out my second letter now or should I wait until the 30th when my 14 days are up?

[kfdh1962]

Hi Suzwa,

once you have a response, no need to wait any longer. Go straight to the next step now,

[kfdh1962]

Hi Suzwa,

i probably need to elaborate on my reply. If the reply was we are sorry to hear you are unhappy blah blah we will look into it...then you should wait until the 14 days are up.

If the repsonse was the "are charges are fair blah blah.... for srevices rendered etc so no we wont pay .. then you can go straight to the next step without waiting any longer

[Suzwa]

It went along the first saying they would investigate... etc... so I guess i wait, its only 4 days away anyway. Thanx

[staffiedownwest]

Hi All

 

Have just become a member of this site and have been reading with interest the threads concerning standard replies and letters.

 

I issued a claim against Lloyds TSB on 2 March 2007 and I did not receive ackowledgment of service or anything through the Court and entered a request for Judgment at the end of last week.

 

however, received a Defence from the Court this morning and Lloyds appear to be defending the matter on the basis that there has been no breach of contract and therefore the charges are not unlawful and they deny my claim in its entirety. Does this sound typical? I have to say it made me feel a little uneasy about continuing, but having read the comments on this site, I am assuming that it is another test on my nerves as to whether I can achieve a refund. My claim is for £4985, plus court fee and interest taking it up to £5700 ish. Any advice or words of encouragement would be welcomed at this time.

 

By the way, congrats to Andrew for his success.

[fluffycloud]

Hi all

 

Wow! The first 'template response letter' from Lloyds is exactly what I got today!! Mine was from Lloyds Customer Service Response Centre in Andover and thats for my Business Account reclaim bank charges to the tune of £4k! Well, I should imagine I will get the 'no way go away you aint getting a penny from us standard letter' next! LBA went off today 1st class recorded as today was day 15 from the preliminary request!

 

Thanks for posting these standard replies!

 

I feel like we have a civil revolution going on in this country, finally us 'Brits' are standing firm!

 

Well Done everyone! (Especially my fellow LLoyds TSB disgruntled customers)

[photoman]

Hi all

 

Wow! The first 'template response letter' from Lloyds is exactly what I got today!! Mine was from Lloyds Customer Service Response Centre in Andover and thats for my Business Account reclaim bank charges to the tune of £4k! Well, I should imagine I will get the 'no way go away you aint getting a penny from us standard letter' next! LBA went off today 1st class recorded as today was day 15 from the preliminary request!

 

Thanks for posting these standard replies!

 

I feel like we have a civil revolution going on in this country, finally us 'Brits' are standing firm!

 

Well Done everyone! (Especially my fellow LLoyds TSB disgruntled customers)

 

Fluffycloud

STOP !!

Do you know with Business account claims, there are some subtle but very important differences with regards the way you word your letters, especially your claim form compared to personal accounts ?

Most importantly, you cannot refer to Consumer regulations, laws, statutes and cases. You could cause yourself some big problems.

If you did know then fine, if not then come and have a look at this thread:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/68191-claiming-business-account-lets.html

[kfdh1962]

Hi All

 

Have just become a member of this site and have been reading with interest the threads concerning standard replies and letters.

 

I issued a claim against Lloyds TSB on 2 March 2007 and I did not receive ackowledgment of service or anything through the Court and entered a request for Judgment at the end of last week.

 

however, received a Defence from the Court this morning and Lloyds appear to be defending the matter on the basis that there has been no breach of contract and therefore the charges are not unlawful and they deny my claim in its entirety. Does this sound typical? I have to say it made me feel a little uneasy about continuing, but having read the comments on this site, I am assuming that it is another test on my nerves as to whether I can achieve a refund. My claim is for £4985, plus court fee and interest taking it up to £5700 ish. Any advice or words of encouragement would be welcomed at this time.

 

By the way, congrats to Andrew for his success.

 

Hi Staffie,

the defence you have received from SC&M on behalf of lloyds is also a "standard" defence. Dont worry about the wording. the charges are unlawful and they will have to pay up. They have never yet defended a single claim. They wont admit any liability, but they will pay up.

I have had 2 successful claims against lloyds, the first of which was 4.5k, so take heart and keep following this tried and tested path on this site.

[fluffycloud]

Yes thank you, I have taken a template from the business claims thread, and Lloyds STILL sent me the standard letter from Andover! I wonder if anyone else has had this when filing for a business...

[staffiedownwest]

Hi Staffie,

the defence you have received from SC&M on behalf of lloyds is also a "standard" defence. Dont worry about the wording. the charges are unlawful and they will have to pay up. They have never yet defended a single claim. They wont admit any liability, but they will pay up.

I have had 2 successful claims against lloyds, the first of which was 4.5k, so take heart and keep following this tried and tested path on this site.

 

Thanks Kfdh1962

 

It is comforting to know that others have received the same reply. I shall keep you all posted and keep an eye here for helpful hints.

 

Thanks

[dawny41]

Hi,

i just recieved a letter from LTSB

It was from Kerry Parfitt Andover.

I am writing to up-date you on where we are with your complaint.

As you know it is now four weeks since you told us about your concerns and ordinarily we would have hoped to have resolved this by now. I am sorry to say that despite our best efforts, we have not been able to do so yet.

We will write to you again within the next 4 weeks, either with our response to your complaint or with an estimate of when you can expect it.

I have now sent them the non-compliance template giving them 7 days to respond, What do i have to do in the mean time?

Dawny

[photoman]

Hi,

i just recieved a letter from LTSB

It was from Kerry Parfitt Andover.

I am writing to up-date you on where we are with your complaint.

As you know it is now four weeks since you told us about your concerns and ordinarily we would have hoped to have resolved this by now. I am sorry to say that despite our best efforts, we have not been able to do so yet.

We will write to you again within the next 4 weeks, either with our response to your complaint or with an estimate of when you can expect it.

I have now sent them the non-compliance template giving them 7 days to respond, What do i have to do in the mean time?

Dawny

 

What do you do now?

 

well you can either:

 

1/ Wait another 4 weeks for them to write to tell you they need another 4 weeks....... ad infinitum !

2/ File your N1 claim

 

 

.....mmmmmmmmmmmmm ???????

[dawny41]

Yes, i think that would be wise otherwise i will be waiting for ever,

Cheers.

[youmustbejoking]

Hi I have also got the kerry parfittt letters but i still dont have my information requested so cannot act further i sent them on the 25th feb had two letters back last one saying will write again in 4 weeks ! What next ?