Lloyds TSB sent me a cheque for "adding interest and charges" - should I bank it?

[confusedbob]

I today received a cheque in the post from Lloyds TSB "before we moved the balance on your personal current account to LOWELL, we added some interest and charges when we shouldn't have. I'm sorry this happened and i'm refunding this amount."

Is this not a clear case of admitting liability for fraudulent activities ? This must of happened for all debts moved onto debt collection agencies? I am completely broke at the moment but do not feel comfortable banking the cheque when this could be hush money. Has anyone else received a payment like this? Should I bank it or seek legal advice?

At the time I had a personal bank account with lloyds i also had a number of credit cards and loans with them all of which were handed to debt collection agencies.. Will they be sending me cheques for all of these? How long and how many people have had charges and interest added to their accounts before they handed them to debt collection agencies? And with other banks too.

It seems like a big cover up or is there a change in policy that has resulted in this cheque? I am confused and do not want to bank the cheque if there is a possibility they could owe me more? Is this a bigger case than me ? could it be claim from all customers who fell into financial hardship?

Or should i just bank it and forget about it ?

[Amethyst]

It sounds like interest and charges that were applied during a period when they hadn't sent you the annual statements / notifications of default charges etc as required under the consumer credit act. Do they list the interest and charges that they are refunding ? That might help figure out what went wrong and who might be affected, I haven't seen any announcement - the latest one was for not sending annual renewal reminders for PPI policies

The CMA said Lloyds had failed to send annual reviews, which have been required by the regulator since 2011, to around 14,000 of its PPI customers.

- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/l...r-ppi-breaches

Would you be able to post a copy of the letter up please. Redact personal details.

[confusedbob]

No further details about the charges but say ,which includes 8% compensatory interest payment on your refund.

How we have calculated your refund:

(Interest and charges refund)Compensation Interest 8%): (20% Tax deducted from compensation interest): (Net Compensation interest): (Total Refund)

There is a phone number to call on the letter but because of the history I have had with lloyds i do not want to speak to them i would rather send a letter via a solicitor!

Thanks for taking time to respond

[confusedbob]

i will try and upload image of letter next

[Amethyst]

Likely due to not having sent annual /default statements - it's just that it's a current account and they say 'before we sold it to Lowell' makes me wonder.
77b of consumer credit act is the annual statement part for fixed sum loans

re the picture - feel free to email me if you're struggling- admin@legalbeagles.info

[confusedbob]

emailed thanks

[Amethyst]

Got it thank you.

What is the outstanding debt on the account that's with Lowell ? ( seems quite a high amount that they've refunded even ignoring the 8% compensatory interest ) So it makes a difference if that was on like a £10k overdraft balance so just a years charges, or if it was on a £500 overdraft over a number of years.

The letter isn't very informative at all, and I would be suspicious as heck as well ( saying that I do think you are safe to cash the cheque while you investigate - interesting they haven't paid it direct to Lowell as they sold the debt to them )

Also what's the current status of the Debt that Lowell own ?

I'd get a SAR off to Lloyds for transaction lists to find out what the charges and interest were, when they were added and any screen notes that led to the decision to refund... it might open up exactly what it is.

[confusedbob]

Good Guess it was a £10k OD and all debts have been cleared through a bankruptcy 5 years ago.. SAR? and thanks for your advice I will go and bank it and they may even send me some more in the future because this wasnt all of the Lloyds debts I do have a record somewhere of everything involved. They also added massive charges onto a secured loan which resulted in me losing my house... hence my suspicion!

[Amethyst]

If the £10k was part of the BR then you might be obliged to inform your IP - but possibly not if discharged ( recent case to read ( although re Trustee's in Scotland) is Doneen v Mond ref PPI refund - press summary https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/do...ss-summary.pdf) ( Was the debt with Lowell when you went BR ? )

As it was a £10k OD then those charges/interest could just have been a single year - so could be due to a single failure to send a annual statement in that year ( 2012??) before they sold the debt to Lowell.

Def do a SAR to Lloyds to find out more details about this refund though. Subject Access Request Letter


Posting your letter up for others.



and just for Ref/interest I've also attached a BlackHorse letter which shows these refunds can come through for quite 'minor' breaches of the rules.

[Amethyst]

Re the Mortgage / Secured Loan - https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-re...ears-customers ( arrears management fees )

As a result, Lloyds has committed to refund all fees charged to customers for arrears management and broken payment arrangements from 1 January 2009 to January 2016. For those mortgage customers who entered its litigation process during this period, this will include any litigation fees that were applied unfairly.

[Josheeyyy]

I have a similar situation where interest on an overdraft has been refunded and Its got me wandering whether this is just a token gesture and people who have had this letter are entitled to more. Is there somewhere I can go to get some advice before I deposit the cheque? Does anyone else have the same issue? Should I start a new thread instead of replying to this one?

[Amethyst]

Who is yours from ? Send a SAR , ask for the calculations, or check your bank statements to see what interest was charged on your overdraft / loan / card through the relevant period.