25
Jan
2016
A question about : Reclaim Bank Charges Help Thread
***Board Guide Comment***
There are fourteen posts in this thread.
POST 1
Gives you the address to send your first letter requesting your bank statements under the Data Protection Act.
POST 2
Tells you where you can send the next two letters of the process.
POST 3
Gives you the registered addresses of the banks, and is the address you use for the banks when you issue your court claim (this is the address you fill out on the court claim form for the bank).
POST 4
The fourth post has been added to help you understand which charges you can/cannot claim for once you get your statements back.
POST 5
Gives you the link to a thread on opening a basic bank account.
POST 6
Tells you which court to use, and gives a link to find your local courts.
POST 7
Covers courts costs. It contains a link so you can see how much a court claim will cost depending on the amount of your claim. There is also a link to court fee exemptions (some people may be able to claim in court for free).
POST 8
Is a guide to filling out the Allocation Questionnaire.
POST 9
List of the Main Bank threads and other main threads
POST 10
Gives a bit more detail about interest, and what you can/cannot claim for.
POST 11
A short start up guide
POST 12
FAQ
POST 13
Timings for MCOL
.................................................. ......................................
Please make the cheque for Ј10 payable to the bank/building society or credit card that you are claiming from. If you don't have a cheque book, you can send a postal order instead.
Hi guys, in most cases the initial letter you will have to send to your bank will be a Data Protection Act Request. This will allow you to obtain 6 years of previous statements for a fee depending on each bank. They have 40 days to send you this data.The relevant addresses are all here, if they are incorrect please inform me and I will change them!
Abbey
Data Protection Manager
Data Protection Team
Regulatory Compliance
Abbey House
201 Graftons Gate East
Milton Keynes
MK9 1AN
Alliance & Leicester
Customer Contact Centre
Bootle
Merseyside
GIR 0AA
American Express Services Ltd
PO Box 68
Brighton
BN2 1YL
Bank of Scotland aka HBOS
Date Protection Manager
Trinity Road
Halifax
West Yorkshire
HX1 2RG
Barclays Bank
Barclays Data Protection
Radbroke Hall
Knutsford
Cheshire
WA16 9EU
Barclaycard
Data Protection Team
Dept LRC
Barclaycard
Northampton
NN4 7SG
Bradford & Bingley
Data Protection Team H18
PO Box 88
Croft Road
Crossflatts
Bingley
West Yorkshire
BD16 2UA
Cahoot
Friars House
Manor House Drive
Coventry
CV1 2TE
Capital One
Legal Compliance Specialist
Capital One Bank (Europe) plc
Trent House
Station street
Nottingham
NG2 3HX
CitiCards
Richard Cooke
Data Protection Officer
Citi Cards
CitiFinancial Europe plc
1 Exchange Quay
Salford
Manchester
M5 3EA
Clydesdale Bank
Clydesdale Bank Customer Relations
20 Waterloo Street
Glasgow
G2 6DB
Cooperative Bank Plc
Customer Feedback
4th Floor
Miller Street
Manchester
M60 0AL
Coventry Building Society
PO Box 9
High Street
Coventry
CV1 5QN
Egg
Riverside Road
Pride Park
Derby
DE99 3GG
GE Money/Finance
Sarah Wainwright
Data Protection Administration
GE Money
PO Box 700
Leeds
LS99 2BD
Or
Customer Services
The GM Card
PO Box 3615
Birmingham
B3 2RJ
Halifax Bank
Data Protection Manager
Trinity Road
Halifax
West Yorkshire
HX1 2RG
Halifax Credit Cards
FAO Data Protection Officer
Halifax Card Services
Pitreavie Business Park
Dunfermline
Fife
KY99 4BS
HSBC Bank
FAO Data Protection Controller
8 Canada Square
London
E14 5HQ
Lloyds Bank
Swallow House
10 Swallow Street
Birmingham
B1 2AL
Marbles
FAO Data Protection Officer
120 Edmund Street
Birmingham
B3 2QZ
MBNA Europe Bank Ltd
Stansfield House
Chester Business Park
Chester
Cheshire
CH4 9QQ
Monument Credit Card Services
Barclaycard
The Portland Building
25 High Street
Crawley
RH10 1BG
Natwest
Retail Regulatory Risk
2nd Floor
Cornerstone
60 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 9WF
Nationwide
Data Protection Team
Nationwide Building Society
Kings Park road
Moulton Park
Northampton
NN3 6NW
Royal Bank of Scotland
Data Protection Team Customer Relations Services Unit
1st Floor Drummond House
Redheughs Avenue
South Gyle
Edinburgh
EH11 9JN
Smile
Smile Co-operative Bank
1 Balloon Street
Manchester
M60 4EP
Tesco Credit Card
PO Box 6050
Southend-on-Sea
SS99 1WL
Woolwich Openplan Customer Contact Centre
Jackson House
Jackson Road
Clacton On Sea
Essex
CO15 1WH
Yorkshire Bank
Advice Quality Unit
Charges Unit
3rd Floor
Brunswick Point
Leeds
LS2 9BH
Hope this helps!
Best answers:
- Once you've got your statements back. You need to write to your bank and ask them for the charges you are reclaiming (sending a list of the charges with the letter). These letters (including templates) are covered in step 3 of Martins article.
For this section of your claim, you can send the letters to your local branch. Don't forget to send all your letters recorded/registered post. This way you have proof they received them. - UPDATE
The advice we have given before is to use the banks registered address for the court papers. If you have already done this, it's fine. The advice from the courts service when issuing a claim is to always use the registered address of the company you are making a claim against........................
However..............
Because we are talking about major international companies here. You can also use your local branch address for the court claim. The biggest impact the address has, is if your claim gets as far as sending the bailiffs in. They could recover any property from your local branch to cover the amount of any claim. The recent story in the press about bailiffs being sent to the bank involved a local branch.
The registered addresses are listed below for anyone that wants to use them.
ABBEY NATIONAL PLC
ABBEY NATIONAL HOUSE
2 TRITON SQUARE
REGENT'S PLACE
LONDON
NW1 3AN
ALLIANCE & LEICESTER PLC
CARLTON PARK
NARBOROUGH
LEICESTER
LE19 0AL
HBOS aka BANK OF SCOTLAND
THE MOUND
EDINBURGH
EH1 1YZ
or
HALIFAX PLC
TRINITY ROAD
HALIFAX
WEST YORKSHIRE
HX1 2RG
BARCLAYCARD
Customer Relations Department,
1234 Pavilion Drive,
Northampton,
NN4 7SG
BARCLAYS BANK PLC
1 CHURCHILL PLACE
LONDON
E14 5HP
CAHOOT
FRIARS HOUSE
PO Box 1981
COVENTRY
CV1 2ZD
CAPITAL ONE SERVICES INC
TRENT HOUSE
STATION STREET
NOTTINGHAM
NG2 3HX
CLYDESDALE BANK PLC
30 ST VINCENT PLACE
GLASGOW
G1 2HL
CO-OPERATIVE BANK PLC
PO BOX 101
1 BALLOON STREET
MANCHESTER
M60 4EP
EGG
Citigroup Centre
Canada Square
London
E14 5LB
HALIFAX PLC
TRINITY ROAD
HALIFAX
WEST YORKSHIRE
HX1 2RG
HFC BANK LIMITED
120 EDMUND STREET
BIRMINGHAM
B3 2Q2
HSBC BANK PLC
8 CANADA SQUARE
LONDON
E14 5HQ
INTELLIGENT FINANCE
1 Baird Road
Kirkton Campus
Livingston
EH54 7AZ
or
Trinity Road
Halifax
West Yorkshire
HX1 2RG
LLOYDS TSB BANK PLC
25 GRESHAM STREET
LONDON
EC2V 7HN
NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY
NATIONWIDE HOUSE
PIPERS WAY
SWINDON
SN38 1NW
NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK PLC
135 BISHOPSGATE
LONDON
EC2M 3TP
NATWEST CREDIT CARDS
Cards Customer Services
PO Box 5747
Southend-on Sea
SS1 9AJ
NORTHERN BANK LIMITED
DONEGALL SQUARE WEST
BELFAST
BT1 6JS
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND PLC
36 ST ANDREW SQUARE
EDINBURGH
EH2 2YB
or
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND PLC
RBS Litigation
1 Princess Street
London EC2R 8PB
SAINSBURYS BANK
33 Holborn
London
WOOLWICH
1 CHURCHILL PLACE
LONDON
E14 5HP
YORKSHIRE BANK PLC
20 MERRION WAY
LEEDS
LS2 8NZ
However if you are using MCOL you have to use an address in England or Wales for your bank and if the registered address is in Scotland such as the Royal Bank of Scotland then use your local branch address if this is in England or one of the main London addresses.
As regards store cards and catalogue companies if you don't have a statement giving an address usually if you Google you will find an address for the company. - The following is a list of Bank charges that we can and cannot claim for. Different banks may have different names for the same type of charge, if you are unsure about a charge phone your bank and ASK.
CAN BE CLAIMED
Account misuse fee
Cheque return fee
Card misuse fee
Unarranged borrowing fee
Unauthorised overdraft fee
Unpaid DD fee
Unpaid cheque fee
Unpaid standing order fee
Late payment fee (credit cards, store cards, catalogues etc)
Exceeding Authorised Overdraft Limit
Exceeding Unauthorised Overdraft Limit
Direct Debit/Standing Order/Cheque returned fee
Irregular fee
Paid refferal fee
Total charges (HSBC personal accounts only, not business accounts)
CANNOT BE CLAIMED
Cash Machine Withdrawl Fees
Account Service Charges
Service Fee / Annual Fee
Charges related to foreign currency transactions and conversions
Monthly account fees on certain type of accounts
Normal overdraft interest charges - Another question often asked is opening a parachute account.
Check out this thread regarding Basic Bank Account. - Another question often asked is "what court" shall I put in the letter. You can either leave it out altogether and your local court will be allocated or have a look at this site posted by Rex. This applies to England and Wales, different rules apply in NI and Scotland, please follow the links in Martin's article to the websites suitable for NI and Scotland.
***A NOTE TO EVERYONE***
This question keeps coming up. It will be your local COUNTY court. If you don't know the nearest one to you, go to THIS SITE and find your local one. The site will give you all the details you will need for your local court (address, phone number, etc). Scroll down to your local court, click it to highlight it, and click the 'get court details' button. - Cost of going to court.
Use the Moneyclaim website in England and Wales (there's also the Northern Ireland Courts online) which can be used for starting most county court money claims, just go there and fill in the form. There's a starting fee of between Ј25 and Ј100, depending on the size of your claim, which can be paid by a credit or debit card; though it's refunded if, and hopefully when, you win. If you don't have plastic to pay on, get the paperwork to start the claim from your local county court and pay there; it's the same price. This may be waived if you're on benefits.
Please read from Preparing for Trial for any further costs.
Link for court costs is here.
Link for exemptions is here.
Link for Scottish Court costs and guide - When you issue a court claim, your bank has an opportunity to enter a defence. If they do, the court will write to tell you which court your case will be dealt in (if you claimed online), and they send you an Allocation Questionnaire to fill in. You dont need to put your whole case with this form. It is only to help the judge manage your case (witnesses needed, dates available, disclosure etc).
Seeing as quite a few people have now issued a court claim, and are getting to this stage. Here's a guide to filling out the Allocation Questionnaire......
A)....Settlement
Do you wish any further action in this claim to be postponed for one month so that you and the other party can attempt to settle the claim either by informal discussion or by alternative dispute resolution?
By giving the bank time to settle your claim in your two previous letters, you have already given them ample time to try to resolve your claim. There is no need to give them any more time to settle. Tick NO for this section.
B)....Location of hearing
The claim will be heard in the court to which this form must be returned. Is there any reason why it should be transferred to another court to be heard?
If the return address for this form is your local court, tick NO. If for any reason the address is somewhere else (a distant court), tick YES. Then use the box to state that you are a private individual claiming against a company that conducts their business in your area, and the claim should be heard locally to you.
C)....Track
Do you agree that the small claims track is the most suitable track for this claim?
It is far better/easier for claims to go through the small claims track. Tick YES for this section.
D)....Witnesses
So far as you know at this stage, how many witnesses (other than yourself) do you intend to call to give evidence at the hearing?
Do not count yourself or any expert witnesses you may call on for your case. Typically, you would enter 0 here.
E)....Experts
Do you want permission to use an expert's report at the hearing?
Typically you would tick NO for this section.
F)....Hearing
Are there any days within the next four months when you, an expert or a witness will not be able to attend court for the hearing?
If you are going to be free in the next four months, tick NO. If you have any holidays booked (or will be unnavailable for any other reason), tick YES and put the dates you wont be free on. Also in this section, let the court know if you will be using any interpreter at the hearing.
G)....Other Information
In the space below, set out any other information you consider will help the judge to manage or clarify the claim, including any other information you consider should be supplied by the other party.
In this section, you can put details that will help the judge manage your claim. You don't need to state your whole case here (that will come at a later stage). If your claim is for more than £5000, you can provide any reasons you think this case is more suitable for the small claims track. It is important in this section to ask the judge to order standard disclosure. The judge has the power to ask your bank to provide evidence of their actual costs at the hearing regarding your bank charges. If the judge orders standard disclosure, chances are that any bank would be willing to settle before the hearing because no bank has been willing to reveal their true costs in court as yet.
For section G. The following is the wording that has been recommended over at www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk
.................................................. .....
I believe this case will last no longer than one hour.
I am respectfully requesting that my claim be allocated to the small claims track. This issue is not a complicated one; it is an issue of fact and not of law. The issue is only whether the money levied by the Defendant in respect of its customer's contractual breaches exceed their actual costs incurred. I am happy to pay their actual costs and I am surprised the Defendant did not counterclaim for these, because I would have paid them without argument.
However, the continuing problem is, (in common with the 100s of other cases currently being brought by other bank customers), that the banks refuse to reveal the details of their penalty-charging regime. As the banks have a fiduciary duty towards their customers, they have a duty to deal straightforwardly and in utmost good faith.
Accordingly, I would respectfully ask that the court in this case, not withstanding allocation to the small claims track, order standard disclosure. I understand that it is in the courts discretion to do so. This would bring a rapid end, not only to this litigation, but would also likely bring an end to much of the litigation in progress against other high-street banks.
.................................................. ......
They have also been recommending a different way of filling in section G over on THIS THREAD (you need to be logged into the site to read read the thread, it's free to join). If you use this second method, it could make the claim shorter (it is a very good tactic). However, it would need more work on your behalf, and I advise you to use this method only if you fully understand what it requires of you. - Abbey National
American Express
Alliance & Leicester
Bank of Scotland aka HBOS
Barclays Bank
Barclaycard
Bradford and Bingley
Capital One
Citicards
Co-operative Bank
Clydesdale Bank
Egg
First Direct
Halifax
HSBC
Intelligent Finance
LloydsTSB
MBNA
Mint
Monument
Nationwide
NatWest
Northern Rock
Norwich and Peterborough
Royal Bank of Scotland
Smile
Tesco
Woolwich
Yorkshire
Finance Companies - Questions about interest come up a lot, and there seems to be some confusion about what can and cannot be claimed.
There are two types of interest to keep in mind, contractual interest, and statutory interest.
Contractual interest
This is what you see on your bank statements charged by the bank when you go overdrawn. It appears on your statement as 'INTEREST', or 'INT'.
There are normally two different interest rates charged. A lower rate is charged when you are overdrawn, but still within your agreed overdraft limit. Under no circumstances can this interest be reclaimed. There is a higher rate of interest (up to 29.9%) charged when you go over your overdraft limit (unnauthorised overdraft). This is a bit trickier to deal with. You cannot claim any of this interest if your spending has caused you to go over your overdraft limit, but you can claim this interest on any bank charges that have caused this. The problem with this is working out the interest only on the charges. It can be difficult to get right, and you have to be very accurate with your figures in case the bank at any stage challenges them. Generally, most people don't claim this interest.
Statutory interest
This is the 8% interest people are claiming on top of their bank charges. It is not anything to do with reclaiming your charges, or the banks. It is allowed for claims in the county court. This is allowed under s69 County Courts Act.
In his article, Martin recommends adding this interest from the beginning of the claim, but he also mentions that you are not entitled to this interest until you issue a court claim. Untill the court claim, you are using this as a bargaining chip......
Quote from the article..........
If you won via the courts, you would be entitled to add 8% interest (not compounded) on top from the date you were 'first deprived' of the money (i.e. the date of each charge). Therefore you may want to ask for the interest as part of the initial claim. It's important to understand that you are not legally entitled to interest unless you win in court, yet all prior letters are a tool of negotiation; think of it a bit like haggling.
You may get lucky and get the interest on top, but even if not, the legal feedback I've had is that it's one route to pushing the bank to settle quickly so it can offer to pay you without the interest. Of course there is a risk that asking for too much makes them less likely to settle too - sadly this is an art not a science. This isn't an easy concept so I've recorded a quick audio file which may help explain it.
For those who do want to ask for interest, I've had the calculator below specially built to work it out for you and included it as an option in the template letters later. However, if you'd prefer to play safe simply ask for the charges without interest in the early stages.
This means that if you add on the interest at the beginning (steps 3 and 4 of Martins article), and the bank offers you the full amount of your charges, but no interest. You MUST accept the offer. This is the maximum you would be entitled to up until you issue a court claim. Before you issue a court claim, if you turn down an offer for the full amount of your charges because the bank hasn't offered the interest as well. You will weaken any claim you make in court. At the very least, you will most likely lose any claim for interest and the court fee if the bank defends this in a hearing.
Edited to add, have a listen to Martin's audio file regarding using the interest as a bargaining tool, sometimes you can read too much and listening to Martin simplifies it.
Read this thread by Martin...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=476403 - You need to start by reading Martin's article and then reading it all over again!
Bank Charges Reclaiming - The bank have told me it will cost Ј5 per statement requested to get my charge details, what can I do?
You must make the request under the Data Protection Act, there is a maximum charge of Ј10 payable for all information held.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=364035
I have more than one account with a bank do I have to send separate letters and cheques?
No, one letter and one cheque
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...=364761&page=3
40 Days and no information/statements
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=467452
Can I claim on closed accounts?
Yes you can.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=443765
The bank have told me it will take x number of weeks to investigate my complaint, shall I wait?
No, if you have followed the templates, you have given them sufficient time at each stage to resolve the matter. Continue with your timetable.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?p=4888980
Has anyone been successful claiming from x bank?
Virtually every UK bank has repaid charges, even if they haven't the principle applies to all banking institutions and therefore following the process should allow you to claim your charges back.
I have sent the first letter and haven't had a response within the timescale, do I now send the second letter?
Yes
I have sent the second letter and haven't had a response within the timescale, do I now start the FOS complaint/court claim?
Yes
I haven't heard anything, should I phone up and chase the bank?
Generally it's better to communicate by letter only, however if you're confident you know what you're doing, some people have had success in speeding up the process by calling.
I can't afford the court fee, what can I do?
If you meet certain criteria, you may be eligible for a reduced fee or complete exemption. See this link for details:
https://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/i...tion/index.htm
I'm scared I might end up in a court room, what are the chances?
It's unknown at this time whether you will actually get as far as appearing in court, you should be aware that a possibility does exist though.
Will the bank close my account if I claim?
Maybe, some banks have in the past, there seem to be no hard and fast rules. You need to be prepared in case this happens including making arrangements to pay off any overdraft facility.
What happens if the bank do close my account?
At the present, it's unlikely you will perusade them otherwise, however you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman who have forced a bank to pay compensation to a customer whose account was closed. Before you go to the FOS, you must first exhaust the banks internal complaints procedure.
Will the bank demand repayment of my loan/mortgage etc I have with them when I claim?
If the payments are up to date, it's unlikely they will do this as they're covered under a seperate agreement.
The bank have offered me a part of my claim, should I accept it?
This is a personal decision, if you're happy with the amount offered then take it, otherwise you will need to let them know it is only being accepted as partial payment and you will claim for the remainder.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=434975
The bank have offered me part or all of my claim but have said I must sign a confidentiality clause, what shall I do?
If you do sign the letter, you must honour the clause. Many people have just crossed out this clause and returned the letter, the banks have still payed up. Generally, they are not in a position to make demands like this. - TIMINGS ON MCOL
Once you file your claim, you will see this:
Status: Requested
Your claim has been submitted to the court for final validation before being issued.
Then, usually a day later, it reverts to this:
Status: Issued
Your claim request has been accepted. The Defendant has 14 days from the date they are served with the claim, to reply. The court will send you a "Notice of Issue".
The court allows five days for the claim to be deemed served, even if the bank acknowledges before the five days are over. If the bank does not reply within the 14 days after the claim was deemed served, you can enter judgment by default.
Status: Acknowledged
If the bank acknowledges at any time within those 14 days, they now have 28 days from the date of service of the claim form to file a defence. The court will send you a "Notice that Acknowledgement of Service has been filed". If the bank don't defend, you can enter judgment by default after the 28 days are up. If that date falls on a weekend, the court allows one or two extra days for them to respond. You will know if you are too early, as the system will simply not allow you to enter any judgment before the time is up.
Status: Defence
If the bank defends before the 28 days are up, you cannot enter judgment or do anything else online anymore. The court will send you a "Notice of Defence".
If the bank is just biding time before they send you a cheque (and have told you so in a letter already), you might be sent a "Notice of Defence that Amount Claimed Has Been Paid". You have to tick the box whether you wish to proceed with the claim or not. Wait until you have the money in your account, then send the form back. You are given a month to do so.
If the bank defends with the purpose to go to court, you will be sent an Allocation Questionnaire which you have to fill in and send back to the court. A court date will then be set which you are required to attend. The bank will either settle with you in any way before the court date, or they will not turn up on the day and you will win by default.
This is how it usually happens. Alterations from the norm are possible of course.
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