When i claim my costs - Help needed

[paulminize]

Hi all i am sending of Prelims today to some of the banks, my question is this, i know when i get to the court stage i can claim back reasonable costs - i seen a post somewhere explaining exactly what i could claim, aslo the rates.
I was just wondering is this written anywhere officially, the reason is, i am warning them in my prelim that i will be charging for letters etc, and including the costs with the prelim so thay can see they are fair and they have been prewarned.

I am including a paragraph to the effects that if they comply fully within 14 days as a gesture of good will, i will waive current recovery costs, however should the debt still be outstanding, and require any further communication from myself, these cost would be recoverable under >>>>> ........Section? Law ?

Please help

[PhantomReclaimer]

You can claim interest for the period that the bank has had your money. This is at the Court rate, 8%, or the contract rate, which is whatever rate relates to the contract you had with your bank. Basically, it's the rate they charge you for borrowing from them or having an unauthorised overdraft, for instance.

You also need to make sure that you claim back any interest thay have had off you if you have been overdrawn due to their unlawful charges. For instance, if you had a £0.00 balance and a charge of £25 has gone out then you will be £25 overdrawn This is an amount that they will be charging interest on so you need to claim that back as well.

The scheme of things is basically to add up the charges, work out any interest you have been charged due to the charges and add that on, then add on interest to compensate for the fact that you have been without the use of your money for however long it has been.

I think it's a good gesture to say that you wont apply the actual recovery costs if they settle quickly. If it gets as far as Court then it goes to show that you have been reasonable and were eager to settle the matter quickly with the minium of fuss and expense.

You could also point out that you have a very solid case (no one has ever lost and no bank has even defended the penalty charges in Court) and procrastinating and incuring extra costs over something they are almost certainly going to loose may mean that they are failing in their duty of care to use their shareholders money sensibly and to operate the company in a lawful manner.

P.

[paulminize]

Hi thanks for the reply, however i understand all of the interest thing, it was just the bit about other costs, i know they are reclaimable at court but where, who says this. I just want the letter to read right and factual.

Paul

[PhantomReclaimer]

I'm not sure what the actual legislation would be, or if there is any - it could all just be common law - but the principle of going to Court is to put you in the situation you would have been in had your money hot have been unlawfully taken from you. As far as is possible anyway.

You can claim for your letters and time because you are only needing to go to these lengths because of the banks unlawful actions. The small claims Court is reasonably informal and you won't need to quote chapter and verse at the judge when setting out your losses because he will know it anyway and, as long as what you are asking for is reasonable and represents actual loss to you, then I can't see there being a problem.

P.