"However, if and when the case goes ahead, the judge will not be asked to rule on whether bank charges are legal or fair. Instead the judge will have to decide whether the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations apply to them. The OFT believes typical bank overdraft fees come under these regulations, that they are unfair and that it therefore has the power to order changes. But banks argue that the charges are a core feature of their current account business and so they are not covered by the regulations, they are fair and that the OFT has no powers in the matter" That is an extract from an article on the BBC where OFT were asked a few questions with regards to loyds lowering their charges and other banks to follow. Though I find the whole situtation a little strange, with the banks trying to look good prior to the case in a desperate move in my opninion, i find the above section a little more intriguing. Within that extract it is claimed that OFT are not asking the judge to see if the charges are legal, but if they can have the power to rule on them. This is a subtle but significant sentence in my eyes. When we all made our claims, we made them against the unlawful nature of the penalty i.e we are in breach, they charge tooo much, because real damages are a lot less. So when this OFT case was made public it seems like everyone had their own case stayed, in waiting for the outcome of this OFT case, which should provide an offical take on things. BUT how can it? The case according to the above article does not test the same thing! Is this a possible loop hole we could exploit? A ground on which the OFT case has little bearing on our own cases. We could ask for the judge to test the lawfullness of the charge and not what that OFT are doing... Any ideas opinions on this? It would be great if we could you this as an argument tohave the stays lifted ontop of the others curently in circulation!

There is this one:- http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/barclays-bank/110484-taken-barclays-court.html

Hi It sounds as if you have been awarded Judgment, if this is the case then the money is rightfully yours, no matter what the bank says. You have to contact litigation team and tell them that you have been awarded judgment in court of XXXX and you are giving them 7 days to pay. You should also do this in writing. If they dont pay, then you can send in bailifs to collect.... Hope this helps

Very interesting what court was this in? Though you are correct in saying that they would beable to claim money back, I dont think they would. They are expecting to lose. Also if they do decide to claim back of you then it would not be automatic they would have to appeal against the decision in your favour, more lengthy court processes and expense. I dont think they would be bothered to be honest... Plus there is no way the banks can win this lol

It is your choice and is a matter of need and your satisfaction. In the pre OFT case days we would all have said go all the way, but these days the outcome is less certain (though will almost certainly go in our favour). If you can wait, stick with a go all the way through the court, else just take money and run. Here is a little rule that I might start using:- OFT v BANK case will almost certainly set a a max charge the bank can apply for breach of contract..going by cresdit cards around ten pounds. Now noone can predict the outcome, if we work by this, most people will get about 2/3 rds the total value of their charges (before interest) back at a guess following OFT case. thus if you wait are you going to get back more than their current offer? eg you have 3000 pounds of charges, they offer you 2300.... now assuming my guesses above then you will be entilted to about 2000 plus interest and court costs, which may only come to about 2500-2600, so where it might not be worth the extra 200-300 pounds. But like i said the above is all hypothetical and are my guesses only, does not mean that it will happen. The final decision is yours. hope this helps...

What stage are you at? Have you done the allocatio questionaire? or was it not used? Did you send a letter requesting the directions (if there was no AQ)? This 100 pound fe i assume you mean is the AQ fee. Though it sounds harsh and risky, i think you should pay this. in this way you are sure your case is complete, even if eventually gets stayed till OFT outcome. You dont want to lose in the end on a mere technicality do you? I know it is unfair, but at the moment we just have to fight on

It is so unfair! But no worries, make sure you fight back! Go for the removal of the stay option and see where it gets you....

Raz Always do what the judge has requested from you i.e the stuff that is sent to yuo in writing. Do not ignore it just because someone over the phone tells you otherwise. they may be right of course, but if they are wrong you will lose out. if the judge has requested that a bundle be sent then do it to the stated deadlines

I think everyone needs to calm down on here a little! One thing is for sure that the reason why these charges claims got so big was that everybody was following the same rules and advice. We had people power,now the water is muddy there does seem to be a lot of differring advice coming out and this does not help anyone. Esp if the big picture is looked at. So why not as always wait for things in writing and then make decisions? At least this way you always have somthing to fall back onto, like we have already been doing

this should automatically fill. The spreadsheet will cauclutae this info from the date set on you computer. If it is not doing this then you might have damaged the formula, best to download sheet and fill in only charges (type and value) hope this helps

It is worth trying to get Barclays case struck out for non-compliance. Try writing to court and asking for Judgment as barclays have not followed court orders. Failing that, then yes Barclays will ask for stay, but there are templates on this forum that can be used to try and convince the judge that a stay should not be awarded.

Sounds strange that case adjourned for 21 days, and then a stay will be awarded. I cant see why the judge didnt just do the case and not allow the stay! But well done, you got through it and did well Congrats!

Hi Yes you can try to firstly to get their case struck out for no compliance. If that fails, then you can try to have their application for a stay struck out. You can ask the judge on the day for both. There is a template for trying to stop the stay in this forum:- Application for removal of a stay - UPDATED TO ACCOUNT FOR OFT TEST CASE You can include the top template in your bundle, there is no gaurantee either will work, but give it a go!

Yeap sounds good! But also make sure you dont just print them off, read through it and try to understand as much as you can. This is what you are defending in court...eventually!

Please add the Terms and conditions, incase your case gets heard and without these you do not have a ground to stand on! Download from here: Barclays T&C Databse RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting