I hate the stupid bank

May 04, 2007 10:59

So me and the bank have been having words the last few months, they say I owe them lots of money and I say that I don't own them anything other than charges which are illegal in scotland kiddies ( Read more... )

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claimbankcharge May 4 2007, 21:14:36 UTC
The 14 day deadlines are just that, 14 days, rather than 14 working days unless you explicitly stated 14 working days in your letter to the bank.

If you have requested statements using the Data Protection Act though, then the deadline is 40 days (again including weekends). All other deadlines are in blocks of 14 days.

The standard timescales are:

1) Write to the bank asking for your charges or statements under the Data Protection Act - the bank have 40 days to send them

2) Write to the bank asking for your charges to be refunded - the bank have 14 days to reply

3) Send the bank a letter before action, giving them a last chance to refund you before starting court action - 14 days to reply

4) File a claim in court - 5 days to be served on the bank

5) The bank then have 14 days to acknowledge the claim, if they don't you can request a judgement by default, and you win! If they acknowledge, then they have another 14 days to file a defence (giving 28 days after the claim was served). Again, if they don't you can request a judgement by default and win.

6) An Allocation Questionnaire is sent out, and then a hearing is allocated which usually takes a couple of weeks unless the court is really busy.

7) The bank settle with you at some stage before the hearing.

Hope you don't mind me posting here, just thought I could offer some helpfull advice :-)

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scowlotica May 4 2007, 21:17:37 UTC
I went into my bank and I asked a clerk for my 6 years worth of statements and they agreed in person, so no letters had to be posted. They said it would take "around two weeks" so I'm going to chase this up tomorrow with them (hopefully catching them before the banks shut at noon!)

My main concern is that these charges were the result of a rouge direct debit, one I cancelled but maybe came out anyway? I would be happy to square the bank up for this one off payment but the rest of the charges should not have happened, thats correct right?

How did you get my lj by the way?

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claimbankcharge May 4 2007, 21:33:44 UTC
Right, I thought you'd send a letter to bank. Go to the bank and see if they`ve done it, but they probably haven't. Its a standard delaying tactic, they are up to all sorts of tricks at the moment!

Also make sure they don't charge you for the statements. A lot of banks are charging between £1 - £5 per statement if you ask in the branch, which can add up to a fortune for 6 years worth! If you ask under the Data Protection Act, then the maximum they can charge is £10.

If they haven't done it, might be worth the letter approach. Delays things a bit, but you are guarenteed to get your statements at the end of it. Have a template letter for this on my site, and full instructions.

You can claim back any charges, whether they were your fault or not, it doesn't matter. The fact that the bank charge you isn't the problem, its the amount that they charge you that wrong. If they weren't so greedy, and charged say £5 a time, you wouldn't be able to claim them back. Because they charge so much though, you can actually claim the whole amount back.

I didn't find you specifically, as mentioned below I do a search on technorati to find posts about bank charges. Seemed a good way to publicise my site, and help people out at the same time!

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