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Having successfully claimed back charges from Co-op Bank, I decided to reclaim A&L charges, this was my currrent account into which my wages were paid and all my DD's paid out of.
Sent for statements, on checking them I found that when I had opened the account (had it about 2 years) from the very first month they had set up every single DD to go out before payday (even tho they knew my paydate) and so from the beginning I had been paying charges every month.
Statements arrived at around the 40th day, sent Prelim for £2.5k
got template letter back saying charges are fair (I know it was a template cos it said so at the top).
Sent LBA, got another template letter back saying charges are lawful.
Filed N1 at local court, received acknowledgement same week saying they intend to defend whole claim.
Second Saturday after acknowledgement received cheque through the post. (timing is significant because they did this without fail in each case).
Had £170 charges during the claim period so wrote them a letter saying that as I had discovered their charges are unlawful, I was withdrawing my consent for them to deduct them any further charges from my account.
They paid back the new charges and closed my account - good riddance!
Couple of points worth noting - A&L have publically stated they will close all accounts of claimants, they have since been fined for this but wise to open a parachute account just incase.
A&L are now using a solicitor to defend claims but are still paying out before the court date so this is obvioulsy just a further time wasting exercise.
Check your statements I carried out a little exercise before they closed my account in which I made very well planned deposits/withdrawals from my account. I found they actually moved them about to their benefit, Being a little older and wiser than the previous month, I printed the statements at the close of business each day - they make very interesting reading.
Sent for statements, on checking them I found that when I had opened the account (had it about 2 years) from the very first month they had set up every single DD to go out before payday (even tho they knew my paydate) and so from the beginning I had been paying charges every month.
Statements arrived at around the 40th day, sent Prelim for £2.5k
got template letter back saying charges are fair (I know it was a template cos it said so at the top).Sent LBA, got another template letter back saying charges are lawful.
Filed N1 at local court, received acknowledgement same week saying they intend to defend whole claim.
Second Saturday after acknowledgement received cheque through the post. (timing is significant because they did this without fail in each case).
Had £170 charges during the claim period so wrote them a letter saying that as I had discovered their charges are unlawful, I was withdrawing my consent for them to deduct them any further charges from my account.
They paid back the new charges and closed my account - good riddance!
Couple of points worth noting - A&L have publically stated they will close all accounts of claimants, they have since been fined for this but wise to open a parachute account just incase.
A&L are now using a solicitor to defend claims but are still paying out before the court date so this is obvioulsy just a further time wasting exercise.
Check your statements I carried out a little exercise before they closed my account in which I made very well planned deposits/withdrawals from my account. I found they actually moved them about to their benefit, Being a little older and wiser than the previous month, I printed the statements at the close of business each day - they make very interesting reading.
