-Desperate please help Natwest withdrawn offer can they do this

[jezzyjet]

Hi there

 

I will try to keep this as short as possible, I really need some advice!

 

Being short of time i decided to let a claims company get my business account charges back for me

the only reason i went along with them is that they told me

that NatWest would refund the money to them and they would take their fees from this,

 

I was worried that as i owe NatWest money it would be knocked off the debt

leaving me in further debt with the claims company,

 

Well right at the end i get an offer from NatWest saying and money returned would be credited to my debt,

not the original agreement,

I spoke to the claims company and they said that NatWest had changed the rules

and no longer returned money if any money was owed to them,

 

Thus leaving me in debt with the claims company...

 

i sat on my hands for a month or so and after speaking to the claims company

decided to accept the offer and returned the paperwork,

 

now the claims company have told me that NatWest have withdrawn the offer

and that i still owe them the grand for the work they have done,

 

I cant remember seeing a time limit on the paperwork

and ill know in the next few days when they send it back,

 

the claims company say ive got no chance of getting the money back now as i left it too long ,

 

What can i do?

 

Can i put in a court claim to get NatWest to pay?

 

And where do i stand with the claims company ?.

 

my original agreement with them was that they would be paid when NatWest refunded the charges ,

the rules change and now i have to try to find the money it does no seem fair ,,

 

please help many thanks

 

j

[andrew1]

This is an interesting one jezzyjet, not least of all because normally people with business accounts don't generally expect any kind of refunds so it would be useful to know quite what tack they've used to get NatWest to agree once you've got through this more pressing issue you have.

 

I think you are going to have to be a little more precise as to what this arrangement with the claims Company was. Once you get the paperwork back and you know about these time scales then perhaps we can work through this as it is not usual. Whether you can get a court claim going is dependant on what is in the agreement, but if the agreement was that they got paid once the refunded charges came back to you then you are going to have to tread your way carefully through this.

 

I'd suggest getting everything together then taking a long hard look at it before going down the road of litigation - only do that once you have thoughroughly checked out the options.

 

Let us know what happens and we'll try and help.

[jezzyjet]

Many thanks Andrew for your reply i will post when i get the paperwork back from them,many many thanks again Jezzy

[jezzyjet]

Hi there

 

Got the paper work back today and it appears that there was a time limit on it ,but i am sure as hell i never spotted it, The reason the bank are saying that they now don't have to pay is that the F.S.A Guidelines state that if an offer the bank makes is not accepted or refused within eight weeks they may consider it closed, Is this the case ? Or can i still move forward on this with court action? On the issue with the contract with the claims company i think i might have them on the fact that they should have informed me on any changes of circumstance that could effect my claim eg NatWest no longer returning money and using it to reduce outstanding debts,This fact i only found out when NatWest made their offer ,If i had known sooner (I was told verbally by a member of the claims company that it was a couple of months prior to my offer) I might have been able to re-asses my claim and make a decision,this i believe amounts to fraudulent misrepresentation ,Also the guy from the claims team advised me to sign and return the offer form after the expiry date without any mention of it being overdue , Please let me know what other information you may need as i have also got a few other docs from my source at the bank regarding this claim..

 

Many thanks for you advice jezzy

Edited March 16, 2011 by jezzyjet
more info

[gaz2006]

I think your first problem is dealing with the claim management company from the start when was case started ? What was amount of claim what did Nat West offer do you know what reasoning was behind Nat West making an offer ie have you got copies of what the claim managment company said to Nat West ? If you take to court you may be liable for Nat Wests costs if you lose so tread carefully . Charges have been ruled for personal accounst as charges for services and banks read this across for businesses so id like to know what claim was done how formulated etc let me know regards Gaz

[TINK660]

subbing - very interested. My claim against Nat West was dropped by claims company after court ruling.

[andrew1]

subbing - very interested. My claim against Nat West was dropped by claims company after court ruling.

 

Which ruling..?

[TINK660]

Sorry andrew meant when the bank charges case was lost

[andrew1]

Sorry andrew meant when the bank charges case was lost

 

was that a business account Tink? (Ltd- sole trader..?)

[TINK660]

It was a business account and it was sole trader

[andrew1]

Unlike a Limited Company, a Sole Trader is often treated as an 'individual' for all kinds of things - would that put the account into a different category rather than a 'business account' it could be deemed a 'personal account'?