Legal Fees - Can anyone Help ?

[givememymoney123]

If it does end up where I have to issue a court claim , going down the MCOL route,

 

It's gunna cost me £120 to register it,

 

So I'm already claming £1500,

 

Would the Halifax have to pay me that £120 back, even if they didnt put in a defence , and how would I go about requesting that ?

[thesergeant]

You can claim the costs of the claim back. When you complete your MCOL or the N1 , you state the amount of your claim, the interest and the costs.

 

There is only limited room on the MCOL. If you are going to include things such as Contractual interest etc then you will be using the N1 and taking it to your local County Court (still a very easy process).

 

On my recent claim I have stated various contractual interest rates, claimed for the DPA fee, postage, court fees etc etc etc :D

 

All the best

[givememymoney123]

When I sent my claim letter to the Halifax , I didnt include any interest, as I thought that only applied if applying to the court ?

 

Is that right ?

 

Hopefully if they take it down to the wire I can add my interest on at that stage.... ?

[thesergeant]

You are right if you are talking about the 8% court interest. However there is an option to claim contractual interest, search this term to read up on it in the forums.

 

I have claimed 29.8%, on my particulars of claim I presented the judge with alternatives ie 17.5% or if neither apply then the court 8% rate. Contractual interest applies from the date of the unlawful charge being taken from your account.

 

My particulars of claim are

.....

2. During the period in which the Accounts have been operating the Defendant debited numerous charges to the Accounts in respect of purported breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant and also charged interest on the charges once applied. The Claimant understands that the Defendant contends that the charges were debited in accordance with the terms of the contract between itself and the Claimant.

 

3. A list of the charges applied is attached to these particulars of claim.

 

4. The Claimant contends that:

 

a) The charges debited to the Accounts, as outlined in the attached schedule, are punitive in nature; are not a genuine pre-estimate of cost incurred by the Defendant; exceed any alleged actual loss to the Defendant in respect of any breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant; and are not intended to represent or related to any alleged actual loss, but instead unduly enrich the Defendant which exercises the contractual term in respect of such charges with a view to profit. In the event that the charges are not a penalty, they are unreasonable under The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 section 15. The Defendant has declined to justify the charges.

 

b) The contractual provision that permits the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable by virtue of The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999) paragraph 8 and schedule 2(1)(e), The Unfair Contracts Terms Act 1977 section 4 and the common law.

 

5. Accordingly the Claimant claims:

 

a) the return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £201.00 and interest charged thereon in the sum of £0.02;

 

b) Court costs;

 

c) the additional costs incurred by the Claimant in the writing and sending of letters to the Defendant pursuant to this claim, and the statutory access request in the sum of £12.52, as set out in the attached list of costs.

 

d) the Claimant claims contractual interest compounded daily at an annual rate of 29.8% per annum, from the date of each transaction to 20th October 2006, which is £130.76, as set out in the attached list of charges. The Claimant further claims interest, on the resulting total of £331.78, at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment, at a daily rate of £0.36 per day.

 

The account’s Terms and Conditions specify the interest payable on unauthorised drawings from the account. The Claimant holds that this applies to unauthorised drawings by the Defendant as well as to unauthorised drawings by the Claimant. Should the court deem this incorrect, the Claimant claims the rate to be justified under the principle of mutuality and reciprocity, and is based on the Defendant’s unauthorised overdraft interest rate that would be applied under the terms of the above mentioned account.

 

Should the court find that this interest rate is not applicable, then in the alternative the Claimant claims contractual interest compounded daily at an annual rate of 18.9% per annum, from the date of each transaction to 15th October 2006, which is £82.62, as set out in the attached list of charges. The Claimant further claims interest, on the resulting total of £283.64, at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment, at a daily rate of £0.22 per day.

 

The account’s Terms and Conditions specify the interest payable on authorised drawings from the account. The Claimant holds that this applies to authorised drawings by the Defendant as well as to authorised drawings by the Claimant. Should the court deem this incorrect, the Claimant claims the rate to be justified under the principle of mutuality and reciprocity, and is based on the Defendant’s authorised overdraft interest rate that would be applied under the terms of the above mentioned account.

 

Should the court find that this interest rate is not applicable, then in the alternative the Claimant claims interest under Section 69 of the County Court Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum calculated from the date of each transaction to 15th October 2006, which is £35.10 and continuing until payment or the date of judgement at a daily rate of £0.10.

 

 

 

>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[givememymoney123]

Fantastic , Didnt really understand much of it , but got the general grasp,

 

So is that something you have written into your particulars ?

 

How exactly did you work it out (i.e. how much interest on each charge etc)

 

Or is this something that is written into the claim particulars already ?

 

If i'm claiming £1500 , hopefully it will be a significant amount.

 

Cheers

[thesergeant]

There are templates in the Library section, where the LBA letters etc are. However the particulars template does not include contractual interest. I adapted my particulars from others I have found in the various forums.

 

I worked out the interest rates by adapting the excel spreadsheet also available in the library. The interest rates I chose are Halifax's own rates for unauthorised and authorised borrowing etc.

 

Yes it can be a significant amount on your claim.

 

Halifax have partially settled my claim, but have so far held out of £100 which is the interest, however my claim is continuing and I expect them to settle.

 

There is very little room on the MCOL for the claim particulars. Don't be put off using the N1 and taking a trip to your local county court (they are very helpful). Also you can put more into your claim such as costs etc.:D

 

Hope this all helps