Thread: Scottish small claims

Hi, I'm just about to start the process of claiming back my charges.

My total, with interest, stands at £3310, but I have been led to believe that the maximum claim through the Scottish small claims court is £750. Is this correct?

If this is the case, am I stuck or can I claim each year back as a seperate action?

Not only are you over the limit for small claims, but you are also over the £1500 summary cause limit. Splitting your claim is not advisable either, as some courts are throwing out subsequent claims as an abuse of process.

However. I'm just up the road from you, and have a solicitor who would be able to help take you through Ordinary Cause. But. Obviously this would really be the last thing you'd want to do, fraught with risks as it is.

However, there is some fairly encouraging news. It looks as if RBS are beginning to offer pretty close to what you are claiming (once they have done their own calculations.) It IS taking a bit longer than the timescales advised on here, but it seems to be what they are doing. So you can either wait until they do eventually pay up, or badger them as per the advice here. But rather than going straight from lba to court action, I'd advise that you inform them that in an attempt to show that you are being reasonable, you will be proceeding with a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. This is the step that I will be taking today, as despite being promised an offer this week, there is still nothing from them.

I reckon if all you are claiming is just your charges back, and no contractual interest or further back than 5 years, you WILL get an offer pretty close to your claim.

Go for it.

I had actually included contractural interest in my calculations, but I'd certainly be only too happy to settle for an offer close to the amout without this figure included.

What kind of time limit do you think I should expect, I sent them my letter with the total I thought was due to me on 20th March, but asked for a reply in 14 days (which I haven't received), and I was about to threaten them with court action.

20th Feb they got my prelim. And They're only just getting around to getting a letter out for only 1 of my accounts. IF the leaflets they need have actually arrived that is.

I'm hoping something pops through the door this week, but I lost patience with them and banged a complaint off to the fos anyway, since I'd originaly complained at branch level in December last year. So they have had way loads of time to get their sh*t together.

I'd not give them much beyond your time limits. I was trying to be generous with my limits, and they are just taking the p*ss.

Originally Posted by Seahorse

I'd not give them much beyond your time limits. I was trying to be generous with my limits, and they are just taking the p*ss.

I'm at a loss to know what my next move should be though , it dosen't seem like I've got much to threaten them with due to the amount I'm claiming they owe me, compared to what I can chase in the courts

How much does it come to less your CI?

£3247 I'd added it up wrong at first.

£3247 with contractual interest, or just your charges plus overdraft interest? And when you say you added it up wrong, have you used one of the spreadsheets available here, or have you done it by hand?

Sorry for the big gaps in replies, but I'm on nightshift and ofshore just now.

Don't worry about the big gaps, I know what its like doing nights offshore !

I used one of the spreadsheets available online, but the total of £3247 is just the charges total, no interest added at all.

If I add in the calculated interest the total is £3907.

Hmmm. Still out of the limits.

I'd send the prelim, followed after 14 days with a lba as per advce here anyway, and stick to the 14 days from those. But, if still no joy by then, I'd write and say, as you are trying to be reasonable, you'd rather leave court action as a last resort, as it would only incur unneccessary expense by the bank, so you are going to make a formal complaint to the financial ombudsman in an attempt to resolve the dispute amicably.

That way, if the fos doesn't help (which is unlikely) you can still go down the route of taking them to court. But I don't think you'll need to.

I would just go with the figures you have. IMO, chancing your arm with CI would really bump that up to the point of taking the P*ss, and the FOS is unlikely to back it up. If you HAD to go to court, I think you'd be out of luck in Scotland too. I was blinded by 5 figures when I did mine, hence me claiming CI. But being realistic, it will be nice just to get my charges back.

Well I wrote to them earlier this week threatening to complain to fos, but today I came home to a letter from a Sandy Watt in Edinburgh stating that they have,

"received my letter regarding charges applied to my account and are currently considering my claim and will respond as soon as possible"

So fingers crossed that they may make an offer , or am I just being overly optimistic........

Standard letter from Sandy (who I believe is on holiday until the 16th). I think she just gets a batch to sign every morning and wings them out.

In their defence (what the heck am I saying????) they ARE trying to clear a backlog as quickly as possible. But as far as I'm concerned, they really should have seen this coming months ago, and beefed up their staff to cope. So I'd stick to your timescale and get your complaint to the fos in if they go over the time. In hindsight, I think I was a little too generous giving them an extra couple of weeks, but I was swayed by Sandy's "this is not a delaying tactic" nonsense when I emailed her.

But you never know... once their leaflets that they are waiting for come in, maybe things will start to move a bit quicker.