Flyermonkey Vs Halifax Bank Of Scotland **WON

[Flyermonkey]

Hi,

 

Should the Bank of Scotland not be included under the Halifax group as they are now the same company?

 

I am taking the Bank Of Scotland to court over £2500 worth of charges and under Scottish law the limit for Small Claims is £750 and for Summary Causes is £1500 which means that I have to have a lawyer representing me, which is annoying as it takes so long the minute lawyers get involved! However the advantage (I think) in Scottish Law is that you can go to court in the place that you were due to be paid the money (rather than where the bank is based) which means that if you live in a remote location with few lawyers then the bank has to send a lawyer from at least a 120 miles away (and you know how much lawyers charge for their time....).

 

Interestingly enough, my solicitor can't get any more sense from the bank than I have ever got! So a writ is now winding its way to the local sherrif court, and hopefully will get some kind of reaction. As soon as I have further details and / or a reaction then I will update the site here.....

[BankFodder]

Thanks for the heads up on the BOS. I'll move it.

 

Amazingly low limits in Scotland, then but what are the rules for costs? I hoep that you don't lose but what happens if you do?

 

Do you want to repost or continue this in the BOS?halifax forum?

[Flyermonkey]

I guess its just as well leaving it here, as the law for Scotland is differant?

 

Yeah, it is a problem that the limits for Scotland are so much lower. I think that if I lose then i will have to pay most of their costs. I know that when I took a company to court a few years ago for not paying a £6000 bill (I was self-employed at the time) it dragged on for over a year with the company settling out of court the day before it was due to come up and I still had to pay over a third of my own legal costs, as the costs are set by the court (normally at half to two thirds of the actual costs). I assume that If I lose then I will have to pay a certain amount towards their legal costs, but as far as I understand it is limited - though last time it was still over £2000 plus their own costs that the losing side had to pay!

 

I am gambling on the fact that they won't want to take the risk of losing in a court and that if I have to pay some money out of my own pocket it will at least be less than the money I will lose by dropping the case.

[BankFodder]

Aargh!

Yes I think that the keeping jurisdictional things together is possibly a better idea.

I'll move it back.

 

Doh...!

[missy]

Hi

 

I have a Bank of Scotland Preference Account and have sent a letter asking for a schedule of charges to:

 

 

Bank of Scotland

Customer Relations Department

City House

City Road

Chester

CH99 3AN

 

In fact I have sent 2 letters. They say they did not receive the first so I sent the second one recorded. that was two weeks ago and they say they they still have not received it. I am pulling my hair out and am not sure what to do next.

[BankFodder]

If you have recorded delivery evidence that the letter was received by the Bank then frankly you don't need to do any more.

If the letter was a request for DPA disclosure then begin your complaint to the Information Commissioner.

If it wan't then now progress to a DPA discloure request - send it recorded delivery, of course.

 

I think that when the bank says that they haven't received correspondence which they clearly have because of recorded delivery evidence, then you just ignore them and keep trundling on to the next step until they "get it" and start responding to you.

To ignore correspondence in such an obvious way is simply a symptom of a large organisation which isn't used to being pushed around and they don't know what to do.

I think that it is a sign that you are doing well.

With a bit of luck they will mislay the summons as well. :twisted:

[Flyermonkey]

If its any help, in over a years worth of 'correspondance' with the Bank Of Scotland neither I nor my solicitor have had any kind of sensible reply to any of our letters! They clearly either make a point of not replying to letters or are hopeless at dealing with paperwork.... I still get monthly letters from them and their debt collection agencies despite repeated requests to send them directly to my solicitor.

 

They are the most difficult company to get information from, even by phone or in a local branch as I have tried that route as well. I would just go straight down the legal path as at least you might get someones attention.

[Guest]

If you sent a letter by recorded delivery, the royal mail website will be able to tell you when it was successfully delivered, and the name of the person who signed for it. http://www.royalmail.com - give them the recorded delivery number and the date of posting.

 

Refusals of recorded mail mean the mail is returned to the sender; so I really can't believe it's been lost in the mail.

[ger]

I have two Preference Cards and a loan. I sent £3000 to pay half the loan and £2000 to pay one card off and £1000 to pay off the other. They cashed the cheques in October. Since then, I have received numerous letters and phone calls demanding money. I have sent them photocopies of the cashed cheques and they still have not quite sorted out where the money went. There are a load more wrinkles to this story, but I'm in a hurry at the moment, but it will keep for when the dust settles and I take action on their stunning incompetence.

 

Gerard

[BankFodder]

This thread seems to have departed very well away from its original topic title.

I'm locking the thread and would be grateful if people who would like to continue any of the interesting discussions which have been started here could do so by beginning a new thread with a relevant title.

 

Thanks

[Flyermonkey]

Another victory for the Bank Action Group after a long hard slog!

 

I started on this over a year ago and took on a solicitor to help me, but he turned out to be completely ineffectial so I took on another one 2 months ago.

 

Interestingly enough my account was with the Bank Of Scotland and I have always been resident in Scotland, but my solicitor advised me to try moneyclaim online as the Bank Of Scotland's head office is now the same as Halifax's in England and as the amount I was claiming was £4600 plus interest (£1200) it was still under the small claims threshhold in England.

 

It worked! They issued a notice of intention to claim and then they day before the court was going to set a date sent me a cheque for the full amount of charges, the interest as claimed and the £120 court fees.

 

Worth noting for any other Bank Of Scotland customers.

 

I am also working with my local MSP on putting out a press release about this, so if it gets published I will, of course, update the group.

[Flyermonkey]

Another victory for the Bank Action Group after a long hard slog!

 

I started on this over a year ago and took on a solicitor to help me, but he turned out to be completely ineffectial so I took on another one 2 months ago.

 

Interestingly enough my account was with the Bank Of Scotland and I have always been resident in Scotland, but my solicitor advised me to try moneyclaim online as the Bank Of Scotland's head office is now the same as Halifax's in England and as the amount I was claiming was £4600 plus interest (£1200) it was still under the small claims threshhold in England.

 

It worked! They issued a notice of intention to claim and then they day before the court was going to set a date sent me a cheque for the full amount of charges, the interest as claimed and the £120 court fees.

 

Worth noting for any other Bank Of Scotland customers.

 

I am also working with my local MSP on putting out a press release about this, so if it gets published I will, of course, update the group.

[carol2]

I used to be with the bank of scotland - now the halifax, should i follow your lead and issue claim in England?

[MARTIN3030]

Great result.........but what a wait:mad:

[Flyermonkey]

Yes, I just used the moneyclaim online thing from Northhampton court - the only thing is that you need a mailing address in England, one of my friends volunteered and forwarded any mail onto me. It is just a mailing address, though, as I still used my own address in the pursuer section.

[carol2]

I don't have a mailer address to use in England, - all my friends and family are Scottish does that mean I will have to follow the Scottish claims procedure??

[Flyermonkey]

The problem is that the moneyclaim online procedure explicitly asks for a mailing address in England, so if you don't have one you can't go through it.

 

However, someone else on one of the threads asked if they can use an english solicitor which as far as I am aware would be fine. As, again, they would be only acting as your agent - the fees shouldn't be very much as you won't be asking them to go to court on your behalf or to prepare any legal documents as you would be doing these yourself.

 

The other posibilty is asking if any of the moderators would act as an agent? it doesn't involve anything other than forwarding mail (in my case it was three seperate pieces of correspondance, so not exactly a lot). There are no legal ramifications for them either, as again it is purely a mailing address.

 

Certainly it was much easier and better for me to do the whole amount in one go under English law than trying to do 7 seperate small claims as I would have had to do in Scotland - and the time it would have taken would have meant I would still be at it this time next year.

[ecobabe]

what about a PO box number? like the banks use, would that be possible?

[Flyermonkey]

I am not sure if a PO Box is acceptable, though as you point out the banks use one so it should be.

 

On the court form it just asks for a mailing address (if different from your own address) so I would guess that a PO Box would be fine. Like I say i don't actually know though?

[clara]

Congratulations FlyerMonkey, I'm about to raise my own action for a similar amount (through moneyclaim) when the deadline from my LBA expires on 30th. You've really steeled my resolve! Watch this space!

[Flyermonkey]

Go for it Clara, they will roll over and when you see that cheque come through I hope you are as pleased as I was!

[reidnet]

Just one suggestion..try speaking nicely to some of our English friends online and see if you can arrange to use one of them as a mailing address.. Its Just an Idea..lol

[ehstevie]

With regards to using an English mailing address for moneyclaim. Could I/We let a mail box from (mail boxes etc) a letting company. Already looked into this briefly and the addresses they provide are normal, and they can also forward your mail on. Not too expensive either.

[bandonbhoy]

I am expecting the rest of my statements next week and then to begin the processes. However I have always lived in Scotland and the amount I estimate at the moment to claim from BoS is possibly about £11k, hence using the english court sysytem and moneyline would be more suitable. Do you have a contact address or email refrence for the PO Box?

 

Checxking my letter folder in my computer I have come across a letter that I wrote to bank in 2003, pinting out that they had taken over £4000 in charges during the past two years and asking for refund. There was no reply to that letter. Does that letter bear any significance to the five year period in Scotland?

[weej]

FM, does this mean if you get someone with an English address, they can go through money claim and the English courts and claim back 6 years.

 

I am still at early stage with RBOS and would prefer to use English system as small claims threshhold would be more appropriate to me. (and I could get another year back!)

 

Oh, by the way... well done!