I wasn't asked if I wanted to make a counter claim. To be fair it was in my local court so only 2 miles from home.

I was more miffed about having to take a day off work!

For anyone that is interested, I attended court yesterday and the claim was struck out.

This was based on lack of evidence and the fact that the claimant (Lowell) hadn't (couldn't) produce a copy of any credit agreement which they won't be able to do as it's a basic bank account.

The judge said it will probably be the end of the matter, fingers crossed.

I've managed to answer the second question, the claimant has stated in their witness statement they will not be attending.

They have also not mentioned continuous payment authority in their statement at all.

dx

Earlier on this thread you stated...

"if there was any credit even if by 1p it would have been honoured"

Here, when the first transaction was honoured there was more than 1p in, and the payment of £15 was honoured. At which point the account was then £14.21 overdrawn.

However even after this payments continued:

£28.60

£23.40

£92.00

£25.80

£3.00

£73.10

£3.00

£67.10

This means they carried on hounouring payments even after it was already over drawn.

The amounts are strange though - maybe the PDL has some automated system that keeps trying various amounts until they manage to get authorisation. Maybe authorisation systems were down?

This was a Visa Electron card though and all transactions needed to be authorised.

I need to submit documents today as it's the deadline. If I have no defence and no chance then please, tell me that and I'll make an offer of payment to try and stop this going to court as I really don't want a CCJ.

If I do go to court, are the claimant solicitors likely to make the 250 mile journey to my local court?

I have found out however that the overdraft is made up of several small transactions, all to the same PDL company.

In other words, once the initial payment was made which took the account over drawn,

Co-op continued to authorise payments to the same company (some of them were just for £10)

even though the account was already overdrawn.

When I held that card, I couldn't even make a payment for £1 without it being authorised by the bank.

Indeed, I could never use any pay at pump machines at petrol stations for the same reason, the exact amount had to be authorised.

How could they continue to make payments from my account when it was overdrawn?

In all honesty,

I did the SAR request and then totally forgot about BCOBS as I was only focussing on the last few posts on this forum

and I didn't go back to the previous screen. Not good I know.

I did agree to Mediation,

as did the claimant however apart from the response to confirm my acknowledgement I've heard nothing else about that.

Hi everyone

Thanks for the advice to date.

I've got all my statements from the co-op but nothing else has been sent to me.

It's getting really close the court date which has been set for the 4th March.

I've also just received a letter from my local court telling me that I need to send all evidence that I will rely on in court

and a witness statement to the court and the claimant by 4pm this coming Monday, 23rd February. I missed that totally on the original letter.

Can anyone give me any advice on what to do at such short notice?

I was thinking about submitting the current terms and conditions of the account that state there is no overdraft.

Also a witness statement stating that I believe that this basic bank account is not governed by the CCA

and also that the the debit card provided with the account was a Visa Electron card

which requires every transaction to be authorised electronically by the bank.

Why did they authorise several transactions that took the account overdrawn and then further overdrawn.

Also, one other question I have, is

it likely that Lowell will send someone to my court on the date of the case or will just rely on the witness statement they have produced?

Thanks

Thanks for all the information. I am a little overwhelmed there is so much however I am willing to challenge the bank on this, I'm certainly not scared!

I'm preparing my SAR currently and in fact I work about 15 minutes walk away from Co-op's head office in Manchester so I can even hand deliver it. Based on what I've read that's the first place I need to start...the SAR...please correct me if I'm wrong?

One stupid question I have, how do I pay the £10? I don't have a cheque book.

One thing I forgot to mention, the court has recommended this case for mediation and the solicitor has not objected. Not sure if it makes any difference or not.

I did read up on BCOBS but only generically - not sure which bit you are referring to?

So I'm asking Co-op for all the details in this case, which would then include a credit agreement if there is one and any transactions relating to this?

Who am I to phone the solicitors (Bryan Carter) to ask if they agree to me amending my defense? How do I actually go about making an application to amend my defense?

Thanks for all your help and advice so far.

The only breakdown I can provide is as per the form above:

£431.18 + £35 court fee + £50 solicitors costs = £516.18

Regarding the amount of £431.18, I estimate at least 75% of it is bank charges from what I remember the original transaction was around £100.

In defence

I said that I did not acknowledge the debt and

I wanted more information as to what the debt was for.

I also stated that I did not have a credit agreement with Co-op bank

as I had only ever had a basic bank account with them.

No further information has been provided by Lowell relating to this debt,

just a letter from the court stating they wish to continue.

I think this is what you want...

Name of the Claimant ? - Lowell Portfolio LTD

Date of issue – - 04/09/2014

- however as mentioned above this has already been responded to.

A date has been set for court hearing under the small claims track for 04/03/2015.

Most recent communication is from 17/12/2014 - allocating it to small claims track.

What is the claim for –

- The claimants claim is for the sum of £427.71

being monies due from the defendant to the claimant under an agreement regulated by the consumer credit act 1974

between the defendant and Co-operative bank under account reference xxxxxxx and

assigned to the claimant on 22/01/2013 notice of which has been given to the defendant.

The defendant failed to maintain contractual repayment under the terms of the agreement and

a default notice has been served which has not been complied with.

What is the value of the claim?

£431.18 + £35 court fee + £50 solicitors costs = £516.18

Is the claim for a current or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Co-Op Bank Account OD

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? - prior to 2007

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor

or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. - Account assigned to Lowell

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? - Not sure

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? - I can't be 100% but I am pretty sure I didn't.

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ?

Why did you cease payments? - N/A

What was the date of your last payment? - N/A

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved?

- Namely why they authorised and paid a debit card transactioni from a basic bank account that didn't have enough funds in it.

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor

and make any attempt to enter into a debt managementicon plan? - No

In response to your question oleg,

my main question is that as far as I am aware this account is not governed by the CCA

therefore how can the claim be made relating to that?

Hi all

A few years ago I used to have a cashminder account with Co-op bank, it's their basic bank account.

Late 2010 my dad suddenly passed away and I took out a couple of payday loans to help my Mum out with some expenses,

I know in hindsight not the best thing to do.

Early in 2011 I moved to RBS with a standard current account but

I forgot about 1 payment to a payday loan company that was still due to come out of my Co-op account and there was no money in.

Despite the fact that the payment was being made by debit card which had to be authorised,

Co-op honoured the payment, taking my account overdrawn and

then they started chasing for the money.

I had a brief argument with them at the time saying I couldn't and wouldn't pay

as they shouldn't have authorised a transaction taking my account so overdrawn

(it was around £100 from memory and the balance would have been pretty much nil at the time).

they appointed debt collection agency / "solicitor" duo of Lowell and Bryan Carter

they are now taking me to court for the money.

It's the original amount plus charges the Co-op added and also fees etc added by the debt collector.

The claim states:

"The claimants claim is for the sum of £427.71

being monies due from the defendant to the claimant under an agreement regulated by the consumer credit act 1974"

However, as it was a basic bank account

I never saw or signed a credit agreement

how can that statement be valid?

As it was a basic bank account there was no overdraft facility

and I have never had any other account or credit card with Co-op, just this basic bank account.

I responded to the claim stating that I didn't aknowledge the debt

and that I had only ever held a basic bank account with the Co-op

however I have now received a response from the court saying that they still wish to proceed

(however it's now been passed to the small claims track).

Any advice on this would be very much appreciated.

As stated yes, the agent DID provide information telling us the deposit WAS protected when in fact it wasn't.We are still persuing the agent for the deposit.

Sorry, I'm not 100% familiar with all this at the moment...what is SCC?The Letting Agent provided us with details saying the deposit WAS protected (in the letting agreement)...said it was protected with DPS but as stated above, they started a "file" but didn't actually send the money so DPS cancelled it (therefore it was never protected).

We have just moved out of a property after 27 months.We initially had a 12 month contract from May 09 to May 10 then renewed for an additional 12 months to May 10. We then extended by 3 months (as we were relocating) taking us to August 11.On moving out of the property (21st August) the letting agent confirmed that he had never seen a property left in such good conditon, especially after the amount of time we had been there (not just 12 months) and that we'd get our full deposit back.Since then we have had trouble actually getting the deposit. It's always something that will be done "tomorrow"!The latest excuse from the letting agency is that they are waiting for it to come back from the protection scheme. I smelled a rat.I contacted DPS (Who it was supposed to be protected with) who confirmed that it had in fact never been protected with them. They told me an entry was created online for the deposit protection with them in May 2010 however it was cancelled in July 2010 as the money was never actually sent to them (and it hasn't been protected since).We still haven't got the money back.How should we proceed? If we confront the letting agent with this, I'm sure we will get the full deposit (£800) back very quickly however I'm aware that as they have broken the law by doing this, a court could force them to pay 3 x that amount.Any advice would be greatly received.