Thread: RBoS - to court soon I hope

Thanks matey

Yeah I think ur the 1st RBS case to get this far according to this site anyways.

All the best keep us posted!

I've filed my small claim against RBS today, I'm fully expecting them to defend it. Although I'm a bit dissapointed in having to wait until 9 June

How do you know that your court date is 9th June? I don't remember seeing anything on mine that said I had to go to court at a specific time?

I filed mine in person and the clerk told me at that time that she'd booked it into court for the 9 June and that RBS had until the 2 June to respond to the summons.

oic, I'm doing mine online. I thought I'd missed something for a moment lol

I did however get a letter from the bar stewards this morning saying they believe their charges to be reasonable and fair and all that jazz. They offered me a lump sum, which I have noted in a question below (all advice gratefully received).

I'm a bit confused because my claim is against the bank for 3 previous accounts. 2 of them are with my branch and one was sent away to some special office dealing with accounts in debt (mainly because of all the charges). This letter came from the department dealing with one account and the figures are relating only to that one account and not the other 2, so I think they've really gone a bit screwy with paperwork as my claim is directed at the bank for all 3 accounts. All to my benefit however I must add, but it goes to show that maybe RBoS aren't as organised with dealing with all this as we might be lead to believe (I read here there was a new department setup to take charge of all of this). This department have yet to be in contact it seems, unless they merely pull the strings on the other departments?

Anyway, for reference, I thought I'd post the full text of the letter as I seem to be the only one this far down the line with RBoS, so hopefully others will find it handy.

Originally Posted by RBoS

I write with reference to the above detailed accounts and in response to your correspondence dated 8 March 2006. Thank you for your patience whilst your concern has been investigated.

I understand you are unhappy with the charges debited to your account since 8 March 2000 and you request that they are refunded You have made your request on the basis that you say the charges are penalty charges for breach of contract terms which exceed the actual cost of the breach and therefore they are illegal.

Following a review of the transactions on your account since 8 March 2000, I can see that the charges debited to your account in this time total £1,570.00 .

The charges debited to your account were in relation to unauthorised borrowing, card misuse, unpaid items and paid referral fees. These are not deemed as penalty charges.

The Bank believes that its charges are fair and reasonable and considers that the amounts debited to your account have been applied in accordance with the published tariff. The Bank is satisfied that this tariff complies with all applicable laws and regulations.

Whilst your request is noted, the Bank is not prepared to refund the charges debited to your account over the last 6 years. This being said, in an attempt to reach an amicable resolution to your concern, I confirm that the Bank is prepared to consider an offer of a lump sum payment, which can be less that the balance owed, in Full and final settlement of your account.

You will need to refer to the relevant Branch/Office, which I believe you have, regarding accounts xxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxx as these accounts are not under this Office's control.

I note you say that if the Bank does not respond positively to your correspondence dated 8 March 2006 then you will progress a claim and also seek to recover interest and expenses. Please note that the Bank is prepared to defend its position and that it would seek to recover any cost incurred as a result of this.

Control of your account has now been returned to the relevant Team within this Office. Please direct any further questions you may have to our Customer Call Centre on 01952 206223. Alternatively, you may address letters for the attention of our Correspondence Team.

I ask that, upon receipt of this letter, you contact our Customer Call Centre immediately to discuss repayment of your account.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to bring this matter to the Bank's attention.

If you are unhappy with the way in which your concern is being resolved, please refer to the leaflet previously sent out to you explaining the Bank's concern handling procedures. This leaflet outlines the options available to you should you with your concern to receive further considerations.

Yours sincerely,

Mr A French
Customer Care Team

A couple of questions: Should I call them, and get some money back still claiming the rest through the courts (and tell the courts they have made an interim payment to me and to reduce the amount owed respectively)? Should I call them and tell them legal action is already in the last stages and if they wish to avoid it they may pay me in full now?

Cheers folks

Yeah thanks for that matey, it's pretty much what I was thinking.

I'm not scared by their threats at all, I know that they can't claim costs as they never contended the jurisdiction of the county court.

I shall write back and let them know the full settlement figure but my main questions now is where to send that letter? My branch has 2 accounts, this department has 1 and the Litigation Officer seems to be the best bet still. Uh, damn bank. So shall I sent it to all 3 offices or just one?

Well, here was my reply




Offer of Repayment of Charges


Dear Mr French,

I am writing in response to your recent letter regarding the unlawful penalty charges that have been applied to my 3 accounts held with Royal Bank of Scotland over the last 6 years.

In your letter you state that the Bank is prepared to offer a lump sum settlement on the unlawful charges (which can be less that the balance owed) in an attempt to reach an amicable resolution.

Unfortunately this offer is wholly unacceptable as there is no reason why I should agree for the Bank to refund only part of the charges that were unlawfully taken from me. As stated in my first and second letters to the Bank, I require full and complete repayment of all unlawful charges.

The Bank was given a gracious two week opportunity to pay back the unlawful charges, as stipulated in my initial letter. Despite repeated telephone calls and another warning letter of impending legal action, the Bank has failed to refund the totality of the unlawful charges or, until now, demonstrate any positive desire to resolve the issue. Because of this, as warned several times, legal action was commenced on the deadline stated in the letters and telephone calls.

This claim is for the entire amount of unlawful charges and now includes interest on the balance and legal fees. I do not understand why the Bank believes it to be acceptable to offer me a part return of the monies unlawfully taken at this stage and not before I was forced to commence legal action to recover the full amount.

Because this action has now already been started (and is nearing the end of the period where the Bank must file a defence with the county court), the only acceptable settlement figure I am able to entertain from the Bank is the sum equal to my claim, which is currently £2,749.76.

Unless the Bank is willing to repay the amount in full before the response deadline set for you by the Courts, then the legal process will commence as you have been advised. In this case, the Bank must either appear in Court in an attempt to defend the unlawful charges, or I shall request a Default Judgement if the Bank does not defend the claim. This would lead to the issuing of a Warrant of Execution, allowing bailiffs in to the branch to seize goods for sale at auction to recover your debt.

It appears from your letter that you are unfamiliar with due legal process with regards to these matters. As you must be aware, ignorance of the law is not a defence. The Bank has received all the relevant paperwork explaining the process – I too have received a duplicate copy of this paperwork. In your letter you state that the Bank is prepared to defend its position and that it would seek to recover any costs incurred as a result of this. The Small Claims Process (for monies owed of less than £5,000) on the single-track at the County Court does not permit for such action to recover any costs from the plaintiff.

As you state, the Bank is fully prepared to defend its position. I will thus reiterate that if the complete sum of £2,749.76 is not received before the deadline set by the Courts, then the Bank will be given the desired opportunity to attempt to defend the unlawful charges in the Court room.

Yours sincerely,

Cheers

So if you work for the RBS, do you know how busy it is with all the reclaimed charges? Being as I seem to be the only one so far ahead, would you agree it's pretty quiet or are people doing it without being involved with this forum? I is a bit confused :-\

Hi Candice

Would you mind if I used the basis of your letter above if I need it? I have 2 seperate claims pending for RBS and one is at stage of letter before action, the other at preliminary letter before LBA. Both are for about £1500 so I assume I'll be taken to the final stages. I assume at some point they will make a reduced offer.

Absolutely: rape, pillage and burn to your heart's content

As not too many people are down the RBS route, it's slightly new to me but so far it's going as predicted and similar to the other banks - I guess they will make you a reduced offer too. Remember it's all about mind games, so keep saying no until you get what you want.

The whole thing that's tickled me more that anything is the interest. As my charges started quite a while ago, the interest really has amounted to something quite significant (about 1/3 extra!).

I believe that bank charges are probably one of the most tax efficient savings accounts around at the moment

So do ours!!! over £800.00 interest. Ours is for a closed account from 2001 to 2003. If they go to court it'll cost them loads more with the 8%. You're right. There's not much info on RBS but my daughter also has just sent a lba to them so we can keep the forum informed. Forewarned is forearmed, so to speak!!!!!

Thanks for the info and support matey