RBS account dating 1991/2003

[Ruby]

My husband and I had an account with RBS from 1991 - 1st Nov 2003. We are currently struggling financially and were hoping to claim back some of the charges. We have written to RBS who have said:-
'Under the Limitation Act 1980 you cannot bring a claim more than 6 years after the date on which the cause action occurred. You are therefore only legally entitled to claim for 6 years up to the date the claim was submitted. The period you are claiming for falls outside of this, we we will not proceed any further with this claim'.
Could somebody please advise. I have also tried to get a copy of the charges but my request got 'lost at sea'. If we had known that we could claim back charges a lot sooner we would have done so.

[Amethyst]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

The charges are claimable back at LEAST to July 2001 under the terms of the waiver.

Under hardship grounds you would probably not be able to claim off such an old account, but for standard reclaiming definately back to 2001 (laid out by the FSA and bank/OFT litigation) and possibly further (to 1995) depending how the test case proceeds after the next judgment.

You would need to write back to them and ask them to keep the complaint on file until the test case conclusion and point out their error with the dates and limitations with regards the FSA waiver. ALSO it would be extremely helpful to the FSA if you could scan in and email, or type out, the letter you received as it breaches their guidance to firms - centralwaiversteam@fsa.gov.uk .

This is something RBS try getting away with far too much and it needs complaining about to stop them - RBS bank charges battle - Legal Beagles Possibly the same as your letter ?

[Ruby]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

Thank you, yes it is exactly the same letter! I will follow your advise and write back to RBS and e-mail to FSA.

[Ruby]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

I eventually got four letters from RBS stating the same statue of limitations ( which I have forwarded to FSA). After writing to them and telling them what I had done they changed their tune rather rapidly. I am now awaiting their I & E in the post which they said they posted out last Thursday. Watch this space ...

[natweststaffmember]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

I eventually got four letters from RBS stating the same statue of limitations ( which I have forwarded to FSA). After writing to them and telling them what I had done they changed their tune rather rapidly. I am now awaiting their I & E in the post which they said they posted out last Thursday. Watch this space ...

Did you receive your data?

[Ruby]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

I have not received the I & E form yet. However if as they say it was posted last Thursday, with the postal strikes the earliest I would expect to receive it is today. Thanks for the useful thread Natwest staff member (ex). How far back do you think I could possibly claim? There is no question of a doubt fitting the criteria for financial hardship - I lost my job late last year (drop in income) and have mortgage and council tax arrears.

[Ruby]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

Just received I & E in post - thats fine, however I spoke to Customer Response Services Unit just to confirm that they still had my mortgage statement from previous correspondence so I didn't have to send it again as evidence of hardship only to be told by the woman that they only look at charges going back six years - I said to her that she must mean six years from 2007 and she said no from today - that is apparently the RBS policy!!!! ARHHHHHH give me strength!!!

[natweststaffmember]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

Just received I & E in post - thats fine, however I spoke to Customer Response Services Unit just to confirm that they still had my mortgage statement from previous correspondence so I didn't have to send it again as evidence of hardship only to be told by the woman that they only look at charges going back six years - I said to her that she must mean six years from 2007 and she said no from today - that is apparently the RBS policy!!!! ARHHHHHH give me strength!!!

Under financial hardship she is 100% correct ie July 2001 to present. But my question was did RBS provide info from 1991 to 2003?

[Ruby]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

The woman said 6 years from today's date 2009 - 6 = 2003. No they have not provided any info yet about my account. I believe I can write enclosing a cheque to the Drummond House address and request statements. I do not want to get statements just the charges transactions, but apparently they do not do that.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

The woman said 6 years from today's date 2009 - 6 = 2003. No they have not provided any info yet about my account. I believe I can write enclosing a cheque to the Drummond House address and request statements. I do not want to get statements just the charges transactions, but apparently they do not do that.

Ask for that in writing cos that is a breach of the FSA Waiver on Bank Charges.

[Ruby]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

Just spoke to another woman in the department and now it seems that RBS only keep statements for the last six years - you cannot order statements any further back than that. Is there anyone out there who can help me/had the same experience?

[Amethyst]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

Well as you know thats another heap of poo. Their online systems to order statements may only go back 6 years - further back has to come from archive. If you are after everything then a full SAR should do it, if its something specific (like mortgage statement) then they should be able to go back to the archives to retreive it for you.

If they are saying 6 yrs in relation to a SAR request then this is also against the waiver (and I shall find the bit for you to shake at them)

have a read here FSA do not intend an injunction against destruction of data post July 2001 - Legal Beagles

[EXC]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

The woman said 6 years from today's date 2009 - 6 = 2003. No they have not provided any info yet about my account. I believe I can write enclosing a cheque to the Drummond House address and request statements. I do not want to get statements just the charges transactions, but apparently they do not do that.

The woman is either stupid or dishonest or more likely both.

(14) the firm must not take into account the period between 27 July 2007 and the date of termination of this direction (the "stay period") for the purposes of relying on any limitation period (or periods) or time limits within which complainants must:

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Re...sp_monthly.pdf

[Ruby]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

I will send my I & E in first of all and see what transpires from that. Maybe the person who deals with that side of things will be more sympathetic/knowledgeable rather than the person answering the phone who probably has been trained to deter customers from claiming ... I am an eternal optimist!

[natweststaffmember]

Re: RBS account dating 1991/2003

Please ask them to send you the information re statements in writing to you cos that is a breach of the FSA Waiver on bank charges.