Advice for next stage - start court action

[sue wright]

Hi

I am trying to recoup bank charges/fees of £625 for my son from Lloyds ..over the past 10 months... have sent the first 2 letters based on site info advice and templates... I already had statements and listed the charges I requested for refund)

Have now had the standard letter responses that some other readers have received, finally referring me to the FOS ...so ready to take the next step.

 

However now have information overload from the site and scared of messing up this next phase.. issuing court case..

 

Not sure whether to bother with the interest at all as seems so complicated:shock: (well for me!) spreadsheet def scared me off..and not even sure about compounded and stat interest...or what they actually are.?.. .. so didnt know what to try to fill in here....

Also does it make it more straightforward by just claiming charges..no interest?

 

My initial letter was sent to the local bank and then passed on to their customer services recovery centre, who have responded both times...although the registered office address is the London address on the letteer footer.. which address do I need to use now? thanks Suz

[Guest bong]

Hi Sue - don't be scared of the spreadsheet it really is easy and I'm not one of those technical experts either - took me ages to find out how to post a thread on here!

 

Go to bank templates,

find the relevant spreadsheet thread,

choose which one you're going to use,

open it and then just have a muck around. Try putting a date in the first box, if you make a mistake you just key it in again, put some dummy amounts in the money columns and see what it does with them. When you close it it will ask if you want to save the changes you made and just click no if its a test run.

 

At the bottom of the spreadsheet page (if you're using the advanced one) you'll see three page tabs,

one called notes,

one called charges and interest I think

and one called 8% interest.

You click on these tabs to change back and forth between pages. As you enter data into the charges and interest sheet it automatically updates the 8% interest sheet with this data, and calculates the 8% sec 69 interest to date.

 

Sorry if you think this sounds at all condescending!

 

Use the registered office address on the claim.

[sue wright]

Thanks Bong..was just about the right tone..and know what you mean about posting a thread.!...anyway was looking at the vampiress chambers? spreadsheet before instead of the 'simple' one where you just enter figs and works out the 8% interest. As i didn't calculate the interest before when asked for the charges ..do i need to send ano letter or can just go ahead with the court action and include them in here? many thanks

[thourb]

Thanks Bong..was just about the right tone..and know what you mean about posting a thread.!...anyway was looking at the vampiress chambers? spreadsheet before instead of the 'simple' one where you just enter figs and works out the 8% interest. As i didn't calculate the interest before when asked for the charges ..do i need to send ano letter or can just go ahead with the court action and include them in here? many thanks

You were completely correct not to include the interest on your previous letters.

 

The last part of the template LBA states:

 

"I require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest, plus my costs, without further notice."

 

There is no need to write to the bank again to let them know that you are claiming. They will find out soon enough, when the summons arrives on their doorstep! Start the moneyclaim or send the N1 form as soon as you can! There is a template for your moneyclaim particulars here. If you file it before 10am, it should get processed the same day.

[sue wright]

Have spent ages on the site looking at the (contractual) interest issue and spreadsheets and just cant get my head around it. all..also dont know the precise interest rates that were charged over the past 10 months for which I would like to claim (on behalf of my son)..have only the current months rate which is advertised at 29.8 for unauthorised borrowing. Prob why a lot of people aren't bothering with this..as its just far too complicated . Maybe a stupid q but ..is it possible to claim for a flat rate over the period that would be 'reasonable ' as a claim say at 25% ...and would be well under the actual contractual rate.? or do i need the accurate figure for each month?.....probably will give up on this contractual interest aspect as I dont think that i can make progress with this in time to file a claim. thanks for all advice..

[spiritgirl59]

Hiya Sue

 

I'm a newbie and with Lloyds too.

 

I have just prepared my spreadsheets and "request for payment of charges" letter to send to them. I've not sent it yet as I realised we are going away for a few days right smack bang when they should reply by so am waiting a few days before I send my letter off.

 

Anyhow as for the spreadsheets, well if and when it gets to the claim for interest being added, I was going to use the interest calculator column which already appears on the template i.e., the column reading "interest at 8% APR" and let the spreadsheet work out all my interest on that basis! If I'm wrong about this, I hope someone will give me a swift kick in the right direction cos I had assumed 8% must be the going rate they should pay us right now

 

I thought we literally had only to follow the layout of the template and let it do the calculations for us - obviously removing the sample figures in the templates first and putting our own in, and also removing the interest columns till later.

 

So good question Sue, thanks for posting this, and I wish you lots of luck.

 

Don't give up!! I fully expect a "get lost" when they get my letter because over the past 6 years - on two accounts - we have been zapped with nearly £4,000 in "fees" and they have made our lives a total misery

 

Spiritgirl x

[Guest bong]

Just to clarify, there are two different interest issues here.

 

1. Overdraft interest charged by the bank.

2. 8% section 69 interest.

 

You can calculate how much of 1. was as a direct result of being charged penalty charges and add that to your claim. You include this in your pre-court action letters to the bank

 

You don't calculate or claim 2. until you raise your court claim

 

Sorry I can't help with the contractual interest issue and I also don't know whether you can claim 1. at court stage if you haven't asked the bank for it in your letters. Maybe someone else can help with this?

[thourb]

I am not 100% sure about what point you can add on contractual interest to your claim either. I have just used the simple 8% rule for all of my claims - which you obviously add on at the time you file your court claim.

 

For simplicity - I would add the contractual interest at the time you put your court claim in. Your preliminary and LBA letters advise that you want your money back and if the bank don't give it back you will add interest on at the claim stage.

 

We're talking about Lloyds Bank here! There is no doubt that they will force you to make a court claim (delaying tactics grr), so it's probably best to add your interest on at that stage.

[sue wright]

I had actually referred to the interest and my costs in my letter to Lloyds but not actually 'calculated' the interest..so gave them a schedule and total of the charges only. At that point was only aware that you could claim the OD interest due to the charging...and not aware of this 8% sec 69.

So it was the contractual interest that im asking whether i should advise the bank of of the detail or suffice to just refer to it (as have done)and claim it when i submit to court.... this was the one that i said i didnt know what the interest rate was for the past 10 months and whether I could use a flat rate ...as there were no details on Lloyds website for past rates other than savings..though cant imagine the unauthorised borrowing rate has changed that much...?

[thourb]

I had actually referred to the interest and my costs in my letter to Lloyds but not actually 'calculated' the interest..so gave them a schedule and total of the charges only.

Correct, this is the proper procedure - although any overdraft interest you are claiming could have been put in here, anything up until moneyclaim stage is fair game, so there is no problem adding extra charges or overdraft interest later on! (You can even modify the particulars of your claim after you have filed it, but this costs a non-reclaimable £35 one off fee)

 

At that point was only aware that you could claim the OD interest due to the charging...and not aware of this 8% sec 69.

There are three different interests that we are talking about:

1. Overdraft interest
   
2. Contractual Interest
   
3. 8% Interest under S. 69 CCA

At the preliminary letter and LBA stage, you can ask them for your total amount and any overdraft interest that is a direct result of them making unlawful charges against your account.

So it was the contractual interest that im asking whether i should advise the bank of of the detail or suffice to just refer to it (as have done)and claim it when i submit to court.... this was the one that i said i didnt know what the interest rate was for the past 10 months and whether I could use a flat rate ...as there were no details on Lloyds website for past rates other than savings..though cant imagine the unauthorised borrowing rate has changed that much...?

When you get to the court claim stage, you can add on extra interest. Either 8% Interest under S. 69 CCA or you can make the arguement of "mutuality" or "reciprocity" and claim for interest at the banks unauthorized borrowing rate. I haven't gone down this particular path, so i'm not sure what rate you would charge them. Maybe if you pop into your branch and ask them about their charges they will be able to help further? They may even give you a nice leaflet with a table of charges!