scottish procedure

[Stepper]

Hi Scooby - As far as I know you can only claim £1500 in a Scottish summary court (thats what I done) and claims can only go back 5 years here. Some people have broken the claims down and gone back to court a 2nd and 3rd etc times but the Scottish courts have now stopped accepting more than one on the same account claiming they should have done it all in one go. You can either claim the first £1500 and go on to a legal web site with on a 'no win - no fee' basis - which is what I done for the 2nd claim of £850. I have just sent in the paperwork so I do not know how it will go as yet but will post my progress. Whatever you do, search for more up-to-date advice as this web site is full of great ideas and support. Good luck - you will get that kind of dosh no problem - but as I said, try and do it in one go, the fee for using one of these sites is 10% of your winnings which was basically money you never expected to see ever again in the first place - I would do it. Aw ra best. Stepper

[Seahorse]

If you can find any of these sites who will fight your corner for claims going back more than 5 years, then fine. But I rather suspect you won't. They offer a no win/no fee service because they KNOW they can win. They aren't going to take on a case that has even the slightest chance of losing.

 

So basically, as the likelyhood of getting anything back beyond 5 years is remote in the extreme, and you'll likely find that claiming contractual interest is a no go too, you might like to consider this.

 

Tot up your claim for 5 years. (less CI and stautory interest). Start thinking of what you're likely to get back on that basis.

 

Wait until your LBA time is up.

 

Then EITHER... employ a solicitor who most likely WILL be prepeared to go down the ordinary cause route for you. (Remember, all fees can be recovered after you win. And you WILL need a solicitor for ordinary cause. i doubt no win/no fee will do this for you).

 

OR.... wait 8 weeks after the bank receives your prelim, then bang a complaint off to the Financial Ombudsman. The reason for the 8 week delay is, the FOS will want you to have exhausted the bank's complaints procedure. This will incur a further delay of quite possibly another 8 to 12 weeks as the FOS is inundated with complaints at the moment.

 

Or ignore the above and plough on regardless.

 

You haven't said which bank it is, but it might be worth noting that RBS are currently getting around (eventually) to offering Scottish claimants as near as dammit the full amount going back 5 years. And if your bank DOES offer you something similar, it is unlikely the FOS will argue against that, and will consider it a fair offer.

 

All up to you.

[Stepper]

Seahorse - I am with the A&l, they settled the first claim in full. For the second I had to think twice since in between times the courts started throwing 2nd claims (on the SAME account) out. If I had taken the risk - gone to court and got thrown out, and then tried the FOS, they would have said that a 'legal decision' had been ruled and that would have been that. I just did not fancy a long drawn out performance going through all the required hoops for the FOS. It was a personal decision to use a web site lawyer, because I just want my cash back - or as much as I can get back (I am fully aware that they only fight cases they can win, otherwise I would not have bothered with them), and I will use what I get back as a safety net so that I NEVER again am open to charges. My needs are quite simple, relief from the worry of future charges.

[Seahorse]

Did you get back charges going past 5 years here in Scotland, Stepper? And if they only charged 10%, I think a few others might be interested if it means beating the 5 year limitation as it would probably be quite cost effective. I'd have loved to get mine back all the way from 1998.

[isidore]

For info guys, I think anyone who starts throwing round NWNF names in the forums will be hit hard by the powers that be on this forum. Just warning you.

 

NWNF sols are in general a waste of time as they will concentrate on the "easy money" claims. Think long and hard about using one of these but if you do end up using one, ENSURE IT'S REGULATED!!!

[isidore]

I cannot see how a NWNF company is going to make any difference to claiming back your 850. They have absolutely no more power or influence in obtaining the 850 back than you do and if anything, have more chance of effing it up for you.

 

You should in no way be advocating the use of these companies as you haven't tried them yet - you have just put your paperwork in as you say.

 

Whatever line they've thrown you about being able to retrieve that extra 850 I don't see how they're going to have any better chance than you have of getting it. What can they do that you can't?

 

Waste of space imo...

[Stepper]

Seahorse, I only went back 5 years (don't think you can do any more unless you can get an English address and claim under English law, but I do NOT know for sure about that one), - what I done was claim for the years to the total of £1500 - and the remaining years I think 2005 - present = £850, I handed over to a web site lawyer.

[Seahorse]

I still don't understand exactly what you are saying. If you only claimed charges going back 5 years, and the amount involved kept it out of Ordinary Cause, I just can't see why you would think No Win/No Fee would be necessary. And I must admit to being a bit confused about the £1500 you are on about. Was this with interest, going back beyond the 5 years, won in court or handed on a plate or what? And do I understand you correctly when you seem to be saying you split the claim, handing the £850 part to an internet shark? I ask, because splitting claims in Scotland runs the risk of having subsequent claims thrown out as an abuse of process.

 

Might I just make a suggestion here. If you intend to advise anyone on here as to the correct route you THINK they should take, you quantify it with a CONCISE precis of your own experience. Merely in order to avoid confusing the heck out of newbies. In fact, to avoid confusing those of us who have spent more than a little time researching how we can HELP OURSELVES to get through our claims.

 

No Win/No Fee is NOT the way to go, in my very humble opinion. I might have changed my mind had you found someone who had been prepared to go the extra mile, but I should have realised that just wasn't going to happen.

 

And in my experience few, if any, of this lot are lawyers or solicitors. They are in the main people who have jumped on the claims bandwagon, have little or no legal background, and in a great number of cases are even using the information on sites like this to do what YOU should have been able to do yourself.

 

Rant over. For now.

[Stepper]

Okay, here it is again. My claims for the past 5 years was over the £1500 limit of the summary court, and small claims -Now, since I did not know anything about Ordinary cause (there was no talk of it that I noticed because everyone seemed to be doing very well by splitting their claims and going back via small/ summary court at that time) - ANYWAY I followed the summary route and I won the first part of my claim for £1500. When I was preparing for the 2nd claim - £850 - the courts by this time had stopped accepting 2nd claims on the same account. The only other route was now via the FOS. I thought this would take too long so I tried to see if I could finalise the whole thing via the NWNF. They may be sharks I agree - but losing £85 to them is better than gaining nothing, at this point, for me, it might be quicker to use them, its a personal choice, and since the firm is based in London, they will be going via an English court SO it might NOT get thrown out (or it might), as a 2nd claim - see what I mean?

 

And by the way - the only reason that this current action of mine got onto this website is because someone emailed me personally asking me a few questions. You must each go down the road that suits you best, and I have concluded that, as an adult, this is what I will do.... oh, and - I see only half of my last submitted reply was posted, I did edit a fuller response but it does not appear to be on the page as yet??

[Seahorse]

Hmm. Despite using an English firm, I'd suggest that for £850 you could have managed it yourself. IF you hadn't shot yourself in the foot by splitting the claim.

 

I'm still not sure how this is going to work out for you, as YOU are the claimant, and it matters where YOUR address is. I hope it doesn't get to the court stage and you find out things aren't as hunky dory as at first might have appeared. I do hope for you sake that they can run it through the English system.

 

But as you say, we all have to make choices. And if it works for you, fine. But it really isn't a course of action that I can in all conscience recommend anyone else should contemplate.

[isidore]

I think the key to it is he split it at a time when it was suggested you could do so - not really his fault SH. It think it was only around 2-3 months ago that the message got around these parts to change this process.

 

One thing I don't know is if a company claims for you whether it's their address or your address that counts....something to consider stepper?

 

I think in *general* NWNFs are not the answer and whether or not it works for one person doesn't mean it is the route for all. You shouldn't really advise people to use them round these parts because that is not what this site was built for.

 

Especially when as yet you don't know whether you have been successful.

 

Sorry for the hounding Stepper, I expect you feel a little hard done by considering you were only offering advice....understand that NWNF are not warmly accepted round these parts so anyone shouting out their praises (when lets face it they are a bag of **** on the whole) will no doubt get their opinion contested by someone Good luck with your £850, hope it works out ok for you.

[Stepper]

Seahorse - I honestly do not think you are reading my messages fully - I said at that time there was not much talk of Ordinary Cause, so there was not a great deal of advice and people were doing very well via Summary / Small Claims and going BACK to court for the rest.... this is where the problem now is ... 2nd claims are being thrown out ... as far as shooting myself in the foot is concerned - it was NOT foreseen by anyone as being a future problem, and I am not the only one who lost toes in recent weeks! I am also not sure how my recent attempts are going to work out, lets wait and see. AGAIN, LET ME SAY THIS IS WHAT I AM DOING ... IT IS NOT ADVICE, ITS JUST ANOTHER CHAPTER.

[Seahorse]

Apologies if it appears I was having a dig Stepper. But as this is not your thread, what you say in this one may be construed as exactly that; advice.

 

It's certainly how it looked to me.

 

I still have my fingers crossed for you though.