Party in OFT case just offered a settlement today

[ICY]

MAJOR NEWS TODAY

 

Postie been today with a letter from a Bank, which is a party in the OFT case, which sort of goes like this (me thinks me may be accepting this offer esp as it is for the full claim amount submitted to court)

 

Dear ...

 

You v XXXX Bank PLC

Claim No XXXXXXX

WITHOUT PREJUDICE SAVE AS TO COSTS

 

We refer to the above claim

 

1. Our defence makes it clear that we believe that the bank has no liability towards you in this matter, is prepared to make the following ex gratia offer:

 

a) £XXX.00 in charges;

b) £XX.XX in charges interest; and

 

Please note that the interest element of your ex gratia payment is paid gross, without any deduction of income tax. It is your responsibility to declare the interest on your tax return or, if you do not receive a tax return, to inform the Inland Revenue direct and to pay any tax that may be due.

 

2. In all circumstances the Bank believes the above to be a fair offer. If you wish to accept the offer please sign and return the enclosed duplicate of this letter, and the Notice of Discontinuance which the Bank will hold as undelivered until payment of the settlement sum has been made to you. Thereafter the Bank will lodge the Notice with the Court. Once the Bank has this signed acceptance from you, we will forward a cheque to you immediatley.

 

3. By accepting £XXX.XX from the Bank, you agree that this sum shall be in full and final settlement of this case, and of all claims, rights, actions and causes of action (including claims for interest and costs) that you may have against the Bank arising out of or in connection with any issue pleaded in this case. For the avoidance of doubt, by accepting the above sum, you agree not to take any further court action against the bank in relation to this case, except to the extent that any such court action is necessary to effect this statement.

 

4. This letter is written only in an attempt to resolve this case without the need to incur further time and costs. This letter is thus written without prejudice to the Banks rights and may not be referred to without the Banks written consent.

 

5. Please note, however that should this offer not be accepted by you, the Bank will refer the Court to this letter when deciding the costs to be awarded in this case. Your attention is drawn to the comments in this regard in leaflet EX307 issued by Her Majestys Court Service (entitled "the small claims track")

 

6. You should take independant legal advice or contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau if you are unclear on any of the terms of this letter.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Solicitor

 

 

 

This is fantastic news, as the bank are part of the test case, this could be the sign of things to come.

[dave]

Wow! It certainly looks that way!

 

They were the ones that fought the hardest at the start of all this, to capitulate the day after judgment was due certainly implies what they think the outcome is going to be ;-)

[ICY]

Had to think long and hard about wether to accept or not, (well about a milisecond lol) the letter was dated 7th feb

[Chesterexpress]

you have pm

[JonCris]

PM from me too

[dave]

Now it would seem an odd thing to do wouldn' it? Send a full & final the day before a court ruling on the issue?

 

;-)

[ICY]

Hehehehe, guess whos jumping for Joy lol

 

Wonder what will happen in the other 12 case i have running

 

See everyone ALL IS NOT LOST the OFT case was not in actual fact the end of the world lol

[dave]

Well, it was meant to be the end of the bank charge regime - maybe...maybe...

[JOSH_IOU]

the only person who said it was supposed to be the end dave was Martin Lews

 

Well any one with the level of publicity you guys have at the moment.

[Night Owl]

Well done ICY.

What a great, well deserved, result for you.

Are the Banks backing down? tales between their legs? sorry even?!!!!

Night Owl

[Robdblynd]

Great new Icy ..... long wait but success. Congratulations.

 

Looks like they know which way the winds blowing ................. maybe, just maybe all the rest will follow suit ............

 

 

And what a victory for CAG, all their advice, info and support may at long last be rewarded. :)

[mrsc]

Fantastic ICY, bet you wasn't expecting that.

 

I wonder how much more will be receiving letters like that ????

 

Great news enjoy:D

[empowered]

ICY - what an unexpected result! Hope you are going to frame the letter! Let's hope the poor old posties are now going to be weighed down with sacks of letters:D

[GaryH]

Excellent news! Not quite sure what they're playing at though?

 

Which bank was it? (PM me if you like).

[JOSH_IOU]

Post and bank claims... Heres another campaign.

Wonder how many more leters are going through the post.

Are the banks making new job's?

[empowered]

Unfortunately this wasn't a bank account win but a credit card one - can't win 'em all!:o

[ICY]

Yes unfortunatly i have 2 claims with this bank, and sadly only realised this morning that this claim was not the one for the bank account as i thought, but it is actually for the credit card claim.

However this claim had been stayed by oldham courts on request, so still doesnt make sense why they have settled a claim they hd no need to yet.

 

I have not tried to mislead anyone by posting this thread, however it is still a good thing (althought not as good as it would have been had it been a bank account claim) in that despite requesting and being granted a stay the bank concerned still made a full settlement with interest. Why would they do that if they knew they were safe for a while longer while the cse was stayed.

 

Sorry guys i got it wrong (but still a good sign)

[JOSH_IOU]

lets hope they squirm some more

[JOSH_IOU]

---- oops wrong window

[kia]

congrats icy so glad for u and it opens the door for us all i hope :Dxxkia

[indebtstudent]

I just got a full offer via Ombudsmen from Bank of Scotland re a credit card claim.

 

I think, right now, this is where we can do damage. They haven't got a leg to stand on re credit card claims and, though people won't have as many charges, I reckon there are loads of people who don't know you can claim these back.

[Gez]

True, I wonder if the OFT would ever launch a test case on credit card charges. This would be an open goal IMO, I really couldn't see how late payment & overlimit charges could possibly be dressed up as a service.

[JOSH_IOU]

Thats my thing though if they can't provide any manual intervention with dap request is it a service?

 

Bank transaction's are automated anyway's arent they.

 

up to the point where the paper is collected from the sacks by the postman anyways:)