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I have received my first offer from RBS. They sent it on the very last day before I started court action, after hearing nothing from them before!
They have offered me my charges back with the usual crap about charges being fair etc. They have ignored the contractual interest I am claiming, its worth around £2500! They have also ignored the fact I asked for a cheque, not paid into my account.
Do I go back to them with a stick it up your @rse reply (done politely of course!) or would anyone accept this?
This does of course depend on how much of your claim this is in relation to?
You say that it doesn't include your contractual interest, but how much of the rest of this claim does your settlement offer cover? I don't see how you would get away with taking them to court if they have offered you full settlement of your charges and overdraft interest. Perhaps you could give us some rough figures?
In relation to you insisting on payment by cheque, this isn't going to happen. They will insist it gets paid to your bank account and I'm afraid you are going to find it very difficult to persuade them to do otherwise.
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I don't see how you would get away with taking them to court if they have offered you full settlement of your charges and overdraft interest. Perhaps you could give us some rough figures?
In relation to you insisting on payment by cheque, this isn't going to happen. They will insist it gets paid to your bank account and I'm afraid you are going to find it very difficult to persuade them to do otherwise.
They have offered me all my charges. I am watching Mcuth's case very closely. He was in exactly the same position whereby they were going to settle charges in full but without interest, he fought on and by the looks of it, the only hope RBS have left is the limitations act.
I am not letting them away with paying no interest. I am going to write to them accepting the offer as partial settlement. I have given a further 10 days before I start court action. I don't expect them to pay but when I do put my claim in, I will give the 3 different interest rates as options for the sheriff. I might only get 8% but its better than letting them off with nothing.
Be warned....mcuth is one of the more highly educated members of this forum, he will have a full understanding of what he is arguing and most in your position are strongly advised to accept this offer as you will have to have a very water tight argument when you eventually go to court.
You seem to have made your mind up already but I would advise you to start planning your argument now as you will be up against it. I'm not being cautious, this is the general opinion I see time and again throughout the forums right now.
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What I failed to mention is why.....the problem is you are holding out for an interest amount that isn't a proven argument and therefore the grounds to "hold out" for this part of your claim even though you've received a full settlement (in the banks eyes) are very few. There are many many people who get refused this interest and the court will take a dim view of you holding out for this and you will have to have a very good argument as to why you are holding out for what could be considered as an underserved addition to your claim.
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There are plenty of authorities to support the argument that bank charges are unlawful, but can you come up with any authorities to support your argument that you're entitled to contractual interest? If the opposition comes up with authorities to support the opposing position and you've no ammunition you're going to struggle.
Are you sure your method of calculating contractual interest will stand up to scrutiny? Happy to be cross-examined on it?
Can anyone show me a case where a bank has faced someone claiming contractual interest and beaten them in court?
Can anyone show me a case that has been thrown out because an individual has been claiming contractual interest when not entitled to?
In this country you can sue anyone for anything you like, as long as your argument can hold up in court.
T4FF, the fact that the case for contractual interest has never been tested is a very good reason to go for it. It means that the banks are not confident they would win, as with charges. I may not get the full interest that I'm claiming but it may lead to a better offer during the process.
Best place to look for successes is the successes forums.
Look, I'm just giving you my opinion as a word of warning. Essentially, it is up to you what you do. If you continue your claim that's up to you.
You are missing the point though.....it's not whether you are entitled to claim it or not, it's whether Contractual interest is a legitimate argument - this is something that has been devised by someone on here (possibly) as a potential extra earner but it is not a proven argument and is in the hands of the judge.
It is not always successful and it is not a supported argument therefore to proceed to court for not offering you settlement on an amount WHICH YOU AREN'T NECCESSARILY ENTITLED TO having already received full settlement on an amount you are entitled to is taking a risk. You could end up paying your court costs, hell you could even end up being stucken out. You are probably right, I'm going to be hardstretched finding someone who has unsuccessfully gone after CI, but to be honest with you, that's your job - you're going after it. It's very easy to not see further than the big fat interest rate you are claiming. I'm just trying to make you see both sides of the story and passing on information which I have gathered from the copious amount of threads I read through.
If you are doing your homework, you will have noticed the mods, helpers and other experienced posters saying exactly the same thing elsewhere.
That said, it's your money, do with it as you wish.
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Just read through mcuth's case again. At no point have Cobbets actually questioned the validity of the contractual interest claim. They are playing the limitations act card very heavily though, this does not come in to my case.
Reply is written, if they don't want to pay me interest, they're going to have to face me and beat me in court. I do admit that there is a risk of this being struck out if it is not done properly, hence the reason I am going to call on help from people in the process of doing it.
You don't get anywhere in this life without taking a few risks!