Modaboy, While it's fresh in your mind, write down all the details of your conversation with the council worker. What they said is unbelievable and I would put a complaint in straight away. If possible, could you go to see the council face to face? Some people have done this and have insisted that the council take a payment over the counter, and give you a receipt. If you can persuade them to take a payment you can tell the bailiffs that you are paying the council direct and will only pay them for their bailiff charges, which should not come to much so far. A warning, though - you must make sure that the council take the payment for your 2001/2 arrears, NOT this or next year's CT, as they may try - and get this in writing! If the council do not accept a payment over the counter, take the name of the person involved, record the time and details of what they said - this will demonstrate to any judge your willingness to pay what you owe - and the obtuseness of the council, if any further action is taken. This is just one idea but it is a route that has worked for others on the site. Cheers, BAE

Hi, Grace, Good luck with your claim! You probably know that most county court claims against banks are being stayed, (suspended) until after the High Court case is resolved, (january/ february), involving the Office of Fair Trading. However it is still advisable to start your action against Barclays now, beginning with sending a polite request for a refund, then a follow up letter called Letter Before Action. Hopefully they will pay up by this stage, but if they don't you will need to issue a county court claim against them. Even if your case is 'stayed' you can start adding interest until the date when the case is heard. It can be a long process so you have to be prepared to stick it out! I have had 2 successful claims against this bank and - believe me - they WILL pay up in the end!!! BAE

Peepo, How are you getting on . . .? BAE

Hi, Peepo, Hope I can help to raise your spirits a little. I don't think anyone's yet mentioned to you about what might happen if the worst comes to the worst and the DCAs do take action against you -sounds scary, doesn't it? WELL MAYBE IT'S NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK!!!!!! Just relax and think about the worst , the very WORST scenario . . . . . Say if you fall way behind on payments on an account, it is true that they may ask the courts for a County Court Judgement against you. This is a legal declaration that says, 'Miss X must pay Company Y the amount of £xxx per month. Now, the important bit is this - the court will ask you to send in a declaration of income/expenditure etc to see how much you can afford. So you tell them. And they WILL only set a reasonable amount for you to pay off each month. Once this is in place the company CANNOT do any more about the debt UNLESS you start missing these payments. Of course, you will have a CCJ listed against your credit record but at least the courts have given you a set amount, probably much lower than the DCAs would like, to pay off. It is only if you disobeyed the court's payment plan that the company can apply for a Warrant where bailiffs become involved . . . and this is a long way off from your present position. Anyway, it's geting late now and I have to say goodnight - but try to keep this in perspective, Peepo, and not let it take over your life - you've done the right thing by asking for help and you will get over this!!! I will post more tomorrow . . .! Cheers, BAE

I would follow what the court say and go for a 'set aside'. I had to do this when a company got a ccj against me when I hadn't received the original claim form. So I applied for a set aside -it cost me £75 or £85 - and a week later the company 'discontinued' the claim against me. Now I don't know if this is applicable to you, but have you considered fighting the whole debt? (this is what I did) For example, you have lots of charges on your account so when they sent you a default notice, it was not a lawful one as the amount stated would have included unlawful charges. Also, have they produced a legal, enforceable copy of the original agreement? If you ask for this and they can't produce one, the debt is deemed unenforceable, so you would end up with no more to pay, just a default on your credit record, (better than a CCJ!). These are just some of the options you may consider. If you need help with the application form to set aside judgement I can help or I can give you the name of someone else better informed. Now - the matter of paying them if you decide not to set aside. The court will not force you to pay in one go, they will hold a hearing where you will be given a say on how much you can afford to repay each month and they will set this in a relatively fair manner. If you then fall behind on the payments, that is when the company can start to get nasty, sending in the bailiffs etc. That is way in the future, don't worry too much but concentrate on whether you feel you can apply for the judgement to be set aside. Cheers, BAE

Tawny owl - what date did you receive the CCJ?

Hi, Tony Yes - you can claim back charges from a mortgage company. Unlawful charges are unlawful charges, whether levied on your bank account or mortgage account. There have been some problems when people have tried to claim back ERCs, (Early Redemption Charges) as the court can award costs against you which run into thousands, with some mortgage companies willing to send in barristers to do their dirty work. So I would not advise you to go down this route!! However, if you are claiming back charges like arrears charges or late payment charges, you will stand a good chance to get refunded. Be aware that these companies will drag their feet and try every trick in the book to get out of paying, just like the banks have been. BAE

Well done, Ivan!!! MBNA must be the most ignorant of all the cc companies, but - as many people have found out - the easiest for getting a RESULT. Once a claim gets to the court stage I seriously doubt that they even look at what or why you're claiming, but simply PAY OUT!!! BAE

Well done, Oggy, it seems they threw their dummies out of the pram and caved in on the charges in their usual way! There is a separate forum for reclaiming PPI. I would have a good read of the threads, (especially the successful ones!), in there. Good luck! http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/ppi/

Thanks, PT. I wonder if this has ever happened to anyone on here - that is, they receive a notice of discontinuance, then the company comes back with a new claim a few months down the line? I hope not, because I've just received a Notice of Discontinuance from a bank even though they had got the CCJ, (by default). I applied for a set aside and got the discontinuance notice soon after. Basically, I'm thinking I may be rid of this debt but don't want to count chickens yet . . .

Hi, Cherminate, Have you got an update on this dispute? Are you proceeding with your claim?

Just got a quick question: If a company makes a claim against you, then sends you a Notice of Discontinuance, does that mean they can never, ever make the same claim again? In other words, are you free of the alleged debt? Or could they sue you by way of a counterclaim, if you made a claim against them for a refund of charges? Sorry if that sounds confusing but I'm sure someone, somewhere will understand what I mean!

Hi, Wazza, Does the CCA they have sent you contain the precsribed terms, i.e. Rate of Interest, Terms of Repayment, Amount of credit ? A loan is classed as fixed sum credit(a).

No - the banks did comply with the SAR request, but well after the 40 days. So I went to court to argue that I should be awarded costs against the banks for wasting my time etc . . .

Hi, Noomill, I've done this twice - once with Co op and once with Capital Bank. Both companies stalled over giving me the required info so I claimed after the 40 days. My claims were initially for 1) compliance of the SAR and 2) Costs I had accrued in my requests being frustrated, i.e, research on internet, letters, postage, £xxx for my time preparing the cases. This is what happened: Co op negotiated and I accepted costs of £80 (Court cost of £30 + £50 expenses). I do have a written decision by the judge, on this, saying that the claimant is awarded £80. (But this case did not go to court.) Capital Bank wouldn't budge and we went to court over it. Unfortunately the judge said that as it was a small claims case, both sides were liable for their own costs so the case was dismissed - I had figured this would happen but I was so annoyed with the bank's attitude that I wanted to waste their time too! (And, you never know, they might not have turned up to court . . . ) If you think this is any use I'll forward what details I can find.

Hi, Sunshine, How are you getting on with this dispute?

Hi, Barty, The new POC are very good - I've just looked at them - but I wrote my own POC using various ideas, and making them more specific to my case. Doing the 'combined' claim has worked for me every time and is a cheaper method of claiming. However, for someone who is about to do their first claim, it is good advice to go with a template POC. For those more experienced, or simply wanting to extend their knowledge, or with less funds (!), I would suggest considering a 'combined' claim. My warning about the 'fast track' hearing comes from an experience I had last year. I had put in a claim against Barclays regarding my current account, got a court date, then decided to claim from my Barclaycard. Lo and behold, when the court received my second claim, the DJ, in his infinite wisdom, decided to 'consolidate' the two claims, vacate the first court date and set a date for the two claims to be heard as one, in the FAST TRACK court, 6 months later!!! To say I was fuming is an understatement. I couldn't believe that a judge could do this, especially as the total amount for the two claims was under the £5000 barrier!! Luckily for me Barclays caved in and paid up but it was worrying that my claims could be diverted in this way. Cheers.

The advantages of combining your credit card claim with your account are as follows: 1. You will only have to pay one claim fee. 2. Lloydstsb will pay out the claim, (eventually). 3. Many courts are, (incorrectly), staying claims on credit cards anyway. Rather than have two stayed claims, you will only have one. 4. When a District Judge sees that there are two separate claims against the same defendant, he can say, "Okay, I will consolidate these two claims and send them to the Fast track court." This is one thing you don't want to happen because you can be liable for costs!!!

Hi, Rich, Just read your thread and am gutted that they threw your legitimate defence out! I've had a bad experience with a DJ recently too so I sympathise. Some of them really don't have the faintest clue about Consumer credit Law and aren't even prepared to listen to arguments, it seems to me. If you do decide to appeal, GOOD LUCK!!

Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (c. 40) That is sickening, Pet! My heart goes out to your mother. They have broken every law going as regards disclosing personal information and harassment by phone. Don't panic because this appalling, abusive attitude will come around and bite these low people where it hurts. I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me will come to give you advice soon. If not I'll PM someone who may help. In the meantime have a read through the link above, which is the main Act which protects you from this sort of harassment. My gut reaction is that you need to contact the police and report this abuse. This is only an opinion but in view of your mother's age and the abuse that has occurred I think this is a serious case of harassment. If possible quote details from the above act to show you mean business. Get it on record that this has happened. Insist that some action is taken, even if it's just that the police note your complaint. Take the name of the officer you speak to and ask what their actions will be. And write down exactly what was said NOW - every detail, so you don't forget it! BAE

Hi, QueenJ, If you need major help with impending court appearances, set asides, the best person to help you is Tomterm8. Read some of his threads and it might be worth PMing him. Cheers.

Butwhy, Forgot to say - I claimed for both current account charges and Credit card charges in the same claim. The issue of PPI I don't know much about, beside the fact that some people on this site are claiming for mis sold policies. I would keep the PPI as a separate issue and stick them with your Bank/credit card refund first.

Hi, Don't start all over again - simply add any recent charges to the last schedule of charges you did. 1. Get an N1 form, (from local court or HMCS website or this site). Use a template from this site for the Particulars of Claim section, adapting it for your purposes. 2. Go to your local court with your N1 form and attach to it your schedule of charges. Pay the fee - the staff will do that for you. Ask the staff any further questions, they're usually helpful. That's it - your claim is in the legal system heading straight for Lloyds! 3. Personally I would also tell Lloydstsb by polite letter that you have put in a claim, quoting the claim number given to you by the court. 4. Now, in both of my previous cases Lloyds entered a defence, (utter rubbish), then proceeded to pay out within two weeks of the claim, claiming it as a goodwill gesture! In the present climate I'm not sure if they will pay out as swiftly but so what? Your claim is done and dusted and will not go AWAY! At some point in time any stay will be lifted and hey presto! they will pay out.

Hi, Congraulations on fighting back against this awful company. Claiming charges back from a mortgage company is done in the same way as claiming back bank charges. The process is: 1. Subject Access Request,(they have to send you a full set of statements for your account within 40 days). 2. Preliminary request for charges, (wait 14 days) 3. Letter Before Action,(wait another 14 days) 4. Issue a court Claim. You will need to adapt the template letters in the library section for your own purpose. The initial S.A.R. request costs £10 but will be worth it. I think it's likely that Kensington will prolong this as long as they can, saying that their charges are legal etc, etc, but once it gets to the court stage they will collapse and pay up. Oh, and put ALL the charges they have levied over the course of your account, not just recent ones. For further info, trawl around some of the successful claims threads to see how it's done. Good luck!

Hi, just reading through the Consumer Regs, schedule 6 and have a question. What does the term 'running - account credit' mean?