Thread: Quick question - just for reassurance!

Just got a quick query. I'm claiming charges back from Abbey and my claims been stayed for just over a year ago. Basically my Abbey Account is unused (much happier with Natwest - but that's just my experience!) and I'm thinking about closing the Abbey account. Will that affect my claim in anyway? I don't think it should but I just wanted to run this past some wiser heads on this forum!

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Yep Alex,

And even if there is a debt less than what your claiming, they can't persue you for it. The account is in dispute. The stay works both ways.

Lex

Thanks for the advice! My balance stands at the princely sum of £5.23 in credit! Might make a final symbolic gesture by using my debit card to buy a Big Mac Meal (other burgers are available) and then waddle across the way to Abbey and close the account down!

Hi! I have another query. I should have closed my account but instead it has remained dormant. Charges have accumulated and it's gone to a DCA. There are two things I want to do. The first is that I want to tell the DCA to go whistle because the account is in dispute (I filed a claim which was stayed in August 2007) and then if the DCA pursues the matter I want to defend on the basis that it is unfair to pay bank charges on the basis that there is a test case in progress (I think some claimants have had success with this in court). Am I entitled to do any of this? The one thing I don't want to do is give Abbey any money. Any advice would be valued. Thank you.

Respectfully bumped!

I have written to the DCA making them aware that I have no intention of paying the latest charges on the basis that the overall account is in dispute. I just need some reassurance that I'm on 'steady ground' with what I've told them. Basically what I'm getting at is if I'm entitled to regard charges placed on my account after starting my court claim as disputed?

Hi Alex,

In your second post, you mentioned that this account was £5.23 in credit ? Where have these charges come from ? Have you the type of account that charges a monthly fee?

Lots of questions I know, is your case against Abbey 'stayed' by the court? If it is, you need to complain the the fos.

The procedure with the FOS is this;

Call them and explain briefly your situ- they will allocate you a complaint number.You can ask them to write to the Bank ...within a couple of days you will get a complaints pack from the FOS. In the meantime the Bank must respond to you following the FOS letter to them.

The complaints pack should be filled in and sent back to the FOS with any proof or docs.If you already have had a final response from the bank you can return it right away with a copy.

If the bank have taken adverse action while you are disputing the account,such as selling on debts defaulting or closing accounts-then this is in breach of banking codes criteria and also OFT guidance-you should complain about this too.


Full details can be found here :-

our complaints procedure and how to complain

Hope this helps,

Lex

Hi. Many thanks for your reply. Yes the account was £5.23 in credit, but then a debit card transaction went through which I had not accounted for (my fault I should have paid closer attention to this and I should have mentioned this in my earlier post). This had th effect of pushing the account into an unauthorised overdraft. My claim has been stayed at county court pending the test case.

I've written to the DCA and so far had no reply. My plan was to report this to fos should the DCA progress the matter - should I report Abbey regardless? I'm fairly happy with what to do in that regard it's just that I still just need to clarify (in my mind at least) whether I am entitle to presume that any charges applied to my account after filing at County Court can be regarded as disputed?

Just had an interesting chat with a bloke at the fos. Basically I explained the scenario above (i.e. Bank chasing charges applied after a test case has been stayed). I was told that banks were entitled to pursue me for these charges (he said High Court agreed this in 2007) and that as far as he was aware that a Court would not entertain my claim or rather defence that my account is in dispute. He didn't know about the August 2007 case at Luton county court where a judge froze charges (not that I would expect someone handling a telephone enquiries to have that depth of knowledge). He described my stayed County Court action as 'void' and that the banks would automatically pay me back if they lost. He kept saying it was all up to the High Court (which I thought was a bit optimistic as the Banks are definitely going to take this all the way!!!). He concluded by saying I could do as I see fit with this complaint but that as far as the FOS is concerned I’m on my own with this one.

Wish I had the depth of awareness to have been able to challenge him a bit more or maybe spoken to a supervisor or someone higher up.

Really could do with some advice (support would be nice but some kindly worded critisism would be okay too!). I don't really want to pay (don't really have the means), but I'm kind of at the 'tall between my legs' point of offering them token payments.

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Any chance of deleting this thread?