Many thanks Seacalypso

I posted below on the Abbey section the other day and haven't received a reply. Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this message: - I’d be grateful for some advice please with my claim against Abbey (£1,200 including interest), which has been allocated to the small claims track at my local County Court. I’ve just received Directions from the Judge which state: - "Upon reading the documents filed and upon it appearing that there are many similar cases proceeding in this Court which do not come to trial, and upon recognising that the Court’s resources are finite and of the Court’s own motion, it is Ordered that: - The claimant shall by 24 July 2007 file and serve on the Defendant a schedule setting out each charge of which the Claimant claims repayment, together with an explanation of the basis on which the Claimant claims that each charge is lawful or any other basis on which the Claimant claims repayment." (These are the only documents I’ve been directed to submit at this stage). Question – does this mean that I have to add further detail or expand the ‘Particulars of Claim’ and ‘Schedule of Charges’ that I’ve already submitted to Abbey and the Court? I’d be grateful for any advice on this please. The Directions then go on to give Abbey and me until 21 August 2007 to reach a settlement. If they don’t, they’ve got until 4 September 2007 to submit a detailed response and justification of their charges to my Claim and Schedule. If Abbey don’t respond by 4 September, then I get my total claim with interest by default. These appear to be good Directions, possibly in my favour, and it’s also interesting to note what they state about "many similar cases proceeding in this Court which do not come to trial" and recognition that "the Courts resources are finite". I’m now more optimistic about my claim than I was a few weeks ago and the Judge seams to be putting direct pressure on Abbey to settle with me before going to Court. Many thanks in advance for any replies to the above question and Best Regards to all fellow Abbey claimants. Seacalypso

I’d be grateful for some advice please with my claim against Abbey (£1,200 including interest), which has been allocated to the small claims track at my local County Court. I’ve just received Directions from the Judge which state: - "Upon reading the documents filed and upon it appearing that there are many similar cases proceeding in this Court which do not come to trial, and upon recognising that the Court’s resources are finite and of the Court’s own motion, it is Ordered that: - The claimant shall by 24 July 2007 file and serve on the Defendant a schedule setting out each charge of which the Claimant claims repayment, together with an explanation of the basis on which the Claimant claims that each charge is lawful or any other basis on which the Claimant claims repayment." (These are the only documents I’ve been directed to submit at this stage). Question – does this mean that I have to add further detail or expand the ‘Particulars of Claim’ and ‘Schedule of Charges’ that I’ve already submitted to Abbey and the Court? I’d be grateful for any advice on this please. The Directions then go on to give Abbey and me until 21 August 2007 to reach a settlement. If they don’t, they’ve got until 4 September 2007 to submit a detailed response and justification of their charges to my Claim and Schedule. If Abbey don’t respond by 4 September, then I get my total claim with interest by default. These appear to be good Directions, possibly in my favour, and it’s also interesting to note what they state about "many similar cases proceeding in this Court which do not come to trial" and recognition that "the Courts resources are finite". I’m now more optimistic about my claim than I was a few weeks ago and the Judge seams to be putting direct pressure on Abbey to settle with me before going to Court. Many thanks in advance for any replies to the above question and Best Regards to all fellow Abbey claimants. Seacalypso

We've received an offer from Natwest yesterday (3 May) for £1,700 from their Customer Relations Team in Borehamwood Herts (just a day after the defence was sent out by Cobbetts - wonder if it was timed that way!?) which we're going to accept subject to them paying the court costs of £120 and sending us a cheque instead of direct payment into the account. I've been told that his is best in case they close the account plus we decide what to do with our winnings, not Natwest! Is it ok to set a deadline for the cheque say 7 days to put pressure on them?? Any traps to look out for?? Will head letter "without prejudice". Suprised about the size of the offer. I know we could have gone on for the whole lot but we decided to go for this amount which is what they took from my partner in the first place without the interest. Must admit we were tempted though! Will keep posting until money received. Seacalypso

Many thanks Fendy for getting back to me so quick. I'll follow your advice and also use the template by Martin3030. I saw this one when I was reading through the Natwest posts last week. Presumably once they recieve this it shuts them up - and also proves that we mean business. Also I assumed that the Court should be dictating how things should progress and what we should disclose. I'll send this letter off soon plus other template letter under ED1237 to the Court and then see what happens then post again. Once again many thanks for your advice Best Regards Seacalypso

Hi fellow Natwest claimers! This is my first post on this site. I've been reading the forum posts over the past few weeks and now think it's time I posted for advice! My partner has just received her Defence from Cobbetts (Natwest's Solicitors) to her Small Claims. She's claiming £1,771.00 for charges plus £460.67 interest - a total of £2,231.67. I'm also claiming £1,163.28 (including interest) from Abbey but I'll use the Abbey Forum for any future advice. I've also received my Defence from Abbey but doesn't seem so complicated - it's only got 2 pages! We both haven't received our AQ from the Court yet. The Natwest Defence appears to be the standard 6 page one - is there anything that we should look out for that is likely to catch us out? My partners also received a Request for Further Info from Cobbetts asking for further details by 15 May under CRP Part 18. I read elsewhere on the Natwest Forum that this is just a delaying tactic by Natwest - is this true? And do we have to provide all the details their asking for? If so, please can anyone direct me to a template for a suitable reply? And what details should we have to provide? One other thing (sorry to go on!), when we both submitted our Particulars of Claim to the Court (based on Martin Lewis's MSE template on his site), the MCOL site didn't appear to allow us enough space to add more detail. So will these original versions have to be expanded with more detail- and are there any templates available to use? We would be grateful for any advice now it's getting all 'legal'. Many thanks for your help in advance Best Wishes and Good Luck to all who read this and who are still going through the claims process. Seacalypso Solely Represented by Messrs "Sue, Grabbit and Runn" (Solicitors) (Usual Terms and Conditions Apply)