Court date - opinions please?

[Gizmosgal]

Hi there,

 

Having successfully won back £1600 against Halifax, I thought I'd try with Barclays for a paltry £165 (but still better than a kick up the bum!). I thought it would be easier but oh how wrong I have been...

 

I did everything right with regards to prelim, LBA, Moneyclaim etc. and have now got a court date through for 29th Dec. I figure they won't show but I have to get the bundle to the court by 15th Dec.

 

My problem is that I have a newborn baby and I really don't have the time to get the bundle together (i.e the hassle of editing, printing and photocopying all that stuff). I am very tempted to drop it the day before the deadline if they haven't settled by then, which obviously I'm hoping they will.

 

My question is whether anyone else has been in the same boat - i.e have Barclays settled before they have to get their supporting docs in or do they actually bother going through this process?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am majorly stressed with this, thankyou.

[jonni2bad]

Hi

 

I think this is particularly strange given the level of charges you are claiming for. Unfortunately, there is not a deal we can offer you in terms of the likelihood of them settling at this stage, since it is effectively a rare occurance.

 

I would imagine that if they have submitted a defence and an Allocation Questionnaire and a date has been set for the hearing, they are quite likely to offer some sort of bundle. If you don't, in expectation that they buckle, then you reach the date for exchange without having anything to offer and it will be them who gain the upper hand.

 

Remember that they will be unlikely to offer a great deal of paperwork, so submitting it will not be a great problem for them. I would think it far more likely that a settlement would come your way AFTER the exchange of documents and in that respect, the more you can provide, the better.

[Gizmosgal]

Thankyou Jonni,

 

I am reading other posts here with disbelief - plenty of people have been successful for much higher sums at earlier stages - so why are Barclays being like this with mine when I'm only claiming £165?!

 

I will try and get the bundle together but with a small baby it's hard enough to find time to post this, let alone all the work that I'll need to do.

 

Thanks for the advice

Gizmosgal

[Bookworm]

No, Barclays seldom settle earlier, in fact, they have it down to a T now to settle betwen 1 and 5 days before the hearing.

 

They have also failed on every single occasion to submit a bundle of their evidence 14 days before hearing as they're supposed to.

 

They are not being particularly hard-assed with you, Barclay's have ALWAYS taken it to the wire, and in fact, up to a few weeks ago, they had a reputation they were harder to deal with than other banks... Not true at all, they just are better at holding out till the last minute, that's all, in the hope people will give up.

[kippy2]

very true bookworm didnt even submit a bundle to either me or the court. but soon settled when hearing date was fast approaching

[Gizmosgal]

Thanks guys - does anyone know what would happen if I didn't submit a bundle?

[austenpowers]

I just like to say Barclays seem to have developed a new tactic in the last few days. Quite a few claimants (me included) are being offered full settlement about 3-4 weeks before hearing dates so it is possible you may get an offer prior to submitting paperwork. Of course, there would be no guarantee that this would happen. It so happened that the day I posted my court bundle I arrived home to an offer of full settlement so in effect all those hours preparing the bundle were pointless.

 

Good luck and fingers crossed you receive a full offer soon.

[Welshman]

Thanks guys - does anyone know what would happen if I didn't submit a bundle?

 

Do you really want to test the system by not preparing the bundle on time? It seems a risky thing to do especially as you are so so close to the end of the matter.

[Gizmosgal]

Hiya,

 

Got letter from Barclays this morning refuting the claim - but 'as it would be too expensive to go to court' they will settle in full with interest plus my court fees!!

 

Hurrah!

 

Thanks for the advice to those who replied.

[Welshman]

Well Done. Wait until the money's in the bank before notifying the Court that you've settled.

 

are you happy for your title now to be changed to *** WON ***

[Gizmosgal]

Thanks Welshman, yep please change title of thread.