Thanks for offer of support but my case is one thirty PM!! Sheffield time!! Ann

Back in August i had an oofer of 50 % of the charges only. No thankyou!

Also have date in court too....five days ahead of you!!! Started my claim on June 1st so just six months to get to this stage!!! Wrote to them today offering to pay their actual costs subject to a full disclosure.....will keep you posted!

what happened here.....??? has anybody got a standard disclosure from YB when you have offered to pay the actual charges on your account yet?? I have a court date of Feb 7th , which I have had since beginning of Nov. i have had no contact at all from YB. I have written to them today, offering to reduce the claim against them by the ACTUAL amount of the costs....subject to the bank providing a full disclosure of their charges. I have stated that this is my own personal effort to settle before court. YB have attempted to settle by increasing the number of collection agencies sending me threatening letters and ignoring the fact that this is a dispute. Charming!!! To think that I started this on June 1st.... what a saga!

i was also little surprised at having been given a date. I know others have had quite a wait for one. I will object to a further stay. I intend to write and mail on Monday offering to pay actual costs and requesting a disclosure. As you advised , i will then be seen to have made an effort. If they do not respond and request a stay , continuing to make no contact with me, then I really don't think this looks good for them. I didn't expect to get a date until the second stay had elapsed, maybe it can be down to where you are and the judge! I remember seeing that you were ahead of me and despite starting the process mid-June, i couldn't afford to start my claim online until beginning of September. I've been watching Rachel's mums case too as I know she was just ahead of me also. There don't seem to have been that many settlements after Dan and co. I just hope that people don't let the appalling delaying tactics from YB put them off. Fingers crossed that these cases are backing up at the same stage and a deluge will all hit hearing stage at the same time. Do you think the bank are dragging their heels hoping for a test case to go through in their favour????

Ok thanks for the advice.Will do. Deadline for AQ's was 22nd Oct and as I said they sent theirs in at the last minute. I had papers through from the court today allocating the case to the small claims track and giving me the date of Feb 7 for the hearing. Can YB apply to this extend this when the first stay is up mid November? I will send off my letter to them offering to pay actual costs and requiring disclosure as advised etc before the stay is up. I would have thought more cases would be coming up with dates before the judge soon.....hopefully there will be a few more cases to read about in successes soon. Ax

I stated in my AQ that I was more than happy to pay the actual costs of the charges and requested a full disclosure from the bank. I must have missed something as I hadn't seen anyone else on other threads approach the bank during the stay with an offer of settlement in this way. Should I now be doing this?? I thought that as the bank have seen my AQ they would respond to this if they wanted to. Is it up to me to contact the bank and state what I am claiming for?? Sorry, I am more than a little confused now as previous letters I have used from the forums template library do not state what I will and won't pay in this way. Am I still allowed to claim for interest etc.?? Oh dear, I knew this was scarey but at least thought I had done the right thing so far and followed both advice and instructions.

As was predicted YB returned their AQ with a request for a one month stay that was granted by the court.As far as I'm aware ,YB will always request a stay at this stage.I'm unsure whether others have found that they have made them an offer at this stage or whether they allow the stay to elapse without any attempts to sort at all. It can't look good for them if they make no effort at all. On another note, I noticed on a copy of their paperwork to the court, that they had filled in their copy of the AQ as Yorkshire Water!!! No doubt the firm of solicitors act for both of them. The covering letter clearly stated that it was me v YB and the case number was correct etc. Should I point out to YB and court this small clerical error??? Wouldn't want this to give YB yet another chance to stall. I expect this to go the full length of the stay, followed by allocation of a hearing date and then last minute contact from YB on the day of the hearing......no doubt some time in Jan/Feb at this rate. In retrosepct, this is a pain and complicated at times. Still, you wouldn't hand over 3k to someone else for no good reason and so I feel this has been more than worth it as a point of principle. I implicitly trusted my bank and never questioned what they were doing. I felt bad about charges that I couldn't afford or avoid on my account and felt that this was my fault as I was in a bit of a spot and this was the price I had to pay for it.When I realised that the bank had actually been making a profit out of my misfortune words failed me.....and this had been at the worst possible time in my financial life (I'm sure this is the same story for many others). I don't have a problem with paying the actual cost of going overdrawn. i appreciate that some people don't od/return cheques/dd's etc and I don't expect to be able to do this and not cover the cost.However, as I made clear in my AQ, I massively object to the banks profiteering and the way in which they make you think that this is law and their right. I know that we have yet to see a bank make a disclosure of charges in court. Fingers crossed that one day this will happen and the banks will actually react and bring their charges in line with OFT recommendations. The fact that they are still out their doing this to the uninformed is maddening! Anyway, something got me started there this morning!!!! Rant over....will settle back down with coffee and morning papers.............

Submitted Allocation Questionnaire today. Now just waiting for YB to request a stay. They actually stated in their defence that they hadn't got my account number and therefore couldn't confirm my charges!!!! My account number has been sitting on top of all my recent correspondence to them and so I made sure that I stated that in my Allocation Questionnaire . Won't be booking that holiday just yet?? Good luck to all !!

What a suprise!!! YB filed a defence against me today on the last day they could. I know from reading other threads that they do to this everyone. I take it that I wait for the Allocation Questionnaire to hit down and send that off. Why don't they just settle without all the fuss and extra charges and costs?? Cos it's YB. Ace.What a rotten banking choice. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks muchly...very helpful response. MCOL filed 4/9 and acknowledged with intent to defend 6/9. Will keep posted. Am expecting them to take the full 28 days and then more stalling. Again thanks....feeling much calmer Annie

i copied this last post from my old thread as nobody replied......i know people are mega busy but a little advice would be welcome Re: Annie v Yorkshire Bank HELP PLEASE!!!! Yorkshire Bank closed my account last year and I have been making monthly payments since then to clear the balance. When I started my action against them in June , I wrote to inform that I was suspending payments as the balance was the subject of legal dispute.I was still getting threatening letters from Jeremy Sutcliffe, their inhouse collections agency.They ignored all my letters and kept sending new threats saying I had ignored all their communications.I had replied to them many times and had proof of reply. One of the MODs came to my rescue (Trunny I think) and told me to write to Neil in Customer relations and ask them to stop this collections activity as it contravened the banking code, I did this and Collections stopped straight away.I had copied all their crappy letters and my ignored replies to Neil. Two weeks ago, I received a letter from a different agency, Fairhalsen collections. They gave me seven days to pay the balance and threatened court action. I wrote back to them , copying Neil and group Collections restating my position and saying that it was subject of a legal dispute etc, etc,etc. I kept proof of posting. Today I recieved a letter saying that I had failed to respond to their communications ( i replied) and as a result if I didn't pay in seven days one or all of the following could be expected to happen. 1. We shall assess your financial situation and your ability to discharge the debt by obtaining a full means statement of your income and expenditure. 2. We shall undertake enquiries to establish if your employment status meets with our guidelines for an Attachment of Earnings to be carried out. 3. We shall instruct an agent to call at your home address to assess your ability to repay the outstanding amount. Am I wrong in thinking that they can't do 1 or 2 without taking this to court??? Are they allowed to carry on regardless despite the fact that they have ackowledged my claim and intend to defend??? This letter from the agency was dated two days after they acknowledged my claim through MCOL. Do I have grounds for a complaint here??? I have already written to Customer Relations and Fairhalsen complaining about the first letter and have receievd no acknowledgement of this letter at all from Customer Relations and an even worse letter from Fairhalsen. I know these are tactics designed to scare me off and i should expect no better from YB but am a bit stressed by it. Just a bit stuck as to what to do next on this one and would really love some advice.....Cheers!!

Yorkshire Bank closed my account last year and I have been making monthly payments since then to clear the balance. When I started my action against them in June , I wrote to inform that I was suspending payments as the balance was the subject of legal dispute.I was still getting threatening letters from Jeremy Sutcliffe, their inhouse collections agency.They ignored all my letters and kept sending new threats saying I had ignored all their communications.I had replied to them many times and had proof of reply. One of the MODs came to my rescue (Trunny I think) and told me to write to Neil in Customer relations and ask them to stop this collections activity as it contravened the banking code, I did this and Collections stopped straight away.I had copied all their crappy letters and my ignored replies to Neil. Two weeks ago, I received a letter from a different agency, Fairhalsen collections. They gave me seven days to pay the balance and threatened court action. I wrote back to them , copying Neil and group Collections restating my position and saying that it was subject of a legal dispute etc, etc,etc. I kept proof of posting. Today I recieved a letter saying that I had failed to respond to their communications ( i replied) and as a result if I didn't pay in seven days one or all of the following could be expected to happen. 1. We shall assess your financial situation and your ability to discharge the debt by obtaining a full means statement of your income and expenditure. 2. We shall undertake enquiries to establish if your employment status meets with our guidelines for an Attachment of Earnings to be carried out. 3. We shall instruct an agent to call at your home address to assess your ability to repay the outstanding amount. Am I wrong in thinking that they can't do 1 or 2 without taking this to court??? Are they allowed to carry on regardless despite the fact that they have ackowledged my claim and intend to defend??? This letter from the agency was dated two days after they acknowledged my claim through MCOL. Do I have grounds for a complaint here??? I have already written to Customer Relations and Fairhalsen complaining about the first letter and have receievd no acknowledgement of this letter at all from Customer Relations and an even worse letter from Fairhalsen. I know these are tactics designed to scare me off and i should expect no better from YB but am a bit stressed by it. Just a bit stuck as to what to do next on this one and would really love some advice.....Cheers!!

Intent to defend received today and no surprises for guessing that its that ever-so-busy lady Kirstie Ann Ross at the helm for Yb !!

Pre letter sent 24/8/6...then received crappy phone call from their collection agency saying there ere going to take immediate action for recovery of amount outstanding on my account and would be issuing court papers a.s.a.p. Wrote stating that this controvened banking code as I had told them before that the amount was contested and subject to a legal dispute. LBA due out FRi 8/7/6

MOney Claim filed today......had to save up! No doubt will be eating beans for a month but will be worth it. The interest came to £661....can't believe they would allow that to be added on by not settling earlier!!

Have just sent off Repayment request letter for £465....amazing how those arrears fees add up!!!! LBA due out 07/09/06. After £20 arrears fees slapped on my account every month for 15 months following one missed payment 18 months before, i will enjoy claiming this back

The saga continues.....YB are still adamant that they wont be paying any fees back.Just had another crappy letter back from them saying that they won't playball.....time to go to Moneyclaim I feel..... They say..... "The Office of Fair Trading made comment on 'late payment fees' levied by credit card issuers.There has been no ruling or investigation on charges relating to current accounts. As regards such charges, there is a cost to the Bank in returning an item unpaid or making payment where no overdraft facility exists, which these charges cover.Our tariff of charges, having been advised to customers when their account was opened and re-advised from time to time by way of statement insert is incorporated into the contract betwen the Bank and the its customers.The application of the appropriate fee or fees when a customer fails to leave sufficient funds in the account to meet items drawn against it it therefore in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contractual relationshop governing the account. You state that our charges are excessive which implies that the charge itself is merited.It is interesting, therefore, that you believe a full refund shouldbe made. My offer of a refund of £1,100 will not be increased and remains opne of acceptance by the signing and returning of a copy of my letterof 19 July. The letter is written without prejudice to the bank blah, blah, blah" This just made me so hopping mad.It is very easy to see in the litigation concluded section that many banks do feel they should take this on board and settle reasonably with their clientele.I am waiting to see the first if the actions against them go through ....some of the stays they have applied for on people's cases should expire soon. They are so slippery and underhand.£2440 in charges is unfair.All for exceeding a £150 overdraft!!!! I remember them being totally unwilling to listen or bend at all and slapping £35 debit under advice fees onto my account all over the place , followed by a side helping of £8 daily fees and a follow-up dessert of £25 monthly fee. Their letter really did say to me that they are in no way considering their position in terms of these fees and really do expect to be able to defend their position and fees in court. What I could do with right now is one of those coconut-shy type things where you pay 50p and step up and try to break as much crockery as possible to help with the frustration factor.Value for money!!!!!

Have also recieved threat of counter-claim.Quite clever of them but as yet still waiting for the first bank to appear in court and even defend never mind reappear to counterclaim!! I declined a half offer from YB making it quite clear that I was aware of 'their intention to counter claim'

Just wondered if anyone has advice on the counter claim front.Here's the headlines from my last letter from YB: * Charges my fault as result of poor account manangment. * Charges are documented and I would have had a copy of these. * If I was successful in my claim the bank would ' have a claim against you for damages suffered as a result of your breach of contract in failing to adhere to the terms and conditions of the account.Such a claim would incur court costs and interest for which you may beheld liable.' * Bank is full of goodwill and want to settle without court action and are therefore offering half the claimed amount of £2200 for full and final settlement. £1100 in other words. * The offer is 'without prejudice' ....in other words I can't say that they offered me that amount to settle when I go to court but if I do win my case the bank can use the offer as evidence for them in the determinatation of costs. * Bank mention their goodwill and willingness to settle out of court several times. I am about to raise my Moneyclaim this week and wanted to get some opinions before I soldiered on. It doesn't seem right to me that the bank can threaten a counter claim.Surely if they had anything worth saying it should come out in MY case and help them to win it rather than having to take out a seperate action. Can this be referred to as a threatening and unprofessional action? Isn't the issue that the penalties are far too high for an automated action and despite being warned by professional bodies about the level of these charges .the bank continues to raise them against their customers?? I wondered if it might work against me that they have offered me 50% of the claim at this stage.Would this affect a final settlement by a judge??? I didn't really like the 'without prejudice' working totally in their favour.I know I can't mention the amount offered in an 'open ' reply letter but can they get away with threatening a counter claim ? Is it worth responding to their threat ? I am planning to replay and 'repsectfully' decline their offer drawing their attention to my Prelim letter and LBA request for payment in full.The LBA asks for details of manual intervention where applicable and they have provided nothing on this front. My letter will also indicate that I have gone ahead and raised a Moneyclaim against them. Will wait for some support/advice/feedback. cheers.

I posted off my LBA a few weeks ago and recently sent a further letter to Customer Relations (Neil) complaining about the behaviour of Collections as per the advice given me.I also followed advice and wrote again to Collections....this time in no uncertain terms telling them to back off and stop trying to collect payments which I had made it clear I had suspended. I received an offer of £1100 today...which is half the amount that I am claiming for. I haven't read about anybody else been made offers..... They made no admission of liability ...reiterated that the charges were down to my poor running of my account. They also said that should I not accept the offer and go on to win my action, that they have grounds for a counter claim against me for violating the contract I signed for the conduct of my account. They have sent me copies for their records of the acceptance letter and are urging for full and final settlement purely to save legal charges etc.. I would love to know if anybody else had received a similar reply as most of the threads I am following would suggest that defences are being filed and people are having to pursue this to the bitter end....

Thanks for your reply and support.Very helpful to have others give you their take on things.....will keep you posted. Meanwhile, good luck to all those with claims in the pipeline. Annie

Despite writing to Collections twice stating that i was suspending payments against the outstanding amount on my closed account,(I owe £1500, I am claiming £2200) i have just received a letter from YB saying that I have ignored letters and correspondence and they are about to inititiate legal proceedings to recover the amount.They haev aasked me to repay in full or they will litigate. It is they who have totally ignored my correspondence and failed to acknowledge that I have written to them twice to state that I am suspending payments to them as a result of my pending legal action. Claim will go in against them next week, so I willhave made a move to prosecute first.I wrote to them to state my intention clearly on June 1st. YB are clearly the worst of a pretty bad bunch. This week both Co-Op and Barclays settled with my partner at the LBA stage.YB seem to be determined to go all the way with their claimants.Am a little worried that they are submitting defences against all who progress byond the LBA stage.Do they know something the others don't. I have kept all my letters and proofs of posting, so will be able to prove that I have made many attempts to contact them and inform them of my intentions. They have a history of completely ignoring any direct letter communication that I send to collections, despite it having been sent recorded and been signed for. Are they behaving ethically by ignoring communication and conducting things in their gung-ho way ??? God I wish I had opened an account anywhere apart with the Yorkshire.They really are the pits. Still the sun is shining and there's a beer or two in the fridge!!!

How people's claims are progressing makes interesting reading. I haven't seen YB appear once in the litigation concluded section as having settled any of the claims against them......Has anyone successfully pushed for charge repayment already??? I recieved this earlier in the week...looking at other people's posts it would appear that this is a standard letter... Dear Miss Farrar, I refer to your letter of 14June .. During this time, the relationship between you and the bank was governed by the bank's standard terms and conditions, provided that: You must obtain the bank's agreement before overdrawing on your account. If the bank made payments from the account, or paid cheques which were guaranteed by the associated cheque guarantee card when there were insufficient funds available, any overdraft created or any overdraft which exceeded an agreed overdraft limit would be unauthorised. If you drew cheques or authorised or made payments without sufficient money available in your account, taking account of any overdraft limit and allowing for uncleared cheques, the bank might return the payments and made a charge for doing so. Charges and interest applicable to the account were published in the form of tariffs and up-to-date tariffs were available in branches and from time to time enclosed with bank statements. Where appropriate, written details of overdraft charges and debit interest incurred on the account during the previous charging period (ie the previous month) would be sent to you at least 14 days before the charges and interest were deducted from your account. If the account had an unauthorised overdraft, additional charges might be levied which would be debited to the account on the day on which the unauthorised overdraft was created. I would note that the terms and conditions complied with all relevant requirements of the Banking Code. You are responsible for the running of your account and for ensuring that sufficient funds are in your account to meet standing orders, direct debits and cheques which you have created or drawn on the account. As stated in the terms and conditions governing your account with the bank, you are aware that charges will be incurred if insufficient funds are in your account on the dates the payments you instructed are debited. The charges applied to your account were applied in accordance with the terms and conditions, as a result of the operation of your account. Further, the terms and conditions were fair, having regard to the following matters: The cost to the bank of maintaining administrative systems relating to unauthorised overdrafts, unpaid cheques and direct debits and abuse of cheque and debit cards for the purpose of keeping the level of overdrawing under review and controlled as far as possible. The increased risk of loss to the bank arising from such unauthorised transactions and the associated cost of enforcement and recovery systems. The need to operate standard procedures and to set standard charges in order to avoid the substantial costs of individual assessment in relation to each particular case. Taking all of the above into account and having regard to the information that you have given, I am not prepared to refund the charges on your account. I have enclosed for your information, a copy of our internal complaint handling procedures and how to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service etc... If we do not receive a response form you within eight weeks of the date of this letter, your complaint will be considered closed. * * * * * It's interesting that the lovely Neil has used the terminology " I am not prepared to refund the charges on your account". I had written to J.Sutcliffe (their in -house collection agency) explaining that I was susplending paymnets against tmy o/s account with them until the action was resumed yet they have started to pester me with letters again. Lovely of them to totally ignore my letter(rec mail of course) and carry on regardless. It starts to become clearer and clearer...that YB are up there at the top of the list for appalling service and excessive charges,I am way behing with my schedules due to normal pile up of work at the edn of term(teacher!!!) and they have now had over 4 weeks to prodcue a positive response to my LBA. LBA goes tomorrow with MOneyclaim now goin in on the 21st. I am keeping an eye on how people are getting on who have had defences posted agianst them. ALL THE BEST!!!! Will update after LBA deadline expires and MOney claim has been 'launched' Annie

..oops, wrong log-in!