Jimbob v's Barclays **WON**

[jigr69]

Hi All.

 

Having posted on several peoples threads, thought I would start my own (excuse any typo's - crap laptop keyboard). I am currently gunning for Barclays starting with my joint account and then moving onto my personal account.

 

Joint account being the one with the biggest bank charges (on my reckoning) thought if I can win this one, I can win any! I've currently just filed my MCOL to which barclays have till the 7th October to respond. I will be sending to the court and Barclays legal team a schedule of charges tomorrow on the advice of others on these forums.

 

I will update my signature with a claims number as soon as I can.

 

I started proceedings after knowing the joint account would inccur more charges due to a change in circumstances, and being refused an increase in the overdraft limit. Having reduced the overdraft limit by 50% a year earlier, Barclays told me that if I keep within my overdraft for three consecutive months, they would indeed increase it! My reply was (after I had stopped laughing ), if I could do that, why would I be here? If I could keep within the overdraft, I would be looking at possible reducing it, not increasing it.....

 

Cheers

[jigr69]

A question for all of the knowledgable people in this forum.

 

My notice of issue gives Barclays till the 7th October to reply to my claim. Do I take it, that the actual timing is midnight on the 7th October, or is it midnight on the 6th October?

 

If they decide to file an acknowledgement of claim, which gives them a further 14 days to submit a defence, would I be notified before the deadline, either by a letter or on MCOL?

 

Just that if the deadline has passed and I haven't heard anything, reading EX304 states that they can still reply to my claim upto the point I ask them to enter a judgment "by default". Thus 1 minute passed midnight on the day, I will be asking for judgment "by default" - if I'm that lucky that Barclays havent replied to my claim. As I don't fancy them replying after the deadline but before I've asked for judgment by default.

 

Cheers!

[essjaysea]

My understanding is that the deadline is midnight on the 7th.

 

You can go for judgement at 00.01 on October 8th, but I have read many threads that seem to confirm that Barclays have somehow been able to file their defence at least 24 hrs after the deadline. I am not sure how they manage to achieve this, but it has meant that many claimants who thought that they were "home and dry" have been left somewhat disappointed to say the least

[Spotted Dog]

Somebody has suggested that by filing for judgement you alert Barclays to the fact that they have failed to put in their defence. The suggestion is to wait a couple of days and then go for judgement

 

Spotty

[Bookworm]

The above answers confuses me. How exactly are you alerting them ? They won't know either way until you tell them, they don't get notification of you obtaining default judgment. And either way, whether you tell them the next day or a week later makes no difference. I don't get it :-?

[jigr69]

I've been onto the HMCS website and downloaded the leaflet EX304 which states the following:

 

"Until the court receives your request to enter judgement, the defendant can still reply to your claim. If the court receives the defendants reply before your request, that reply will have priority even though it has been filed late."

 

Which to me reads, get the judgment in as quickly after the 14 day deadline, before the defendant wakes up to the fact that they haven't entered a reply. Since the 8th October is a Sunday, I take it anything entered that day via MCOL won't be actioned till Monday the 9th at 10am. If they have access to MCOL, they could see that I've entered for a judgment of default on the 8th (provided the litagation department at Barclays work weekends), and reply on the Sunday. These are both then seen on the Monday and preference given to the defendants, not unless the transactions on MCOL are time stamped.

 

It would be nice if anyone has an insight to the workings of this and more precisely the timings...

[jigr69]

Right just found this in another thread, and it the wording and my understanding of it is correct, then a weekend day for judgment (judgment by default) is the worse day possible. A saturday being worse then a sunday, as this gives Barclays two extra days to acknowledge the claim.

 

Copied from the HMCS website:

 

"Once you have submitted your request for judgment by default, MCOL will deal with your request. Where it is received before 9am on a day when the court is open, the request will be processed at the end of the day: where it is received after 9am, it will be processed on the next day (again, at the end of the day) when the court is open and may not appear on MCOL until the following day (see viewing the progress of a claim).

 

This means that, if the defendant files a response (an acknowledgment of service, a defence or a part admission) with the court by 4pm on the same day as your request is to be processed, the response will take priority over your judgment request."

 

Re-reading it for the tenth time, provided Barclays do not do anything till 4:01pm Monday 9th October and I've submitted judgment by default by 9am Monday then I should have won. But this favours Barclays who has previously had 14 days to file a reply, but gives them another two days grace (Sunday and Monday till 4pm). Shouldn't it favour the claimant? this probably explains why essjaysea in post 3 mentions about Barclays being able to file a reply way after the deadline has passed.

 

The link for this information can be found here : Her Majesty's Courts Service

[jamiesmum]

Thsi may be a daft question, but if your claim was served on 20th sep, after you filed on 15th, as per your sig, 14 days after that is 4th oCTOBER, surely, ie today? If they have not acknowledged by then , you can go for it:)

[Bookworm]

Why should it favour the claimant? You are the one on the attack, therefore you already are -in theory- already in a advantageous position.

 

Yes, the court's deadlines are fairly lax. However infuriating it is for us, think on how it would be if you were the Defendant, agains the might of a multinational. Wouldn't you be glad then to be given that little bit of extra time?

 

Don't fret it, it's not worth it. Remember that even if you get a default, Barclays will apply to get it set aside anyway.

 

Besides, they've got plenty of time to deal with it still. Barclays always leave it to the last minute.

[jigr69]

Having read an earlier post about the dates and deadline day being today, even though I filed the MCOL on 15th (Saturday), it was deemed issued on the 18th (Monday), and considered to be served on the 23rd (Saturday). The 14 day deadline is from the date the claim was deemed served - 7th October.

 

Either way, it doesn't really matter as Barclays have acknowledged the claim today, having checked on MCOL, and now have till the 21st October to enter their defence. Just waiting for the AQ to be delivered now, what fun filling that out is going to be.

[Bookworm]

Actually, the AQ is a piece of cake. Just follow Jonni2Bad's how-to (Library, where else?), and you can't go wrong. ;-)

[jigr69]

I heard on the news the other day, that were considering using another saint as the patron saint of England as opposed to St George. They think that he in all truth, probably never even placed a foot in this land of ours.

 

We should all start a petition to get the moderators of this forum put forward for the new patron saint(s) of England.

 

Signed:

James G, Daventry.

[Bookworm]

Well, since I'm French, I'm thinking maybe not me, or you'll get the "bloody foreigners nicking the jobs off the real English peeps" brigade up in arms again!

[jigr69]

I'm awaiting for barclays to submit thier defence (deadline 21st October) and then the arrival of the AQ. If the amount being claimed is above £1500 you have to send a cheque for £100, and if below then nothing. Does the £1500 limit include the 8% interest charged or is it just based on the original amount? The reason for asking is that my amount falls under the £1500 but when adding the 8% interest and court costs goes way above this.

 

Thanks

[jigr69]

Still waiting for the question in my previous post to be answered, if anyone can help.

 

Also, Barclays have entered thier defence which is showing on MCOL, however, I have yet to recieve any paperwork, including the AQ. My new question is: I'm away from Wednesday (for a couple of days), if the AQ hasn't turned up by then, how long do I have in order to return it to the courts? (I am thinking along the lines of submitting a AQ from PDF format as opposed to the actual form recieved in the post before I go away.) The 28 day deadline from the online claim being deemed served was the 21st October.

 

Cheers for anyones replies.

[victimnomore]

Sorry, I can't find the answer to your question about the fees anywhere. I found a suggestion in Patricia Pearl's book that fees are based on claim plus interest (so you would have to pay), but it's not very clear. I hope wiser council can come up with an answer for you.

 

On the second point though, you have 14 days to return the AQ - so your 2 days away shouldn't be a problem.

[jigr69]

Thank-you VictimNoMore, yes the fees applies to the TOTAL amount including court costs and interest. Having just recieved my AQ, the deadline date is indeed 14 days time.

 

The defence Barclays submitted to the court with reference to my case, the first section implies that I, the claimant, haven't provided them with proof of the illegal charges and the dates thereof. Now I know some people on these excellent forums haven't submitted a schedule of charges to Barclays team in London, and therefore, this section probably applies.

 

However, having sent Barclays litigation team in London and Northampton courts a copy of the schedule of charges via "signed for" delivery - I know they have a copy. (This was sent a day after the MCOL was deemed served.) Therefore it is obvious Barclays are simply using the same text for each defence, regardless. Which in itself proves that Barclays are either overwhelmed at the sheer number of cases (I have two) or simply are not taking these court cases seriously (which will not impress any judge).

 

Should I in section G of my AQ, as well as using the well rehearsed text found in many places, add another paragraph stating that I cannot understand why Barclays in there defence, fail to acknowledge having details of the charges that are considered illegal, since the court and Barclays were sent the schedule of charges via recorded delivery? Should I point out that Barclays are not acting responsibly since they are not treating each case independently, and giving each case the attention a court case deserves?

 

Thoughts anyone?

[victimnomore]

No advice I'm afraid, just an opinion to offer.

 

It's a fair enough point. However, I don't feel it would be of much advantage to enter your complaint on the AQ. On the other hand, I don't think it'll do you any harm either. If it makes YOU feel better to "get it off your chest", then I say do it.

[Welshman]

As Victim said, there will be no point as it's their standard first paragraph in all defences.

 

But, when you file via MCOL, this is done on line and they are technically correct because on the actual form you do not list a schedule of charges. There's no room and no facility to do so. It's splitting hairs and not worth pursuing in my opinion even though you do send them a copy via mail.

[jigr69]

I've completed the AQ, sent it off to my local court (Northampton the home of MCOL) and my cheque has been cashed. Just waiting for a court date to be set and sent to me. Does anybody know what sort of timescale the Northampton court are working to? i.e. From AQ going in to court date being set, how long?

[essjaysea]

Sorry..misread the last post

[chesterb]

Hiya! It all depends how busy your court is, mine is very busy (Coventry) mine took around a month! hang in there not long, mine is on 12/03/07! kind of hoping yours is earlier than mine so I can lean on you for bits of advice...... C xx

[chesterb]

any news on dates Jimbob? Cxxxx

[jigr69]

Hiya ChesterB, I've been very busy with other things for a month or so now, and haven't been able to update the status in here. However, things have progressed over the last week.

 

I first recieved a reply from the courts asking me to submit a schedule of charges, proof that these charges are valid (statements - which have since gone walkies), and reason why I cannot get these back (or words to that effect). The statements (from the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request)) have gone missing as we are in the middle of selling the house and things have been tidied up so many times for viewers that I've no idea as to where they are. But I've re-requested the SAR and hopefully get these back in time.

 

I have to get these to the court before the second week in January, then for the defendant to reply back by the first week in February and then a court date will be announced.

 

However, today through the post, I recieved a court date for the 23rd January, which leaves me in a conumdrum about sending the details off! In the meantime to this case, I've settled with Smile and another Barclays bank account (accepting the initial offer). The second Barclays bank, knowing that they offer in the region of 50-60%, I upped the number of charges (went back alot further than 6 years), exaggerated a little and got a 75% settlement offer on the true value. This was accepted and paid for Xmas!

 

So I am now on a 38 day countdown to my court case, anyone fancy a day out in Northampton?

[chesterb]

WAHEY! Result then! Wish my courts were a little bit more in the know, then I would have had my cash back before chrimbo, however suits me, as Im being made redundant very very soon (FRIDAY!), and could do with the cash so....... Its all good!

 

Ill keep an eye out on this! Looking forward to your early settlement xx