www.iva.co.uk

Hi
A client of mine who is in a joint DMP has phoned to say that Halifax have phoned 9 times today, sometimes with just a ten minute gap between calls, asking to speak with her husband.
Now that must be harassment ?
Regards

Andy - you may remember - I think it was last year Halifax were taken to Court pro-bono- by a cancer stricken debtor - the person was awaded damages and Halifax were sevely reprimanded by the Judge for the same as what your client has to contend with. You may find the record somewhere and Halifax should be reminded of that judgement

Jogged my memory Andy - it was 2007 - around Manchester somewhere

Is it me or are the banks becoming more aggressive?

Hi
Thanks elv5

It's a story that begins with a man's diagnosis of cancer and ends up - 762 phone calls and a court case later - with one of the worst examples, according to the victim, of how banks dehumanise their customers.

When David Lloyd, 62, was told he had terminal lung cancer in January 2006, his wife, Annette Edwards, contacted their bank, the Halifax, to let them know of his predicament and that he would no longer be able to work. They applied for a payout on an insurance policy, and for state benefits, but while they waited for the money to arrive they went overdrawn.

Lloyd and Edwards, who had been a Halifax account holder for 15 years, claim the debt is around £800, but the bank says it is £4,000. The bank and its agents telephoned the couple 762 times over seven months in what they say is aggressive pursuit of the debt in calls made "morning, noon and night".

Lloyd, who worked for the Institution of Civil Engineers until his cancer diagnosis, has developed a phobia of telephones and suffers from anxiety and depression. Edwards says the couple feel dehumanised because their situation was ignored.

In May, the couple obtained a court undertaking at Leeds county court ensuring the Halifax would not contact them. Despite the undertaking, a letter from the Halifax arrived last Wednesday at the couple's home in Sale, Greater Manchester.

At Manchester Justice Centre yesterday, the Bank of Scotland, the parent company of the Halifax, appeared before a judge in a contempt of court hearing instigated by the couple. The bank's barrister, James Counsell, said: "The bank issues its wholehearted fulsome apology for the error and the serious breach of the undertaking which it very much regrets."

He said the bank had taken extensive steps to stop the correspondence and there had been no telephone calls since summer 2007. The bank paid £1,150 costs to the claimants and made a new undertaking to write to HBOS and ask its subsidaries not to contact the claimants using the Halifax logo.

The couple also claim that their daughter, Stefanie Moore, 29, received 60 to 100 phone calls and two text messages, yet wasn't even a customer.

It is doubtful that Lloyd, who has not been able to eat for 48 hours, will be alive when the harassment case comes to a full hearing in February. Edwards says of her husband: "He is prepared to put his head above the parapet because he doesn't want other people to go through what he has had to go through."

• This article was amended on Wednesday December 10 2008. David Lloyd worked for the Institution of Civil Engineers, not the Institute of Civil Engineers. This has been corrected.

The Guardian

That's disgusting

Andy,

When I first read the story I felt pretty disgusted, partly because I know I have winged about the calls I have had, which were nothing compared to the misery put on to this family [V]

I also felt that it was worth looking in to the story further to see how they got on. Unfortunately it didn't go well for David Lloyd, who eventually died in January just a few weeks before the court date. However his family were emboldend by this courage and determination and they did contune the case with Bank of Scotland. The following is extracted from the Plymouth Herald and originaly published on 4th March 2009:

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CRISIS-hit superbank Lloyds has settled a claim of harassment by a cancer patient who died while waiting for the case to reach court.

Details of the settlement are not known because neither the bank nor Annette Edwards, David Lloyd's widow, or her legal team at Plymouth's Curtis Solicitors, are willing to speak about it.

But one legal source told The Herald that in cases such as this it could be inferred from the parties' silence that a payout, possibly substantial, is likely to have been made.

"When it is supposed to be a three-day trial which went on for half an hour and the parties are not commenting, it's likely the terms of the settlement were favourable to the claimants," the source said.

"Silence could be indicative of wanting to protect a substantial payout, especially when previously the claimants were willing to speak to the media."

The claim was against Bank of Scotland Plc, part of troubled Lloyds Banking Group, which recently reported a loss of about £10billion.

It is understood the bank counter-claimed against Mr Lloyd and Mrs Edwards for money they owed.

But a Bank of Scotland Plc spokesman would only say: "We are pleased to say the case is settled."

Solicitor advocate Neil Mercer, of Mutley Plain-based Curtis Solicitors, would only say: "The claim and counterclaims have been compromised on terms which are acceptable to the parties."

Mr Lloyd, from Manchester, died in January from lung cancer, aged 62, but his widow, Mrs Edwards, continued the fight in his memory.

The case was scheduled for a three-day hearing at Manchester County Court but is understood to have been listed for 30 minutes in private.

Mr Lloyd had claimed the bank harassed him and his family for a £5,000 debt and he and Mrs Edwards received 762 phone calls, from what was then called The Halifax, in a 10-month period in 2006.

The couple owed money from a loan and overdraft, but claimed they asked the bank for time to sort out finances.

Mr Lloyd's claim was one of several high-profile harassment cases brought against banks by Curtis Solicitors.

Mr Mercer represented Plymouth's Alison Turner when she sued The Halifax for harassment in 2007.

Last month, Mrs Edwards paid tribute to her husband and told The Herald the case was not about money.

She wanted the bank to alter its procedures and for the Office of Fair Trading to change its guidelines.

In December, Bank of Scotland Plc was found guilty of contempt of court after it broke an undertaking not to contact the couple.

Mr Mercer brought the action under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
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Cheers

Andy

Andy
im getting upto 9 calls aday from lloyds and capital one, ive actually started to not answer the phone as got caller id, the cheeky sods phoned my mobile the other day as well. This is annoying as i work nights.

I changed my mobile number when they started phoning me on that - I was at work and couldn't have spoken to them so it seemed the easiest thing to do.