Capital One Settled Out Of Court - I Won

[elizabeth1]

My claim with CAP1 had been going on for some time and had various elements to it as time went on - this meant I had to change the Particulars of Claim part of the way through my claim as matters changed.

 

My claim was about unlawful charges, interest, PPI, Default Removal and I had asked for a copy of the CCA and had been sent a copy of an application form and a copy of a leaflet containing T&C's. (not at all what was a CCA at all).

 

Cap1 had repaid the charges into the defaulted account and were arguing over the default removal. My line of thought was if there wasn't a relevant CCA to the account then Cap1 should never have placed the default upon the account - therefore it was reasonable I asked them to remove this. There was months of letters going to and Fro' and they kept arguing the application form was infact the CCA.

 

Seems my opinion differed to CAP1's beliefs? When this case got to court stage I asked the Judge if we could gain sight of the original document that CAP1 were claiming was a CCA - we could then decide where to go with the case from there. Judge did make a relevant Order in September for CAP1 to show the original CCA Document.

I used a very similar Argument as in my husbands Cabot claim (linked here) I simply made it relevant to CAP1.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/cabot/115280-useful-information.html

 

My hearing with CAP1 was supposed to be held on 23rd November 2007 and CAP1 decided to settle out of court at the last minute. I spent a few days negotiating with them over how we would settle etc.. and used a Consent Order with a schedule of the terms required to agree the terms of settling etc.. and both parties signed this and sent copies to court requesting a Stay on proceedings whilst the monetry side of the claim was sorted and also the Default was removed.

 

Court agreed to this and issued a Tomlin Order as appopriate. Now this means that if there are any misunderstandings and the terms of the agreed Order aren't met for any reason I will be able to open up the same claim/case and continue my claim until such a time as all the items on the schedule are met.

 

The relevance of the Tomlin Order is it will allow CAP1 time to complete their side of the agreement - also it allows me to check that all the details have been dealt with and I can take the time to check my CRA files for the Default removal and the removal of the Lowell's Default etc.. because the account had been passed to the Debt Collection Agency while in dispute etc..

 

My advice to anyone who is negotiating settlement at the last minute before a hearing is for them to get a similar document drawn up agreeing the terms of settlement. Both parties will sign agreeing these terms so there will be NO going back on the deal and clearly no misunderstandings.

 

Often CAP1 will ask a claimant to drop their claim because settlement is agreed - my advice is DON'T cancel the claim until you are 100% sure everything is as you wanted/agreed. Instead ask Judge for a Stay on proceediings while each party can complete their side of the agreement deal etc.. - Once you are sure everything is complete THEN inform Judge that you wish to close the case. However, if things go wrong you have the safety net of being allowed to bring your claim back to life etc.. by requesting another hearing etc.. Chances are once you've got this signed Document in place with a Judge no company would bother messing about - I am sure no Judge wouldn't look favourably on a company signing such agreements and not keeping to their promises?

 

Hope that helps anyone who is on the verge of settling out of court.

[surprise]

Well done, I know you have been battling hard on this one. I'm at a loss though why CapOne take it to the wire as it must be costing them more time and money to do so, especially when they know they will have to cave in at the end.

[Paintball]

Well done Elizabeth1, you must be relieved after all your hard work.

[ukaviator]

Well done Elizabeth. Good result.

[Alphageek]

Sweet - Well done!

[steven4064]

Yes well done! - and great advice too