...and not a word from Lloyds or their solicitors. Should I be worried?

That's disgraceful behaviour from Lloyds. I don't agree that they have every right to refuse you banking services, by settling they are basically admitting that they have acted inappropriately in the first place, otherwise they'd have gone to court. I was concerned that this would happen to me, so I got a loan from another bank to pay off my Lloyds personal loan, and have set up a current account with another bank. I hope you get what you need from them!

Well done!!

Mines a few days after yours, and I don't have anything from them, and I'm not holding my breath either. Its kind of reassuring to hear them say they're too busy to look at individual cases don't you think?

I just rang them and they said almost exactly the same thing, basically they're too busy to look at individual cases. Are the people manning the phones actually legal professionals? They might as well just open a call center in India!

Many thanks GaryH, I've done that, and I just called SC&M. The woman asked my name, and how she could help, I asked if they'd sent me any documents. She said she didn't know, and they are too busy to look up individual cases. So with the deadline being tomorrow presumably either its in the post, or they aren't bringing any evidence to the table?

Ah great, thanks!

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated, as the court date is just over two weeks away, and don't I need to send the evidence I'll be using within 14 days of the court date? What should I send? Who do I need to send it to? Do I need to fill in a form etc? I've searched the site for a court bundle but can't find it.

Not really, not been keeping up to date with things on here really, what with xmas and a new baby keeping me busy. Has anyone been to court yet? And if so, what will I need?

I have a court date set for my case against LTSB, and I have a new bank account set up so I can stop giving them my money. Now hopefully they'll settle before the court date, as is the usual trend, so I am wondering if there is anything wrong with switching my current account now (ie. transfer all DDs/SOs over), or will this affect how they deal with my case? Thanks in advance for any help!

Thanks Solargirl, I'll keep you updated!

Ok so I'm going down the route of filling in an N244 form. For my amended particulars of claim which I am attaching, does this need to be on a form itself, or is a printed text document enough?

Cheers I'll take a look, I think this is the way to go for me. I'm just really impatient, I want my money NOW!

Thanks SolarGirl, I feel exactly the same way. I was hoping I was nearing the end of the process, but looks like this could set it back a few weeks. My philosophy so far has been to just ignore whatever the bank tries to fob me off with, but now I really don't want to risk it being dropped! It does seem odd we got the same defense word for word, even though you did state the account number. I think in your case you should carry on regardless, I think with the typo any judge will see it as an honest mistake.

If I did file a new claim, would I have to pay again, I am assuming yes. Therefore would I lose the fee for the original claim?

I admit I did miss out the a/c number, I followed the guide on fool.co.uk and the POC he used didn't have it, I guess this was fool(ish) of me (sorry!). However they do admit that I have been a customer of there's for the time in question, so surely this invalidates the argument that they can't defend it!! I filed the claim via MoneyClaim.gov.uk - there was no way of attaching a schedule of charges that I could see.

Ok, so I've been through the usual procedure, and things have moved quite quickly. I am claiming back about 2K of charges, I have been through the Moneyclaim stage, and now LTSB have put in a defense, it reads as follows: 1. The Defendant Lloyds TSB Bank plc (the Bank) is a Bank whose registered office is 25 Gresham St London etc. It is admitted that the Claimant has been a customer of the Bank at all material times. 2. The Particulars of Claim do not comply with the Civil Procedure Rules as (amongst other things) they do not identify the account in question that appears to form the subject matter of these proceedings or indeed show how the sum of 1916 is arrived at and the particulars of claim are too vague. 3. The Claimant should therefore be ordered to file and serve an amended claim to set out the basis in law and fact for his claim as there is no real pleaded basis for the claim itself. The Claimant should give full Particulars of the Bank Account and the charges and why the Claimant in each case he alleges it is a disproportionate penalty and thus unlawful. 4. The defendant should then be given the opportunity to defend the proceedings further. 5. For the avoidance of doubt, by opening an account with the Bank, the customer enters into a commercial arrangement with the Bank for the provision of banking services. The Bank is entitled, as part of that arrangement, to charge for those services. At account opening a customer is provided with details of the Bank's charges, currently in a leaflet a guide to our banking charges. By using the account, the customer acknowledges that the charges are incorporated into the contract. For personal customers, a number of services are provided for free, notwithstanding that they are an expense to the bank. Such services presently include, but are not limited to, providing: - cheques - bank statements - the facility to make payments by direct debit and standing order - debit cards - ATMs 6. By maintaining the account in credit, or within any limit agreed with the Bank, the customer may avoid most if not all charges. If the customer fails to ensure that there are sufficient cleared funds in the account to cover payments, whether by cheque, debit card, standing order or direct debit, the customer makes a request for a payment to be made from the Bank's own funds. If the Bank makes payment, or returns the payment, it provides a service as specified in the leaflet and makes a charge in accordance with the terms of the contract. On page 1 of the leaflet, the Bank explains that there are normally no charges for everydaybanking at LTSB when your account is in credit. When you use an agreed overdraft, there is no monthly fee and we only charge interest on the amount you are overdrawn each day. Where you go overdrawn without an agreement or where you use special services, such as copy statements, we will make a charge. This guide explains how these charges work, and when they will apply. If you want to use a service that we haven't listed, we'll tell you the cost of that service before you give us the go-ahead? 7. There is no breach of contract; the charge cannot therefore be a penalty, consequently there is no requirement that the charge be a pre-estimate of the Banks loss. 8. The customer is given advance warning of charges being imposed; statements show the charges, if any, the customer has incurred during the course of a month, and which will appear as debits on the following months statement. Customers are warned by letter when they go overdrawn or over their agreed limit without arrangement with the bank. If the customer fails to remedy the position, and payments such as standing orders and direct debits are refused then again the customer is warned by letter. 9. The charges are fair and reasonably, and it is denied that they are unlawful. 10. The customeris notified of the charges in plain intelligible language at the conclusion of the contract, and on each monthly statement. The charge are terms which relate to the price payable by the customer for a service provided by the Bank, and pursuant to Regulation 6 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, are not subject to the assessment of fairness. 11. In the premises: 11.1 the charges are for banking services, and are not damages nor a penalty; 11.2 the Bank is entitled by contract to impose the charges, which are fair and reasonable; 11.3 it is denied that the charges are unlawful or contravene any statute of regulation. 12. The Claimant's claim is denied in its entirety. It is further denied that the claimant is entitled to the sum claimed or to any sum from the Bank. THE END

That is what I was missing. Thanks for explaining!

Fair enough. I'll give them some time. Just as long as I get my money in time to spend it unwisely before Christmas!

Fair comment. They'd be right, I don't know what I'm doing. Lucky for me I've got this site to help me, the banks gonna get its ass kicked! Thanks again!

Since my claim is quite large, over 2K, I am expecting my bank to play the waiting game and fob me off as long as they can. I've just sent my first letter, giving them 14 days to respond, but I'm thinking, why don't I just cut out the crap and file a claim. Obviously I'm missing something, but what is it?

Thanks GaryH, unfortunately I got a bit excitable earlier (before reading your reply) and used an example letter from Motley Fool, which was in turn taken from the CAG library templates, I think it was just streamlined down slightly, but it did mention the 8% interest. Will this harm my chances of winning?

Thanks, I will try the email approach first, from what I have seen on here, their usual response is pretty much standard, but I'm prepared to go all the way!

Hi Everyone, First time poster here, I've spent this morning reading through some of the threads in here, and I'm inspired I've just decided to finally do something about the excessive charges I have paid to LTSB, over £2000 in the last 6 years. I was up late last night browsing through my online bank statements, and compiled a spreadsheet detailing them, and adding interest at 8% etc. I have typed out a letter, and wondered if it will be effective emailing them, or am I more likely to get a response if I post it? Thanks in advance, Da2K!