Shelty vs Bank of Ireland mortgages

[Shelty]

AQ submitted, thanks Paul, lets see what comes next.

[Shelty]

Recieved notification from the Court that the claims been allocated to Small Claims, & to my local Court, and will be heard on 14th March.

Directions as follows;

1) Each party shall deliver to the other party and to the Court office copies of all documents on which he intends to rely at the hearing.

2) The copies shall be delivered no later than 14 days before the Hearing

3) The original doc's should be bought to the hearing

4) Signed statements setting out the evidence of all witnesses on whom each party intends to rely shall be prepared and copies included in the documents in para 1. This includes the evidence of the parties themselves and of any other witnesses whether or not the witneses are going to come to court to give evidence.

5)Court must be informed immediately if the case is settled by agreement before the hearing date.

[zootscoot]

Hi Shelty,

 

Have your read:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/62003-important-mortgage-claimants-please.html

 

It is probably a good time to start negotiating for a settlement.

[Shelty]

Hi Zoot, yes I read the thread this morning. Have you any suggestions as to what to negotiate for ? As I've been allocated to small claims does this mean that I would be liable for their costs if I dropped the case now? I've been in contact with LTWFB, as he's up against BOI aswell, and the estimate of their fees thus far is 4x what mine have been estimated at....if you think I should drop the case I'm happy to if it'll be cheaper ?

[zootscoot]

Its a little concerning that they are telling you what their costs are when its been allocated to small claims. Have they issued a counter claim for costs?

 

There is a possibility that they will rely on a clause in the contract to claim costs. In which case the sooner you settle the better it will be for you.

 

I'm not too sure on B0I's policies as far as I'm aware its just you and LTWFB who are currently claiming.

 

 

Perhaps write or e-mail that due to a change in your circumstances you are now willing to settle for half the amount originally claimed. If they are agreeable all well and good. If not its worth going for simply a no costs withdrawal. You need to act quick and set a deadline for them to respond.

 

The amounts you chose to bargain for is entirely up to you. If its small claims and they are not chasing you for costs you will be in a stronger bargaining position because they will have to foot their own legal bill if they win in court.

 

Best of luck

 

Zoot

[Shelty]

Thanks Zoot, they put their costs estimate on their AQ when they were asking for fast track. Now it's been allocated to small claims by the judge what do you think that their response might be ?

[sammyjammy]

Zoot, if you're still on this thread your PM box is full!!!

 

Apologies for the hijack

 

Sam

[zootscoot]

SJ

 

There should be space now;)

 

Shelty

 

I've no idea what their response will be. If they've not counter claimed and its been allocated to small claims you are in a better position than many others but it is still in your interest to withdraw. Its going to be a metter of trial and error I'm afraid.

[Shelty]

Zoot, how about this ......?

Dear BOI,

Further to our recent correspondance, I am in receipt of your AQ, and I would highlight that a continuance of this case, with all the associated costs involved is in neither parties interest,especially now that it has been allocated to the Small Claims track. I would therefore like to propose that I am prepared to withdraw my claim in return for a 50% repayment of the ERC that I was charged,and waive the interest & my costs thus far. As you will know from your own figures,this would make a significant saving over any payout in the event that you were to lose in Court, and it is also a smaller amount than the cost of your legal fees in the event that the case reaches court, even if you should win the case.

 

The give them 7 days ?

 

What do you think ??

[zootscoot]

Looks good.

 

How about adding something at the begining along the lines of:

 

 

I am writing in accordance with my duty under the overriding objectives to continue to seek settlement of the case without the need to invoke the time of the courts. In recognition of the fact that you will incur some costs on the closing of the mortgage and in the interest of acting fair and reasonably I am thus now in a position to offer you the chance to settle at XXX.

 

 

Yes I think 7 days would be reasonable.

[Shelty]

Thanks Zoot, letter gone today.

[zootscoot]

Good luck Shelty!

[Shelty]

My offer letter has been passed to their Business Unit for consideration, with a response in due course.

Then they admit that their "costs will be substantially less than stated in the AQ which are based on the possibility that the case would be allocated to Fast Track and may proceed to full trial".

Surely whatever they do to defend the case will involve the same amount of work ?! So why are the costs going to be "substantially less" ?

[zootscoot]

Then they admit that their "costs will be substantially less than stated in the AQ which are based on the possibility that the case would be allocated to Fast Track and may proceed to full trial".

 

 

Perhaps they are not intending to take it to trial if its small claims as they would not be able to recover their legal costs.

[lickthewallfatboy]

Shelty-they will offer you less than that-and my advice is take it and run like the wind

 

enuff said for now