"Which ever party you vote for, the government (establishment) always gets in" (a Marxist). It could be argued that law and Statutes are often set by the OCD establishment control freaks who are the eminence grises of government. I have listened to many Parliamentary debates: and have noticed how painfully unjust systems are dragged out for decades by controlling interests, and lobbyists for influential businesses. Take for example an iniquitous state for 30 years, necessitating the Mobile Homes Bill, where everybody (mostly) agrees (except for mobile homes estates owners and management, en masse) that people should not be paying £1 per unit of electricity, and having their home compulsorily purchased for a rapacious discount, by a bunch of unprofessional and unqualified gangsters who should not have a licence to run a business. Yet 130,000 unprotected people have languished in despair for decades, thanks to successive governments, including so-called Socialist, 'talking out' worthy bills.

'This is an interesting paper on decision making in the Supreme Court'. Thank you for the link. However, in the 2+ hours, 22 page PDF lecture it seems to suggest that at this stage the judges of the Supreme Court are still mostly 'talking about talking'. Where it comes to judges stepping out of line and taking on the big banks and credit agencies, it seems apparent that it is still up to the collective-poor 'class action suit' - rather than the OFT, or 'closed chamber' private chats within the elevated judiciary, to determine the fairness of banks charges and the credit ratings of their eviscerated clients. Where the banks use our money, and effectively limitless credit, to protect themselves from us, their clients. A perfectly parasitic arrangement, promoted and promulgated by the parasite. Rather similar to the governments of the world building nuclear bunkers for the few, paid for by the many who will not of course survive their suicidal, strategic military decisions... everyone knows about it but feels powerless to change the status quo ante bellum. Too many Neanderthal genes in the Cro Magnon smorgasbord. Socialism for the rich and powerful, Free Market Capitalism (and dog eat dog) for everybody else.

Dear Richard What I read was that the legal process had cost you around £1/4 million and you felt that you needed to carry on to the highest court in the land "because you had nothing left to lose". Whatever your current financial circumstances it's still a bitter battle. Lawyers will run with things simply to squeeze every last penny out of the client (just like banks do with charges and similar 'slash and burn' credit ratings for companies they want to asset strip. RBS has been pilloried recently, for carrying on the same culture as Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin). I know of a woman who exhausted £46,000 in legal aid to fight a £9,000 demand for a year's rent on a dilapidated London flat. I hope you win as I said earlier, and set a new legal precedent to encourage others. A few years back I was paying £150 a month just in interest alone, for credit card and overdraft arrangements while being unemployed; and living on a much reduced income thanks to serving a Nationwide £5000 hiked up credit card debt, and a Lloyds Bank £1000 business overdraft. Small beer compared to your odyssey but very stressful until I contacted Brighton Credit Union who banged the table on my behalf with the debt collectors. Here on the south coast of Sussex, I read three years ago about a Southwick boy (aged 25) who threw himself off the 60ft high bridge arching over the A27 bypass near Shoreham Airport, over a mere £14.500 debt. He probably knew nothing about the life saving Credit Union. Billions were spent on rescuing RBS - while it still hands out hundreds of millions in bonuses to floor traders every year despite making £3.4 billion losses. Yet the Credit Union only opens its office in Brighton two days a week, due to underfunding. Likewise the local CAB in Hove only opens a few days a week. It's an outrage. Socialism for the rich, and Free Market Capitalism for everybody else, especially the poor. As for the five other creditors, I can recommend your nearest Credit Union. The Credit Union bites back, and the bullies back down in my experience. Good luck.

'What has this got to do with this thread'? Everything: Many people don't know where to turn to when they get into debt or run up huge payback loan interest and charges rates, and often feel suicidal. The whole system of money borrowing, or foisting it on unsuspecting borrowers, is little short of legalised robbery and extortion. The banks are worse than these payday loan sharks (sub-prime mortgages). The only difference is in their public perception of respectability, and the backing of banks by a highly corrupt series of governments who pander to their every blackmail threat. Banks hold countries to ransom, the same way that loan sharks exploit the poor and ignorant. Either way, the enslaved and mostly-powerless public ends up footing the bill, in most cases.

The Credit Union in Brighton, East Sussex, helped me fight off debt collectors from Lloyds and nationwide, amounting to more than £6000. Now I am paying off Lloyds at £10 per month and Nationwide at £5 per month with no further bother this last 3 years. Sadly, I read about two years ago of a young man in his early twenties who threw himself off the bypass bridge near Shoreham Airport, in West Sussex, just a few miles to the west. He fell 60ft and was killed instantly. Over a mere £14,500 debt. Surely he might have thought his life was worth more than that? He probably didn't know about the Credit Union. A shamefully underfunded and under advertised enterprise which only operates two days a week in Brighton, compared to the hundreds of billions flushed down the toilet to protect the blood-sucking banks and their hundreds of (£1 million+ each, annual bonus) floor traders, some of whom are on £4-6 million a year. Paul

I hope you win and give one in the eye for the small man. I hope too, you claim on the basis of winning this outstanding case, substantive damages for all this unnessary suffering and financial loss. I understand that this stand has bankrupted you (and presumably seriously damaged your career, due to bad publicity, unfavourable credit reports, and sleepless nights). Not to mention affecting your family life. The devil doesn't always play the best tunes. Paul. =)

Likewise, I had a £15 charge called 'commission'. Commission is an agreed charge, usually indicated up front for some mutually recognised 'service'. Punishing many poor people for what is often the result of financial circumstances being temporarily beyond the customer's immediate control, by applying unconscionable charges, is neither 'commission' nor providing a 'service' but is tantamount to 'legalised theft'. 'Commission' referred to by the Coop Bank seems to be a Freudian slip whereby they have exposed, unintentionally, something which all banks operate in their world of ruthless capatalism = EXPLOITATION..!