Court - bring it on!!!

[lipscombe]

Hi all, thought it was about time I started my own thread in the Abbey section (already have one in Nat West - claim going for my son).

I went over my overdraft limit for 2 days last August (went away & forgot to transfer funds - what a muppet!).

Well I incurred 6 x 30.00 for cleared transaction charges & 3 x 32.00 for unpaid dd charges - total of £276.00. (A drop in the ocean compared with most of you - but still very annoying)

I wrote to them at the time to complain saying I had been a customer for over 20 years, first time of going over limit & why honour 9 transactions. Why not refuse the 8 and only charge for 1.

They wrote a fob off letter back saying the charges were valid & words to the effect that they had done me a favour by honouring the dd's as it would have been a hassle for me sort it out!! Should of been my choice surely?

Well was so pi**ed off just threw letter away & put it down to experience - til I found this site - compliments of Martin Lewis (what a grand guy - Radio 2 on some Fridays).

To cut a long story short followed the advise & am now at the stage of court, .
I submitted a claim online on 7th June - claim # 6QZ36252 - received a letter from Northampton court saying the defendant has until the 26th June to reply.

Do their solicitors contact me direct or do I have to keep going into the case on line to check?

Have ordered the Small Claims book to help me get ready in case I have to go to court with this one or the claim for my son - will need a buddy if I do - I live in Camberley, Surrey, if anyone local is in the same boat as me.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

[Jane Austen]

You aren't quite at the stage of court just yet. They might not reply - they didn't with me so now I have judgement by default.
However they still have the option to apply for a set aside hearing which is their usual course of action at this stage.

Good luck

[lipscombe]

Thanks nn.

Did the court let you know or do you have to do anything if you hear nothing in the 28 days?

My book has not arrived yet so still not quite sure of how things work.

[Jane Austen]

You wait until midnight on the day the 14 days runs out. If they have not acknowledged service, you can then apply online for judgement by default. It is only if they acknowledge they get 28 days from the date the request was 'deemed' to be served.

[lipscombe]

Had notification when I got home yesterday that they are going to defend all the claim signed by - AJ Burton - 'TRAINEE SOLICITOR' - glad to see they are taking it serious using just a trainee!!!

Notice served on 12th June - so have to wait til 10th July - so take it I just have to wait to hear something now????

[Karnevil]

Yes now they have acknowledged they have 28 days from when they were served to lodge their defence. They will probably send you an offer at the same time you get their defence. Then its on to filling in the Allocation Questionnaire.... after that I'm not quite sure !

Good luck x

[lipscombe]

Thanks Karnevil!!!

Getting so frustrated waiting - that is why I have not visited the site for a few days.

Would love to be a fly on the wall of the Abbey & their solicitors offices with all of the claims they must be receiving.

Why don't they just roll over & give in. If one bank lowered their charges customers would move to them in droves I am sure, what a marketing coup - why have none of them done it yet!!!!!!!!!! Pressure of this site & all the claims must bring charges down soon.

Good luck everyone x x x

[Janet-M]

Then its on to filling in the Allocation Questionnaire.... after that I'm not quite sure !

Defendent then send an allocation questionaire to the court .You will be sent a copy either by them or court .A judge then looks at the papers he may / may not make an order of some type .You then recieve your court date .
At an early stage of above you should recieve an offer but always prepare yourself for court .

[lipscombe]

Got home on Friday 30th June & had a letter from Piper Rudnick saying I had not provided details of my claim - even though the narrative in my claim goes '6 x cleared transaction charges of £30 each and 2 x upaid dd charges of £32 each. These were charged on 24th August 2005'

How clearer could of I have been!!!!!!!!!!!

So should I now send a copy of my spreadsheet, bank statement of that day to the solicitors office & the court?

The 28 days is up on 10th July.

PLEASE ANSWER SOON - thanks mods for all your help x

[Janeyh]

Don't worry, this is their standard letter (see my thread Janeyh v Abbey).

You are not obliged to send DLA any further information, all the information they need should really be provided by their client (Abbey). However, I think that if you do let them have full details (particularisation) of your claim, this will be seen by any Judge who may become involved as your attempt to be wholly co-operative with them and this can only be in your favour. I cut and pasted my spreadsheet details into my letter to DLA and intend to send a copy to the court as "additional information".

Janeyh

[lipscombe]

Thanks Janey - much appreciated.

Have posted to DLA & the court this lunch time.

Clock ticking - not too long now

[lipscombe]

Got this letter when I got home Friday from DLA signed by Alison Burton:-
A without Predjudice letter

We enclose a copy of the Defence that we have filed with the Court on behalf of Abbey National plc.

The next stage in theprocess will normally be for the Court to send to both of us an AQ, which asks for certain information relating to the case before it proceeds to trial. However, we are writing to you to find out whether you would be prepared to agree a settlement of your claim now in order to avoid having to file the AQ, bring the matter to close and also limit any further expense for either of us.

You will have seen from the Defence that Abbey takes issue with your claim on number of points. For the purpose of this letter, though, we should like to mention in particular that your claim seems to be based on an argument that you should not pay any charges at all. We would, however, ask you to consider that it cannot be correct that Abbey cannot charge anything at all. Even if it is correct (which is not accepted) that the charges are greater than Abbey's actual loss, Abbey would be entitled to charge something.

Taking into account this and Abbeys's defence generally, our proposal to yo is as follows: Your totalclaim is for the refund of £276.00 in charges, plus intererst of £17.37 and court fees of £30.00. We would suggest that (for the purposes of this letter only) as a matter of goodwill, Abbey reduce the figure for the charges by 50% giving a new total of 138.00. In addition, if this can be agreed, Abbey would pay you 8.68 for interest and refund your court fee of 30.00 making a total of £176.68.

We hope that you will regard this as a reasonable offer in the circumstances and a genuine attempt to reach an amicable settlement of our claim.

In conclusion, therefore, we are offering to you the sum of 176.68 in full and final settlement of your claim, but of course without any admission of legal liability by Abbey. If you are prepared to agree this, pleae confirm this to me in writing by sighning & returning the additional copy of this letter and we shall then arrange for a cheque for this amount to be issued and paid into your Abbey account. Alternateively, you are welcome to reply to us by email (using the email address at the bottom of this letter) if that would be more convenient for you.

I WANT TO REPY THANKS BUT NO THANKS BUT NOT SURE HOW TO WORD IT.

DOES:-

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR OFFER OF 176.68, BUT AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATION I AM UNABLE TO ACCEPT THIS OFFER.

If it does end up in court don't want to be caught out by their defence of me thinking Abbey should not charge at all - I used the template letters to them - cannot see anyone else in the forum getting this response from the solicitors.

Any advise would be much appreciated x x

[Karnevil]

Morning. Yes I received the same letter and I believe others have too. Most have turned it down, one has asked for 75% plus interest and costs and got it. So far joneshousehold has 100% offer plus interest and cost, after submitting the allocation questionnaire. Theres a few more with the 50% offer letter toothat have turned it down, so have a read about - alanfromderby, chardonnay, eileen, comicmankev, joneshousehold, me, and I'm sure theres others just past this stage.

The allocation questionnaire they refer to is tranfering the case to your local court, it wont cost anything as your claim is below £1500.

Hope that helps.

[lipscombe]

Thanks Karnevil (am intrigued as to where your username came from!)

Does the following reply sound ok?

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR OFFER OF 176.68, BUT AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATION I AM UNABLE TO ACCEPT THIS OFFER.

dont want to get into to much dialogue, but on the other hand dont was to sound too dismissive of the offer!

[LordLee]

Originally Posted by karnevil

The allocation questionnaire they refer to is tranfering the case to your local court, it wont cost anything as your claim is below £1500.

Slightly off topic... but do u know how much it would cost for the allocation questionanaire if a claim is over £1500. My claim is a whopping £4500 and am concerened about additional costs.


Please ask this in your own thread where you will recieve an answer , thanks

[Janet-M]

You have to mitigate your loss so tell them you will be willing accept the money in part payment but will be pursuing them for the rest , make sure you reject all the conditions attatched.

BTW your claim is for under £1,500 so you do not have to pay anything when you fill in your AQ .

[LordLee]

Originally Posted by mjanet

You have to mitigate your loss so tell them you will be willing accept the money in part payment but will be pursuing them for the rest , make sure you reject all the conditions attatched.

BTW your claim is for under £1,500 so you do not have to pay anything when you fill in your AQ .

If this is done... how do you go about persuing for the rest? Do u have to file another claim?


Please ask this in your own thread as you are hi - jacking this thread

[lipscombe]

Thanks mjanet, email on its way to DLA.

so next step is await the delivery of AQ, so near yet so far!!

Cannot wait to join the winners & make donation to the site, would not have come this far without all your help, thanks again x