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Following my application to the court for a refund of charges Barclays have advised me that as a result of the test case judgement on Oct8th 2008 the judgement was given that barclays historical personnel current account terms did not contain terms giving rise to unautherised overdraft charges that were capable of amounting to penalties at common law and as such would seek to have my claim struck out and claim costs
I would appreciate any advice or help on this that you can give
Barclays advise me that as my account is a business account despite being a sole trader and the account in my name i cannnot claim for unfair charges
Any help or advice
You will have to amend your claim to include an alternative that if they are not penalties then they are invalid as they are unfair within the meaning of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.
Do it straightaway.
Add the amendment to a copy of your claim form. Send it to the defendant and tell them that you are intending to amend the claim as enclosed. Will they agree to this or would they rather that you seek the permission of the court.
To amend the claim, simply insert the amendment at an appropriate place, underline it in red and write accorss the top of the document "Amended particulars of claim" in red as well.
Send a similarly amended copy to the court with a note that you have contacted the defendant to agree the amendment.
If the defendant gets funy about it then you will have to apply to the court for permission to amend. Permission is likely to be given. However, you will have to make the application on a form N244 and this will cost you about £60 fee, I'm afraid. You may not get this back.
However, it is certainly worth continuing the claim as you will be able to continue racking up your 8% interest.
Barclays advise me that as my account is a business account despite being a sole trader and the account in my name i cannnot claim for unfair charges
Any help or advice
Absolute rubbish.
Where did you get your POCS from and what are you relying on in terms of stat law ?
I think you should do some reading in the business account forums.
My POC came mostly from the CAG Barclays are quoting a case in the salford court 20th March2009 where DJ Relph upheld the claimant was unreasonable in pursuing the claim and awarded 1000 costs I have no details on this
I did think from the outset that as a sole trader ie XXXXX t/a XXXXXX i was covered under consumer law
Appreciate your help
I can confirm that this is a sole trader business account wher I am xxxxx t/a xxxxxxx
All documentation on the account is in my name
as a sole trader I am of course resposible personally
Yes the case in Salford was Sweeney v Barclays.
We are still awaiting some details of this case-Barclays have been reluctant to give any specific details and so its not known the circumstances which allowed them judgement.
The letter I have recieved from Barclays copies the General Form of Judgement which states the claimant has been unreasonable in pursuing the claim having specifically sought to have the original stay lifted
My application to the court was merely to get the claim into the system and indeeed the court have advised me that the case is stayed which I accept
I think barclays are using this case to show that they can apply for a strike out and get costs and in my case they would apply on the basis of the account being a business account although I was sure from the start that a sole trader with what is in effect a personnel account xxxxx t/a xxxxx which is used for not only paying business monies but personnel loans etc was covered by the consumer ac t
I am sorry if the threads are messy I am realy just a novice in this respect !
Yes I had thought about this-although I am pretty sure Barclays have a general idea of the Ids of those threads on CAG that interest them.
They must also know that we wont be giving anything away,if you are reading - ET take note !!
Hi Martin
Thanks for all the help
In answer to your questions I am claiming over a period from 3/2004.I did not cite common law but unfair penalty under UTCC.I have not applied to have the stay lifted and the total of charges is £3797
Ok thanks for confirmation.
At some point you will need to amend your particulars of claim,since UTCC does not apply to businesses,and Barclays will no doubt make a big song and dance about this.
When did you file the claim ?-presumably BEFORE the ruling on terms and conditions being incapable of penalties under common law ?
The Consumer current account terms and conditions that cover the periods of your claim were looked at by Justice Smith-but this did not include any supporting Business tariffs/charging structures that would have applied to business.
I am assuming that some of your 2002 charges were £20/£25 ?
Thanks
Yes the claim was before and I think I will withdraw it as the cost of changing is steep.I will wait the conclusion of the test case of the test case but do you think I am wasting my time as a business albeit a sole trader wher the account is xxxxx t/a xxxxxxx and the account has been used for personnel payments as well as business
The charges are all for cheque refferals or returned cheques
Barclays Claim and test case
have advised me that as a result of the test case judgement on Oct8th 2008 the judgement was given that barclays historical personnel current account terms did not contain terms giving rise to unautherised overdraft
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Originally Posted by hrafisher
