...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

[StoneLaughter]

Hi folks.

Today I finally came below my £7500 credit limit on my Virgin Card and am now therefore in a position to identify and reclaim all my charges from it.

I'll be sending a DPA tonight.

Wish me luck!

[enaid]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

We do, but you may not need it.
Enaid x

[StoneLaughter]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

?
Is it going to be that easy???

[Amethyst]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

probably xxx but good luck :kiss:

[StoneLaughter]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

OK, I have 6 x £12 fees with dates... and my interest rate (cos I'm a naughty boy) is their highest at the moment. Let's say for instance it's 27.9% APR (there are no additional fees, just interest and unlawful charges) - what would the interest be per day on each charge?

Cheers

[Amethyst]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

ooo bit technical for me that one, percentages arrghhhhh

I'd go stick the numbers in the spreadsheet and let it work it out for you...much easier

[StoneLaughter]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

Sorry I haven't been "here" (claiming charges) for a while... can you tell me where the spreadsheet is?? I'm feeling a bit dim this morning...

[Amethyst]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

Legal Beagles

or click Guides in the top bar and they are in that section

[StoneLaughter]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

Hi Guys!

Please review and comment?

Dear Sir

RE: APPLICATION OF UNLAWFUL CHARGES

I am writing to you to complain about the application of unlawful charges to my account. According to the data sent to me as a result of my recent subject access request, you have applied a total of £72 in unlawful penalty charges to my account on various dates beginning 2nd February 2009. At an interest rate of 24.9% per annum, this has earned you an additional £9.80 in interest up to the 20th October 2009 - which I see as an unjust enrichment of MBNA Europe Bank. I therefore require the immediate refund of £81.80 by way of a cheque payable on 20th October 2009. If the payment arrives within a reasonable time frame after the 20th October I am willing to forego any further interest accrued although I reserve the right to apply additional interest should you take longer than a reasonable time.

Further to this, if you feel that this request is unreasonable and therefore refuse to pay, I will reserve the right to have this matter referred to the Courts.

Yours faithfully,

[Budgie]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

Hi Guys!

Please review and comment?

Dear Sir

RE: Account Number : xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Application of unlawful charges

I am writing to you to request the refund of unlawful charges applied to my account.
According to the data sent to me as a result of my recent subject access request, you have applied a total of £72 in unlawful penalty charges to my account on various dates beginning 2nd February 2009. At an interest rate of 24.9% per annum, this will have earned you an additional £9.80 in interest calculated up to the 20th October 2009 - I consider the levying of these charges together with the application of interest upon those charges to be unjust enrichment for MBNA Europe Bank.
I therefore require the immediate refund of £81.80 by way of a cheque made payable to myself.

Further to this, if you fail to refund the requested amount within 14 days I reserve the right to refer this matter to the court for resolution. Please note that interest will continue to accrue on the outstanding balance.

Yours faithfully,


Hi Stoney,

I have revamped a bit.
Up to you if you wish to use my or your own version, either is OK.

But please note the following :-

1) You are not writing to complain, you are writing to request a refund.
2) Both the application of charges and the application of interest are forms of unjust enrcihment. If the charges should never have existed then neither should the interest charged.
3) You can calculate the interest up to whatever date you wish but you should allow them 14 days to respond or refund your charges before issuing them with an LBA. The LBA should allow them another 14 days to resolve the issue before you file your claim at court. Personally, in this preliminary letter, I would recommend calculating the interest up to the date that you send them the letter.
4) Do you have a balance on the account? If you have then it is likely that they will credit any refund directly to the account rather than send you a cheque. Have you actually made any payments to the account since these charges were applied.? If not then they will certainly just credit the account ( effectively removing the charges and interest ). If you have actually paid across these charges and interest and the account now has a zero balance then you are certainly entitled to request a personal cheque.

[StoneLaughter]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

The account has a balance but I'm asking for a cheque because I am paying the debt off regularly at the moment; so I don't see why they should take even more out of my current finances. If they insist upon it then so be it but I'll ask for a cheque anyway :P

[Budgie]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

The account has a balance but I'm asking for a cheque because I am paying the debt off regularly at the moment; so I don't see why they should take even more out of my current finances. If they insist upon it then so be it but I'll ask for a cheque anyway :P

If they do apply a credit to the account instead of sending you a cheque then you could just adjust your monthly payments accordingly until you have used up the credit provided by any refund. Thereby freeing up the refund money for use for other things!

[WendyB]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

hi stonelaughter. Have a look at my MBNA thread. MBNA gave in surprisingly easily, ended up paying back charges we didn't even know we'd had (because I never bothered with a SAR in the first place lol).
here it is Wends v MBNA
Oh yes and forgot to say, they don't do cheques. Our refund was made direct into our bank account. But the first one was credited to the account, thus bringing down the balance. can't see that they would send you a cheque when there is a balance outstanding tbh.

[StoneLaughter]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

All noted; I have modified the letter as follows; I'm still chancing my arm with the demand for a cheque; we all know they'll do what the hell they like anyway LOL. I've also left the date as the 20th (a) cos it saves me re-doing the calcs, and (b) by the time this letter works its way through the German postal system it'll be the 20th before it gets there anyway.

Dear Sir

RE: APPLICATION OF UNLAWFUL CHARGES

I am writing to you to request the refund of unlawful penalty charges which have been applied to my account. According to the data sent to me as a result of my recent subject access request, you have applied a total of £72 in unlawful penalty charges to my account on various dates beginning 2nd February 2009. At an interest rate of 24.9% per annum, this has earned you an additional £9.80 in interest up to the 20th October 2009. These sums amount to an unjust enrichment of MBNA Europe Bank. I therefore require the immediate refund of £81.80 by way of a cheque payable on 20th October 2009. If the payment arrives within 14 days of the 20th October I am willing to forego any further interest accrued although I reserve the right to apply additional interest should you take longer.

Further to this, if you feel that this request is unreasonable and therefore refuse to pay, I will reserve the right to have this matter referred to the Courts.

Yours faithfully,

[StoneLaughter]

Re: ...and so it begins again. Virgin Credit Card

OK finally got a response on 15th Nov. Basically it says "Our charges are in our Agreement", "We always let you know when they change", "We disagree with the OFT's interpretation of the Law", "We set our charges at £12 anyway cos we're really nice guys", "We're not going to give you any money back".

Most importantly they say "You've got our terms and conditions which we expect you to honour - term 3a explicitly details the amount and circumstances of each charge".

It strikes me that they're about to use the old "OK we'll pay you back but our relationship has irretrievably broken down so we're closing your account" route. I cannot afford to pay the balance of the card, nor can I afford any credit reference implications at the moment.

What's your advice please?