Taking my first steps towards making a claim - **IT'S WON!!!**

[Tim Dunlop]

Hi there,

 

Just a quick update.

Abbey do not seem to have responded to my claim.

The filed an acknowledgement of service which gave them until 18th May to file a defence or admit the claim.

Tomorrow is the 18th and as yet nothing.

 

I will phone the court tomorrow to see if they have heard anything.

 

What happens if they don't do anything by tomorrow ??

 

Any advice.

 

Regards

 

Tim

[Tim Dunlop]

Hi there,

 

Postman knocked the door this morning at 8.45am with a Special Delivery letter from Abbey's solicitors.

Enclosed was a copy of the defence that Abbey are filing against my claim and a covering letter.

 

The covering letter had an interesting paragraph in it : -

 

"You will see from the Defence that Abbey takes issue with your claim on a number of points. For the purpose of this letter, though, I should like to mention in particular that your claim seems to be based on an argument that you should not pay any charges at all. I would, however, ask you to consider that it cannot be correct that Abbey cannot charge anything at all. Even if it is correct (which is not accepted) that the charges are greater than Abbey's actual loss, Abbey would be entitled to charge something."

 

The next paragraph was an offer to settle: -

 

"Taking into account this and Abbey's Defence generally, my proposal to you is as follows. Your total claim is for the refund of £3841.00 in charges plus overdraft interest of £151.44, interest on charges of £292.42 and court fees of £120.00. I would suggest that (for the purposes of this letter only) as matter of goodwill, Abbey reduce the figure for the charges by 50%, giving a new total of £1920.50. In addition if this is agreed, Abbey would pay you £221.93 for interest and refund your court fee of £120.00, making a total of £2262.43."

 

So this is an offer to settle at 50%, I am quite tempted to take this offer as I am getting cold feet. The banks seem to be getting quite serious and mine is a big claim compared to some of the smaller ones that have been settled in full.

 

I think that I will write back to the solicitors and offer to settle at 75%, what do you guys think ? My overdraft with Abbey is £2180 and the settlement they are offering would enable to pay of this overdraft (although this is not a condition of their offer) but would not leave me anything spare. I am currently paying the overdraft back at £120.00 per month so it would save me making this payment each month.

 

Your replies please.

 

Regards

 

Tim

[Tim Dunlop]

Hi there,

 

I have e-mailed Abbey's solicitors and told them that I am not willing to accept their offer, I have however told them that I am willing to settle out of court for 75% of the claimed amount plus the court fee.

 

I e-mailed them (DLA Piper) on 18th May and got no reply, I have e-mailed them again on 23rd May and as yet I have not had a reply.

 

Heres a copy of the e-mail I sent: -

 

"Dear Miss Bilsland,

 

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

 

In reply to your letter dated 17th May 2006. I have reviewed your offer and I must decline your offer of £2262.43 in full and final settlement.

 

Obviously it would benefit both parties if we can settle the claim quickly and prevent taking the claim any further but I will refuse any offer below 75% of the claimed amount of £4284.86.

 

Unless the amount of £3213.65 plus £120.00 court costs (making a total of £3333.65) is offered then I have no option but to continue my claim in the County Court.

 

Kind Regards

 

Mr Tim Dunlop"

 

I will post here if I receive any correspondence from them.

 

Regards

 

Tim

[Tim Dunlop]

Hi there,

 

I have always traditionally used snail mail, but thought this time I would try e-mail. They obviously are not replying so I have tonight printed the letter and will send it 1st class recorded tomorrow morning.

 

Thanks for your advice.

 

Regards

 

Tim

[Tim Dunlop]

Hi there,

 

Letter was posted to them this afternoon first class recorded.

 

Incidentally I received a copy of their defence and my allocation questionnaire this morning, this needs to be returned to the court by 12th June if the case is to continue.

 

I have a couple of reasons why I would settle for 75% now rather than waiting to see if they do ever offer 100%.

The fees on my account were down to poor accounting by me, I am alot better with money now than I used to be. I understand that the banks need to cover their costs and I think that the 25% they are not repaying me will more than cover this.

The main reason is my current situation with the bank, I have an overdraft of approx £2180.00 which I am repaying at £120 per month. If I am reasonable with Abbey then they will probably allow the overdraft to remain in place and I can continue repaying it. If I aggrevate them by demanding 100% they may well decide to call in the overdraft and there is no way I have the funds to repay it in one go. This has happened to a couple of people and I don't want it to happen to me. I have had many sleepless nights in the past worrying about money, I could really do without anymore.

If Abbey settle at 75% then I can if I want repay my overdraft in full and walk away with approx a grand in my back pocket.

A few people have replied to this thread and said I should go for the full amount, perhaps you are right, but when you have a good offer on the table it is hard to refuse. I very nearly accepted the 50% but decided to push for 75%.

I really think the time is coming when the banks will work out a way to stop these claims. I don't know how or even if they can do this but I am sure with the money and power they have they will find a way. I would very much like my claim done and dusted before this happens.

 

Hope you can understand.

 

Regards

 

Tim

[Tim Dunlop]

Hi there,

 

Well I finally got a reply from Abbey's Solicitors today, here it is in full: -

 

"Mr Dunlop

 

I acknowledge receipt of your counter offer both by post and by email, I am taking instruction from my client and will respond as soon as possible.

 

Regards

 

Jodie Bilsland

Trainee Solicitor

DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary UK LLP

T: + 44 (0) 113 369 2919

F: + 44 (0) 113 369 2999"

 

Guess I just need to play the waiting game.

In the meantime I am going to reply to this e-mail telling them they have until 8th June to reply otherwise I will continue with my claim for the full amount.

 

Regards

 

Tim

[Tim Dunlop]

Hi there,

 

Well good news at last.

I received a letter in the post this morning from Abbey's solicitiors it reads as follows: -

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Dunlop

 

Without Prejudice

 

RE: Yourself -v- Abbey National PLC - Derby County Court - Claim No. ********

 

Following your recent letter regarding the settlement of the above claim I can confirm our client is prepared to accept your counter offer of £3333.65

 

This payment of £333.65 represents full and final settlement of your claim, but of course without any admission of legal liability by Abbey National plc. Please confirm the agreement in writing by signing and returning the additional copy of this letter and we shall then arrange a cheque for this amount to be issued and paid into your Abbey account.

 

I should be grateful if you would inform the court that this matter is now settled.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Jodie Bilsland

Trainee Solicitor

DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary UK LLP

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I shall be returning the signed copy of the letter tomorrow.

 

As mentioned in my previous posts I am over the moon to have got £3333.65 out of the Abbey. I know many of you think that Abbey would have settled my claim in full, but I really did not want to risk a long drawn out court case. They originally offered me 50% so I have got that increased anyway. My overdraft is £2180 so once I pay that off I am left with a bit more than a grand in my back pocket.

 

The amount I claimed was £4284.86 this is made up of 137 seperate charges and interest on these at 8%. Abbey have actually taken charges and interest of £3992.44 so I have effectively let Abbey off with £658.79 which equates to £4.81 per item. I think this is more than enough to cover their costs.

 

I would really like to thank everyone who has read my post and replied and will definately be recommending that all my friends and family take similar actions to recover their charges.

 

As soon as my cheque arrives I will let you all know and will of course be making a donation towards the running costs of this site.

 

Thank you all !!!!!!

 

Regards

 

Tim Dunlop

[Tim Dunlop]

Hi there,

 

This is probably my last post under this thread.

 

Abbey paid a cheque for £3333.65 into my account on the 7th June at Milton Keynes. I checked my account this morning and the cheque has cleared (you never know! it could have bounced !!).

 

Yes I won !!!!

 

Many thanks to all of you on this site for your help and I hope this thread helps many others in there fight against the banks.

 

I will be forwarding a donation this evening towards the running of this site.

 

Regards

 

Tim

[Tim Dunlop]

This topic was closed on 03/06/19.

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