To my utter surprise, Barclaycard this week wrote to me offering to settle my MCOL claims (I had two, one being a visa and the other a mastercard). I started proceedings back in April and my MCOL claim was put on hold by my local court about 6 weeks ago. I wrote to the judge who had ordered the stay , explaining that stays were applicable only in cases involving current accounts. To be honest, I didn't want to pay the £75 fee for the application for the removal of the stay and decided to write a letter instead. Within 2 weeks I was sent a letter ordering me to attend court on 15th October (next monday) where my appeal would be heard for the stay to be lifted. I wrote to Barclaycard enclosing a copy of the letter from the court and asking them if they would like to settle before the hearing. I had every expectation that they would tell me to ****** off, but they didn't!! I received a cheque yesterday for over £1000, which includes interest and court fees. YIPEEE!!! I would advise anyone to write to the judge who issued the stay -don't bother with the formal application. I dealt with a really nice guy at Barclaycard legal called Greg Thomas -he was very efficient and helpful. Quite why they are settling claims before the stay removal hearings I really don't know, but I'm certainly not complaining!!!!

I made an informal request to the court 3 weeks ago for the stay to be removed in my claim against Barclaycard. I received a letter from the court yesterday telling me to attend a hearing in October for a "Directions hearing to consider the stay". It says that 15 minutes has been allowed for the hearing. Can anyone please tell me what I should take to the hearing and what I might expect. I want to go well prepared!

I hope someone can help me -I'd appreciate any advice I had a Natwest credit card (account closed Dec 2005). When I requested 6 years statements I noticed that I had been paying PPI which started in mid 2001 (years after the account was opened) I never requested or agreed to this insurance. I certainly never enetered into a signed agreement for it. I wrote to them asking for a copy of my agreement. They wrote back and said that "the account details have been removed from our file, which indicates that the account has been closed for at least a period of 3 months". I wrote back asking again for a copy of the agreement under the CCA Section 77/78. They did not reply to this letter. I then wrote back asking for the premiums to be paid back. I received a reply yesterday. "We are unable to provide a copy of the agreement relating to this account. As we are unable to satisfy your request under section 78 of the CCA we are oliged to treat any outstanding balance as discharged and the credit agreement as ended.As you are aware, there is no outstanding balance and the agreement has already ended" "The bank will not be refunding any money that was paid previously in reduction of your account balance, as there is no requirement to do so under section 78 of the CCA. Our position is that the PPI premiums you owed under the agreement were properly due and payable. PPI payments were debited on each monthly statment on which there was a balance owing." I need some advice.... Natwest have not provided me with a copy of an agreement and have not explained why, on a finite date, these payments commenced when I had no knowledge and had never agreed to PPI. What should I do next?

The exact same thing happened to me with Halifax credit card. I never signed for PPI on my application -they simply started taking payments in 2003 until I closed the account. When I queried it they said that they added PPI following a phone call to me in 2003. Now I KNOW that I would never have asked for PPI or agreed to it under any circumstances. I wrote a letter to them in early June 2007 asking that they investigate this urgently. I received a letter yesterday telling me that they had completed their investigations and they are upholding my complaint!! They said "We have been unable to determine whether you were in fact eligible for the cover provided, or indeed if it was suitable for your needs." I am now almost £500 better off - for writing one letter. I would urge anyone who thinks they have been mis-sold PPI to claim back their payments. In my case I truly believe that it was added without my knowledge or authority. Halifax must agree with this because of the ease in which they have refunded the payments.

DANMARTON -Barclaycard did the sme thing to me wit an old account that had been closed about 18 months ago. They paid £94 into it without telling me. I rang customer services , explained what had happened and they transferred it straight ito my current account - all I had to tell them was my current account no. and my sort code.

I have an update - I went along to Bedford County Court this morning, armed with my N244 and mountains of associated paperwork to back up my application. I spoke to a really helpful person on the desk - she said that it costs £65 per application to apply for a stay to be removed. She went on to say that the judges in Bedfordshire had made a decision to apply stays to all cases which involve bank charges. I reminded her that my claims were for a refund of credit card charges. She said that as far as she could see, the judges have grouped all penalty charges together, regardless of their origin. She said that it depends where you live as to whether judges have decided to carry on regardless or put a stay on all claims. She agreed that it was unfair. She suggested that I write a letter to the judge outlining everything which is in my N244 package. It will save me £65 that I can ill afford. I intend to send him all my paperwork -including a copy of the OFT'S statement from their website (all 32 pages!), a tweaked version of Peter's objection letter andf a copy of the email I received from the FSA this morning. The email says that as far as the FSA are concerned, the test case refers only to bank accounts and not credit card accounts. If anyone can think of anything else I should be including then please let me know. This seems to be taking over my life.... I ended up taking a day off work today so that I could try and get things straight!

Yes - I think that basically (and very unfairly) this is a postcode lottery. That's what makes it imperative to challenge the judges decision.

Craftylady - I'm in much the same position as you..... just when I had my allocation hearing date sorted out and everything ready to go, they went and put a stay on my case. My court is in Bedford - which isn't far from you in Hitchin - I wonder if judges in particular areas have got together and decided on their course of action? I'm going to my local court tomorrow morning to hand in my application for removal of the stay - I'll let you know what they say about it. We are very much the guinea pigs for this action. I find it all very frustrating. I was days away from getting my offer from Natwest for over £2000 when the OFT test case was announced, and now this....!!!

Hi there - the very same thing has happened to me - if you contact pjdavies2000 he has compiled a template letter that you can tweak to fit your own circumstances. Good luck!

I have compiled my "application for removal of stay" package - it took me hours to complete last night! If anyone is about to embark on the same action then please contact Peter (pjdavies2000) - he has produced a really useful letter to accompany Pat C of Form N244 - it is easy to tweak it to fit your own individual case. THANKS PETER. I am going along to my local court tomorrow morning to hand this over. Am I right in thinking that a £35 fee is payable when you apply for the removal of a stay? Can this be claimed back or not? Also.... I want to send copies of all paperwork to complain about the very fact that this has happened at all. Who is it best to send copies to? The FOS? The OFT? The FO? I'd appreciate any advice. I would also really appreciate the comments of a moderator - what is your opinion and advice - please let me know. Many thanks for the advice I've received so far -I wouldn't have a clue without you all! I'll keep updating on this thread so you can follow my quest for removal of a stay if you want to.

Peter In reply to your question, I have not requested the removal of defaults. Lesley

I have just received a letter from my local court which states: Upon reading the court file And upon the court noting that a test case has been issued in the High Court between the Office of Fair Trading and certain banks, with a view to determining issues of legal principle in relation to the recovery of charges made on bank current accounts. And it appearing that the issues raised in the test case are similar to those in this claim. THE COURT OF ITS OWN INITIATIVE ORDERS THAT: 1. This claim is stayed until 31st March 2008 with a view to awaiting the decision in test case. Either party may apply at any time, by application on notice in accordance with CPR 23, to lift the stay. 2. If no such application is made, the court will give directions of its own initiative on the expiry of the stay. 3. The allocation hearing listed on (date) be vacated. Can someone please tell me what I should do now? I thought the stay was only applied in the case of current accounts. Who should I speak to? Would appreciate any advice PLEASE !!

I requested 6 years Natwest credit card statements recently in order to work out all the default charges they had taken from me over the years. I went through a period of considerable debt a few years ago, found it really hard to cope with and buried my head in the sand for a long time. I wouldn't open envelopes and would leave the phone off the hook permamently to avoid the depressing phone calls. Eventually I came to my senses, went to see a debt counsellor, consolidated the debt and got back on my feet again (not easy, but I did it!). I noticed on the statements that from a certain date (approx 3 years after I first applied for the credit card) payments for payment protection start being taken out of my account. I know that I would NEVER have applied for this cover nor signed a document agreeing to it. The payments over the years really add up. Can anyone please tell where I stand legally when challenging ppi being added to my account? What should I be asking them?

Do you have to send a copy off to the banks solicitors as well?

My MCOL calim against Barclaycard has just been transferred to my local court. Yesterday I received a copy of their defence and I'm not sure what I should do next. In short, the defence states that " The particulars of the claim do not provide details or particulars of the account in question and the precise charges alleged to have been unlawful, or the date thereof." They then go on to say that it is an abuse of process and they request that it be struck out. I included a spreadsheet of charges with my original claim before filing on MCOL. The rest of the defence is complete gobbledygook to me. Can anyone please tell me what my next move should be? Thanks, Lesleyjane :-|

Well -I rang the number you gave me -I got through straight away! A nice man called Ricky said that I should have received an offer by now. He said that he will contact head office and get back to me within 5 days. How long does it take to pick up the phone and tell them to get their *** in gear!! I'll post back when (or if) I hear from him again. Keep your fingers crossed!

The claim, including interest is for £1700. I did include a schedule of charges which I checked carefully. so I know it's accurate. The reason I haven't filed on MCOL is because I dread the thought of going to court. I would be a nervous wreck. Posts in this site made it look as though if you just waited 6-8 weeks then they would make an offer, which suits me well!

Hedgey -thanks for the reply. I did send a 2nd letter (on 23.5.07) -I've been following advice on this site very carefully. I received no response to that letter either. Perhaps they just don't like me!

I sent off my letter to Natwest Borehamwood on 3.5.07 requesting refund of all charges and accrued interest. I got a letter from the elusive Mr Higley on 15.5.07 stating that the claim was being investigated and he would respond asap. To date I have received no other communication - it's now over 10 weeks! It seems that most people are receiving offers within 6-8 weeks and I'm feeling very frustrated.... I have tried ringing customer services a few times but I keep being fobbed off. Each person tells me a different story - today I was told that I should have had an offer by 9th July -and today is the 23rd! They refuse to put me through to the department dealing with offer letters. Does anyone know if this is unusual? Where do I stand legally? Any help would be gratefully received.

You're a star! I'm having a "blonde" day - and I have brown hair!

Can't work out how to start a new thread!!

You say in one of your posts that Natwest should reply within 6-8 weeks. I have waited over 10 weeks (from the standard letter acknowledging receipt of my claim). I have phoned the customer services a few times and keep getting fobbed off. Where do I stand legally -does anyone know? I'm getting very frustrated!

I am claiming back charges from GE Money store cards . I hava had a full refund of £120 from my Debenhams card. This was offered after just one letter. They won't pay the interest though, but to be honest I didn't expect to receive it as I don't particularly want to go down the court route. I am still waiting for statements for the other cards. I also successfully claimed back £180 from Creation Financial Services relating to an Adams store card I had some years ago when my children were small. They settled after the second letter and included interest in the final calculation. It's money I didn't think I'd ever see again!! My advice is.....GO AHEAD AND CLAIM IT! NO MATTER HOW SMALL OR LARGE AN AMOUNT -IT'S YOUR MONEY AND YOU'RE ENTITLED TO IT!! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!