Like many people, I used MCOL to start my claims, and got my 3 claims (2 against HBOS for 2 different accounts and 1 against HSBC) automatically stayed. I applied for all 3 stays to be lifted. I then got letters on all three saying that the claims had been transferred to Barnet County Court, which is my local county court. On 2 of the 3 I then got a copy of 2 identical orders saying the claims had been transferred to Central London County Court. I await their decision on my applications to lift the stays. Anyone else have this experience and know why the claims were transferred to Central London County Court? Due to the postal strike there was a delay in me receiving the order in relation to the one remaining HBOS claim. To my suprise, I have just received a copy of an order made on 5th October, by DJ Gerlis. Her order does not make sense. Her order states that the case is stayed pending the outcome of the OFT case. However, the case was already stayed. That order was already there, and it is a bit odd that no reference is made to my application to have the stay lifted. I would have expected the order to say that my application was refused. I suspect that court staff put my papers in the wrong pile and it was not looked at properly. I am trying to call the court but their line is busy - permanently it seems! Anyone got any ideas?

Hi does anyone remember this written by Bankfodder, I copied and saved this on the site by pasting it into a word doc, for future use. I saved it in April 2007: :-? "We think that claimants should consider claiming beyond 6 yrs. Firstly, the charges campaign has been in full swing now for a good year. The banks were well aware of it a year ago and also the OFT report highlighted the law and the bank's obligations - just in case any of them were at all in doubt. To my mind this is good evidence that any bank which continued its charges regime after the date of the first OFT report has been concealing its charges regime and therefore has lost the protection of the Limitation Act. I do not believe that the Limitation Act offers any long-stop mechanism so that if you concealed the facts one year ago then you do not merely accrue an additional year of liability. I think that a single instance of concealment invokes s.32 and the limitation barrier falls away completely. Concealment amounts to a question of the morality of the defendant's action. Once this is established then I do not believe that the courts will strive to give them any help. I understand from Zootscoot that this view is also confirmed by case-law. In fact it seems even if a concealment has occurred even after the breach in question has occurred, the limitation period still falls away. If the banks want to challenge this then it is up to the claimant to respond at least with the arguments above and then if the bank want to rebut this, they can rebut it with a statement of truth. I doubt whether any of them would dare. They are already getting in too deep as it is. A statement of truth which is made knowing that it is false or reckless as to its truth is a contempt of court. I do not believe that the banks would go this far We would urge all claimants to claim as far back as they can. In the case of the Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks we would suggest that even where claimants have accepted full and final settlements or have accepted compromise settlements that they should now go back for anything outstanding on the basis that the Whistleblower disclosures show that there has been concealment and that any full and final agreements are now vitiated by that concealment. We expect to be giving the same advice in respect of other banks as more information surfaces - as it surely will. However, we consider that beyond 6 years is now just a basic claim. We will be amending templates and so forth in the coming days.." Does anyone know if templates etc were amneded as I never saw this! I have 2 of 3 cliams which have been issued vs. HBOS and HSBC - both go back more than 6 years, have been issued, have been acknoweldged by solicitors acting for the banks (HSBC lawyers are in house). If they defend on the basis that part of my claim is statute barred then does anyone have any wording to put in the defence? h e l p ! Suggestions and help gratefully received!!!! mariaefg

Back in April 2007:shock: I copied and saved the following to a word doc for future use... "We think that claimants should consider claiming beyond 6 yrs. Firstly, the charges campaign has been in full swing now for a good year. The banks were well aware of it a year ago and also the OFT report highlighted the law and the bank's obligations - just in case any of them were at all in doubt. To my mind this is good evidence that any bank which continued its charges regime after the date of the first OFT report has been concealing its charges regime and therefore has lost the protection of the Limitation Act. I do not believe that the Limitation Act offers any long-stop mechanism so that if you concealed the facts one year ago then you do not merely accrue an additional year of liability. I think that a single instance of concealment invokes s.32 and the limitation barrier falls away completely. Concealment amounts to a question of the morality of the defendant's action. Once this is established then I do not believe that the courts will strive to give them any help. I understand from Zootscoot that this view is also confirmed by case-law. In fact it seems even if a concealment has occurred even after the breach in question has occurred, the limitation period still falls away. If the banks want to challenge this then it is up to the claimant to respond at least with the arguments above and then if the bank want to rebut this, they can rebut it with a statement of truth. I doubt whether any of them would dare. They are already getting in too deep as it is. A statement of truth which is made knowing that it is false or reckless as to its truth is a contempt of court. I do not believe that the banks would go this far We would urge all claimants to claim as far back as they can. In the case of the Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks we would suggest that even where claimants have accepted full and final settlements or have accepted compromise settlements that they should now go back for anything outstanding on the basis that the Whistleblower disclosures show that there has been concealment and that any full and final agreements are now vitiated by that concealment. We expect to be giving the same advice in respect of other banks as more information surfaces - as it surely will. However, we consider that beyond 6 years is now just a basic claim. We will be amending templates and so forth in the coming days..." Does anyone know if this was ever done .. ie were templates etc amended as I can't see any reference to it. I have 3 claims on the go. Two of the 3 (one with HBOS one with HSBC) go back more than six years. Both claims have been issued, and both have been acknowledged. Both banks are using lawyers (the HSBC one is in house). If they do put in a defence and argue that part of my claim is out of time/ statute barred does anyone have any advice on how to deal with it? Thanks mariaefg

hI guys - thanks for the help from hagenuk and Stornoway - although the latter scared me half to death by making me think I had sued the wrong people, ie HBOS and not BOS. Maybe I did - but I think that Stornoway credits those idiots at HBOS with too much intelligence. I wrote to HBOS telling them I was going to instruct bailiffs. A few days later I got a call from the Legal Dept at HBOS begging me to give them more time - as their customer services people were checking the amount claimed against all the charges and if the amounts matched up the monies would be paid to us. I extended the deadline by one week. It expired today, but yesterday I got a credit into my account of more than £3000. It was for the full figure, charges, interest, court fees - everything. So unfortunatley no bailiffs into the branch... but at least I got my money in full, after a judgement in default. Regards Mariaefg

I claimed against HBOS plc, Trinity Road because that is what everyone told me to do when I asked on this website a few months ago. ! It's too late now anyway, the claim's been made and I have got judgement in default. I will wait and see if they try to set it aside but if Stornoway is correct then many many people have claimed against the wrong company.

It is definately HBOS Trinity Road as far as I am aware anyway. I got this address form the HBOS/BOS threads about 6 months ago.

Ok it's not that I do not believe you BUT how can you send a bailiff in to Scotland when you issued in England under English Law and not Scottish law? Or doesn't that matter?

THANKS, but I am not sure you are correct. HBOS plc is registered at Trinity Road Halifax. Anyway, I am asking WHICH branch not whch R.O. mMay not have to send bailiffs in anyway.

The registered office is the Trinity Road Halifax one. I claimed against HBOS not HALIFAX and not BOS because that's what this website or at least everyone on the BOS forum, told me to do!

When it comes to issuing proceedings, make sure it is against HBOS plc, not Halifax PLC. I'd write to HBOS plc not Haifax PLC, although the address is the same.

Yup. Send it to HBOS plc, Trinity Road, Halifax, HX1 2RG. This is their head office. It is likely that you will, after a few weeks, get a letter from Customer Complaints from Bank of Scotland (sent from Scotland). I just kept correspondng with HBOS's head office, although I copied in the Customer Comlaints Dept and pointed out that this is a legal matter, not a mere complaint, and that the timetable I had set out must be adhered to. Good luck!!! If you need a court buddy or anymore help, please PM me! Maria

Yes, that occured to me - I will be contacting the press...

Hi everyone. I am a BOS customer. Have been for the last eight years. During the last 4 years BOS stung me for £2700 unlawful charges and interest. It started off with a very small unauthorised overdraft but because of their charges, it snowballed. I issued a claim vs. HBOS plc in January this year, and have won. Actually, apart from a crummy standard letter or two from BOS droning on about customer complaints procedures (which I ignored) they did nothing. They did not bother to file either a defence, or an acknowledgement of service. I got judgement in default - entered against them 2 days ago. The judgement was for £3,168.27!!! I will now give them 14 days to pay up. If they do not, I would like to do what that Alliance and Leicester customer did recently - send the bailiffs in to my local branch. Problem is, I claimed against HBOS PLC but have always been a BOS customer. Can I send the bailiffs into my local Halifax branch in Barnet, Herts, or does it have to be a Bank of Scotland branch? I think my nearest BOS branch is the main Threadneedle Street one in London EC3. What do you think? Thanks, Maria:confused:

Hi HAPPY OLD DOG ! Really appreciate your advice but.. 1. It was late when I posted my thread last nite - must've been a bit tired. What I MEANT to say was why are BOS and RBOS lumped together - but lo and behold afterwards when I checked the forum, much to my embarrassment, this has been fixed and now it is Halifax and Bank of Scotland forum, as it ought to be. It wasn't a few months back when I last looked!! 2. As I said, I have already issued my claim, no defence has been issued and I have won!!! I have already got judgement. Now I am at the enforcement stage, so my real question was where do I send the bailiffs. I am a BOS customer, but now they are one and the same as Halifax can I ask the Bailiff to go into a Halifax, or does it have to be a Bank of Scotland. It seems that BOS and Halifax are joined when it suits them, and not when it doesn't suit them! I do not want to mess this up so perhaps my safest opition is to send the baliff into the Threadneedle Street branch of BOS in London EC3. I sued against HBOS plc on the other hand, so maybe I can send the bailiffs into my local Halifax branch? ONE MORE QUESTION? Where is the new thread button in the Halifax/Bannk of Scotland forum - I can't find it!!

Hi happy old dog thanks for the tip! I am wondering why and I know I am not the first why HBOS is lumped togther with BOS as they have nothing to do with eachother! To Stornaway, HBOS did not bother submitting defence or an ack. of service so I applied for a judgement in default and got it. Distinct lack of advice on what to do next on this site - or maybe it's there, I find the site a little hard to navigate, although do not get me wrong I think it is a bloody brilliant site ! I will post to the HBOS part, because I would like to do what that Alliance and Leicester customer did - give them say 14 days to pay and if they do not, send the bailiffs in to my local branch. However, local branches of BOS are a little thin on the ground in England. I wonder whether I can send the bailiffs into my local Halifax branch? This is a question for the HBOS/bos/[RBOS ] (??) section so that is where I am off to now. See you! Maria