Wil Vs. the world! (or Halifax at least....best to start small!)

[aardvark the lecturer]

I didn't claim the interest already charged to my accounts (based on default/penalty charges applied) either, as to be honest my brain tried to escape when I attempted to work it out!

 

You are correct, the 8% interest is only applied after you lodge a claim at court (it's allowed under the County Courts Act).

 

Contractual interest is used INSTEAD of the 8%, if you argue that under mutuality of contract conditions (do unto them, as they have....) you should be entitle to EARN interest at the same rate as they apply to your borrowing, for ALL funds that they have taken in relation to disputed charges.

 

As it is not a standard provision inder the CCA, you do not have to wait to file at court to claim this, and in fact it becomes part of your claim. Therefore also part of your schedule's etc and requests for repayment which should be identified from the onset of your complaint (i.e. prelim letter).

 

Yes, it makes a huge differrence to the claim as you would be adding a daily compounded interest rate equivalent to their unauthorised borrowing rate (if it's unlawful then it must be unauthorised) of some 29.9%.

 

You must however understand the argument and principles involved as it is not thouroughly tested and likely to receive additional attention from them (i.e. not giving up as soon as cases are filed at court and so having to submit AQ's etc. and being pushed much harder into giving up).

 

If you were to chose this route you could either resend a prelim letter to adapt the claim allowing a further 14 days before LBA, or just include it in your LBA. There are some who have done this but they're mostly ongoing still.

 

You should be aware that their are no real template letters for this, but plenty of threads where people post ideas and letters.

 

The other factor to consider is that it may well push your claim over the £5000 small claims track marker.

 

Try using the spreadsheet that Mindzai provides a link to in her signature here, and see what it does to the numbers.

 

Good luck!

[aardvark the lecturer]

In answer to the first part of your post, yes, it is a bit like 'tit for tat'...

 

What I am not too sure about is the court side of claiming. If I go through moneyclaim, i can claim up to 5,000. If, because i claim the higher interest, the bank decides to challenge and defend, can this still all be done via the internet court, or will this push it to county court, where I am then called upon to respond, in person in a court?

 

MCOL (Money Claim On Line) allows you to file a case into the courts system without having to go to a court or to faf araound sending letters and N1 forms by post to a court.

It allows you to see the progress of your case on-line and perform basic functions e.g. apply for judgement if the other party does not acknowledge in the required 14 days.

All cases filed on MCOL or via an N1 form given/posted in to your local court are then issued to the defendants who have set time frames in which to declare whether or not they disagree with the case brought against them, and if they intend to defend against them.

 

If a defendant (bank) says they will defend, AND the actually provides a defense to the court, you are sent an Allocation Questionaire (AQ).

Now this basically does what it says on the tin, it's a questionaire that is designed to allow a judge to allocate time and resources to any hearings.

 

ONLY AT THIS POINT are any claims then awarded either small claims, multi or fast track. None of these options provides you with an on-line court case though. If a bank defends it doesn't matter how much, what track, N1 or MCOL...... you will be seeing the in a courtroom.

 

Of course that's not actually happenning at the moment as they are not going all the way to a court hearing, they are simply abusing the court system to place pressure on claiments in the hope that most will either go away or settle for a pittance of an offer out of fear of having to go to a court. IMO

[aardvark the lecturer]

Hi wil,

been offline for a couple of days, sorry I missed your questions.

 

in the spreadsheet mindzai provides, do you have to enter the interest charged, or can i just concentrate on the left hand side of the daily calculated interest tab?

 

Yes thats fine, I'm doing that too.

 

I think I'm gonna send this letter to them on Monday, giving 7 days until the LBA. unless anyone has significant reservations about this?

 

Sounds spot on to me Wil.

 

Go get 'em!

[aardvark the lecturer]

Go get 'em Wil