P.O.s neighbours vs Lloyds!!

[peed 'orf]

Hi guys.
I'm assisting my neighbours with their Lloyds accounts, and not having a Lloyds account myself it's unfamiliar.
Apparently, they were told they had to accept some sort of upgrade a few years ago, and since then they have been charged £5.00 per month for the pleasure!
Do Lloyds have to provide a signiture for the agreement? And, if they can, is there any way to claim the charges back, as they didn't want the upgrades? (I think it's Gold accounts)
Also, presumably, they should be able to downgrade to a normal account without having to close them?

Thanks in advance, PO.

[Nattie]

I would expect they would and i would expect they can save a fiver by downgrading the account to one that does not charge as well.

[mistie]

Hello peed,

Yes they can downgrade to a normal account, im paying £7 a month for my select account with them but only keping it because it works for me.
Your neighbours can downgrade over the phone just by ringing up.

mistie

[peed 'orf]

thank you, will pass it on

[peed 'orf]

Right.... did the prelim, did the LBA, they've both received identical letters, in which they eventually say "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."
They don't have, nor can they raise the money to go to Court, one claim is for £350.00 and the other is for £280.00. I was hoping that as they were such small amounts they wouldn't put up a fight! Guess I was wrong.
I've read somewhere there iws an alternate way to getting the charges refunded, other than the Court. Could some kind person point me in the right direction, and tell me what is the correct procedure to go through.
Ta Muchley. PO

[Amethyst]

Pee'd - have a read of this

http://www.legal-beagles.co.uk/forum...ourt-fees.html

they may be eligible - you don't have to be on benefits

[iancognito]

The alternative is the Financial Ombudsman Service (Financial Ombudsman Service), you need to get a final decision from the bank, then you can put in a complaint.

They have a link to a guide on complaints about bank charges on their homepage!

Like the courts, they are very busy, last I heard they were taking about 6 months to deal with charge reclaims.