Offer for full amount pre-action excluding interest - to accept or not to accept?

galileo · 9th February 2007, 18:32

I have received an offer in response to my LBA for the full amount excluding interest.

Has anyone rejected and successfully claimed interest on top with NatWest?

Michael Browne · 9th February 2007, 18:40

Are we talking about overdraft interest due to your penalty charges or s69 8% interest?
If the latter, you can't claim this until you have filed at court and if they have offered full settlement you are obliged to accept, which means you no longer have a claim to file.

10th February 2007, 09:45

galileo what amount are we talking about claim wise and interest wise?

galileo · 10th February 2007, 13:22

Bicester1 · 10th February 2007, 13:37

Hi

Same offer as me at LBA stage. £1800 and £1200 in contractual. I have written back and said I will accept charges and s69. No reply yet. If they say no I will issue N1 for charges and contractual but give the court the option of awarding me s69. Given them 7 days to reply

Bicester1

10th February 2007, 13:43

galileo depends on how much you want the money, I guess the choice is really yours, money now or a few months time. so DEAL OR NO DEAL?

galileo · 10th February 2007, 13:49

I'm still deliberating whether to accept or make a counter offer...not desperate for money. Another £845 in contractual interest is worth holding out for. I may even sign the acceptance form but change the figure on there to somewhere in between. I think other posters have done this with other institutions (altering the offer figure) and the changed figure has still been paid. I'll be watching this board with interest in the coming days and will keep you posted.

gizmo111 · 10th February 2007, 13:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by galileo

I'm still deliberating whether to accept or make a counter offer...not desperate for money. Another £845 in contractual interest is worth holding out for. I may even sign the acceptance form but change the figure on there to somewhere in between. I think other posters have done this with other institutions (altering the offer figure) and the changed figure has still been paid. I'll be watching this board with interest in the coming days and will keep you posted.

I dont think you wil lget away with changing the amount offered.

prushton · 10th February 2007, 13:57

If you put yourself to the trouble of sending a letter asking for your money back, why if your not in a hurry for the money would you not hold out for the full amount? , after all they owe you the money, and you will get it a few months down the road.

10th February 2007, 14:12

prushton- i think bicester1 has a good thread re contractual interest, in that it is at the courts discretion however, 8% s69 interest maybe a better avenue to go down

Parkvale · 10th February 2007, 14:20

prushton ,
Good point about " that they owe you the money ,and you will get it in a few months anyway." The banks are very cynical and if they can find a way out from paying up,they will. I am onto my third claim with N.W. and i have always been extremely wary of their tactics. Which this weekend appear to have changed again. Owing to all the debate on this forum, Please do not get complacent, because they could have us running around for quite a long time yet. I apologise for being so sceptical, but i have
had a long and bitter fight with N.W. over the last 6 years. Which has taken me to the edge of bankrupcy and changed my life dramatically, and i am pretty sure there are alot of people who have come off worse than me. Please be careful with these banks
and their cynical ways.

petrafyde · 10th February 2007, 16:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bicester1

Hi

Same offer as me at LBA stage. £1800 and £1200 in contractual. I have written back and said I will accept charges and s69. No reply yet. If they say no I will issue N1 for charges and contractual but give the court the option of awarding me s69. Given them 7 days to reply

Bicester1

Hi Bicester,

Would it be too much trouble to post a copy of what you sent them rgrds, charges & s69? I ask because this will very likely be my modus operandi also, I firmly believe that if it goes to court after I have dropped the amount I wouldn't be viewed as a greedy litigant by pursuing?

S

galileo · 10th February 2007, 19:25

Bicester it would be really helpful if you'd update us with what NatWest's reply is to your letter, as and when received...

Bicester1 · 11th February 2007, 08:12

Hi

Will certainly update you.

This is the letter I sent them:

Mr. S Higley
Customer Relations
Ground Floor
National Westminster House
225 Shenley Road
Borehamwood
WD6 1TE

Monday, February 05, 2007

WITHOUT PREDJUDICE

Dear Sir,

ACCOUNT NUMBER:

I refer to your letter of the 24th Jan. received today in reply to ours of the 18th December. This has clearly crossed with our letter before action. I write on behalf of both of us and I will deal with the issues raised by you seriatim.

I have never disputed that you make your terms and conditions clear. The dispute is as to their legality. Illegal contracts are unenforceable. I did think that the banks might have moved on from the “it’s in the terms and conditions” argument by now.

The fact that Nat West provides other banking services free is irrelevant to this case. I note that the former Head of Personal Banking at Lloyds did make an admission that the charge regime raised income, to cross subsidize these “free” services, this was a tacit admission the charges are by definition penalty charges, not liquidated damages and constitute unlawful enrichment.

I note that you do not accept the [legal] basis of our complaint; however I am aware that you have settled a considerable number of similar claims to ours, in full and as yet have not defended any. Furthermore you will be aware that the judiciary are increasingly striking out the banks defence as an abuse of process, or alternatively attempting to use standard disclosure as a means of forcing you to disclose your actual costs. I am aware that you are keen to avoid this and will eventually settle.

We are not going to go away, or be fobbed off. I am only a litigant in person but I look forward to taking this to trial. I assure you that we will not be deterred by delaying tactics, CPR part 18 requests from your solicitors or any of the other intimidatory and obfuscatory behavior which, is well documented on the Banking Action Group website. I will bring any such behavior to the attention of the court as an example of “unreasonable” behavior which may make you liable for costs.

Turning to your offer, I am glad that you have at least entered into negotiations, rather than simply continuing to insist that your charges are reasonable. I note your offer of £1878 in settlement of our claim for £3089.47. I am willing to accept this in partial settlement of our claim but it is not acceptable as a full and final settlement and we will continue the action to claim the full amount.

In view of the fact, however, that you have at least made an offer, as a gesture of goodwill on our part, we are willing to accept, in full and final settlement of our claim, the return of the illegal charges of £1878 plus s69 interest at 8% rather than contractual interest at your rate of 29.5%. This is £1878 plus £312.70 a total of £2190.70. I enclose a further schedule of charges detailing this, which is the absolute minimum we are prepared to accept in settlement. I am not prepared to enter into any further negotiation. In view of the relatively small sum involved I hope you will agree that this is a mutually acceptable compromise and will avoid further costs for you and time wasting on our behalf.

We look forward to hearing from you within 7 days with your acceptance of my proposal. If we have not heard from you by then we will start proceedings in the County Court for the full sum and contractual interest.

Yours faithfully,

galileo · 12th February 2007, 17:13

Any news from NatWest yet Bicester? Have they responded on your counter offer?

Bicester1 · 14th February 2007, 06:42

Hi

No reply yet. Am busy with the day job so will give them a few more days to reply but if no answer by Friday then its off to court we go!

Will keep you posted!

Bicester1

galileo · 18th February 2007, 17:24

Bicester do you have any further news for us? Has anybody else succeeded in recovering the full amount plus any interest pre-action?

Parkvale · 18th February 2007, 19:54

galileo,
I am also awaiting a possible offer from "our friend " Stuart . I have just had to alter my
spreadsheet , because of some wrong charges. Sent corrected spreadsheet back
special delivery. He very kindly offered to supply me with copy statements to help me .FREE OF CHARGE. Now i am getting really worried .

Total change of tack here.I have charged them the exact interest rate they charged me 5.75% above base per annum. Now if they refuse to pay me interest . I will continue with my claim through the courts . In my spreadsheet i included s69 interest at 8% and informed them to disregard this amount if settled within 2 weeks This at leasts gives Nat West the option to settle now thus avoiding , solicitors fees,court costs and court interest . In my
case that is over £2k. I would be very happy to receive my charges an

CAG Products - We think that these will help you to make your claim or Reclaim your Right These sales also help us to keep helping YOU and keeps this site free of third party adverts!

Small Claims Kit	Small Claims Court Guide New Edition	CallBurner - Skype CallRecorder Review	Last Will & Testament Kit	Fight a Motoring Ticket

Alternatively you could purchase a CAG email address here, or maybe you'd prefer our address labels here
UPDATE: Consumer Forums ConsumerWiki is now LIVE - click here: ConsumerWiki N.B. Please note - due to postage costs these products are only available in the U.K.