Judgement by default, am i the only one? **PAID UP**

[exBarclaysBanker]

After having a current account with Barclays for about 10 years, I had finally had enough in December 04 and switched to First Direct - MUCH better!

Anyway, I saw the link about claiming charges back on moneysavingexpert.co.uk and am interested....
I was charged loads of times for going over my authorised overdraft. Sometimes £75 per week if I was over for 3 days running. The charge was £25 per day. They wouldn't help me get myself out of it by extending my authorised limit either, so i struggled for months with this. I'm guessing they got over £500 out of me. I luckily still have all my old bank statements. With me closing my account a few years ago, I doubt they will be wanting to make any goodwill gestures will they?

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[dolly]

Who knows if they will make a goodwill gesture. You have nothing to lose by writing to them asking for your charges back...and so much to gain.

Keep us posted.

[richardc]

You may well have closed the account but you can still claim. Your first step is to send a Data Protection Act request - See FAQs & Library

[exBarclaysBanker]

Sent request for refund of charges letter to Barclays on 10th March, I already had all my copy bank statements so no need for Data Protection Act letter. I was claiming £685 in total.

Received reply 28th March from Head Office Customer Relations (I live outside the UK so it took a few extra days in the post). It was the standard letter I think. But as usual the goodwill gesture refund was for £255, about a third of what I am claiming!

Their letter goes like this.

'I am sorry that you feel the bank charges you have incurred are unfair and amount to a penalty. I note you are claiming a refund of £685 for the period xxx to xxx. In your recent correspondance you have referred to the charges as being unlawful at common law. Statute and recent Consumer regulations. Barclays is aware of all the information you have drawn to our attention. I must inform you however, that we disagree with your legal analysis.

When an account is opened with us, our customer is provided with a copy of the Terms and conditions relating to the use of their a/c including details of our charges. This info clearly explains our obligations to our customers, as well as their obligations to us. If we make any changes to the T&C's we provide details of these to our customers in line with the banking code. Details of our t&c's and charging tarriff can be obtained at any branch or on our web site.

Putting the above to one side, on this occasion and as a gesture of goodwill, I confirm I am willing to refund some of your charges totalling £255. I believe this offer to be fair and resonable. If you would like to accept, please let me know in writing in the pre paid envelope provided. I will then arrange for the payment to be credited to your Barclays First additions account.'

However I closed my account about 2 years ago so they will not be able to refund anything to it.

I am going to respond today with the second letter asking for charges to be refunded in full before I take legal action.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

	The Banking Code Follow this link to read the Banking Code in full. Ofen ignored by its subscribers, half-heartedly monitored and poorly enforced

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[richardc]

Go ahead with the LBA and start preparing you N1 Claim form/

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

[HD]

Originally Posted by exBarclaysBanker

Sent request for refund of charges letter to Barclays on 10th March, [BOLD]I already had all my copy bank statements so no need for Data Protection Act letter[/BOLD]. I was claiming £685 in total.

Received reply 28th March from Head Office Customer Relations (I live outside the UK so it took a few extra days in the post). It was the standard letter I think. But as usual the goodwill gesture refund was for £255, about a third of what I am claiming!

Their letter goes like this.

'I am sorry that you feel the bank charges you have incurred are unfair and amount to a penalty. I note you are claiming a refund of £685 for the period xxx to xxx. In your recent correspondance you have referred to the charges as being unlawful at common law. Statute and recent Consumer regulations. Barclays is aware of all the information you have drawn to our attention. I must inform you however, that we disagree with your legal analysis.

When an account is opened with us, our customer is provided with a copy of the Terms and conditions relating to the use of their a/c including details of our charges. This info clearly explains our obligations to our customers, as well as their obligations to us. If we make any changes to the T&C's we provide details of these to our customers in line with the banking code. Details of our t&c's and charging tarriff can be obtained at any branch or on our web site.

Putting the above to one side, on this occasion and as a gesture of goodwill, I confirm I am willing to refund some of your charges totalling £255. I believe this offer to be fair and resonable. If you would like to accept, please let me know in writing in the pre paid envelope provided. I will then arrange for the payment to be credited to your Barclays First additions account.'

However I closed my account about 2 years ago so they will not be able to refund anything to it.

I am going to respond today with the second letter asking for charges to be refunded in full before I take legal action.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

One of the mods, BF I think, advised me to do a Data Protection Act anyway as you can get details of manual interventions that may form part of their defence

	The Banking Code Follow this link to read the Banking Code in full. Ofen ignored by its subscribers, half-heartedly monitored and poorly enforced

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[exBarclaysBanker]

Updating as I go....

I posted a letter back to Barclays last Wed 29th March saying that their offer of £255 was not acceptable and I would give them 14 days to offer the full amount before I started legal action.

Reply received within 7 days saying that they are 'sorry that their offer is not acceptable to me but that was their full and final offer. '

So today I take a deep breath and write a letter to my Barlcays contact telling her that i am sorry to say that I have been forced into legal action and am proceding with action today as promised.

Any advice from those who have already progressed to this stage would be greatly appreciated.

I'm concerned about legal costs as I don't have a UK bank account, or any £££'s for that matter. I am living outside the UK. What are the upfront costs with Moneyclaim? And if Barlcays settle out of court, I assume that these costs would not be refunded?

Im so worried that Barlclays are doing something about all these claims behind the scenes and this will all backfire on me.
it would be just my luck.

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[charlotte owen]

hello, i am at the same stage as you as i received my letter today saying that £220 was their final offer ! I am going to send them a letter as you have although i am not too sure how to word it saying i am taking them to court. I really don't know how to go about the next stage although i will stick with it too the end !

[kaznelson]

I dont know how you will go about this being outside the UK but if you have a look on the Moneyclaim website they may have some more info for you.

Charlotte, You can inform them you are proceeding with your claim within 7 days and then go straight ahead and enter your claim

All the details are in the FAQ's section.

Good luck

[exBarclaysBanker]

OMG I actually did it. I hit submit and filed a claim with Her Majesty's Court.

I have to say Im a bit scared now......

How are you getting on with yours Charlotte?

[Bookworm]

Well done to you.

Can you pm me your claim details, pls? Claim number, amount claimed, date filed.

Thanks.

[exBarclaysBanker]

I have my own thread already, so im sorry to start a new one...

I just thought it was strange that I am the only person on this forum, from what I can see, who is requesting judgement by default from Barclays. The 28 days passed and they didn't defend. The Moneyclaim site is asking me to fill in warrant of execution details. I'm really quite worried about clicking submit!

What will happen next?

[mahala]

plenty of people have won judgement by default from other banks.

Click the button to get the default judgement. DON'T contact Barclays when you have that judgement - alerting them to it will no doubt see them requesting the judgement be set aside (as Abbey does each time). Apply for the Warrant of Execution and get your money that way.

	County Court guidebook by Judge Patricia Pearl Follow this link to read the review of this excellent Small Claims Guidebook. This comprehensive and very accessible guide will take you through the process of suing or defending a claim. This guide will help you take control of your litigation and make you more confident about doing it yourself. Applies to England and Wales

[jayne67]

Hi
Sorry to sound a bit dumb, but what happens when a judgement is set aside?

	County Court guidebook by Judge Patricia Pearl Follow this link to read the review of this excellent Small Claims Guidebook. This comprehensive and very accessible guide will take you through the process of suing or defending a claim. This guide will help you take control of your litigation and make you more confident about doing it yourself. Applies to England and Wales

[Movingon]

When a judgement is made, if the defendant says "Oy! We didn't know about this!" or "Oy! We have a defence and didn't get a chance!" or "Oy! We have new evidence just at the last minute!" they can apply to the court for the judgement to be "Set aside" - which actually means that everyone has to go to court all over again because the first judgement effectively didn't happen.

	County Court guidebook by Judge Patricia Pearl Follow this link to read the review of this excellent Small Claims Guidebook. This comprehensive and very accessible guide will take you through the process of suing or defending a claim. This guide will help you take control of your litigation and make you more confident about doing it yourself. Applies to England and Wales

[funkyparott]

I started another post elsewhere where I asked about personal service of summons. Severeal people stated it was not worth me doing and littered with pitfalls.

In view of the judgements banks are getting set aside, would personal service of summons be the way to go ?? Surely, once you served the papers you could get a signature on some form of certificate of service. That way, the banks couldn't use the old 'we never received the summons' BS.

FP

	County Court guidebook by Judge Patricia Pearl Follow this link to read the review of this excellent Small Claims Guidebook. This comprehensive and very accessible guide will take you through the process of suing or defending a claim. This guide will help you take control of your litigation and make you more confident about doing it yourself. Applies to England and Wales

[jayne67]

Thanks for that, just wondered what happened. (especially since Abbey was mentioned). Cheers.

[CrispDust]

So exbarclaysbanker, update us, what happened, did you get judgement by default?

[CrispDust]

"BUMP"
Any news?

[exBarclaysBanker]

Sorry, I have been away on holidays.

They did pay up in full including costs and interest. Cheque received last week.

Whoopee!

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.