Can anyone advise me please?

I am about to put in three claims against RBS. I have asked for unauthorised contractual interest through the pre-claim stages. I am aware of the opinions of various more experienced people on the site that this can be a hazardous route to take, but as the claim would state that interest is claimed at the unauthorised contractual interest rate or, in the alternative, at the authorised contractual interest rate or, in the alternative, at such rate deemed appropriate by the court, I don't understand where the hazard is for the claimant.

I am not experienced and I'm probably not thinking clearly about this, but please could someone enlighten me?

many thanks

I urgently need help on latest developments re RBS dreadful treatment of new hubby - please see this new post from 'General Debt' all relating to RBS - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/125866-urgent-plea-help.html

Hi SweetRevenge,

I see you are getting help on the other thread now

In answer to the question in this thread the hazaerd arises if they offer your claim plus 8% and you refuse there is a possibility that you could have costs awarded against you for not accepting a reasonable offer.

If you accept the lower sum this removes the risk but is perhaps disappointing.

Hi Zoot, thanks for that. I don't know if I made a mistake but my claim included:

charges + interest they applied to the charges + compound contractual interest at unauthorised rate.

they offered him:

charges only

so when I say interest I am talking about the interest they then added not the 8%, as I understand this is only addable once it goes to court?

please let me know if i've done this wrong

Sweet

No thats correct you don't add the 8% before court but the other interest you can add to your prelim & LBA.

Ok Zoot, thanks for that.

So would you say I should proceed with my claim - I can't see what else to do having refused their charges only offer. The interest levied by them and the reciprocal unauthorised compound interest I have asked for add up to significantly more than the charges alone. I don't see that I can proceed to court without arguing that they owe me the rest, can you?

This stick I'm sat on is horribly pointy!!!

Cheers

Sweet

Hi, Sweet R,

Like you mused in your first post, I would also claim for contractual interest, but put in the 8% as an alternative. This will show you are being reasonable if you do get to court.

As for getting your money, I've had 2 claims against RBS, the 2nd one claiming contractual interest. On both occasions they paid out no problem and, like your case, the interest and CCI were much larger than the actual charges. At the end of the day, they will bottle out of attending court and will only try to fob you off with a pittance while they think you don't really mean to sue them.

Once you put your claim in, you may be surprised how quickly they want to settle! Here's hoping, anyway!

BAE

Hi, thanks for your reply. Well done you on your successful claims!

I am thinking that I might have to wait for the outcome of the OFT case before I get any money back, but hey, anythings better than nothing. I guess I am a bit worried that the OFT will say we can't claim the contractual interest, but there's nothing we can do but wait is there?

Still I'm very encouraged by your story - thanks for the support.

Sweet x

Have they actually made you an offer since the test case?

Hello Sweet Revenge!

Read through this previous WINNING RBS Contractual Interest Claim...

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/rbs-bos-successes/49470-contractual-interest-details-case.html

...Pay particular attention to the links provided in some of the later Posts...

...

Hi again Zoot. The offer(s) they made were in March and August respectively, so I think they were both before the OFT case was announced. They've both run out anyway!!

The amounts were: (1) £997.67 + £32.12 overdraft interest + £3,354.98 unauthorised contractual interest = £4,384.77

and (2) £884.00 + £9.34 + £6,534.78 = £7,428.12 (previous 6 years - never even made an offer on this one - said they wouldn't consider the complaint)

and (3) £600.48 + £60.12 + £649.53 = £1,310.13

We rejected the 'charges only' offers they made before the OFT case was announced.

Kind of leaves us only one way forward doesn't it?

Hi Milktrayman, thanks for the support. I have to say I followed this thread with interest and it was a major factor in giving me the courage to claim unauthorised contractual interest. I am just worried that the OFT case will jeopardise (spelling?) our claims at court. Are claims for more than charges + statutory interest likely to get thrown out?

Worried sweet:?

I think you should be cautious in submitting the £7K claim until there is more certainty from the test case as this would be fast track and therefore exposing you to costs risks.

With regards to the other 2 they are likely to be stayed but the costs risks aren't so great. Although you could lose your court fee should the test case go against us which hopefully isn't too likely.

Thanks Zoot, I really appreciate that.

I'm doing some more research before I put these claims in anyway, but as you say I will be cautious about the 7k one.

We've just received a very intimidating letter from a debt collection agency giving us 48 hours to address the 'outstanding debt' of £7919 - detail on the other thread. I'm going to post the details on the general debt thread -

(http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/125866-urgent-plea-help.html), please have a look if you've got time.

[url=http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/125866-urgent-plea-help.html][/url]

Can anyone help with this?

When I sent off Complaint (requests for refund) No. 1 (of 2 for this account) I set the period as 4/1/2001 to 1/1/2007, because January 2007 was when I started the process, however the account was closed in November 03.

I've put in a Complaint (2) for the previous 6 years, ie. 19/2/1999 - 31/12/2000 as well. RBS wouldn't even consider Complaint 2.

So now what do I do about the claim? Do I change the claim period to the 6 years up to the close of the account? (ie. include part of Complaint 2 in the period). I am worried because I've been advised to be cautious about submitting a claim against Complaint 2 because (with compound contractual interest) it comes to over £7k.

Strictly speaking, SoLA counts back 6yrs from the date that U actually file your Claim at Court.

However, some peeps have previously argued pre-6yr Claims on the grounds of Concealment etc as per Sect. 32 of SoLA.

Limitation Act 1980 (c. 58 ) - Statute Law Database

I personally, would try to keep the ENTIRE Claim as ONE though, rather than spliting it up.

Some peeps have come unstuck + had their Claims quashed when a Bank has cried 'vexatious litigant' on subsequent Claims on the same account...

...

I'm worried about it being fasttracked as Complaint 1 is worth £4K and complaint 2 is worth £7k - is the contractual interest included in the limit for small claims, or is it based on the charges amount?

As any Claim involving C.I. is stated as being required to be repaid BEFORE U file a Claim at Court, C.I. IS included when U calculate any Small Claim Limit.

THAT is why multiply Claims on the same account to circumvent the £5,000 limit, HAVE floundered for some previous Claimants!...

There is a certain amount of risk re: Costs in the Fast Track.

However, there is also the powerful incentive of being able to ask the Court for STANDARD DISCLOSURE from RBS re: Penalty Charges breakdown costs.

Know of ANY Bank that has NOT settled a Claim BEFORE being ordered by a Court to reveal them??...

...

OK Milktrayman I think I understand what you are saying. Does it make any difference that I am asking the Court to decide which rate of interest I am entitled to claim for? What I mean is, if unauthorised CI, these claims are worth £4 and £7 respectively. If authorised rate, they will be worth less, say £3 and £4 respectively. If the court decides neither of these, they will reduce again to the S.69 8% only. I am asking in the POC for the court to decide which rate applies, and if neither CI rate, then 8% only. If the court decides the CI rate applies, the 8% would go on top.

I don't know how else to do this! It seems so complicated - maybe I ought to give up until the OFT case is settled and then start afresh, but I believe that it is better to submit these claims now if possible.

Also please explain how the standard disclosure bit you mentioned works and why it is different in a small claims to a fast track case.

thanks for your support.

U could 'charge' RBS 1,000%p.a. Interest if U wanted!

However, if the push comes to shove, U would need to have a pretty good convincing argument, to be able to persuade a District Judge to grant it's payment if RBS Defended.

Why would U want to ask for the 'Authorised' % Rate??

Did U give RBS permission to 'borrow' YOUR money, when it unlawfully debited your current account with it's Penalty Charges??...

If it was MY Claim, I would be thinking about Claiming for the whole amount, at todays Unauthorised % Rate, with just a passing obligatory comment about s69 8%p.a. In the Alternative.

If U browse through the following link, it will explain more about the differences between each type of 'Track' + the procedure at each stage of the Court process...

Making a Claim

In relation to your question about STANDARD DISCLOSURE, Civil Procedure Rule (CPR) 31.6 + Practice Direction (PD) 31 give more exact info...

PART 31 - DISCLOSURE AND INSPECTION OF DOCUMENTS

PRACTICE DIRECTION – DISCLOSURE AND INSPECTION - THIS PRACTICE DIRECTION SUPPLEMENTS CPR PART 31

The following 2 links explain how the Court views Claims placed before it + what action U can expect a Court to take.

...'Rules of Engagement' if U like...

PRACTICE DIRECTION – PROTOCOLS -

CPR - Parts and Practice Directions

Take your time to read through the above links.

Any mistakes are better prevented BEFORE U file your Claim, rather than be retrieved AFTER U have filed.

Best of Luck!

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