I everyone. I've been reading these threads with great interest and decided to take RBOS to court.

The brief history:

7th March - I wrote first letter from template on news.bbc.co.uk giving 14 days notice

16th March - RBOS wrote back acknowledging the claim and asking for all the info I had already given them in the first letter (obviously a standard letter)

20th March - I wrote to RBOS restating all the info they wanted and reminding them of the 14 day deadline which I extended as they had replied to me for a further 2 weeks (until 6th April)

11th April - no further response from RBOS so issued an N1 claim form through my local county court (luckily just 500 yards from where I live) giving RBOS until 3rd May to respond

24th April - I received an Acknowledgment of Service letter from Cobbetts LLP stating that "I intend to defend all of this claim"

This is where I am up to now. I just wanted to find out if other people had got to a similar position with RBOS, and if so was this a standard thing they did and what the outcomes have been? Any similar case stories would be most grateful

Couple of people in court with RBS right now are mcuth livelylad HydraUK

If you advance search on threads started by these people you should be able to find their threads.

Good luck.

Fraid I can't answer the questions myself as I've never got that far

Am in similar position. 11.4.07: RBS acknowledged the claim stating they intend to defend all the claim. This gave them 28 days to file a defence.

The defence was received from their solicitors Cobbetts 4.5.07 along with a request for further information. This information was supplied to RBS back in

January 07. Having looked at other forums, have decided to duplicate the information again to Cobbetts. We will see what happens then!!!!

Hi GRH

Yeah same position...just got "Request for further information and clarity" from Cobbetts.

Not sure what my next move will be (see my thread) I've found a letter but unsure if it's OK to send.

Good luck

ive also got defence papers could anyone please take a look no idea what to reply.

Can someone help please!

Request information

1 in your claim you state: “the defendant debited numerous charges to the

claimant’s account”.

2 please provide the following particulars in support of your claim:

2.1 To what account(s) (giving details of the account name, number

and sort code) were the changes applied

2.2 in relation to each change please identify (a) the date when the charge was changed; (b) the amount of the same; and © the reason(s) given for the charging off the same.

2.3 in relation to each charge, please clarify the following: (a) is it the case of the claimant the same should not have been charged? (b)

if yes; please explain why the claimant contends that the same should not have been changed? © if no; is it the case of the claimant that the same should not have been changed in this amount? (d) if yes; please explain why the claimant contends that the same should have been charged in this amount and Identify the sum the claimant contends should have been charged . (e) if no; please state the claimant’s case.

3 In your claim you state that “the charges are an unlawful, extravagant penalty”.

4 Please provide the following particulars in support of your claim:

4.1 please specify the clause(s) pursuant to which the charges were applied;

4.2 please specify whether the changes applied were due to a breach of contract by the claimant;

4.3 please identify in each case the particular breach of contact (by reference to appropriate term(s) of the contact) that the charge related to.

5 in your claim you state that the changes are: “contrary to the unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations 1999”

6 please specify all of the facts relied on by the claimant in support of the contentions in paragraph 5 above , and in particular please identify the contractual provisions that the claimant alleges are invalid by reference to the regulations.

I have filed a claim against RBS and therefore I suppose I should expect the same reply from Cobbetts. My thoughts on this are:

1. Does this request for further information amount to CPR Part 18 disclosure. If it does then it is not relevant to the small claims track.

2. We are only bound to supply information requested by the court at this stage.

All comments welcome.

FC

Sorry am new to this but I have just received 6 pages of Defence from Cobbetts asking for information on each and every claim. Do I need to do anything. Why are they asking me for the information which surely RBS has in the first place?

Go to top of page (User CP FAQ Calendar etc. ) ......click on Search and enter CPR Part18......this will take you to a thread by Martin3030.....here you will find a template letter to send to Cobbetts......that's the one I used (obviously changing the name of the bank).

Best of luck

Re: Request for Further Information. Have used Martin3030 template to draft a letter to Cobbetts but have not mailed yet. Am confused, as today RBOS offered a larger amount via letter, but not the full amount claimed. Who should I be dealing with, Cobbetts, or negotiating with RBOS and at what stage will I receive the Court Allocation Questionnaire. Will this come after the date Cobbetts have requested I supply them with further information. Has anyone gone through this stage yet?

Hi

I have done the same with the RBS. They too defended the claim and had the statatory time to reply to the court with their defence, but failed to do to so in time,

I have now instructed the court to serve a notice for immediate payment. All well and good, except nearly a week later, the court office in question still have not served it on the RBS.

I'm not a suspicious person, but I wonder why they are dragging their feet in serving it? I'm not sure if the court has a designated time to serve these orders?

I await th post tomorrow to see if it has been done (nearly a week after I hand delivered it to the court office, they checked it and stamped it!)

Has anyone else had this problem? and how long does RBS have to pay once it`s served?

TJ

TJ

Did you apply for Judgement by Default and if so, did the judge grant it?

Good luck with getting your money. I am about two weeeks behind you.

FC

Hi

As they defaulted by not replying in time(I bet someone will be in trouble for that!) yes I applied for judgment by default, no judge involved as they deemed themselves to be at fault by running out of time. I just filled in the form, worked out the interest and the court office stamped it. And, I do hope they have served it or I will be taking it further. I may be a minnow but the big fish aint gonna win this one!

Good luck with yours keep me posted in case we can help each other

TJ

Hi, It sounds as if we RBS customers are all getting letters from Cobbetts. I have written back to them using Martin's template letter and hope they will back off but have re-given them the details of the claim. I have also answered RBS who have belatedly made an offer but for about 60% of the total claimed. I have said I will accept this as part payment only and will continue through the courts for the remainder. Have to wait and see what happens next.

Hi.

Got defence from Cobbetts last Thursday (10th May) and was wondering what to do. But on Sat got a letter from RBS offering me a settlement. Have accepted.

Am now awaiting the dosh. Hope it doesn't take long to come through. Other interesting thing about RBS is that they are still honouring DD's.

Did RBS offer you the full amount you were claiming for or was it about 60%?

A lot of questions here.

I have had 2 successes with RBS and recently assisted 2 others who have been settled.I have also assisted maybe 100 others with dealings here with Cobbetts on a personal level.

That aside here are a few answers based on my own experiences in following them pretty closely.

Not all claims will be settled by Cobbetts expressly....for some reason RBS litigation in London do take the reins and so the decisions on many claims.Cobbetts have a standard defence and this usually runs into 6 pages.They state failiure to particularise and also that they will request case management hearings to allow claimants to do that.If you have used the full POCS on your N1 and supplied them with schedules of charges that clearly show dates/charges and amounts then that should be adequate.The letter to address the part 18 request has served its purpose in all the cases I have known it to be used.Despite their knowledge that this is irrelevant for claims that are obviously going to stay in SCC they continue to ask for it.As long as this is the case You should continue to use it.

Allocation comes after defence submissions.There does not appear to be a fixed pattern following filing of this.

Cobbetts may make an offer......they may do nothing or they make offer full settlement.

If you refuse the offer it will be taken away while they consult with RBS directly.You will then hear nothing until a court date is given or they will offer full settlement and this usually comes out of the blue.On the other hand you may not hear from Cobbetts again and instead get a full settlement from RBS Lit in London.

Early on they used to send you a letter of acceptance which you signed and returned.

They then sent out the cheque.

More recently they have been sending the cheques with the letters.Make sure you allow the cheques to clear before returning any letters of discontinuence.

Remember you have the decision on how you want to be paid.If you want it paid into your account then state that.If you want it paid by cheque then ask for your right of appropriation to do so.Make sure you state that you want it paid to your name at the address held on their files.They have recently issued cheques for payment into dormant/frozen accounts by putting the account numbers on the cheques !!

So there are no hard and fast answers as to when they WILL settle it is a process that only they can decide.

There is some evidence to suggest that there are peaks where they settle large numbers at the same time....probably to ease backlogs.

Best way to keep up to speed with latest developements is to keep your threads updated and continue to share information between yourselves.

hope this answers a few of those questions !

As regards judgement,this has become a bit of a problem.

Yes you can apply to the Courts to have judgement awarded if they fail to respond to deadlines.

However it can take up to 2 weeks before it goes in front of a Judge because of backlogs within County Courts I know this as its happened to me.

The defendants can still submit up to a judge issuing Judgement and they know this.

There is also the greater concern AFTER judgement has been issued....Banks do not like to have these and will move heaven and earth to have them set aside.

County Court baliffs are not known to be the fastest workers in the West and it can take a week for them to visit to enforce a warrant.They usually inform the defendant beforehand of their intended visit so giving them chance to apply for a set aside.......unfortunately this happens !!

A suggested method of getting the warrant satisfied is by using the services of an enforcement officer.There is information about this elsewhere on the site,and certainly one thing I would consider having twice been caught out by the slowness of the methods we are all familiar with.

I do point out however that it is not the case in all instances.As many of you know there have been some well publicised cases of Baliffs marching into banks.

You wont see many of them though as they have learned from those cases and put measures into place to try and stop any more !!

I did my own calculation of what I owed and added interest. The amount offered was MORE than I had asked for so the acceptance letter was sent back by return of post.

Well that's brilliant, well done Petejo1

Today heard some news that Lloyds have won their first case, so am now even more worried and am wondering if I should accept their offer which equates to about 60%. I also did own calculations and am trying to pull up template from library to see what CAG's spreadsheet works it out as, but don't seem to be able to pull it up??? Don't know why.

Heard some news? Do you have any evidence of this? A link perhaps?

Heard some news? Do you have any evidence of this? A link perhaps?

BBC NEWS | Business | Bank's overdraft charges upheld

Where does this leave us all? Is it worth carrying on?

Where does this leave us all? Is it worth carrying on?

I would say certainly yes....

When you read the article it is apparant that:

1. It was in a district court, not high court, therefore it cannot be taken as a "test case"
   
2. The bank/lawyers did not even turn up
   
3. The judge has allowed for an appeal

Yes it will affect the confidence of the banks concerned but do they still want to test it in a high court?

[quote name=The letter to address the part 18 request has served its purpose in all the cases I have known it to be used.Despite their knowledge that this is irrelevant for claims that are obviously going to stay in SCC they continue to ask for it.As long as this is the case You should continue to use it.

Allocation comes after defence submissions.There does not appear to be a fixed pattern following filing of this.[/quote]

I have read somewhere on this site (not sure which thread, sorry) that Cobbetts have now changed the CPR Part 18 request to include CPR Rule 27.2(3), so that we do have to reply within their specified timescale... I have received Defence and Request for further info served pursuant to CPR Part 18 alternatively with regard to CPR Rule 27.2(3). Apparently I have to reply by 29 May... Does anyone know whether I have to reply, or could I use the letter mentioned above? I'm realy worried as don't understand all the terminology that Cobbetts are using (which I sppose they are banking on) and have no idea what I'm supposed to write back!

Also, just phoned Northampton Court who informed me that I would probably not be receiving an Allocation Q as they have so many of these claims going through at the moment...

Please could someone help me, I could give you the details of their request for further info if required, only it seems to be slightly different from the one already posted on this thread...

thanks

Wow that's quite a turnaround?

I'd be interested to know exactly what they were claiming and whether or not the claimant was at fault for anything with regards to the claim.

Wonder if he is a CAGer...

I everyone. I've been reading these threads with great interest and decided to take RBOS to court.

 

The brief history:

 

7th March - I wrote first letter from template on news.bbc.co.uk giving 14 days notice

 

16th March - RBOS wrote back acknowledging the claim and asking for all the info I had already given them in the first letter (obviously a standard letter)

 

20th March - I wrote to RBOS restating all the info they wanted and reminding them of the 14 day deadline which I extended as they had replied to me for a further 2 weeks (until 6th April)

 

11th April - no further response from RBOS so issued an N1 claim form through my local county court (luckily just 500 yards from where I live) giving RBOS until 3rd May to respond

 

24th April - I received an Acknowledgment of Service letter from Cobbetts LLP stating that "I intend to defend all of this claim"

 

This is where I am up to now. I just wanted to find out if other people had got to a similar position with RBOS, and if so was this a standard thing they did and what the outcomes have been? Any similar case stories would be most grateful

Just an update to state where I am at present:

8th May - I received a letter from Cobbets with a copy of the defence. Seemed to be the standard defence.

14th May - I received an Allocation Questionnaire from Brentford County Court, for a reply before 31st May

23rd May - I received a letter direct from RBOS offering to settle the claim for the full amount without interest or the charges I had paid to the court = £5,014

28th May - I accepted the RBOS offer of £5,014

Many, many thanks to everyone on the forum for their support and advice. It really, really helped me get through some weeks of worry. I will be completing the details of the settlement for the database and have made a donation to this fantastic site