Hi aloofy As long as you have it in writing that a settlement is offered from Barclays you can : 1) Send a copy of the correspondence to the court with a covering letter just advising that the enclosed is for the court records so that they are aware that agreement to settle has been reached between the parties and that you are presently awaitng payment. Furthermore, that upon clearance of the funds, it is your intention to submit a Notice of Discontinuance. Send a cc to Barclays so they know that the court knows! ; 2) Take a copy of this letter and all correspondence leading up to the offer with you on the 14th. This makes it easier for the judge to put pressure on any Barclays' representative to honour the clear intent as per the email.

I've decided to apply for Strike Out of Defence on DPA breach. BLT have failed to respond to my final warning email sent last Wednesday so I've now updated my costs schedule. It will be granted and will provide for a potential CCJ however I have no doubt Barclays will then settle my costs thus avoiding the Judgement being registered. I've asked for my data in respect of 1997 - 2000 and as i suspect it won't be sent, on day 42 I will be filing a second DPA breach against Barclays again with associated costs of pursuance (approx £90 again).

(Charges + O/D interest) x 0.00022 = £0.72

1. That science proves beyond doubt that Santa really does exist; 2. Telling a lie really did cause people's noses to grow; 3. An inexhaustable supply of fireworks.

Congratulations!!

Hi pugg If you dealt with the two accounts on the one claim, then your letter to the court will state that agreement has been reached upon the matter of A/C .... and where agreement is similarly arrived at upon the matter of A/c ..., you will of course immediately submit a Notice of Discontinuance. This way you are protecting the claim as a whole but informing the court of relevant progress. IF you subsequently get a cheque through for the one account settlement, you will follow up with a further clarifying letter to the court (as you are obliged to) advising that part settlement has been received.

Go for it pugg If you have faxing facility, this is the securest way of proving that they receive your agreement to their offer (and date stamps it in the process). If you have the original offer to sign and return, I would still cross out the bit about confidentiality as we always recommend. Also, make sure you change the wording from 'your claim' to 'this claim'. Also, I would make a copy of your acceptance and put it in to the court with a covering letter stating that agreement to settle has been reached and you will be in a position to submit a Notice of Discontinuance upon the funds clearing .... it gets it all recorded onto your court file, just incase!

My apologies, I dodn't know you had not rejected the other offers when you started court action. If you have yet to respond to the two further offers, then that certainly puts an angle for you and yes, Barclays is currently stating that it will continue to honour offers that are regarded as still 'open' and awaiting response from customer. As to the defintion of the Test Case ie whether it is purely concerned with OverDraft Fees or whether this terminology encompasses charges for bounced DD etc, is still to be outlined in the Particulars of the Case being brought by OFT.

Secret bank manual tells how to avoid giving charges back (unless the customer is dying) | the Mail on Sunday

Hi CTU If you have a look at the Directions advice on this link http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/guidance-notes/64911-got-court-date-guide.html it explains what will happen and what your auntie needs to take with her. She does not need to submit anything to the court or to the bank in the meantime

HI Olden Now that's an interesting question about whether the intial fob off offers have any standing if presented to the court. My concern is that the offer is worded to represent a goodwill gesture made to prevent the necessity of costly litigation; where the customer has written back a rejection letter and consequently place the dispute in the judicial system, the bank can argue that the overriding objective of the "gesture" was refused by the customer as soon as they filed a court claim; ie the actions of the customer destroyed the basis upon which the gesture was specifically made. The bank gestures do not represent any admission of liability and in effect cannot lawfully be considered as representing a refund of any sort - they were offered as courtesy gestures only. I cannot see any judge being able to acknowledge them (in his capacity as a judge) as anything but a gesture (even where the judge will personally believe they are fobb pay offs). To reiterate Gary's advice above: "If you are writing representations, they will now need to contain objections to the ordering of a stay. If you are attending, you'll need to argue against it at the hearing. There are many valid grounds for these objections, although ultimately whether stays are ordered or not will be solely at the judges discretion. " Nice to you keeping an eye on the thread Gary as there are many attending on the 14th who as you will have gathered, are obviously getting a little spooked by the Stay issue. On a personal note, as my claim is DPA breach which looks like it will be settled prior to the 14th, the need for me to attend will probably be negated within next few days. I will however still attend to lend moral support if anyone wants a friendly face there (well obviously I'll do my best with what the good lord and gravity has given me!)

Hi Pugg I doubt very much that their offer is still open - they certainly have no obligation to reinstigate it and no incentive to do so either. From their perspective, you refused offer but do not now want to pursue the matter through court either. I guess it's worth a go however be very careful about how you word your next approach to them and do not discontinue any action unless you get a response in writing that they agree to settle without further litigation. It is a personal choice Pugg and you have to weigh up all the unknowns; we do not know how long a Test Case will take, 8% is accruing daily until settlement, the precedent may be that the charges are illegal, it may be that they are perfectly justified (injustice has been known to paint our legislation before) or a capped figure for penalties may be set. In any event, please prepare for Barclays to respond negatively ie that they made an offer andyou refused it so it's no longer an option.

Hi Kimbo If all the correspondence has been between you and the bank, then he isn't legally a party to the settlement or the acceptance of such. Unless the agreement letter stipulates that both former account holders need to sign, I would have no hesitation in signing and returning it. The cheque will be made out to you and will go into your bank account. If you wouldlike to make him, in the words of the bank a "goodwill gesture" of £500 (his share minus your expenses), then good on you for being so reasonable. Remember, the settlement is a goodwill gesture from the bank for YOUR claim. In law, he therefore has absolutely no claim on any monies you receive as a goodwill gesture from your former banking provider.

Hi SA As of today, whilst the hearing is still listed/going ahead, it is 2 weeks away I have a gut feeling that probability is claimants will either a. Be informed in writing from court within 10 days that claim are Stayed or b. Turn up and be informed in person that the claims are Stayed. I truly hope by some miracle that Hickinbottom shows some inspiration in his dealings and resists the easy option. I've self litigated in front of this judge before and as SA says, he has previously made some good calls and I found him extremely easy to deal with when it was Team of Sols & Barrister -v- lil old me. As I've said, if you have anything in writing ressembling any sort of settlement offer from BLT, you need to present it to the court and get a 14-day settlement clearance order.

1) None and 2) hopefully justice are most honest answers I can give. Wish I had a Crystal Ball pugg

Congratulations Hedgerow

Yes, you wait to hear. Unfortunately the last 24 hours has turned up frustratings news in as much as banks are asking for all UK court to Stay any current claims and as we have seen already happening around the country, courts are agreeing. Annoying to the core I understand, especially for those who have already been plagued for months with delays and stalling tactics.

I'm afraid the official statement is that the UK banks will be requesting of all courts that all current claims are Stayed pending Test Case Outcome. I also think it is very, very likely that the courts will agree (hopefully some will get a Maverick judge who carries on regardless!) Problem being, such judgements could likely be successfully appealed and reversed into status of Stay in line with rest of UK.

According to Yahoo News today: "Meanwhile, the FSA has agreed to allow banks to stop dealing with complaints over unauthorised overdraft charges until the courts have issued a judgment, and the Financial Ombudsman Service is suspending its work on the issue. Banks will also be writing to the UK courts requesting a stay of all claims that are pending until after the outcome of the test case." So I guess that gives us an idea of what to expect at all further Directions/Preliminaries.

Pat There is an Agreement document that has been signed by both parties - it is legally binding and no decent judge is going to side with Barclays should they decide not to honour it. Tonycee I have put a thread on today about SARs and how imperative it is that people do not give an inch interms of non-compliance.

c) A statement of evidence of all matters relied upon as tending to show that the charges are irrecoverable as penalties or otherwise; You will find the Statement of Evidence in Post #5 http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/57708-draft-order-allocation-questionnaires.html#post482148 d) Copies of decided cases and other legal materials to be relied upon. All the statutues and case law on which your claim relies. Ie, UTCCR's, UCTA's, SOGA, case law, etc. You'll find all of this in the Basic Court Bundle.

Hi Peeps Just thought I'd let you know that the latest SARs that I have sent (one bank and one mortgage) are slightly different to the template. I have ommitted any referenc to motive ie I do not mention charges, penalties etc and do not provide any reason for my data request. My reasons behind this is that I have already successfully litigated against Barclays for breach of DPA (ie not sending complete account history within 40 days). As the banks are likely to refuse to deal with any further letters regarding bank charges, they will probably use this as an excuse for not complying with your future SARs. Take your SAR out of the realms of bank carges and simply ask for the data full stop. When the 40 (+ 2 postage days) is up, make sure you follow up with your Letter Before Action and then onto filing a claim online. Your claim will be successful if they have breached the DPA and you can request costs/damages (just like charges) and includes a SOE (Schedule of Expenses). I suggest that if Barclays want to play hard ball, I suggest we put pressure on them to comply with the law - to the letter. I'm about to start my second claim against Barclays for DPA breach and suggest everyone who is eligible does the same. Remember, non-compliance can result in a County Court Judgement every time a claim is found successful.

Hi Kalujo If it were me and I was in possession of correspondence (be it a letter or email) already confirming agreement to settle then I would write to the court asap requesting something like a 14-day Stay for the purpose of allwoing reasonable time for the settlement cheque to be issued and to clear. It's a question of trying to get in with your own manageable Stay (on your terms) which would by it's very nature, make your claim inappropriate for the application of the OFT Test Case Stay. I believe that if you can secure a court recognition of settlement intent already existing AND get a 14 day Stay for completion, your claim does not need to be considered for the OFT Test Case Stay as it would be considered settled in essence and not dependant on the Test Case. Just a question of getting your Stay in before being forced to accept the general Stay currently being passed in courts throughout the UK. I'm not saying it will work and please understand that I do not possess recognised legal training so this is purely my personal advice.

Hi Mitsy You can apply for a judgment immediately. You can also request costs however it is up to the judge's discretion whether or not to award such. Fill out a request for judgement with your claim details and amounts - http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/c.../n225_0406.pdf. Attach a copy of the order that Barclays' didn't comply with. If you are also going for costs, compile a breakdown/schedule of your costs including preparation time (max £9.50 per hour), mileage, parking, postage etc. Request that the judge orders that the defendent pays them on the grounds that they have behaved unreasonably - http://www.consumeractiongroup.c o....ion-costs.html

Okay Greg First thing you will have noted if youhad used the MCOL POCs from this site is that the Particulars include confirmation that A schedule of Charges is attached - our guide explains that because online does not provide for the attachment of documents, that claimants using this method should automatically follow up with sending a coveringletter to both the court and the bank quoting claim number and enclosng a Schedule of Charges as per the figures appearing on their MCOL cliam. I would suggest that, in view of this absence from your procedure, you should immediately do this - send SOCs to the county court and the Defendant. I would further suggest that with the court's SOC, you use this opportunity to also include a request to have a Draft Directions entered and try and steer your claim into remaining in safe small claims territory. I would therefore suggest that you send a covering letter that advises of the following attachments: Allocation hearing Witness Statement Draft order for directions & Reason's why they should be ordered (obviously sending the attachments plus SOC). Send this registered to both the county court and the Defendants. It should actually clear up any ommission in your original POCs as it covers the argument in great detail; at the worst, I would expect the judge to ask for an additional amended POC however this is up to the indiviual judge receiving your papers.