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Background
I opened an Account with the Lloyds TSB in 1997. At the time of opening the account no agreeent was signed by me as the account was opened by a friend who worked at the bank at the time. Therefore there was no signature on any document agreeing for Lloyds TSB to pass information to the CRAs.
During the height of the bank charges situation I found out that, over a period of 6 years, I had incurred £4800 worth of bank charges and much of this was a "Snowballing" charge on charge situation.
On the 31st December 2008 I stopped using LTSB and opened an account with another bank.
On the 9th February 2009 I registered a Dispute with LTSB and that dispute is presently being handled by the Financial Ombudsman.
Despite advising LTSB that the account was in dispute (Not Just because of bank charges) LTSB continued to apply charges at a rate of £200 per month and eventually stopped when the account reached £1200 or so overdrawn.
In June 2010 LTSB registered defaults against myself and my wife (as joint account holders).
Neither of us had received a Default Notice and, whilst we could understand one going missing, it is a coincidence for both not to have been received.
We questioned this with LTSB (By way of a Subject Access Request) and they confirmed the following:
My Thoughts
The following are my thoughts. Please correct me if I am wrong:
My aim is to issue proceedings in the Small Claims County Court, against LTSB, for damages limited to £500 - therefore minimising any liability to pay Defendant costs.
Request
I would welcome those who have been involved in legal matters similar to this or those who have an opinion on the "Technical Issues" here.
I have a legal background. However, not in this area.
I am of the belief that in order to file a Default with the CRAs a Default Notice needs to be served.
It appears to be the opinion of the Banking Code of Conduct that Default Notices should not be registered when an account is "In Dispute".
It also appears to be the opinion of the Information Commissioners Office that a bank, such as LTSB, should retain relavant documents - especially those allegedly only issued a year earlier.
Many Thanks
I opened an Account with the Lloyds TSB in 1997. At the time of opening the account no agreeent was signed by me as the account was opened by a friend who worked at the bank at the time. Therefore there was no signature on any document agreeing for Lloyds TSB to pass information to the CRAs.
During the height of the bank charges situation I found out that, over a period of 6 years, I had incurred £4800 worth of bank charges and much of this was a "Snowballing" charge on charge situation.
On the 31st December 2008 I stopped using LTSB and opened an account with another bank.
On the 9th February 2009 I registered a Dispute with LTSB and that dispute is presently being handled by the Financial Ombudsman.
Despite advising LTSB that the account was in dispute (Not Just because of bank charges) LTSB continued to apply charges at a rate of £200 per month and eventually stopped when the account reached £1200 or so overdrawn.
In June 2010 LTSB registered defaults against myself and my wife (as joint account holders).
Neither of us had received a Default Notice and, whilst we could understand one going missing, it is a coincidence for both not to have been received.
We questioned this with LTSB (By way of a Subject Access Request) and they confirmed the following:
- They did not have a copy of the Orignal Agreement opening the account (as clearly they would not have!) - but given the time were not required to keep it.
- They did not have a copy of the Default Notice and further more they were not required to keep a copy - despite it being just over a year since it was supposedly released.
My Thoughts
The following are my thoughts. Please correct me if I am wrong:
- When an account is "In Dispute" the bank should place a freeze on the account and not register any Defaults until the outcome of any investigation by the FOS.
- Before registering a Default a Default Notice needs to be served.
- In my situation there is also the additional situation where there is no original agreement - however I accept that argument is not as strong as items (1) and (2)
My aim is to issue proceedings in the Small Claims County Court, against LTSB, for damages limited to £500 - therefore minimising any liability to pay Defendant costs.
Request
I would welcome those who have been involved in legal matters similar to this or those who have an opinion on the "Technical Issues" here.
I have a legal background. However, not in this area.
I am of the belief that in order to file a Default with the CRAs a Default Notice needs to be served.
It appears to be the opinion of the Banking Code of Conduct that Default Notices should not be registered when an account is "In Dispute".
It also appears to be the opinion of the Information Commissioners Office that a bank, such as LTSB, should retain relavant documents - especially those allegedly only issued a year earlier.
Many Thanks
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