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Morning! I hope everyone's well, not too cold etc...
I was just wondering if anyone knows, what's the position on charges applied to your a/c after you've filed your claim with the courts?
Can these be added to the amount claimed, or would that entail paying the courts a (non-claimable) £35 to amend the claim?
I'd guess others must have been in this position; what did you do about it?
Thanks! x
If you add them to the claim you will have to amend the claim which will cost £35 (which you can not claim back) and will delay your claim. When they settle I would ask them to add the charge to the total, If they refuse then its another claim. Also please be awre that they will be more likely to close your account if you continue to make repeated claims.
You can open a parachute account as a back up. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...parachute.html
Whatmoney? Vs. Lloyds - Partial Payment After Claim Started
First of all, thanks, LivelyLad for your reply. Everything's been hectic here or I'd have replied sooner - sorry to seem rude!
Anyway, I was due to file my claim on the 6th, but it looked like they were going to charge my visa for accidentally paying £80 instead of £81. They did. So I held off to include the new charge in my initial claim. So, the story so far is:
Today (16th), I came home to find a letter from them, posted on the 9th, saying:
"...believe it is fair to charge....on this occasion we are prepared to pay you £xxx. Unfortunately it is not the bank's policy to refund interest payments.....This sum will be credited to you account in the next few days..."
They go on to say they don't deal with credit cards, so that has been passed on to Brighton.
I'm not willing to accept a partial offer, and the interest they won't pay is the interest they took, not the added contractual interest. The thing is, I checked my account and they actually paid the money in yesterday (the same day I filed the claim).
So what's my best course of action? It's only a partial refund, and they didn't even send the letter until after the 14 days were up. Obviously it will cost me an extra (non-claimable) £30 to amend my court claim, which I don't see why I should have to do, as they haven't responded in the time-scale.
I'm thinking I should write to them explaining that I received the letter today, pointing out that they responded late and that I won't accept a partial offer, and enclose a cheque for the amount. Does this sound right? Does anyone else have experience of this situation?
Anyway, sorry for the long-winded post (it seems to be the only kind I do!), but any help would be much appreciated! (I'll respond quicker this time too )
WM - it is not usual for them to make partial offers to settle, I am not sure how your offer is worded but you may wish to send them a letter along these lines: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...ng-offers.html
If you received a part payment, there is no need for you to file an amended claim - Lloyds should pick this up in their defence. Different if you wish increase your charges though, as Livelylad said then you would be required to file an amendment.
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Thanks GuidoT. I think I was just a bit unsure of my position as they had paid part of the money on the same day I filed my claim. Their letter was basically (I won't type it all out, as much of it is standard):
"...We've already explained that we believe it is fair to charge you for extra services...
...It's easy to keep a running check on how much is in your account...
...Generally we don't agree to adjust any of these charges, but I can tell you that on this occasion we are prepared to repay you £XX. Unfotunately it is not the banks policy to refund interest payments. You may have read that we and the other banks are discussing overdraft charges with the Office of Fair Trading. Meanwhile we do consider each cutomer's position individually, and we are making you this offer because the amount you're asking for is less than the cost we might face in dealing with your complaint if you took it any further.
I need to let you know that this does not mean we consider we have any legal obligation to do so. This sum will be credited to your account in the next few days.
...As I've explained, these charges are avoidable...
...You've mentioned the new guidelines from the OFT...don't agree with...
...Credit Card complaints are not dealt with in Andover. A copy of your letter has been forwarded to Brighton Customer Services Recovery and they will be in touch with you shortly.
This letter is the bank's final response...Financial Ombudsman Service.."
I've responded using rejection letter 3, altered slightly to include balance of full claim including credit card, and pointing out that they responded outside the 14 day time limit. Does that seem OK?
(It's not that i wasn't prepared, I just hadn't expected them to do this now, if you see what I mean )
You are doing fine. My goodwill payment crossed in the post with filing my claim too.
Post up what is sent to you next, Lloyds are now saying that they have paid the claim and the courts now ask if you want to carry on with the claim. To which your response will be yes, I am presuming that your total claim is for more than the goodwill offer (I cannot see from above how much you are claiming).
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Received notice of issue on the 23rd Feb, followed by bank's defence on 20th March. No mention of the £85, just standard 9 point defence, so obviously just subtract it from the settlement.
Handed in my aq at the court on the 3rd April. I followed the "New Strategy..." and included a request for disclosure and draft order for directions. I haven't received a copy of their AQ: do they normally send this to people?
Yesterday (17th) I received Notice of Allocation and a court date for the 30th. No mention was made of my request for disclosure etc: is this normal where they've decided not to go along with it? I'm in Sheffield, in case that makes any difference.
I haven't heard anything from SC&M in this time, but reading through the successes forum, I notice that a lot of people who handed in their AQ's after me have already had settlements. I'm confident that all my paperwork & figures are in order (less so as I typed that sentence, I admit!), so is it just luck of the draw who is settled sooner?
Also, I had a letter from the mediation dept today, asking if I'm willing to enter into mediation. For a start, I sincerely doubt that SC&M will be, but should I respond to this at all?
My mother had charges put on her account after we claimed. We ignored these charges until the 1st claim was settled - IN FULL. This 1st claim took a total of 298 days.
I then sent an email to Lloyds requesting that the charges made since our initial claim be refunded, and they refunded the second charges IN FULL in only 16 days!!!!!!
The following was done on behalf of my mother:
First letter send 20th April 2006. Reply recieved 22nd April 2006.
Second letter sent 24th April 2006. Reply recieved 26th April 2006.
Accepted at small claims court.
Defendant filed an acknowledgment of service on 25th July 2006.
Allocation Questionaire recieved 16th August 2006.
Court date set for 22nd February 2007.
12th FEBRUARY 2007 SETTLED IN FULL!
4th April 2007 - Court orders Lloyds to pay costs.
23rd April - Bank pays costs :grin::grin::grin:
This claim took a total of 298 days to reach settlement. Further charges were taken, an email was sent to Lloyds, at the conclusion of this 1st claim and settled in full in only 16 days.
OK, small new development (quite amused me, actually!)
Lloyds paid a small amount into my a/c on the same day I filed the court claim (15th Feb). I realised when I got home and wrote to them that day to refuse their offer and asked them to remove the money.
I didn't hear anything back and they didn't take the money. Then, on Friday, I got a letter from them, dated 10th April, saying "..sorry you're not happy...maximum we are able to award...see you've issued court claim...if successful this figure will be deducted...not make any attempt to reclaim this money."
Well posted court bundles to SC&M and court this morning 7 hours!! I'm really hoping that once they (SC&M) receive it they'll realise I'm serious and settle. Not that I'm scared of going to court, it's just dragging on...
Having said that, they've dragged their feet at every stage - why stop now?!
Started preparing my application for costs though. Nicely detailed spreadsheet breaking everything down etc. One thing I'm wondering, though, is I noticed someone else (sorry, your name escapes me!) had their application refused by the judge as they didn't turn up at court to present it. This was in spite of informing the court that Lloyds had already settled, and not claiming for costs relating to attending court. Should I expect to attend court anyway to submit my application for costs in person? Any thoughts or experience anyone?
OK, I'm in court in 8 days and starting to get nervous (I admit it!)
I've read a few mentions over the last few days of it just being claims with contractual interest that are being defended. Any thoughts? Has anyone had a CI claim settled in the past week?
Need some details please. Decent timeline if poss, plus claim details.
Have you submitted a bundle? What did it consist of? Have they?
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Any advice or opinion is offered informally & without liability. Use your own judgment and if in doubt seek advice of a qualified and insured professional.
If they haven't settled by a couple of days before then PM me again.
Please remember to DONATE! Help CAG keep up the fight!
Any advice or opinion is offered informally & without liability. Use your own judgment and if in doubt seek advice of a qualified and insured professional.
My claim is for £337 of charges plus £110 interest taken. With CI it comes to £1035 (29.8%). I've claimed at 18.7% in the alternative, or s.69 8% in the alternative, so if I'm refused CI I have still requested simple 8% interest.
Of the charges, 13 are on my credit card and 3 are my current a/c; 2 of those are for returned items, which I'm hoping should strengthen my argument against the "service charge" defence (you didn't pay it - where's the service?!). I have the T&C's of my card, which clearly states a requirement to stay within my credit limit and pay on time, so if I don't, it is an actual breach of contract, not just implied.
Having now found a copy online of the 2004 current a/c T&C's, I intend to submit these at the hearing if I'm allowed, as they clearly state that charges are "to recoup our costs".
It was interesting reading Pen's thread - thanks for that. I do agree with you re going to court solely for CI; if I receive an offer for charges + costs + 8% I'll accept (hope no Lloyds spies have identified me!), but otherwise I will try and argue my case for it in court.
Thanks again for replying - I was starting to feel rather stressed by it all, and it's nice to not feel too alone!
You'll be fine. You seem well prepared. As I said, contact me again if the haven't settled a couple of days before and I'll send you a few bits and pieces which will strengthen and tighten up your argument against the service charge defence. Although to be honest I find it almost inconceivable that they would attempt to defend the charges. I think you'll find the same happens to you as what happened to Pen - a deposit in your account a day or two before.
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Well, it's more than a day or two before, but I've just discovered £443.98 in my a/c; more than £155 short even just at 8% interest, let alone what I'm actually claiming for. I haven't heard anything from them (surprise surprise!)
What's my best course of action now? Accepting a settlement at 8% rather than contractual interest is one thing, but I'm not prepared to let them get away with just randomly paying part of it. But I also don't want to look unreasonable to a judge.
If they haven't paid 100% of the charges + 8% + fee's then you have a perfectly good reason to go to court without any question of it being seen as unreasonable.
Get your schedules up together of the charges + 8% and the charges + CI so you can show the judge what your claiming and exactly how much short you are. You can invite the court to consider CI as you're there anyway but don't be surprised if you have to settle for 8%.
If I were you I would also make a case for costs on the grounds of unreasonable conduct. I've got an "issue of costs" witness statement you can have if you like - PM me your e-mail address and I'll send it to you.
This is actually a good thing becouse it takes the pressure off - they've settled most of it so all there is to do at court is iron out the final amount.
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WhatMoney -v- Lloyds - So **WON** (in court!)
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Originally Posted by WhatMoney?
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