Sorry for keeping you all in suspense folks. Been a hectic week - daughter home on leave for 1st time in months and a poorly mum to help out so I could REALLY have dome without having to go to Court with son! Abyhow, we turned up and of course LLoyds didn't. But, the court had received a letter from SC&M on 2nd January saying that they had settled and sent a cheque on 28th December. We hadn't received anything from them as of 3rd January. From following other threads we'd gathered that LLoyds have been known to just credit the bank account, (and we had requested that the account be credited) so, on 28th December coincidentally, I'd tried to print off a mini statement at the Lloyds bank cashpoint. Note that I only requested a mini statement - no withdrawl or anything else. The cashpoint said it couldn't deal with the request and kept the card. My son wasn't with me so I couldn't do anything about it in the bank. We wanted to check that no more fees had been taken as he hasn't had a statement since 1st November. At court we went in and sat with the judge, who was under the impression that we had received the cheque. We explained that we hadn't had anything from SC&M or LLoyds since the AQ stage. We also pointed out that the settlement SC&M said they had made was short by around £30 (presumably the court fee). We also pointed out that we weren't sure if any further charges had been taken by the bank because no statements were being sent by Lloyds and explained what happened at the cashpoint when we tried to get a mini statement. The judge checked over the figures and has made an order that Lloyds pay the full amount claimed plus any further charges to December within 14 days. This morning we have received a cheque from SC&M for the amount they told the Court they were paying - which of course is £30 short, and we are still waiting for a statement to check if Lloyds have taken any more fees! We can't decide whether to bank this cheque, or return it to SC&M asking for the full amount, confirmation that no more fees have been taken from the account and confirmation that they have not entered a default. Any suggestions?

Well, the court hearing is set for 10 am tomorrow (correction - gone midnight now so it's today) and still nothing from Lloyds or SC&M and that includes statements (as directed to be served and filed by the court) so we'll just have to see what happens in the morning.

Don't know if this is a new tack by LTSB or just their usual incompetence. I'm assisting my son with his claim against them. Completed MCOL in September but he's still received a letter from SC&M demanding payment of his overdraft (which incidentally is all charges), a letter from MHA collections, and just this weekend a letter from Moorcroft Debt recovery. I suppose one could say that to instruct one DCA on an account that is involved in court action may be an oversight, but 3 for £180? Makes you wonder!

Thanks for that Paula - better to have too much info than too little. Had a brief moment this afternoon when I felt totally beaten by the task - couldn't access the schedule of charges cos excel wouldn't work (re typed it in works), then printer ran out of ink - but soon pulled myself together though.

Tried to phone SC&M but no one available. Wrote to them reminding them that they requested a month to arrange settlement inviting them to contact - but no response. The Court Bundle is whar I'm trying to finalise at the moment - well, the facts of the case is what we've struggled with. Think we're trying to cover too much ground cos we have an issue with LLoyds over why the 1st direct debit bounced - took them 3/4 days to action an internet transfer of funds from my account to my sons - both with the same branch of LLoyds TSB. I have made this same transaction on other occasions and the funds have been transferred straight away. Also, we find some of the points of LLoyds TSB Defence questionable because this account was opened as an under 19's account i.e. a children's account when my son was 13, and so, as far as I can understand, would be too young to enter into a commercial agreement or any other kind of agreement or contract with the bank. This was never changed by him - he never applied for, or received a debit card or an overdraft on the account for example (in which case the bank would have issued him with revised terms and conditions and he would have entered into a credit agreement) See what I mean - are we trying to cover too many points?

I'm currently helping my son reclaim his charges from Lloyds. Court Hearing date is set for 3rd January and getting closer so I'm trying to get everything together. Any advice from anyone who's been to Court (Has anyone been to Court yet?) will be much appreciated. Spent hours researching and gathering everything together but now I'm wondering if I'm overdoing it a bit cos there's so many pages for our court bundle it's becoming very complicated :-? , and we're only claiming around 12 charges that have been taken since January this year. (and just to cap it all my printers running out of ink!) SC&M did ask for the month to negotiate settlement but this has passed without any contact from them, and my sons letter to them inviting contact seems to have been ignored. Since he started this action the only communication he's received are demands from 2 separate debt collection agencies (to which we've responded appropriately) for repayment of his overdraft which is entirely fees i.e. overdraft excess and interest which LLoyds have continued to charge throughout this dispute.

Hi Mindzai & Lucid Just wanted to say thanks for all your postings. This thread is a great read when you need firing up again to continue the battle. If I've counted the days correctly (Date of service 20/09) Lloyds have until tomorrow to submit their defence. Wondering if it'll turn up at the last minute like everybody elses seems to have done. We never had any further response from SC&M on their letter, but we have had a letter from a collections agency to which we have sent a polite reply suggesting that they refer it back to Lloyds TSB.

Mindzai - thanks for your advice, and the moneyclaim was sent on 19th(Issued 20th) Haven't done anything about the letter from SC&M as yet cos I've been quite poorly for the last couple of weeks (presume some obscure virus) so I've had to share the short bursts of enthusiasm to do anything between various tasks. I'm afraid the response you've had to your telephone calls doesn't surprise me - I worked in the financial services industry for over 20 years and finding anyone within many of the banks and building societies who actually knows what they're talking about is the result of the century. On reading through the thread I noticed that Lucid and yourself were curious as to why there was no mention of any LTSB accounts on your credit report. I don't think that's out of the oridinary. Although ("Gavin" I believe you said) implied that they are in some way obliged to provide the credit reference agencies with your information, as you've probably summised yourselves they are not, and in the case of LTSB often do not for bank accounts (until they want to enter a default notice of course) With reference to Lucid's query as to why one of you was offered an account by A&L and one of you was offered a different account - well where to start. In short each bank will state certain criteria that you need to meet for a particular account i.e. monthly income into the account, age etc.. Assuming you meet all these criteria you complete the application form.(which asks you employed/self employed, how long at address, how long in current job, occupation etc.etc. This information is input into the banks computer system and scored. This is generally referred to as credit scoring but it's a whole lot more complex than that, and varies from one bank to another. Your credit score/history is only one part of the process, because all the other little pieces of infomation are used as well. In today's climate the scoring for a bank account is almost as rigorous as for a loan or a mortgage because ulitimately the bank are looking to offer you overdraft or loan facilities. So, somebody at the bank inputs all your information, hits the button, and the computer says yes or no. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who could genuinely tell you why if the answer comes up as no (remind you of Little Britain? ) The scoring systems are so varied and reliant on so many different factors that if you are refused one account type by a bank you shouldn't lose too much sleep over it. I had one bank pull their system to pieces 3/4 years ago because the computer rejected an application. They only got the application because the local business developement manager happened to be visiting us at the time the customer called and therefore present during the conversation, asked where we'd be placing the business, was told x bank because they could offer better terms at which point he made a phone call and subsequently offered even better terms. They absolutely could not figure out why their computer system rejected the application and were powerless (this is a team of managers!) to overide the computer's decision. We were assured that their system was repidly being reviewed as it obviously had a flaw, but put the business elsewhere anyhow.

Hi M&L Was going to start a new thread "are ltsb changing tactics" but after reading "are the banks changing path" started yesterday I think it can only confuse people even more. I'm attempting to sort out my son's problem with charges from ltsb and up to last week all had gone pretty much as I'd expected from following the usual pattern experienced by most people challenging ltsb. LBA was sent on 31st August and they printed their "final response" on 1st September, so now I'm preparing for the next step (moneyclaim). However, instead of an enforcement notice from ltsb as you received, he's had a letter from Sechiari, Clark& Mitchell dated 12th September threatening legal action against him if he doesn't pay up within 7 days (by tomorrow). As every penny of the £146.92 they're asking for is charges which we're disputing (total charges £201.23) we were rather bemused. Like yourselves, I didn't think they could take any further action until the dispute has been resolved? Can't find anyone who's had this response, and as soon as the letter arrived I figured it for a retaliation (he had a threatening phone call from ltsb just before LBA was sent) Anyone any thoughts on this one?

I don't know if your question is still relevant as it was posted some time ago. However, I am helping my son with his claim against Lloyds TSB. The amount is now £201.23 for a bounced direct debit and rising each month as they are continuing to charge O/draft excess plus interest each month. His overdraft currently stands at £146.92 - entirely bank charges less money he put into his account at the outset of this problem to cover bank charges. The initial direct debit bounce only happened because it took Lloyds TSB 4 days to transfer money from one Loyds TSB account to another (transfer done via internet banking). He took my advice and went into the bank to discuss this at the outset but was politely told tough luck - we're charging you. After we sent the preliminary letter he received an aggressive phone call from the LTSB Colmore Row threatening (qoute) "account closure, black listing and court action". We are now at the money claim stage and so need to prepare for that. Which brings me to a question: Are Lloyds changing their tactics, because today he has received a letter from Sechiari, Clark & Mitchell threatenting to issue court proceedings against him, if he does not settle the overdraft in full in 7 days. I'd like to know if this has happened to anyone else and would appreciate any thoughts on this. The letter also states that they will be lodging information with Experian,Equifax and Callcredit. It states further that even if he pays them the full amount within 7 days they will not remove the original default notice We did include a paragraph in the LBA to Lloyds to the effect that they should not enter a default notice and should remove any such notice if they already had. I've also read a question on one thread (read so many I can't remember where) about the age of the customer when the account was taken out. Does this have any relevance? My son's account started out as a childrens account (under 16's) and the bank changed it to a basic current account shortly after his 18th birthday, but he has never had a debit card or cheque book for this account, only an ATM card. Any advice at this stage would be much appreciated because LLoyds do seem to be changing their pattern to one of counter attack..