full and final settlement offer

[twirlypen]

Hello advice please

 

I have had a response to my preliminary claim for a refund from HSBC for a full anf final settlement of £800 my claim is for £940.50.

 

The guidance says I should accept this amount but proceed with my claim (I have sent the LBA, they crossed over in the post). Should I include a covering letter when I accept the settlement letting them know that I plan to proceed with a county court claim unless they offer the full amount? Is there a form of words I should use?

 

Have tried to get an answer looking through the forum and FAQ's etc and can't see anything specific. Really don't want to get it wrong.

 

many thanks.

[Guest Lueeze]

If you have sent the LBA then they will know you are proceeding to claim. They will not pay you anything even if you write to them saying you I accept the £800 but still claim the remainder.

 

Just file in court when the 14 days are up, and if you have not done so please start your own diary thread to ask these questions as this is only for meeting and greeting newbies

 

Good Luck

 

Lou xxxx

[Messydesk]

I am vry interested in this matter of full and final settlement. I paid council tax (a payment of recovered beneft) with a cheque stating in FFS in the back and wrote a letter confirming this. The council cshed the cheque both four months later claimed a whole lot more. It seems that everything hinges on how long after they informed me of their intentions. Does anyone know anything about this?

[Linda1001]

I was researching the same thing cos I got fed up with Lloyds not even responding to my offers of decent full and finals so - as a hurry up - said I'd put in the Jan payments on three debts as F&Fs and - if they cashed them - that would be the end of the matter. They cashed them late December and haven't come back to me in any way - yet. (Too busy counting their bonuses.) But I looked this up online and most of these 'de facto' rather than properly negotiated full and finals related to the building industry, as you might expect. There the time limit seems to be around two weeks: someone got a cheque, kept it for two weeks, then banked it and still held out their hand. The judge ruled that they should have returned it immediately if they didn't agree it was a full and final, or told the giver of the cheque when they banked it that he was taking it on account and didn't agree to it being a full and final. But the fact he kept it two weeks without returning it and banked it was significant. (Do some googling on the subject, it will give you the ruling where he says that.) And he said the fact they banked it meant they accepted it was a full and final.

 

A barrister friend of mine said Lloyds will come back when they realise they haven't got the Feb payments and they probably will - but I will give them a run for the money with the fact they banked them knowing the terms - if they did it not taking enough care or a menial doing it then I will say that I wrote to the head honcho and I can hardly be expected to factor in their own incompetence. If I find the refs for the judge's quote on banking f&f's and then coming back with hands open I'll get back to you, Linda

[Messydesk]

Thanks for your message. Everything I have read seems to point to the fact that because they did not say it was being cashed as a payment on account and they did not ask for more money until nearly four months later - they do not have a right to claim any more. I have put this to the clerk to the Tribunal and she is going to ask the judge for directions. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

[Linda1001]

I certainly will! Let me know how you get on. I did try and find that ruling that I mentioned where the judge deffo says: 'if you banked a cheque that was given as a full and final that means you accepted the terms' - but I couldn't locate it. But they surely have to do their jobs right and look at what they're banking? I know I tried that with EDF and they sent the cheque back by return of post! I sometimes wonder if even asking for more money after cashing a full and final is potentially fraudulent (kind of extortionate) under the new Fraud Act 2006 - as they're really asking for money they're no longer due after entering into a contract whereby they've accepted a full and final payment. Good luck! Linda

[sea-sidelady]

I will move your thread over to the Hsbc forum.