what about joint accounts? Do both need to write letters????

[ana2cv]

HI

I've been reading this forum for more than a week now and finally made my mind up and i want to ask for my money back from Halifax but i have a joint account and i haven't read anything yet about that.Any ideas? Will it be the same? Can i use the template letters ?Do we have both to sign?Do we have both to write letters?Also we had a an account with RBS that has been closed(by us) for more than an year because we were almost always in overdraft due to their charges...can we still ask for the charges back?once again it was a joint account :?

Another thing is that we are not british, and even i do speak good english i'm a bit worried that if i had to go to court i couldn't ''defend'' myself because all the legal ''talk'' is a bit alien for me...any ideas of how could I ''sort'' that out?Is it there any guidance for court wording and procedures?

Many thanks

Ana C M Lavrador

[Bookworm]

1 - If you both have authority on the account, either or both can do it.

 

2 - Opened or closed, doesn't matter. In fact, closed is better, then they can't threaten you with closing it, lol.

 

3 - "Also, if the amount you are claiming is £5,000 or less and is defended, you may take someone to the court hearing to speak on your behalf. This person is called a 'lay representative' and may be a spouse, relative, friend or an advice worker." from the Court Information Service website.

[ana2cv]

Hi Again.

Had the courage and sent halifax a letter asking for my charges back..gave them 14 days and ask them not to send me any leaflets about account charges as a reply...What have they done???Guess??!!

They sent me this letter:

Taking in consideration your requests highlighted in your letter, I have reviewed your account.I have noted that 2 charges were refunded in january (one they were kind , the other i made a deposit of £120 in a monday , paid Next £35 by internet banking on the Tuesday and got a letter from Halifax on the Thursday saying i hadn't enough funds in the account ...rang them ,and they canceled the charge, they told me that was a bank mistake and assured me that Next had been paid (as if...) now got an extra charge by Next, halifax fault )(but that is another story) ...Halifax letter....

...unfortunately on this occasion Halifax will not refund any more charges that have been applied to your account.

It is costumer responsability to ensure enough funds are available, taking in consideration direct debits and standing orders leaving the account each month. I have enclosed a leaflet that will help you understand bank account charges.

You will find enclosed a copy of our leaflet explaining our complaint procedures.(they sent two)

Should any of your concerns remain unresolved please let me know what you would like me to do to put matters right. We are keen to resolve your concerns. If we are unable to do so we will provide you with details of how you can contact the financial ombudsman service for help.If i don't hear from you in the next 8 weeks I will assume you are happy.

If you would like to discuss your concerns please telephone me.

Branch Manager

 

Is it me or they can't read plain english?????I'm the one who's not british :? So what do i do now? i sent the letter on the 10th does the weekends count aswell?

There's a copy of the letter i sent....have i done anything wrong????will my next step be the court? Please someone give some guidance.......

 

Many Thanks

Ana

 

 

Without prejudice

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER:

 

I am writing to ask you to refund to us the charges, which you have levied from our account over the last 6 years.

I now understand that the regime of fees, which you have been applying to our account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth, are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

It is our opinion, and that of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), that these charges are punitive in nature, not genuine pre-estimate of cost and not intended to re-imburse your losses for a breach of contract occurring. Further to the 1999 Consumer Credit Regulations quoted by the OFT, there are numerous cases in law that prove that punitive charges in contracts are unenforceable at English law.

 

Murray v Leasureplay (2004)

Dunlop Tyre Company v New Garage and Motor Co. (1915)

Bridge v Campbell Discount Co. (1962)

 

There are more cases of this type? Far more than I have room to list here.

 

Further to these cases, we also believe these charges to be a direct breach of the 1977 Unfair Terms (contracts) Acts, which require that a contract terms be reasonable. We do not believe these charges are reasonable as outlined in the aforementioned act.

 

With this in mind, we respectfully request that you return to us ALL charges made on this account, plus interest.

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

We are frankly shocked that you have operated our account in this way as we had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as ours fiduciary.

 

We calculate that you have taken £868.00 in charges plus £129.31 in interest at 8%APR as allowed by the County Courts Act (1984), making a total of £997.31.

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

 

We will give you 14 days to reply to us accepting unconditionally my request in principle and letting us know a date by which we will receive payment.

If you do not respond or you do not respond positively within this time period, we shall start proceedings for recovery in the County Courts, as we believe that legally we are entitled to this money back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours faithfully,

[richardc]

You have received a bog standard reply. Ignore it and follow your own timetable.

 

None of the banks try to send a proper reply - probably because they haven't got one.

[ana2cv]

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