Is there a page for up dates on the test case? things are happening in fleet street which subscribers need to know about !

read this thread: unauthorised overdrafts net banks £2.5 billion, Telegraph, 07/07/07 Unauthorised overdrafts net banks £2.5bn - Telegraph Banks made £2.6BN out of advancing £0.6BN thats 433% do the math!!!

Stick to your guns I heard of a case recently where they initially set out to disregard the pre 2000 charges but offered the full amount claimed at the last minute including statutory £20k+.

DONT PANIC! In November 2006 almost all the banks changed their Terms and Conditions. Why do you think that was? Of course the latest terms and conditions will stand up to the test of penalties, that was why they were amended (otherwise why did they bother changing them? The next stage of the "Test Case" will be more telling when the Judge delivers his findings on the Historic T&Cs. Also if they are not a charge for a service and they are not a penalty for breach of contract they must be Liquidated Damages which can not exceed the actual cost or remuneration involved with dealing with such. The answer to all of this if the OFT have the balls to demand it is that all banks disclose exactly how much it costs them to administer these so called "default charges" we can then make an informed decision as to whether or not we are going to bank with them based on transparency of pricing. IT IS THAT SIMPLE.

Tink, It will cost you the price of a couple of stamps to find out, you can drop your claim at any time so you had might as well bite the bullet and claim. You will get all the help you need (and more on this site) Remember the Judge restricted his comments to the Current terms and Conditions . Unless you have accrued all of your charges since Nov 06 when all the banks changed their T&Cs you are likely to have "earned" your charges under the dubious "historic" Terms and Conditions which the Banks admit by their actions (i.e. they all rewrote them!) are likely to fail in a court of law. If and when the Judge gives us his opinion on the "historic" T&Cs he says they are still not a penalty you can claim they must be "liquidated Damages" which again must not exceed the cost of administering the Bank as we know will not be comfortable explaining that in court so Bingo you're back in business! That’s my opinion...Good Luck

Yeh, This is a mate of mine's Lloyds account. He spoke to Foot Anstey and they say that the judge had commented that he had found that the charges did not represent a penalty and their instructions from Lloyds were to withdraw all offers. The point was then made to Foot Ansty that the judge clearly indicated that his comments made were limited to CURRENT T&C ONLY. The phone went quiet then she said Yeh I Know (pretending she did) So if The Judge turns round in his findings on the "historic" charges and says yes they are penalties then its game on again? Yes she said, I suppose so.

JUST HEARD OF A CASE WHERE LLOYDS TSB HAVE RETRACTED AN OFFER OF SETTLEMENT ON A BUSINESS ACCOUNT "INLIGHT OF YESTERDAYS JUDGMENT" WTF ? :o

Good Post Photoman ! Remember this case is all about UTCCR 1999 and OFT’s right to make rulings on the validity of it and thus suggest a "fair rate", which should be "The actual cost of administrating the alleged breach... oops sorry "service". Anything more is cow tailing to the banks. Let’s get some transparency OFT If BARKINGS BANK charge £11.99 for an individual application for an extension to my overdraft because "that’s genuinely what it costs them to administer it" I may well think twice about banking with them if FLOYDS TNT BANK manages to pull the same trick for 98 pence! Coming back to my main point: Why is it banks have been "as keen as us" to settle business claims despite what’s happening in the Courts? This is a very important question as in some ways the case for business claims has been weakened by the fact that the UTCCR can not be chucked in to the mix! Yet they are settling almost on demand! If any one can answer the above question there may be a way forward for ALL claims regardless of the test case.

Try This link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/business/7362856.stm >

Try this link Re: Bank charges ruling due on Thursday 24th April This is what it says (in case above doesnt work) Don't forget that the handing down of the Judgement on Thursday is likely to only be in relation to the current Terms and Conditions of the Banks and whether they are subject to a test of fairness, as argued by the OFT in accordance with the UTCCR 1999. It is quite likely that any decision or guidance to the County Courts regarding the application of UTCCR 1999 in relation to historic terms and also the penalty charge aspects of unauthorised overdraft charges ( the majority of people's stayed claims are based on historic terms and penalty charge aspects) will probably not be given until a month or so after the initial judgment. This is what Justice Andrew Smith said on the last day of the Test Case ( almost his final words ). "I have already said that the reason I felt it appropriate to deal with the current terms at this stage, and not deal with the historic terms, is because there is every indication that to some extent my findings will translate readily to a significant proportion of the historic terms, and that, while nothing is certain, might well lead to decisions on the historic terms being made in very short order, within a month one would certainly hope ( of the initial judgment )." Neverthless, I am sure we will all be reading into whatever the Judge has decided to hand down on Thursday and surmising the possible outcomes for our own outstanding claims.

Was It Hsbc Per Chance ?

Found this on MSE: CAN WE ALL COME? PRESS RELEASE RE HBOS HIGH COURT SHOWDOWN BLOOD ON THE CARPET ? (THE SHOW MUST GO ON) The High Court Hearing in Leeds On Friday: Robertson Holbrook have agreed an extension to the High Court Injunction against them in light of the intended "Set Aside" Hearing Scheduled in Cardiff County Court" Friday’s case was highlighted on The BBC Web site: BBC NEWS | Business | High Court showdown for HBOS bank Spokesman Tim Russell explained "We are a responsible company and we believe that any judge would find that it is not in the interest of the customers or share holders for a winding up petition to be issued at this stage especially with the prospect of a "judgment set aside" hearing within five weeks." It is for that we contacted the court and stated that we were prepared to allow the unopposed injunction to be extended. That is not to say that HBOS are off the hook, we have agreed to extend the injunction having taken advice from our legal team who had submitted the case to a leading QC who is a leading authority on winding up procedures at court. ." Halifax only have themselves to blame for the current predicament, had they adhered to the set court protocols we would not have had to go to extreme measures to ensure that our clients cases are dealt with in a timely manor in accordance with the law, which most other banks have no problem at all in adhering to." "HBOS will have to face all their demons at court in Cardiff," the home town of Robertson Holbrook. "We believe their stance is indefensible, the judges in Cardiff have a commendable reputation for correct procedure and HBOS have an awful lot of explaining to do, I fear there might be blood on the carpet before the day is out, and it most certainly will not be that of our clients or ourselves." BACK GROUND OF THE CASE Halifax went before His Honour Judge Langan at Leeds High Court of Justice on 10 October 2007 and applied for an injunction against 10 clients of Robertson Holbrook who had previously served statutory demands on the bank as they had not satisfied judgment obtained at court for bank charges, unlawfully applied according to their claims agent Robertson Holbrook.

WOW thats £200 Million in 2 weeks, which is more than the banks have returned any way since 2006! Are you sure that your calculations are right ? If so that would be a saving of £2.5 Billion to the banks between 27 July and 14 January.....clever bu**ers no wonder they were so keen to get into the test case. If I were a bank, I would string things out for as long as possible or suggest a compromise which they know damned well the OFT will have to appeal and hey presto "£20M+ aday and it looks like the OFT are causing the delay. More people should read this !

BBC News link : > ** High Court showdown for HBOS bank ** > The Halifax bank will appear in court to justify its refusal to repay bank charges to 11 customers. > BBC NEWS | Business | High Court showdown for HBOS bank > Interesting that HBOS made £6Bn last year, how much of that was our money taken as charges ??? Why are they so defensive about being able to pay (even the Northern Rock didnt get that defensive). I am sure nobody has ever suggested anything like MAY BE THEY CANT AFFORD TO PAY ?

Here's the answer! Posted on MSE "HBOS have taken out a high court injunction against Robertson Holbrook to prevent them from "winding up" HBOS tomorrow. The injunction hearing is set for next Friday in Leeds so watch this space, RH are confident of overturning the injunction and for HBOS there will be nowhere to run. Winding up the UKs 4th largest bank is the last thing RH want to do, but if they want to conduct business in this country they will need to comply with the rules set by the judiciary, as you or I would. Nobody is above the law." GO GET EM BOUYOS !

Thanks for that, Ill get her to start her own thread to keep us all informed of the progress.

So is there any point in my friend from glasgow taking her bank to court up there as from what we read on this site before, it appeared that glasgow courts were allowing the cases to be heard !

Did they serve the winding up order, I didnt notice their shares being suspended on the stock exchange or a queue around the block for refunds a la Northern Rock ?

Wow, Heres some more stuff I found on MSE, Halifax seem to have shot them selves in the foot on this one. Here's a quote "from the dragons mouth" so to speak HBOS faced with winding-up order - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums "interesting" to say the least

I never thought I would say this about a claims management company... Three cheers for ROBERTSON HOLBROOK Its about time the Halifax got a boot, especially on a day when their shares were in free fall thanks to The Bank of England refusing to lend them money!!!! MUST BE THOSE ANNOYING COUNTY COURT JUDGMENTS. I find it screws your chances of getting a loan anywhare even from the so called "lender of last resort". Makes me proud to be WELSH.