Mum helping Son vs Lloyds TSB ***WON***

[jasminebum]

Hi Everyone,

 

Firstly, a huge thankyou for all the useful info. posted in the forums.

 

I started the process against Lloyds for my son on 26th July, he was on minimum wage and working part time when most of his unfair charges were received, he also experienced some weeks where his payroll was paid in on a Friday (when it would normally be received on a Thursday) and he could not cover his car insurance payments (these are always crippling to a teenager).

 

I have just received AQ N149 plus defence from Sechiari Clark and Mitchell in Bristol. Things are now starting to get scary. In their defence Point 2 says - The Defendant will object that the Particulars of Claim in this action disclose no reasonable cause of action against the Defendant and makes no allegation against the Defendant as to why the Defendant shoul be liable to the Claimant.

 

Then Point 3 says - The Particulars of Claim do not comply with the Civil Procedure Rules as (amongst other things) they do not show how the sum of £1,031.01 is calculated and the Particulars of Claim are too vague. The Statement of Claim shows no reasonable grounds for bringing the claim.

 

I had presumed that the person I had addressed the original letters and spreadsheet info to, would have forwarded everything to the solicitors. There is no facility using Money Claim online to use attachments. Is it worth me calling the solicitors and offering to email them the information they seem to be missing in Point 3? And what do I do for Point 2?

 

Please help.

[elsinore]

Hello Mum.

 

You'll find a suggested format for 'details of claim' here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/634-guide-notes-completing-moneyclaim.html

Call MCOL and ask them if you can a) amend your claim to include this revision, or b) accept it if you submit it with your AQ.

Then send a copy, together with a copy of your charges schedule to SCM.

They don't really need them or want them, they are just playing silly bu**ers, as usual! It's their incredibly subtle method of unsettling you in the hope that you will be frightened off (some hope).

You might want to call SCM and tell them that you are sending the missing docs and, to avoid their clients incurring a further £100 in costs, would they like to settle now. It's worked for quite a few already!

 

Elsinore

[walgrave]

Hello Mum,

 

You have good advice there from Elsinore. She's right, SCM ask for information like this but when they realise you really are going to court a settlement offer seems to follow fairly soon.

 

I am nearing the end of battle on behalf of my son (we're just arguing about conditions at the moment) and as soon as that's settled I am going to embark along the same path for a couple of his friends as well. It all seems a bit daunting but the advice and support you get from this forum is superb.

 

Good luck with your claim and best wishes to you and your son from me and mine.

 

Walgrave

[jasminebum]

Thankyou so much Elsinore and Walgrave. It's comforting to know I am not alone. Have lost some sleep over this and my son would never have coped, he'd have backed out long ago. :o

 

Walgrave, best wishes to you and yours too. I hope your battle is over soon.

 

Mum

[dogs_nutz1]

Best of luck with your claim, I am just doing the same for my daughter. Left to her own devices she would not feel suffciently empowered to do this on her own. All power to the site for helping and encouraging others who through no fault of their own get taken advantage of.

 

Power to the people !!! :)

[jasminebum]

I can't believe this, I am so annoyed!!

 

I returned my AQ to the court on 1st Sept and sent SCM a copy by recorded delivery with additional copy letters. Since then there has been no correspondence, so I used the Royal Mail tracker on the internet, but it couldn't find POD. So I phoned Royal Mail who kindly informed me that the letter must be missing, and I have to waste time writing them an essay to claim any money back. I then phoned SCM to try and find out if they had received the letter (bearing in mind that they have spoken to me before), but this time I was kept on hold whilst they went to look for the file and then came back to say they had no authority to speak to me, at which point I lost my temper.

 

I will now ring my Son and ask him to call them and give me authorisation to speak to them.

 

The only problem is that I cannot send them another copy of the AQ as it is now with the courts.

[jasminebum]

I have now managed to calm down after dealing with the Royal Mail's incompetence. I had scanned a copy of the AQ into my computer before I had delivered it to court (I new I wasn't stupid ). So I printed off the whole set of letters and AQ again and sent them guaranteed next day delivery, costing just under a fiver (and this has been delivered, phew!!). My son has also written to SCM to enable me to speak to them. I also asked my local postie what happens to recorded deliveries if the address is a PO box and I was informed that a member of staff from SCM would actually travel into the main sorting office for that area and pick up the post (very strange then that first letter went missing ).

 

I have had no correspondence from SCM for at least four weeks. I have not received a copy of their AQ, but yesterday I came home to find a letter from the court on my mat. It reads:-

 

As a result of an order made on 25/09/06, this claim has been transferred to the Leicester County Court. On receipt the file will be referred to a procedural judge who will give directions for the management of the case.

 

I find this a little alarming as I have already been transferred once to Melton Mowbray and I am now wondering if SCM have made this request and are actually going to attend court (as it is easier for them to travel to Leicester than Melton Mowbray).

 

Worried Mum

[jasminebum]

I have now received a Hearing date of 31/01/07. The letter has an attached order, but I do not understand some of what is being asked of me. I have 28 days from 01/11/06 to submit the details. The letter reads as follows:

 

The Claimant shall by [28 days] file and serve:

 

a) A schedule setting out each charge repayment of which is sought, showing the date, amount, and alleged reason (if any) for that charge being made; (Do they mean the reason stated on the bank statement eg. Unpaid S/O)

 

b) Copies of any statement or other document relied upon as showing that each and every such charge has been made;

 

c) A statement of his evidence, if such is to be relied upon as tending to show that the alleged charges have been made, or that they are irrecoverable as penalties. (I haven't a clue what I should do here )

 

If the Claimant fails to comply with this order, the claim will be struck out without further order.

 

The Defendant shall by [56 days] file and serve a response to the Claimant's schedule, stating in respect of each item claimed:

 

a) Pursuant to what contractual provision such charge was made, producing a copy of the contractual document relied upon;

 

b) Whether such charge is accepted to be a penalty, and if not, why not;

 

c) If such charge is alleged to be a pre-estimate of the Defendant's loss incurred by the Claimant's actions (whether or not such action is to be treated as a breach of the contract between the parties), all facts and matters intended to be relied upon as showing that such is a proper estimate of such loss, and all evidence to be adduced at trail as to what the true cost of dealing with the matter was.

 

If the Defendant fails to comply with this order, the Defence will be struck out without further order.

 

Decided cases and other legal materials should not be filed, but brought to the hearing with additional copies for the Court and the opposing party.

 

Any help/guidance would be very gratefully received.

 

[elsinore]

First of all, jasminebum, this is very much in your favour. The bank is being told by the judge to put up or shut up.

 

When you submitted your claim, did you include a list of charges? It should have stated ‘returned cheque’ or ‘unpaid dd’ or something similar against each charge. You can re-do your schedule to include this info. It will appear against each entry on your statements, which the judge also wants copies of. It might seem as if you are providing the info twice but you need to comply with the judges instruction.

 

I can’t help you with para C, I really don’t know what the judge means either!

 

So we’ll both have to wait for someone to explain it.

 

Elsinore

[GaryH]

They are exactly the same as my directions. Part C is asking for your evidance as to whether or not the charges are a penalty. They are, so you need to provide evidance to back that up.

 

This is what I supplied for that part; http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/lloyds-bank/7744-garyh-lloyds-tsb-3.html#post339177

 

Help yourself to any of it you want to use.

[walgrave]

Hello Mum,

 

This is excellent news for you. Lloyds have now settled the claim I was pursuing on behalf of my son and the instructions you have received are exactly the same as ours.

 

I think that what the judge is saying in part C is "OK then if you calculate that bouncing a cheque or returning a direct debit costs you £35 then prove it!".

 

For A I sent a spreadsheet listing the date, what the charge was for (eg returned direct debit etc) and the amount.

 

For B I enclosed a copy of each of the statements that the charges were made on with the actual charge highlighted.

 

For C I sent a brief resume of what I would be presenting in court which I picked up from some link but can't remember where. Looking at GaryH's it's more detailed than what I sent so should do the trick nicely.

 

I had to send all mine in by a certain date and Lloyds had about two weeks longer to file their stuff but they paid up by crediting my son's account before that date. It just appeared when he logged on "Settlement of Claim".

 

Get your stuff off asap with a copy to SCM and send it Recorded Delivery. Then if it's anything like mine it will all go deathly quiet for a couple of weeks but then they'll settle. Be prepared for court though just in case - you never know.

 

Look forward to seeing "Won" by your name.

 

Walgrave

[dax]

when you say on behalf of you son, did you send letters in their names or yours acting for them?

 

I want to do the same for my son and daughter but with differant banks, and am a little confused as to how to go about this...can you fill me in....thanks

[breadline]

when you say on behalf of you son, did you send letters in their names or yours acting for them?

 

I want to do the same for my son and daughter but with differant banks, and am a little confused as to how to go about this...can you fill me in....thanks

 

I too am interested in any actions taken whilst acting on behalf of another person,

 

How did you advise the court of your involvement was it on the Allocation Questionnaire?

Did SCM question your place at anytime?

Did they question the letter sent in by your son giving permission for you to speak for him?

 

this will be so useful as many members are now supporting friends and family.

 

Thanks

BL:)

[walgrave]

I did it for my son but all the letters etc were signed by him and on the very few occasions I rang SCM I rang as though I was my son. As far as SCM and the court was concerned it was my son's claim - I just did the letters and everything for him to sign.

 

On the Allocation Questionnaire I did put "with the court's permission, I would like my father to attend with me and possibly speak on my behalf", just in case it actualy got that far.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Walgrave

[jasminebum]

I did the same as Walgrave, I dealt with all the correspondence, but got my Son to pop in and sign everything. If we go to court I will brief my Son as much as I can beforehand ( I didn't have the same foresight as Walgrave here). Haven't told him we have a court date yet.

 

As for SCM, I haven't had the need to call them yet since my Son's letter. Don't relish the task either, looking at how they are treating people who try to contact them.

 

GaryH, thankyou so much for your info. Never expected it to be as detailed as that, will spend time on statement tomorrow.

 

Walgrave, Congratulations!!! (Whoop, Whoop, Whoop)

A big hug to all of you.

[GaryH]

I did the same as Walgrave, I dealt with all the correspondence, but got my Son to pop in and sign everything. If we go to court I will brief my Son as much as I can beforehand ( I didn't have the same foresight as Walgrave here). Haven't told him we have a court date yet.

 

If it did get that far (which it won't!!!), you don't need to inform the court in advance. A lay representitive (ie, you!) can be appointed on the day if need be. If it gets to within about 2 weeks of the court date and they still have'nt settled, you could then write a brief letter to the court informing them of your intention, just out of courtesy.

 

GaryH, thankyou so much for your info. Never expected it to be as detailed as that, will spend time on statement tomorrow.

 

You're welcome;)

[jasminebum]

Have had a hell of a week but eventually managed to finish statement of evidence, sent yesterday (14th Nov) by guaranteed next day delivery. Thanks to Gary H and Wolfcub for your threads, you have been so much help.

 

Thought I would have a bit of fun today so rang SCM and asked them if they would be attending court on 31/01/07 they said they can't comment on that yet as they have not received the court papers. I also pointed out that I had not received a copy of their AQ to which they got shirty with me insisting it had been sent, but have now agreed to send it out again. All in all the response was as I had expected. Forget to get his name though (had a senior moment!). I had hoped that they might offer settlement when they saw the small amount involved (£1,031 before fees and interest) but not to be.

 

As for the rest of my week, some guy in Nigeria decided to use my Ebay account to go Phishing and when I finally got Ebay to restore my access I had been banned for life and had 100+ illegal bids on there. I still have people chasing me for money (didn't know about it for a while because he had changed the email address on my account). Luckily my Paypal password was different to my Ebay password so I didn't lose any money, but spent all weekend changing all passwords I could think of just in case.

I am at a loss as to how he did it, I never respond to phishing emails.

 

Got throuh a hell of a lot of wine this week!!

 

Enough moaning, here's hoping SCM don't receive the court papers, won't meet their 56 day deadline and we win

 

Mum (hiccup)

[GaryH]

What a nightmare!! Sounds like you've had one hell of a week!

 

Still, at least you can relax safe in the knowledge that you've now done all the hard work as far as your claim goes - its all downhill from here, just sit back and wait for the settlement to land on your doormat!

 

Lloyds are capitulating big time lately, we must have had around 10 - 15 settlements in the last week alone, so I would'nt be surprised if yours was just around the corner. If you have'nt had a settlement or their evidance (as if!) with about a week of the 56 days, I'd give them another ring. Remind them of the courts order and the approaching deadline and ask where their documents are. If they have'nt already, they may well settle there and then.

[jasminebum]

Just a bit of info. to bring you all up to date.

 

Lloyds TSB have not complied with the Judges requests, their deadline to submit the info was the end of December.

 

I waited for some contact from the court but nothing came in the post, so I rang them on Thursday to check if they had received anything from Lloyds, apparently not. But they then told me that I needed to write to the Judge to inform him/her that the bank had done nothing. If I had known this I would not have sat on my cute backside waiting for a letter that wasn't going to turn up.

 

So I quickly typed up a letter to the court and delivered it by hand on Friday.

 

My only question is - does this mean we have won the case, or do we still have to go to court on 31/01/07.

 

The Judges words were - If the Defendant fails to comply with this order, the Defence will be struck out without further order.

 

:lol: PS: Did anyone see the BBC news this morning about someone who had actually sent in the Bailiffs to RBOS, they had seized computers and the till at the local branch, but the manager stepped in and promised to pay up. The BBC news team were on our side. :lol:

[lucid]

Hi,

 

At the moment you still need to assume that you will be going to court on 31st Jan. This probably won't happen as I'm sure they will settle before then. A lot of people are finding the full settlement is credited to their account without any prior communication. I think this is usually happeneing in the week before the hearing - anytime up to the day of the hearing! Keep a check on your account and if you don't hear anything back from the court RE your hand delivered letter then assume you need ot turn up. If you are unsure, the ebst thing to do is phone the court.

 

Good luck and I'm sure you odn't have too much longer to wait now.

 

Lucid

[GaryH]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/lloyds-bank/58011-sc-m-court-bundle.html Don't send the first one - just the second to the court.

 

Let us know what the response is - they should have their defence struck out now, pursuant to the terms of the order.

[jasminebum]

Get out the champage, pop those corks - We've won.

 

On 24/01/07 the Judge struck out the banks defence and cancelled the hearing, he gave us judgement in default.

 

Then yesterday my son rang me, he was jumping up and down with joy as the bank had paid up everything except the interest accrued since filing the claim.

 

Thankyou so so much to all of you for your help along the way. And loads of good luck to everyone who's claims have not yet been settled.

 

Donation is on its way.

 

One very happy Mum.

[lucid]

CONGRATULATIONS!

 

Another victory against them - great!

 

I hope your son enjoys his celebrations - I'm sure you will have your own as well.

 

Lucid

[elsinore]

CONGRATULATIONS!!

 

One very happy Mum.

 

.......and one very happy son!

 

Elsinore

[BARTY]

Congratulations!! :D

Barty:)