Help with bank charges claim ... have I reached a dead end!?

[indytim]

The Halifax have taken over £3000 from me in bank charges over the past 8 years. This has been a time when I have suffered a great deal of financial hardship and been made redundant twice. During this time I wrote to the Halifax on several occasions asking if they could show some leniency relating to their bank charges while I got back on my feet, but their response was basically 'tough, it's not our problem'. I have learnt the hard way that the happy, customer friendly image they convey through advertising is nothing but a lie shrouding the truth.

 

Anyway, this year I decided enough was enough so, using on-line guides and forums such as this, I set about claiming the past six years charges back; which amount to roughly £2500 (a small fortune to me). I have a £900 overdraft with the Halifax which is infuriating, as it's necessity is a direct result of their charges!

 

They fobbed me off with automated response letters but I continued through the motions until I eventually came to the point where involving the courts became my only real option, so I did. After submitting my claim to the court (which I did online) I received documentation back stating 'The defendant says that the amount you are claiming has been paid (see attached Form N9B)' and there were details of the 'test case', which you may be aware of. As not a penny of my bank charges has been paid back to me personally this seemed ludicrous and actually offensive. I was asked to complete a form asking how to proceed and so I checked the box stating 'I wish to proceed with the claim' and returned it.

 

This morning I have now received a letter from Northampton County Court (after completing my claim online this is who all the correspondence has been coming from, which I found a little odd as I live in West Yorkshire). It simply reads ...

 

'I write with reference to your request to proceed with the above case (case number quoted). We are unable to transfer the case as it is an Office of Fair Trading case pending the outcome of the case currently with the High Court.'

 

Can anyone make sense of this and advise me how I should now proceed? To me, that appears to be drawing a line under my case and informing me that I've failed in my claim. Any help or advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[saintly_1]

Hi and welcome to cag

 

 

Unfortunatly this has been the position with mcol claims since the start of the OFT action. Which is why we recommend that you go direct to you local county court.

 

However have a read here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/110540-all-mcol-claims-automatically.html

[indytim]

Thanks for your prompt reply, saintly_1

 

So, just to clarify, does this mean the claim that I made is now complete and that I've failed in my action. If so, is there any point now pursuing another claim!? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I really don't know where I stand. Thanks in advance.

[saintly_1]

No your claim is not complete

 

Taken from the link I posted

If your claim has been stayed by MCOL you can contact them to request that the case is transferred to your local court. If a request is received MCOL WILL transfer your claim.

 

Your local court may also order a stay

[indytim]

Ahhh! I missed that bit. Many, many thanks. I shall try this and I hopefully post what happens Just out of curiosity, what happens if my local county court (that being Dewsbury) also stays my claim?

[saintly_1]

To be honest the claim will be stayed until the outcome of the test case however you will be earning 8% s69 interset.

 

As you went through mcol you may (once its been transfered to your locl county court ) apply to amend your Particulars of Claim to an updated one to take account of the findings of the test case so far

[indytim]

Thanks once again, saintly_1, for your prompt and valued advice

 

I'd glad to learn that my case is essentially 'on hold' and hasn't been dismissed, which is what I was beginning to believe.

 

I'm not sure sure that I feel confident enough to make any amendments to my claim, as I was pretty much copying and pasting all the legal terminology straight from the internet and then just inserting my amounts and figures.

[saintly_1]

You can do the same with the amended POC's

 

We have a very nice templates library ;-)

 

The Consumer Forums - Bank charges templates (consumer)

[indytim]

Thanks again! By the way, this article makes for interesting reading ...

 

Banks give up defending penalty bank charges

[yourbank]

Thanks again! By the way, this article makes for interesting reading ...

 

Banks give up defending penalty bank charges

Inaccurate nonsense