Help - RBoS defence filed - how do I respond?

[Tommy1]

I have filed a claim on line of £1029 against the RBoS and they, through Cobbetts, have filed a defence

 

 

1) They have made a Request for Further Information and Clarification under CPR Part 18 within 2 weeks of the date of the letter.

Firstly, do I have to respond ? Another thread on this site (Walker vs RBoS) was indicating that it was not good to respond but I have not been able to work out the best approach

 

I would guess that this letter from Cobbetts is a standard. Has anyone else responded to this letter?

 

2) In Cobbetts request for information, I feel that I can attempt to answer most of their questions but I could do with some advice on others, specifically:

 

* Please specify whether the charges applied were due to a breach of contract by the Claimant?

* ...... and in particular please identify the contractual provision(s) that the Claimant alleges are invalid by reference to Unfair (Contracts) Terms Act / Regulations

 

3) As far as I can see. the basis for all the claims against banks on the site is that they are charging, in addition to the interest that they are properly due, way in excess of what it actually costs them. Where is the proper place/time to bring this up in the court process? In the Allocation Questionnaire, Item G 'Other Information' asks for "any other information you consider should be supplied by the other party". Would this be a good place to demand that they provide details of actual costs incurred for itemising charges on an automated statement charges?

[MARTIN3030]

If you look at a couple of the current claims in the Rbs threads you will see this is a pretty usual thing for Cobbets.........and of course see the answers there.

 

[Tommy1]

Hi everybody,

I have responded to Cobbetts with the usual but I added a couple of requests of my own. Any thoughts?

I refer to your letter of the X/X06 (your reference XXXXXXX) and I acknowledge receipt

In your letter, you have asked for further information pursuant to CPR 18. We await at present the decision by the District Judge to allocate the case to the Small Claims track further to submission of the Allocation Forms. My understanding is that CPR Part 27.2 prohibits and excludes requests for further information under CPR Part 18 for cases allocated to the Small Claims track. Accordingly, it is not appropriate to respond to the request for further information pursuant to CPR 18 at this stage. Please confirm that you are in agreement with this understanding.

However, in the interests of concluding my claim, I have enclosed a breakdown of the charges imposed, their value and the interest being claimed on each charge.

Additionally, I would be grateful if you could provide the following:

· Terms and Conditions for the account in question (account No XXXXXXX Mr X and Mrs X XXXX) applicable in May 2000 and any changes to the Terms and Conditions subsequently up to the end of 2005

· Actual costs incurred by The Royal Bank of Scotland which were purportedly to cover the charges named as ‘Charge’ and ‘Referral Charge’ noted in the monthly statements for the account.

o Please note that the charges imposed by The Royal Bank of Scotland on the above named account between May 2000 and December 2005 varied between £15 and £28 for charges named as ‘Charge’ and £20 and £90 for charges named as ‘Referral Charge’. Indeed, in 2005, ‘Referral Charges’ varied between £90 (11/1/2005) and £30 (8/2/2005)

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter

[MARTIN3030]

Nice one.

 

There is a reference to may 2000.......are you claiming charges for this ?

 

My understanding is that if legal action was commenced within the 6 years (ie May 2006 ) then the overun would be ok.

 

 

[BigCol]

Tommy1,

 

I have just sent a letter to Cobbetts and the wording is on my thread. Stacymason, Davidhannam and Tomba90 are all just ahead of us so their threads are useful too (I plagarised DH's letter to Cobbetts). Don't forget to send a copy of your letter to the Court too, I sent this:

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

I acknowledge the receipt of the defence posted by Cobbetts on behalf of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

 

In Cobbetts’ defence response, they requested further information under CPR Part 18. The guidance that I have received indicates that CPR Part 18 does not apply to the small claims track and is therefore irrelevant in this case. I am sure that Cobbetts are already aware of this and I can therefore only conclude that the inquiry was intended to intimidate. However I am aware that Part 27.2(f) applies subject to paragraph 3 of part 27.2 which states that the Court of its own initiative may order a party to provide further information if it considers that is appropriate to do so. In acknowledgement of this and in good faith as well as respect for the court I will provide the following information.

 

Enclosed is a full list of the breakdown of charges with my account details. I also enclose a copy of my reply to Cobbetts.

Yours Faithfully

BC

Enc:

Copy of Letter to Cobbetts LLB Dated 17 August 2006.

Copy of Schedule of Charges for Account **-**-**/********.

 

Shows the Court that you are acting with Goodwill and also shows Cobbetts that you mean business (especially if you send a letter similar to DH or mine!)

 

Bon Chance:p

 

BC:cool:

[dib182]

i to am getting these stupid letters off cobbetts asking me to state and/or clarify certain parts. If I do all they ask there wont be anything left to discuss in court. I have found a section in the unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations 1999 that i might throw in their face at court and that is schedule 2 section 1 part q.

 

excluding or hindering the consumer's right to take legal action or exercise any other legal remedy, particularly by requiring the consumer to take disputes exclusively to arbitration not covered by legal provisions, unduly restricting the evidence available to him or imposing on him a burden of proof which, according to the applicable law, should lie with another party to the contract.

 

dont know if it will have any effect but seems to cover a lot of the points