Hi everyone, I have a claim in with the Abbey at the moment £1300.00 without interest added. I've been through the letter stage and am now ready for court action. However, I have been dithering about whether to take them to court in England or Scotland. I have decided to do it in Scotland and here's why. I can claim 6 years in England or 5 years in Scotland. My claim for the year 2000 adds up to around £285 without interest. If I have to defend my claim in England then with hotels, food, travel etc etc I'd probably spend at least £200 anyway. Then you have the problem of a possible test case in England and some peoples claims have been put on hold. The outcome of the English courts will not affect the Scottish courts so I thought for £285 quid it's not worth it. Also it will be so much easier to pursue it where I live. Emotionally I will be stronger in my local sheriff court than I would be in a court in England. Better the devil you know and all that. Plus, it's cheaper to take a couple of mates along for moral support!! At the moment I still haven't submitted my court papers. I was on the phone to Abbey complaints dept today and they said an offer had been sent to me on the 12th July, so I'm just waiting to see what it says.

Hi Manolo, I noticed in a posting by joneshousehold in the Abbey forum that he has posted a copy of a letter he received from Abbey. In the letter they refer to their charges as PENALTY charges. Would that not be evidence for your case that Abbey in fact refer to their charges as a Penalty therefore proving they are? maybe you could get a copy of the letter. Just a thought

Hello, Just introducing myself....Getting ready for a fight with the Abbey(£1300), Capital One(£520) & MBNA.(£285) Luckily I am one of these really anal people who keep everything so I had my 6 years worth of bank statements & 3 years of credit card statements all in a file. I got straight onto writing my first letter of complaint to the companies on 10th June. Got standard letters in reply. so have sent off my LBA's on 28th June, I've checked with track & trace they've been delivered, I've printed off copies of the signatures that received them and am just preparing a court claim for 12th July when their time runs out. Cheers Jennilou - Non illigitamus carborundum (Don't let the b*****ds grind you down