They offered me £1935 to settle!!!

[Mike12421]

Hello all, you may have read my other posts, but this one is for my fella.

He obtained all his statement on-line, and sent in his first letter on the 7th August asking for £2151 (no interest at this point). As you would imagine, no reply. He sent his Letter Before Action on the 22nd August. Now this morning (25th) we recieved a letter from HSBC stating the usual..."We are not accepting any liability, however will you accept £1935. If so please sign and return the attached letter". Not bad for two letters and no personal contact I can hear some of you say.

I just wanted to ask for advice. Our thoughts are, they can stick the offer (I know its only just short of what we asked for), but we want the full amount...plus interest. I know this sounds greedy, but what do people think, are you with us, or are we just being stupid.

 

Cheers, Joanne.

[martin2006]

its over £200 that you will throw away if you accept. I think the trend is to accept it and carry on with your claim for the rest.

Whats in the letter they want you to sign?

The trick here is to ring when thwy want you to write and write when they want you to ring.

I think they want you to waive the right to claim the rest in this letter they have sent you, am i right?

Its upto you at the end of the day though, if you want the lot, go for the lot.

IT IS YOUR MONEY!!!!

[Mike12421]

Anyone know of the correct template for a response letter stating I will be continuing but will accept this offer as partial payment?

 

Also, the letter I received read;

 

"Thank you for your letter dated 7 August 2006 requesting a refund of your bank charges of £2151.00 going back six years.

 

In circumstances where you have authorised a payment that would, if met by us, lead to your account going overdrawn or over an agreed overdraft limit, we have to consider whether to make this payment. A fee is payable for this service provided by the bank, details of which are clearly set out in our published price list. The circumstances in which the fee will apply are clearly set out in our Personal Banking terms and conditions which you were provided with a copy of when you opened your account. If your claim for a refund proceeded to Court, we therefore believe we would successfully resist any legal challenge in relation to these fees.

 

HSBC is, however, mindful of the management time and irrecoverable legal costs that it may incur in relation to such a claim. For those commercial reasons alone, and without any admission of liability whatsoever, HSBC is prepared to make a payment to you in the sum of £1935.00 representing the charges applied in full and final settlement of this matter.

 

If you accept this proposal please sign and return the enclosed copy of this letter to us within 10 working days and we will arrange for a refund to be made to you. Please allow 7 working days for your account to be credited from receipt by ourselves. If we do not receive your signed acceptance within this timescale, we will take it that you have declined our offer.

 

I trust that this matter has now been addressed to your satisfaction. If you are not satisfied with the bank's response you have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Further details about the Ombudsman scheme are set out in the enclosed leaflet and you have six months from the date of this letter, within which to refer your complaint to them should you decide to do so.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to write."

 

So what does everyone think, have I got a leg to stand on if I press on...I want too!!!

[The Timelord]

I had this exact same letter in regard to my claim! I have decided not to accept and to proceed for the full amount...plus an extra £125 they have charged me this month!

[martin2006]

Havent seen a template letter for this one but i imagine it should read along the lines of :

I accept your offer as partial payment but will continue to pursue for the full amount.

Or you can accept what they offer in full and that will be that.

Your shout.

[Mike12421]

I have decided not to accept their offer and proceed for the full amount. I have found the below template letter;

 

 

 

YOUR Street

Town

City

Postcode

 

Date

 

BANK NAME

Address

Address

Postcode

Re: Account number XXXXXXXX

 

Response to settlement offer.

 

Dear [named sender or Sirs]

 

Thank you for your letter dated xx/xx/xx

I respectfully decline your offer of settlement and request, once again, that you return to me all charges imposed on this account, totalling £xxxx

 

I will accept the sum offered only as part settlement and on the clear understanding that I will pursue recovery of the remainder, with a County Court claim if necessary.

 

My letter before action sent previously indicates that you have until xx/xx/xx to respond before Court action commences. You are reminded that there will be no extension to this timescale.

 

I trust this clarifies my position.

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

[signature]

 

[print name]

[weezypoos]

Spot on, send it and await your money, it will be on its way soon!!!

[Mike12421]

Cheers, I've just been thinking about additional charges. As HSBC have charged me another £90 this month. How do I now claim for that? Do I wait until this claim is over, or do I add on a line to the above letter stating I want the £90 back as well?

 

My concern is that due to the time delay in this whole process my first bank charge(s) maybe now be a month or two outside of the 6 year time frame going back from today’s date.

 

Joanne.

[The Timelord]

Im going to add the £125 I have been charged this month on ! I want it all back! Not just part!

[weezypoos]

I added on charges due to come out of my account about two weeks after I filed with mcol. I returned my partial offer and said thanks but no thanks and would continue with my claim with now stood at £xxx as this included future charges etc... I got them back too. it took my total time to just over 6 years.

 

Dont start a new claim unless you really have to as this is when they will start account closures!!!

[martin2006]

Way to go mike, like the letter, it should do the trick nicely.

i am certain you will have ALL your money back soon.

[countrybake]

Hello all, you may have read my other posts, but this one is for my fella.

He obtained all his statement on-line, and sent in his first letter on the 7th August asking for £2151 (no interest at this point). As you would imagine, no reply. He sent his Letter Before Action on the 22nd August. Now this morning (25th) we recieved a letter from HSBC stating the usual..."We are not accepting any liability, however will you accept £1935. If so please sign and return the attached letter". Not bad for two letters and no personal contact I can hear some of you say.

I just wanted to ask for advice. Our thoughts are, they can stick the offer (I know its only just short of what we asked for), but we want the full amount...plus interest. I know this sounds greedy, but what do people think, are you with us, or are we just being stupid.

 

Cheers, Joanne.

 

I personaly think that it is better just to stick to the timetable and not to corespond by phone calls and letter imbetween as that way they havn't a clue how far you will take them and thy don't like not knowing

[Mike12421]

Well I arrived home today, and found my first letter from DG Solicitors, offering me £2271. I'll be knocking it back of course; however I think I have messed up. My claim particulars are as follows;

 

The claimant has an account {edited for your safety} with

the defendant since 06.05.1994 until the

present date. Between 25.05.2001 and

2.08.2006 the defendant made various

deductions from the account in respect of

unauthorised overdraft fees and returned

payment fees. If the defendant is able to

establish that the contract between the

claimant and the defendant did contain

terms purporting to entitle the defendant

to levy these charges, the claimant will

contend that they are unenforceable at

common law, being penalty clauses rather

than being liquidated damages clauses. The

claimant claims from the defendant a sum

equivalent to the total amount unlawfully

debited to the claimant?s account during

the above mentioned period, being £2151.00p

The claimant further claims interest

pursuant to s69 of the County Courts Act

1984 at the rate of 8%pa, being the sum of

£429.31 and interest at the same rate up to

the date of judgment or earlier payment at

a daily rate of 0.00022%.Plus the court fee.

 

Amount claimed - £2151.00

Court fee - £120.

Total amount - £2271

 

 

When I made the claim I did not think I had to add both the amount of charges (£2151) and the interest amount (£429.31) together.

I called MCOL, just, and explained, and I was told that I will have to amend the claim (£35), is this right, and what should I do with DG Solicitors? Send them a letter accepting the payment as a partial payment, and ask for the interest? I was told by MCOL that there is now a 4 week backlog with claim amendments.

 

I'm really stuck HELP!

[zoe130280]

Anything that you write to DG Solicitors now is by means of negotiation. I would write to them and say that although there is a slight error on the claim form, it is clear from the particulars of claim that the amount of £429.31 is due by way of interest and that you want this in addition. If they don't agree, tell them that you are quite sure that if the matter went to a full hearing, that the judge would award interest to you. Also tell them that you do not think it is necessary for you to amend the claim form.

 

Also, in relation to some of the charges being outside the 6 years, the "6 years" deadline is the limitation date for all Contract cases. The rule is that you have to have issued your claim with the court by the 6 year deadline. If you have done that, then they will be included.

[Mike12421]

Thanks Zoe, but do I have any sort of time restrictions in submitting an ameded claim (http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/files/n1cpc_webonly_0406(2).pdf), in case DG/HSBC don't want to play ball?

 

Also, has anybody seen a possible template that I may use to write back to DG in respect of what Zoe has said?

 

Thanks.

[zoe130280]

As far as I know, you can amend claim forms whenever you like. I'm not sure whether the process for doing so is different with MCOL than it is with a normal claim though. You would normally either need DG Solicitors to consent to you amending it, or make an application to the court to amend it, but not sure if this is the same with MCOL. For now I would bring up the interest point with DG Solicitors and see what they say.

[zoe130280]

I've just looked quickly and if you need to amend it, you do need to make an application.

 

Here's the bit from the HMCS website:

 

Q. I need to make an amendment to my claim how do I do it?

 

A. Once the claim has been issued the court cannot change any of the details submitted without an application and request to re-serve the claim. You must complete an application notice (N244) detailing the changes you would like to make and send this to the court along with an N1 completed with the correct claim details. The court will then amend the details, re-seal the claim form and return it to you to re-serve on the defendant. You must keep a copy of the sealed N1. It is then your responsibility to re-serve the claim form. You must then send the court a completed certificate of service (N215) along with the copy of the N1 so the court knows the date when the defendant's response is due.

 

It is quite complicated to be honest. You would be better trying to get the interest without doing it for now.

[Mike12421]

What do you think of this reply to DG Solicitors, please also note that when they sent me the letter, it has "WITHOUT PREJUDICE" at the top, what does this mean;

_____________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

***********

***********

***********

***********

******

 

22nd September 2006

 

Ms Julie Klye

12 Calthorpe Road

Edgbaston

Birmingham

B15 1QZ

 

 

Re: Account number ********

 

Response to settlement offer.

 

Dear Ms Julie Kyle,

 

Thank you for your letter dated 20th September 2006, offering a settlement of £2271.

I respectfully decline your offer of settlement and request, once again, that you return to me all charges imposed on this account, including interest pursuant to s69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8%pa and court costs totalling £2700.31p

 

I will accept the sum offered only as part settlement and on the clear understanding that I will pursue recovery of the remainder, with the County Court claim if necessary.

 

Although there is a slight error on the claim form, it is clear from the particulars of claim that the amount of £429.31 is due by way of interest and that I request this in addition. I am quite sure that if the matter went to a full hearing, that the judge would award interest to me. I am in the process of amending my claim, and will be sure to inform the court of my attempts to resolve this matter without their aid.

 

I trust this clarifies my position.

 

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

Mr ***** *****

[Max1]

Without Prejudice means that you cannot bring the letter up in court.

 

Good luck

 

Fay

[Mike12421]

Thanks, does the letter look ok?

[Mike12421]

Just a thought, but I am sure I read somewhere, that if they offer you the full amount, which they technically have, I have to accept it. Does that throw another spanner in the works?

[zoe130280]

The letter looks fine. I would only put the bit at the bottom if you are going to amend the claim form. Other than that it looks great

 

They have put "Without Prejudice" at the top of the letter so that if you don't accept the offer they can simply withdraw it and they are not held to it. Any letters that are headed "Without Prejudice" cannot be seen by the judge until after the final hearing. It is normally used with regards to costs.

[zoe130280]

Just a thought, but I am sure I read somewhere, that if they offer you the full amount, which they technically have, I have to accept it. Does that throw another spanner in the works?

 

 

- If you are going to send the above letter then there is no harm in seeing where it gets you for now. If they send you a cheque for the partial payment then you do not have to worry about them withdrawing the offer. If you decide that you do not wish to carry on with the rest of the claim at any point then you can just inform them and the court that the amount is now accepted in full and final settlement.

[Mike12421]

I think I will send the above letter, AND make an amendment.

After speaking with MCOL direct I am confused, one person stated that I just completre an N1CPC form, and include £35. However a second person stated the same along with an N244 form. What do I do?

[zoe130280]

The N1CPC is just the web version of the N1 which is the claim form. I expect they mean you have to fill out another claim form with the amendment on and then also fill out an N244 form which is the notice of application.

 

Once you have sent these to the Court and they have approved your application they will send you a sealed copy of the claim form (Has their stamp on it) a copy of which you will then have to send to DG Solicitors telling them you are sending it to them by way of service.

 

At the same time, you need to send a certificate of service (N215) and sealed copy of the claim form to the court to show when you served it upon the solicitors.