Important info for reclaimers

[Marquez]

Are Halifax now defending every single claim served to them in the courts? because that seems to be the case, where before they would refund the money shortly after the commencement of a moneyclaim, they are now fighting the claims?

 

If you are at the stage of issuing a moneyclaim or already have issued one, please discuss halifax's strategy towards your claim here in this thread so that we can all have a broad view of their responses and keep abreast of their modi operandi

 

Thanks guys

Marquez

[brecken]

they might well be issuing defences, but I doubt very much it will get to court, I imagine they will fold shortly before court date.

Only my opinion mind.

[dollies01]

They acknowledge with intent to defend, but they just pay up, and relatively quickly too! I haven't seen many threads this last fortnight, where people have waited much more than a week for a positive result.

[Lucycat]

I received cash back into the account the day after Halifax acknowledged and said they intended to defend.

 

As with all the stalling, interim letters, phone-calls, offers of partial settlement, etc., I think the 'intention to defend' is just another tactic they employ in the hope of scaring people into either abandoning their action altogether or settling for far less than they're actually due.

 

Lucy.

[hagenuk]

With a redeemed mortgage account on behalf of a friend, Halifax offered just over half at LBA stage.

 

Clearly some cases are not worth them defending - this one had not even reached the stage of a court claim.

[roffeyintl]

hi - can anyone with experience of more than one claim against halifax (specifically card cash accounts) please let me know - have your accounts been closed, or have they at any point been threatened with closure?

Thanks

[maybelline]

halifax have written to me to say they will defend some of the claim that they dispute but will pay most, however, the court has also written to say halifax are defending ALL of the claim, so, does the right hand know what the left is doing or what.

[MARTIN3030]

hi - can anyone with experience of more than one claim against halifax (specifically card cash accounts) please let me know - have your accounts been closed, or have they at any point been threatened with closure?

Thanks

 

It is normal for them to include in their settlement letter a warning that future account mismanagement could invoke account closure.

 

The banks have been advised by their regulatory bodies (banking codes) to think very carefully before closing accounts just because someone has taken claims action.

 

To be fair Halifax have shown much more restraint than others like A & L and the Co-op.

[geoff471]

Barclays Bank

 

First letter sent with spreadsheet on 19 June 06.(fortunately I still had all my old bank statements) 12th July Letter with all the usual blah and that they disagree with my views but still offered £500 of the £1121 I am claiming. Tempting but not if I can get the whole lot !!!!!

Been v. busy so haven't progressed any further yet !!!

[Jim J]

My claim was issued 2 weeks ago, and I received a letter on Friday saying the full charges, interest and court costs would be back in my account within 5 working days. (dated the 13th)

 

Still waiting, they'll be getting a phone call tomorrow if it still isn't there.

[adelita]

my sister has had lots of problems with the halifax, where they are sending her up to 5 letter a day and charging her for these, she went into the bank and spoke to the branch manager asking to close her account as she is in the process of asking for all her charges back, the bank manager refused to close her account, can anybody give us some advice , are they allowed to refuse to close your bank account???????? please help thank you adelita

[MARTIN3030]

The bank reserves the right to close the account at any time but I believe must give notice.

I am not sure if the customer is required to do the same,but would think not,

I will have a look at this one and come back to you.

[callumsgran]

I wouldn't have thought they would close the account if THEY consider she owes any money on it!

They wont close it until all matters are resolved!

[dollies01]

I think If I was your sister, I would be inclined, to cancel all direct debits and standing orders etc on the account and set them up along with all credits in a new account. This would from her point of view effectively close the account anyway wouldn't it?

It would certainly stop the charges being continously added.

[MARTIN3030]

If there are charges on the account that they are asking to be repaid and these charges arise in part/whole due to unlawful penalty charges then you should ask that any action for repayment recovery be suspended as the account is in dispute.(this is on the assumption that action has been started )

This is taken to be from the period that you first became aware that the charges were unlawful.

 

As stated they will not close the account whilst there are arrears,although they could serve a closure notice with a timescale for repayment.

If this does happen then inform them of the points above.

[mcv]

After refusing their initial settlement offer of £600 or so, but before I had chance to submit my claim in court I received another letter with an offer to refund the last 6 months charges (£1282.00). which was great for me as I only had the account 6 months so that is the whole amount of my charges anyway!!

I decided that it is not worth refusing that offer just to get back £10 S.A.R fee that I paid, and the 8% i could claim through court action amounted to about £34.00.

But I know this offer wouldnt suit everyone as claims are going back 6 years.

It just so happened that it has worked out for me!

[dollies01]

Fantastic result!

well done and congratulations!

[nigel1804]

Adelita,If I was your sister I would just get on with this course of action.To me talking over the telephone even face to face will get you nowhere the only thing they understand is "Your going to court" any charges she gets in the meantime just add them on to the claim right up to taking them to court.They'll soon want to close your account.

 

Advice is given as a lay person and should be taken as my experience only not as professional advice.

[zootscoot]

are they allowed to refuse to close your bank account????????

 

Unfortunately yes they can refuse to close an account. A contract may be terminated in one of four ways either:

 

1. full performance -Not really applicable on running contracts like current accounts

 

2.frustration - only where the contract becomes impossible to perform as a result of outside factors which is the fault of neithr party

 

3. breach of condition - the innocent party to the breach (here the bank) has the right to terminate the contract. This is generally what happens when you are defaulted. However, the party who is in breach can not insist the contract is ended.

 

4. agreement - as the name suggests both the parties must agree to end the contract.

 

The bank is very unlikely to agree to close the account whilst it is in overdraft.

 

So the best plan, as Martin states, is to commence the action for charges and tell them that the account is in dispute. They should not then press for repayment until the issue of charges is resolved.

 

Hope this helps

 

Zoot

[lasagne33]

Hi all

 

I have followed the advice given on this site exactly for a short while now. My claim relates to 2 Halifax accounts one in the name of my wife and one joint. The charges going back to 30/11/1995. Eventually after Halifax refusing any liability I issued Court procedings last Thursday for approximately £1850 including interest and Court charges. Today I get a letter of offer from them offering £1147, including £829 charges, £198 interest and £120 court charges. They say that because £709 of the charges are over 6 years old they will not repay this and if I pursue the claim they will defend it. I have read the post on charges over 6 years old but my account was opened well before 1995 which I think is significant - but I'm not sure how.

 

Can anyone throw any light on this? My gut instinct is to take the money and run as it actually represents about £50 below the charges I have incurred since Nov 1995.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Dave G

[zootscoot]

I know of another who has had an offer of settlement on part of a claim with defence in relation to the remainder. This was in relation to interest. This wasn't a compounded rate or a claim for contractual in lieu of statutory.

 

I think they must be getting wind of weak areas where knowledge is lacking as to whether their are legal grounds for such claims like interest and 6yrs and choosing to drag out these claims.

 

With the six year rule there is a possibility of relying on s.32(1)(b) or © but the legal issues are quite complex. Several people have claimed these unchallenged (not sure if against the Halifax). Whether they will fold before court is difficult to say, although, if you are going to continue you would need to be prepared to take it all the way to court.

 

Hope this helps

 

Zoot

[lasagne33]

Thanks for that, however, having read Sect 32 it appears to me that any bank would defend this vigorously as it is tantamount to admiting liability and there is no way that they will do this.

 

A wise man once said, a bird in the hand...

 

and

 

Discretion is the better part of valour - even more so if they are offering £1100+

 

Later

[Outacash]

On the theme of Halifax defending claims ...

 

I have had a flurry of communication on my claim which includes letters to tell me my account should not be used, please send back my card (destroyed), unless payment is made within five working days they will take debt collection action ... but also notice from the courts of transfer of proceedings and allocation questionnaire, along with copy of Halifax defence; and also letter from Halifax stating they will deposit (the majority of) my claim into my account assuming that no response from me means that I am in agreement with this as their full settlement of my claim ... all within the past two weeks when I have been away from my home address and unable to respond to mail!

 

Halifax interest calculations differ to mine, and are stated as being "approximate" in their letter ... but my own inexperience in making early interest calculation to submit my claim means I was slightly inaccurate with that figure ... so although Halifax appear to be seizing on that to reduce the ammount of my claim, the actual sum offered is very close to what I would have claimed if I could have made a more accurate initial interest calculation!

 

My thread is ... Outacash v Halifax ... if anyone cares to have a look at my progress so far.

 

I guess the watchword for everyone is to be thorough and accurate with every stage of the process ... I certainly will be better at it next time round ... coming soon!!

 

Regards

[Roseperrywinkle]

Hi

So sorry I have not written; recently lost a parent; looking for a job and thoroughly broke owing to continued bacnk charges by Halifax. Too scared to take them on but I am so anry I will start the process this week!

They took money from my savings account and transferred into my current account without letting me know to cover the charges they levied on my account for charges, and refused to return the money or the charge.

 

I am also taking on Capital ONE; worried as for the 1st time I missed my minimal payment and of course they have charged me taking my limit over board and more charges

 

Same with Lloyds and HSBC

 

Will this hold against me that I have more than one account?

 

I see the banks are now fighting back; it may go to court and I think I'll go all the way

 

Thanks for all your help

Not sure what we the ordinary person would have done without your super crusade!

[Lizzie R]

Stick to your guns, don't be fobbed off by the letter. It's a tactic to persuade you to take part-payment. I've read many threads on here advising that you can accept the reduced sum as part-payment and inform them you will still pursuing the balance in the usual way... through the court. Good luck!!!