Barclaycard reclaiming penalties and Compound Int't **WON** (probably)

[HP Mum]

Morning.

I am trying to draft a letter re settlement.

Barc have offered a higher amount to settle, without any intervention from me and many months before the hearing.

Its kind of 2/3rd of my claim.

Is there a decent letter template to use to accept, on my own terms... ;-)

ie to add in costs and to pay quicker than they suggested?

 

 

Also - one important question:

Are they likely to just offset the credit card balance, rather than send me the £s into my current account?

(it would reduce not clear the balance)

[martin2006]

Hi mum, does the offer mention costs and whether or not each party is to bear their own?

If you wish to accept then just a simple acceptance will suffice, there isnt a template i dont think.

If BC still own the account then they are likely to offset it against what you owe unfortunately. If they have sold the debt on then it will come to you.

They will no doubt want any settlement covered by a Tomlin Order which will silence you from speaking about your case.

As a timescale it takes a couple of weeks because they first have to send you the order to sign, it then gets puts before the judge for approval and sent back to sols. Once they have it sealed by the court the sols will instruct BC to pay you or to offset it.

 

Ask if you need to know any more mum

[HP Mum]

It was entitled without prejudice save as to costs.

No mention of them covering my legal expenses to date.

If I agree to settle at any point in the next 4 months I would want my legal costs covered.

 

 

They have not sold the debt on. it is still an 'active' card -albeit I don't use it; albeit they have attached an unenforceable old egg account to it, which means my card is suspended - due to 'my other account'.

 

 

I don't mind if the settlement amount is off set against my balance.

I don't use the card, just pay monthly amount. So balance lower = lower monthly amounts payable and balance cleared quicker...

[slick132]

Hi Mum,

 

The hearing date is months away and I see no reason to be hasty to settle. Doing so will be seen by BC's sol'rs as weakness and you may have to settle for far less than you wanted.

 

To save us going back through the thread, what's the issue about them "attaching" an unenforceable Egg a/c to this a/c.

 

[HP Mum]

sorry for the slow response -been away working.

 

re egg

Barc bought lots of the 160k egg card accounts that egg decided to unlawfully default back in 2008 (I think).

 

 

egg spent ages chasing many accounts before eventually selling them to barc.

 

 

Those people who had barc accounts suddenly found their egg cards attached to their barc card balances

- despite egg having mostly never been able to successfully pursue/litigate against.

 

This happened to me.

I have never bothered to communicate with barc about egg and barc have never tried to litigate against it either.

 

 

I'm not quite sure what barc will do with it

- but for the moment every monthly statement I get from barc says my account is suspended due to the state of my other account.

 

 

My current account is in credit with no o/d facility - so they can't mean that.

And I do make monthly payments to barc credit card

- I am just in the midst of reclaiming late fees from them,

which will reduce the overall balance substantially

- whether I settle now or hang on until the court date is closer...

 

I haven't heard from barc sols in 2 months

[slick132]

Ah, OK.

 

No need to do anything until maybe a month before the court requires your evidence bundle.

 

[HP Mum]

Update -have had another sols letter.

An increased offer + tomlin.

Not much of an offer increase - but covers all the penalty charges and a lot of compound interest.

Still many weeks before court appearance required

[martin2006]

The ball is in your court now mum, is it enough for you to want to settle?

[slick132]

Hi Mum,

 

What have they offered as an approx percentage of the total you've claimed.

 

[HP Mum]

Hi Slick

Apx 70% - including 8% simple interest on top since claim.

But there have been extra court fees I paid since made my claim

 

There is also the matter of Tomlin.....

[slick132]

Hi Mum,

 

70% sounds pretty good if you avoid having to prepare and print court bundles, and bring the claim to a close. But only you can decide if that's acceptable to you.

 

In any event, I'd reply to the bank telling them you've incurred court fees to date of £xxx which you require the bank to pay as part of any settlement.

 

Is there anything in the Tomlin Order you're not happy about ?

 

[martin2006]

Agree with Slick here mum, if theres anything in the draft TO you are not happy with then convey that to the solicitors and see if they will have it amended to include costs.

[HP Mum]

well so far no costs are to be included. and discretion is ordered.

I've already done the bundle. So am prepared.

So is it a question of not filling in the TO and writing to the sols making my own counter offer?

 

I understand that the court has to be advised of any settlement prior to a hearing. Once the court has received notice of settlement what would be the normal length of time before claimant gets reimbursed?

 

And if card still has a sum outstanding on should I simply ask for the balance to be reduced? Or should I ask for the sum to be sent to me?

[slick132]

Hi Mum,

 

If the bundle is done and ready to be Filed and Served, then you can perhaps afford to take this claim closer to the hearing date in the hope that the sol'rs will want to avoid the hearing and settle beforehand.

 

You can write to the sol'rs saying you are not prepared to accept their offer and will proceed with the claim until they make an offer in line with your SoC plus court fees incurred to date.

 

You can discuss payment terms and timing when necessary but there's no reason why they can't pay you within 14 days or less.

 

[HP Mum]

it was kind of a weird one - I had to file in the summer, many months before the hearing. So copies already sent to defendant and court.

Mind you I never had anything from Barc,

They have been suggesting, if settlement agreed, a month to pay....

[slick132]

Sorry Mum, I remember now, about the filing date being so long before the hearing date.

 

The sol'rs are representing a bank, for goodness sake !! They should be able to pay easily within 7 days and I would insist on 14 days maximum. This is YOUR claim and it's NOT for the sol'rs to dictate what you will and won't accept.

 

Can you remind us of the hearing date please.

 

[martin2006]

You could always amend the TO to what you want it to be and send the draft to the sols with a covering "without Prejudice" letter.

Within 28 days isnt unreasonable imho, the terms of settlement are more important to get right.

I asked for the amendments i wanted and it was amended to my satisfaction, dangle the carrot mum, tell them you would be in a position to accept "if" etc etc

[HP Mum]

Thanks

I understand that 28 days isn't unreasonable. But by the time any settlement - if any - is agreed, the 28 days payment date would take it beyond the point where I could continue with my claim.

It has also not been discussed if this would be a cheque payment or reduction of card balance. Can I dictate this?

[slick132]

Hi Mum,

 

IMHO, 28 days IS unreasonable. I would tell them you require payment within 14 days and certainly before the hearing date if poss.

 

However, you don't need to worry about them paying beyond the hearing date. Once you have settlement terms agreed, they will pay up.

 

It would make sense to reduce the card balance and get anything left over by direct transfer to your nominated a/c.

 

[martin2006]

Thanks

I understand that 28 days isn't unreasonable. But by the time any settlement - if any - is agreed, the 28 days payment date would take it beyond the point where I could continue with my claim.

It has also not been discussed if this would be a cheque payment or reduction of card balance. Can I dictate this?

 

Hi mum,

As things stand at this moment you are continuing with the claim on the hearing date.

You can amend the draft TO to whatever it is you want as a settlement and include it in the schedule.

Whether they agree to your amendments is their choice but if they dont then you continue to court anyway so the hearing date isnt relevant for the purposes of the TO, providing agreement is reached prior to it.

Once signed, a TO becomes legally binding and is lodged with the court for its approval as a means of resolving the case without a hearing.

[HP Mum]

My balance is quite a bit higher than the amount of my claim.

 

 

My claim was/is for penalty charges reclaim and CI (29% - being the highest level applied by barc) over the last 10y. I assume that they will simply apply the payment to the balance which will reduce it - thus lower monthly payments henceforth... But I guess I need to clarify that with them??

 

Just one extra thing - if we agree on a settlement - do I write to the court advising them ? or does the defendant?

[martin2006]

If you settle via a TO then it has to be lodged and sealed by the court which effectively stays the case and settles it, unless any if the terms in the scheduke are broken by either party, then it can be brought back to court.

 

Does the TO state anything regarding off setting the payment against any account or alleged debt?

 

You do not have to answer if you feel it may breach the terms of the TO.

[HP Mum]

do I write to the court? or does the defendant? or do we both?

 

 

I am still in the process of working out all the terms of the schedule which would be governed by a TO

[slick132]

Hi Mum,

 

Work on getting the terms of your agreement sorted. The manner in which the court is told can be dealt with in time. The sol'rs will probably want to lodge the TO with the court

 

In other cases, there's been little said about a TO. In fact I can't recall any of the BC *WON* cases involving a TO.

 

Terms have simply been agreed between the parties in writing and the then court told the Claimant was now willing to discontinue the claim.

 

Can you confirm, have the acting sol'rs made any mention of you repaying the remaining balance in monthly instalments, or in any other manner.

[HP Mum]

No they haven't said anything about the remaining balance on the card.

Never been mentioned

 

If you go to court - does the Judge look at the difference in CI from when you make the claim to when it gets settled?

 

I mean, you make a claim and then wait a year for it to get sorted

- there could be £hundreds extra in CI.

 

 

Or does the judge just look at your claim figure and then add the simple interest of 8%