What now??

[sn00psmum]

Hi all,

I haven't been posting on this site for a long time, got tied up with other stuff (life in general!) while waiting for the outcome of the test case. I had also thought there was nothing else I could do until the outcome was decided so I put all my claims on hold, particularly because one of mine is a huge and complex claim against RBS which I sent to the FOS to deal with.
It consists of charges of around £8k plus CI, but i'm also claiming for interest on loans taken out to cover the bank charges. I have heard arguments both for and against going ahead with a CI claim but i'm sure that alot of that info is now out of date. My original claim for CI was based on the fairness and balance argument, but I understand that is now dead in the water and that we are to quote Sempra. I've had a quick read about it and from what I can gather it was a case between a company and the Inland Revenue.........would it apply to a normal Joe Bloggs-V-the bank case?
Last time it was all totted up the claim was nearing £25k, that was back in June/July 07! RBS offered to settle the charges only and I rejected the offer due to it being nowhere near what it's cost me- the loans we took out were with Provident who charge an extortionate amount of interest (yes I know, but the bank left us with little choice- we did approach them first).
The last correspondence I have regarding this claim is from the FOS dated 6th August 07 stating that they are putting all claims on hold pending the outcome of the test case. I understand that the banks have recently lost this case and that the OFT/FOS now has to decide what a fair charge is, I also understand that this may take many more months, and all the while the bank still has our money!
Recently I have been getting letters and phonecalls from Robinson Way solicitors who are acting on behalf of the bank as we had a £6.6k O/D which they are trying to recover..........as far as i'm concerned this o/d is made up entirely of bank charges so naturally I refused to make a payment! They are still phoning us despite me informing them that I do not take kindly to harrassment, especially over a disputed debt so I suppose i'll have to write to them too
Not sure where to go with this now..............should I make a fresh claim, thus joining the back of a very large queue?..........should I amend my claim to include an up to date figure as more interest has accrued, not to mention another Provi loan? Should I write off the CI and just go for charges and the Provi interest (which I am NOT willing to write off- we'd never have had to take the loans if the bank hadn't applied all the charges in the first place, or if they'd helped us out on the many occasions we had to go begging to them!)
CAN I do any of the above if my claim is still in the hands of the FOS or am I bound to them now, forced to wait around while they hum and hah over what is a fair charge??

I also have numerous smaller claims, Nationwide, A&L, Capital One, most of which are at the LBA stage (or at least they were before the test case, at which time the Sheriff Courts started to grant stays), what should I do about these, can I proceed as normal??
Does the test case outcome affect Credit Card charges in the same way, ie for my Cap One claim?

Sorry for all the questions, I know i'm taking the lazy way out- i'm sure I could scour the forums and find all the answers but TBH, I now feel so out of touch with the whole subject that I wouldn't know where to begin and it would take me months, so if anyone has any comments, advice or answers to any of my questions, i'd really appreciate your input.

It's a bit out of date, but my RBS thread is here if anyone's interested: sn00psmum (&dad) v RBS

SM

[gemspan]

Hi there

Firstly, credit card charges DO NOT fall under this OFT test case so get your claim in straight away. That might give you some positive energy to get on with the rest.

FWIW I would most definitely start the charges process again now that the OFT has won the case. The sooner you get the claims in the better. As for RBOS I would get in touch with the FOS and ask them what is happening now. I understand that there is a case meeting on 22nd May 2008 when the banks are going to come back and sit round the table with the OFT. I would imagine that they will go to appeal but you never know. :o

In Scotland not all cases are being sisted. Obviously your case with RBOS is a large sum of money. I would not go down the CI route if it were me. I would simply go for the 8% judicial interest. Check and re-jigg your claim taking into account all the charges that they have racked up since you started the claim and re-submit that to them and a copy to FOS.

Get your smaller claims into the court stage just now. I just lost out on some money because of time barring. Dont let that happen to you.

I would suggest you spend some time looking around the forum and bringing yourself up to date with whats been happening. If you've been away for a while then you are bound to feel a little bewildered. Once you have had a good read round you'll be all fired up to take on the highwaymen again.

Good luck
Gemspan

[sn00psmum]

Thanks Gemspan, will get to raking through all my paperwork, blimey- don't know where to start!

Why during the whole time the test case was happening were the banks not told to stop applying charges? If we've been forced into waiting around for refunds then why were they allowed to carry on helping themselves out of our accounts?? My Alliance & Leicester claim has doubled as they've been allowed to continue to fleece us for months!

SM