FOS or Court?

[Haley348]

Hello all, this is a long one, I hope it makes sense!!

 

I am currently in the process if claiming against BOS for unfair bank charges amounting to £4474 over the past 5 years.

 

I have sent my Prelim and LBA, and received answers to both from the bank stating that they have put my complaint on hold die to the OFT Tast case. They also said that if I put in a claim to the court, they will apply to have any action stayed. They did say that I can also complain to the FOS, although they have also said they are not dealing with any complaints until the conclusion of the Test case.

 

The advice in the Forum with reference to the test case states that you should proceed as normal and to your personal time lines, especially as the Statue of Limitations may mean that the longer the test case goes on, I am more likely to lose some of my older charges. As the majotiry of my claim is for these older charges, this would seriously affect my claim.

 

My problem now is whether to claim in the courts or complain to the FOS. If I am to proceed to the court, due to the amount of money I wish to claim back, I would have to pirse an Ordinary Cause, thereby getting solicitor, or split my claims into 3 claims of £1500 and go for Summary Cause. However, it would seem from other threads that some Courts in Scotland are refusing more than one Summary Cause as knowing that I have this amount to claim an Ordinary Cause to be pursued. I am loathe to go for Ordinary Cause, due to the amount of money it would cost if I lost meaning I had to pay the Defenedants court costs, but in the same way, do't want to lose out if I have a 2nd Summary Cause declined.

 

My other option is then to complain throught the FOS and try and get my money back that way, however, if the FOS are not investigating any complaints until the completion of the test case, this would then mean my claim waiting for what could be over one year, meaning that if eventually I did have to put in a court claim, I would have lost out on over a year of my claim.

 

Can anyone advise me on a way to proceed? Any help would be gratefully received.

[maroondevo52]

Hi, Haley.

 

I'm in the same boat as you, BOS are due me just under £5,000. I was successfull with one Small Claim and one Summary Cause against BOS on the same account. Then some courts started knocking back multiple claims on the same account. I complained to FOS and they have agreed to take up my case. They recently wrote to say all claims re Bank Charges were put on hold until after the 'test case'. I am going to wait until January when the Scottish Small Claims Limits are to rise from £750 to £3,000. and the Summary Cause will rise to £5,000.Then I can claim using Summary Cause for the whole amount in one go. I'm not really sure about your next move, can you wait until January ? Best wishes whatever you decide.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

 

[Haley348]

Scott,

 

I was not aware that the limits of the small claims and summary cause were going up in Jan. That is good news and dcefinately something to look into. Thank you for your help.

 

Haley

[deadlykiss]

hi Haley ,

if You are in scotland i would have a read through Dursarys thread is very informing and also maybe able to help , might be worth a look , hope this helps

 

all the best

[**Tilly**]

here you go haley just in case you wanted a read

Dusary v Bank of Scotland

[deadlykiss]

thanx Tilly still cant work out how to add links ect,,, lol