Help advice needed, crippling bank charges

[nowayjose]

Hi, new to this brilliant site, hope someone can advise... filed claim against SHABBEY on 30/6/07 via MCOL for £2576, served on the 4/7/07, they acknowledged and said they intend to defend a few days later, they now have until the 2/8/07 to actually put in a defence, apart from the looking into it, need more time letters, I have heard little else.. A few questions, When do you think they will defend this claim, Do they always offer a GOGW and if so how much should I expect... and finally due to a run bad of luck over the last few months (husband being made unexpectedly redundant, DWP expecting him to survive on £54 pound a week JSA to keep 3 dependant children and to pay a mortgage with myself only working part-time) my account has seriously been running in the red(until then I had very few charges.It has been a viscious circle and with my wages going into the account and almost as much charges coming out at the end of the month (£500 in one month), the only way we are surviving each month is by buying food and petrol for work, by cheque each month and dreading the charges the next, I have incurred a further £400 charges since my initial claim and god knows how much I will be charged next month. My final question is can I claim these additional charges from them. Any advice would be great...
Not all bad news though my husband started a new job 2 weeks ago and I am now working full time.. (it means him working nights and me working days but trying to get out of this mess).
Just thought of another quest. Ive opened a NatWest Step acc as my parachute account, do you think it would be a good idea to shift our wages, child ben, to this account so that Abbey cant take any charges out of our money..... Sorry to babble on.. Hope someone can help me . thanks xxxx

[gazebo]

You should most certainly start moving your business to your Nat West account to protect youself against these ongoing unlawful charges. I'm afraid that you will need to raise a second claim against Abbey for the more recent charges or persuade them to write them off/ refund them when they eventually offer you a settlement.

[nowayjose]

Thanks for the answer gazebo, I started transferring child benefit and my wages today, the only problem is my Abbey acc is a joint one with my husband but the Nat West is just in my name... will he be able to transfer his wages into my account.. dont know if you know the answer to this one, but thanks anyway

[charleyfarley]

NWJ,

gazebo's advice is good.and I'm glad to see you're already making progress that way. My suggestion with the NatWest account would be to see whether you can switch it to joint names, or if you can't then get your O/H to open one in his name.

As gazebo says, these latest charges will most probably form the basis of your next claim. I switched all my business from Abbey to a parachute, and then argued the toss with them about the remaining overdraft. I would strongly recommend this course of action.


The only other possiblity, is to file an N244 form to amend your POC(Particulars of Claim). This will cost you £35 which is non-refundable,and will put your claim back to the N1 stage.
as to GOGW's, Abbey have change their approach in recent weeks.they used to offer about 15% or so, but now they've begun to offer 65% in Full and Final settlement, which is a pain.



PS
When you filed with MCOL, did you send off your shedule of charges under separate cover?

[nowayjose]

Thanks for the reply Charleyfarley, will look into either opening a joint or a new account for my o/h asap, my main priority has been getting the child benefit paid into my Nat West account before its due on the 6th of August because this months charges from Abbey are due out on the 25th July which will more or less swallow up that money,and feeding my kids come first ... I am waiting for Abbey put in a defence on the claim before I contact them to see if they will settle without the need of actually going to court, because I dont want to draw attention to the fact that they only have 9 days to defend, Im hoping they will forget about me and I ll win by default...FAT CHANCE eh?
Sorry for being a bit dim but what did you mean by sending off a schedule of charges under separate cover??
Thanks again, nowayjose

[chicobanco]

Hi nowayjose

I was just passing by this forum and I saw your posting, in particaular charleyfarley comments "as to GOGW's, Abbey have change their approach in recent weeks.they used to offer about 15% or so, but now they've begun to offer 65% in Full and Final settlement, which is a pain."

If you intend to try and do a deal and settle with the Abby use the link below to read my posting on negotiating tactics in the Thread Chicobanco v A&L (Rules on negotiating with solicitors). It is posting #7. You might find it useful if you intend to try and settle out of court, it works just as well for banks.

Chicobanco v A&L (Help needed, please!!)

Good luck with the fight and the new job.
Chicobanco

[nowayjose]

Hi Chicobanco, thanks for the really useful link, I think after reading it I wont be phoning Abbey I will leave any negotiations through email as these solicitors sound a scary bunch and I cant help feeling I would come across as desperate and blow my chances of a decent offer.. Obviously like us all I want the full settlement and I wouldnt have started the court process if I wasnt prepared to see it through.. but £1674 (65%) as full and final settlement is rubbish.. however I would be happy with around £2318 (90%) plus my court costs if they offer a quick settlement but from what you are saying that sounds highly unlikely... I dont know about A&L but after reading the comments on this site and Martin Lewis' it seems that Abbey is possibly the most difficult bank to reclaim from.. Anyway Chicobanco, hope you are successful with your claim..keep us posted... thanks again..
nowayjose

[Robdblynd]

Abbey are one of the worst to reclaim from because they delay at every stage ... if you let them. They will settle ... they just like to drag things out till the last moment.

One other thing, you might find that you CAN have your OH's wages paid into your account .... most places don't mind where the money is paid into as long as the wage earner has sanctioned it ... it's worth a asking his employer.

Good luck and don't let them beat you down ... keep at them every stage of the way.

[nowayjose]

Thanks Robdblynd,
Just cant stand the waiting..I look forward to the day I can post a success story on here... my day will come (I hope!!)..thanks for the info re: husbands bank... my only concern with Abbey is that with the new charges coming out this month I will be over my overdraft limit (whats new?) but usually our wage/child benefit pays it back, and the viscious circle starts again using cheques etc just to survive..I know I have to break the cycle but I dont have enough spare money to pay the extra charges this month to Abbey, still trying to get back on our feet after redundancy and I dont really want to pee them off at this stage of my claim... any thoughts, thanks
nowayjose

[Robdblynd]

Hve you asked them to freeze the interest on the OD until you get back on your feet?

I had a similar situation 2 years ago when my OH was made redundant and we really struggled, like you getting charged heavily along the way. We talked to Abbey about it and they agreed to let us use the account as normal but gave us a fixed OD and a repayment plan which worked, basically a figure each month that we could afford was taken off the OD until we were clear. Essentials were allowed to be paid from the account and they were very good at helping us get things straight. We went into the local branch and spoke to them, not the faceless wonders in the call centre.

I know Abbey are terrible at delaying while you're reclaiming but we've not had the trouble that a lot of posters are reporting, we've found them helpful (at times).

I have successfully claimed back all my charges from Abbey and am now at LBA stage with a claim on my personal account.

All I can suggest is try talking to them and ask for help, you might be surprised. If they get awkward, stop all payments into the account and use the parachute account, then write and put your Abbey account into dispute, they have to talk to you then. You could also look up which benefits (of the one's you are paid) are inalienable, that means Abbey can't take them to repay charges. Have a look here

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...light=benefits

Let us know how you get on with them, other people have the same or similar situations and it's helpful for them to know what happened with you.

[nowayjose]

Thanks for that link, I will look at in more detail later, I wish I knew about it when JSA was being paid in but now the only benefit is child benefit and I have safeguarded that in my Nat West account. Ive explained our situation to the call centre and was told that there was nothing they could do to stop the charges coming out each month.. I would feel a bit embarrassed to call into local branch and to be told the same:o I intend to use the claim to clear my overdraft and to close the account, so I was hoping for a pay out sooner rather than later to do this.. I would definately keep you posted on my progress and if anyone else is at the same stage as me (Abbey to defend by 2nd Aug) I would love to know how its going...Also if it gets to this stage has anyone had any claim in Pontypridd County Court... Thanks
nowwayjose

[charleyfarley]

If they get awkward, stop all payments into the account and use the parachute account, then write and put your Abbey account into dispute, they have to talk to you then. You could also look up which benefits (of the one's you are paid) are inalienable, that means Abbey can't take them to repay charges.

nwj.........this is the route I followed and it made my life so much easier.

My comment about sending off your schedule of charges..........on MCOL you can't attach your schedule, so you need to send the courts a copy separately........lots of people forget, and run the very real risk of having their claim struck out

[nowayjose]

Hi charley..OMG I hope I havent blown it now because I havent sent off the schedule to the court...I thought you had to send it later when Abbey actually defend... Do you think its too late to send one now??... Abbey have until the 2nd Aug to put in a defence.. Has anyone been struck out for not sending it in??... What address do I send it to??..Oh god!! my minds buzzin now, I ll never get to sleep tonight... Gimme some advice please

[Robdblynd]

Have you got 'notice of transfer'to your local court yet? If not you could send the schedule to MCOL at Northampton, failing that, wait till you get notice of transfer and send it to your local court. Also send one to Abbey at head office address.

Stop panicking, it's not too late and given the OFT action in court tomorrow I don't think anyone's claims will be moving much in the next fee weeks.

[nowayjose]

Yes Ive just found out about the case tomorrow after reading through Martin Lewis forum..bloody typical, I m gutted everything is going to be on hold ...the waiting is killing me...I havent had a notice of transfer yet... I havent got that far... no need to rush now though eh?? Thanks for your reply anyway...

[ICY]

Everything is NOT on hold, you should procede as normal