HSBC arrangement fee charges - claim or wait?

[kriso]

I put in a claim last June for OD charges I was charged on my HSBC Graduate account and received a reply about the OFT court case being ongoing. Since then I have been charged again a couple of times including a £150 charge on my account at the end of this month!

 

I've since read somewhere that I should carry on the claim until the court itself puts a stay on it. I really can't afford the latest charge and think I might qualify as being in financial hardship.

 

Should I go ahead and send off a new pre-lim claim letter listing all the charges and is there anything special I need to do to claim financial hardship? I'm sick of HSBC and really thinking about moving to Lloyds or somewhere but I still have a Graduate loan and CC with HSBC so not sure if I can do this.

[BankFodder]

Have you started your court claim? You should start this now.

Don't bother about changing banks. They are all the same. There is no true competition. They are equally dishonest and uncaring, incompetent and unscrupulous.

[kriso]

Hi BankFodder....no I haven't started the claim. Don't I need to send off a pre-lim letter and then LBA along with a list of the charges first?

[johnnymitch]

Hi kriso , welcome back -

 

It's a pity you didn't follow through way back in June , they sidetracked a lot of people by citing the court case

 

However , your objective now should be to get your claim to court . It may be 'stayed', but only the court can do that , not HSBC !

 

Send a prelim letter with a copy of all the charges you are re-claiming to date (but don't include the interest at this stage ) .

 

Then , as you say , the LBA, ......

 

Then , start Court action when the LBA timescale runs out .

 

The reasons why you should do this are outlined by Mr Lex , one of the Site Team , who says :

 

Remember, you need to get your claim to court

When you start to send off your letters, they will probably try to tell you you can't claim because the case's are 'stayed' It is important that you ignore this and carry on, only the courts can put a 'stay' on your claim

 

Although the banks have a ongoing test case with OFT there are a number of reasons why you should start to claim at court now

 

Any older charges (coming up to 6 years) could be lost if you wait for the OFT case to end. Start your claim now and those charges are protected

 

(you are supposed to be protected by the 'waiver', we now know you are not

When the stays are finally lifted, you will be one of the first in the queue to get paid

 

Once the courts are involved, you get the 8% interest

 

While the banks are protected by the stays, we the consumer, have no such protection and charges continue to mount up

 

For some people this may mean going into default. If it is clear that the default was made in respect of charges and that it was lodged after a charges claim was begun then these users have a really excellent chance of having it removed

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.c o.uk/forum/data-protection-default-issues/164871-castlebests-default-removal.html#post1772646

[kriso]

Thanks johnnymitch, I have sent the pre-lim letter and incldued the financial hardship bit. They have replied and included the income & expenditure form for me to fill out.

 

Do I now send the LBA and include this form with it? Or send it off seperatly?

 

Thanks!

[johnnymitch]

Personally, I would send them separately , kriso....... technically they're for two different departments ... and I think the LBA should be a 'Stand -alone ' document .........

[kriso]

A little update - I've got to the court stage and the bank has filed an acknowledgment of service. But it has now been 31 days since the date of service and I haven't heard anything else.

 

Could they have forgotten to file a defence, or maybe something got lost in the post?

 

Not sure where to go next...presumably I should hear from the court soon but I'm concerned I should be doing something!

[johnnymitch]

Hi kriso ,

 

I reckon they probably applied for a 'Stay' and had it granted - the court should have told you - but if you ring up the court office and quote your Case No. they should be able to tell you what's happening ......

Edited July 16, 2009 by johnnymitch
sorry - kriso

[kriso]

Ah yea I guess the forgot to notify me then. I'll give them a call tomorrow and find out the status.

 

Thanks!

[kriso]

Well it seems HSBC forgot to defend the case. The court has issued a judgment and ordered them to pay up

[johnnymitch]

Nice one Kriso - make sure they do - then come back and get a *WIN* put on your thread ..............

 

Well done ........!

[yourbank]

Well it seems HSBC forgot to defend the case. The court has issued a judgment and ordered them to pay up

Ok, do you know how to enforce it because if the servicing address for the claim was not their head office address then they will have reason to get the judgement set aside.

[kriso]

Thanks johnnymitch.

 

yourbank - the address is the one it says on here to use to serve court papers. I presume the court will enforce it?

[yourbank]

Thanks johnnymitch.

 

yourbank - the address is the one it says on here to use to serve court papers. I presume the court will enforce it?

The court doesn't enforce the judgement, you do. There is a court form which I cannot remember the name of and there is a cost. The best thing to do is to write to the bank recorded delivery quoting the claim number and state that you have obtained judgement by default giving them 7 days to pay or you will enforce it which means bailiffs being sent in for payment of the amount.

Send the letter recorded delivery.

[kriso]

The bank's solicitors has now written to the court claiming that they did file a defence via DX post

[Castlebest]

you will have to wait to see what the judge says a judgement has been made in your favour albeit by default if they did send in a defence this may be set aside

 

pete

[kriso]

Cheers Pete...apparently the bank wrote to the court but the judge told them to fill in the proper paperwork

 

That was about a month ago and I didn't hear anything so have written to the bank, telling them I will be enfocing judgement as they still haven't paid up...but no reply for 2 weeks. Haven't heard anything from the court either.

 

Looks like the next step is to fill in the court form to enforce judgement.

[kriso]

I finally heard back from the court today - they have sent me a Notice of Hearing and I'm a little confused...

 

Although the bank has already defaulted against HSBC, the bank sent a N244 'Application notice' to the court about 6 weeks ago (ticking the 'Without a hearing' box) to argue that they did indeed post a defence although the court say they didn't receive one.

 

So I'm not sure if this hearing relates to my case or the N244. They've also only given me a week's notice and I'm not sure I can even get the time off work. Are the bank likely to turn up? And if they don't (or I don't), do I win by default (again!)?

 

I can't find anyone who this has happened to before so any advice appreciated! Thanks

[johnnymitch]

I'd say your best idea is to ring the court and ask them for clarification ,kriso ...they're usually pretty helpful ..... but if you have to appear you should try to make it IMHO ....or the case may be struck out ... ...

[kriso]

Thanks, I'll have to see what they can do. I can't get the day off work at such short notice It would be typical if HSBC get off over this after already having a Judgement against them!

[kriso]

I phoned the court and they weren't very helpful. The lady said I need to contact the bank's solicitors and ask for an adjournment. I'm not sure they will comply and don't really fancy talking to a big legal firm.

 

If I do go to court, can I request costs for having to miss work? Also the court notice doesn't mention anything about paperwork.....everything I have read mentions having to submit documents no later than 7 or 14 days before the hearing. But I have only been given 7 days notice so I'm really not sure what I need...will try phoning court again on Monday and see if I speak to someone a little more helpful!

 

I don't even have any smart clothes to go to court in so am going to get in more debt buying some on my credit card! SO annoyed with HSBC now.

 

Sorry for rant, just really worried about this :\

[johnnymitch]

I'll wait to hear how you got on with the court kriso ..... but you can claim reasonable costs for travel and missing work ,... and any time you spent getting your case together .....

 

come back when you know how the court wants to proceed .... and don't be afraid to ask for an adjournment if you haven't been given the proper notice ....