jamie60509 V Barclays

[jamie60509]

Hello

 

Right, where am I? Here's what I've done so far...

 

Followed all the usual steps to find out how much they owe me, send letters etc. was offered £300 (my claim was for £640), refused this offer then got a letter saying that as we cannot come to an agreement then there's nothing more they can do. I filled a claim with the courts and got a letter saying that Barclays had filled a defence. Today I received a copy of their defence and am a bit confused - here's what they say...

 

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1. The particulars of claim do not provide details of particulars of the precise charges alleged to have been unlawful, or the date thereof. To the extent it is alleged that the Claimant incurred bank charges on his account for unauthorised borrowings (whether unpaid fees for returned cheques, "Paid Referral fees" or any other such fees), the Defendant puts the Claimant to strict proof of each charge and the date thereof.

 

2. The Defendant is entitled to charge the Claimant for unauthorised borrowings by reason of its standard terms and conditions. The Claimant accepted the same when the account was opened, including (in particular but without limitation) the following terms and conditions (which are summarised):

a. The Defendant's right to charge a "Paid Referral Fee" where the Defendant pays an amount (either by compulsion or election) which causes the account to become overdrawn - £30 per item (previously £25).

 

b. The Defendant's right to charge an administrative fee if any cheque, standing order or direct debit cannot be paid because of insufficient cleared funds in the account - £35 per item (previously £30).

 

c. The Defendant's entitlement, if the Claimant becomes overdrawn without an overdraft limit, to charge interest at the unauthorised borrowing rate on the excess balance.

3. The Defendant's standard terms and conditions give the Claimant a fair and transparent view of those terms and charges applicable for unauthorised borrowings (including where the account is overdrawn without an overdraft limit or where the Claimant exceeds his authorised overdraft limit).

 

4. If and to the extent it is the Claimant's case that the failure to make necessary payments and / or failure to remain within authorised overdraft limits failure to arrange an authorised overdraft constituted breach of the terms applying to the account and that the contractual entitlement to debt charges from the Claimant's account constitutes a liquidated damages clause, the same is denied. The charges constitute payments the Claimant agreed to make by reason of the terms and conditions of his account and were consideration for the Defendant advancing credit to the Claimant, which the Defendant was under no obligation to advance. The Defendant was entitled to impose such charges and interest when the Claimant incurred the overdraft.

 

5. Accordingly, it is denied that the legal principles relating to liquidated damages clauses and penalty charges are relevant or applicable to the facts set out above. Further or alternatively it is denied that any such charges constitute unlawful penalty charges or are in breach of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 or are in breach of the Unfair (Contracts) Terms Act 1977 (or any other provision), or are unreasonable within the meaning of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (or indeed any other provision).

 

6. Therefore, it is denied that the charges were unlawfully debited from the account.

 

7. If and to the extent the Claimant incurred charges on his account, this was caused by the Claimant having gone into overdraft without having agreed with the Defendant an authorised overdraft facility or to increase the overdraft facility and / or his failure to make payments to bring the balance of the account back into credit.

 

8. It is averred that the said charges and interest are and remain lawful and enforceable and that the Defendant was entitled to debit the same. Accordingly, the Claimant is not entitled to a declaration by the Court as to the enforceability of the said charges.

 

9. The Defendant denies that it is liable to the Claimant for the sums claimed and interest as pleaded by the Claimant or at all. In the alternative, which is denied, if the said charges amount to sums payable on breach of contract, it is averred that the charges asserted by the Claimant to have been applied to the account prior to 19 October 2000 would not be recoverable for reason of exhaustion of time in bringing contractual claims from the date of accrual, pursuant to the Limitation Act 1980.

 

10. In the alternative, and without prejudice to paragraph 6 above, if (which is denied) the said charges and interest or any part thereof are unlawful or unenforceable as alleged by the Claimant or at all, the Defendant has nonetheless suffered loss and damage as a consequence of the Claimant's breach of contract in allowing the account to go into unauthorised overdraft. Accordingly, in the event that the Defendant is unable to rely on its express entitlement to enforce the charges as set out at paragraphs 2 to 3 above, it will seek to recover to the extent necessary such loss and damage as it actually suffered, which will not necessarily be limited to the value of the said charges, and the Defendant seeks to set off such sums against any liability owed hereunder to the Claimant.

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I have a very limited knowledge of law and all these big words are making my head hurt! Are they basically saying that they were in their rights to charge me and that if I try to claim it back they will take it off the money I owe on my overdraft? If so, that's what I wanted to do anyway!

 

Can anyone advise me please?

 

Many thanks

Jamie :-|

[Welshman]

Hi Jamie. It's a typical scare tactic by Barclays. One which we've all had.

 

Fill in your AQ, attach a print out of the schedule including the 8% interest and submit. Your claim is for less than £1500 so there's no more to pay.

[jamie60509]

Bugger bugger bugger! I just realised something!!

 

All the letters that I sent to Barclays were saved on my PCs hard drive which decided to pack in a couple of weeks ago causing me to lose all my documents!

 

Does anyone think this would cause a problem? I hope my case hasn't been affected as I now cannot supply copies of letters sent etc.

 

Damn!

 

Jamie

[DaisyDay]

Is there no way that you can retreive your letters? You may be able to get some information from the harddrive.

 

However, I would suggest that you always keep at least one hard copy of each letter from now on. Saves this from happening again.

 

As for your immediate case I don't know. Sorry.

[jamie60509]

There's no way of getting them back - I looked into it.

 

I'm deffinately going to keep copies from now on but just wish I'd make back ups!!

[jamie60509]

After a quiet few weeks I received 2 letters out of the blue today. One saying that my case has been transferred to Cardiff County Court and another saying my case will be heard in Cardiff Civil Justice Centre by a Judge Hickinbottom on 26th March 2007 @10:30am

 

What does this mean? It says in the letter that I don't have to attend - will it have any negative effect if I don't attend? Has anybody else had one of these hearings?

 

I'm starting to get a bit panicked now!!

[Welshman]

Don't worry. It was prior to an allocation hearing at Cardiff that they settled with me. It's just a matter of time now.

 

Take the remaining time to prepare your bundles.

[melt]

Hi,

Have also received a letter saying that my case has been transferred from swansea to Cardiff on the 26th March at 10.30 - it is so good to hear that I am not on my own. This has been ongoing for months and I have been using the forum to find out as much info as possible but am absolutely clueless when it comes to posting new threads or finding specific information.

I have just sent 'Welshman' a message asking for help because he seems to know what he is doing.

 

I am going to phone Barclays to see if they are prepared to settle out of court and will let you know how I get on.

Don't worry if you don't hear from me for a while my second child was due yesterday so I may be away for a week or so!!

[jamie60509]

I was going to give them a call myself to see if they were prepared to settle but thought It'd be best if I waited a few days as I only received my letter yesterday - I'm planning on ringing them early next week, I'll let you all know how it goes

 

J

[jamie60509]

Ooh, one thing I forgot to ask...

 

Would I be able to add on interest that has been added to my account since I first filed the papers with the court?

[Welshman]

Ooh, one thing I forgot to ask...

 

Would I be able to add on interest that has been added to my account since I first filed the papers with the court?

 

Add interest? Do you mean more charges? If so, no - unless you want to pay a non-refundable £35 and delay your case.

[jamie60509]

Add interest? Do you mean more charges? If so, no - unless you want to pay a non-refundable £35 and delay your case.

 

Not charges, interest - as in interest that they charge me each month for being overdrawn

 

Jamie

[jamie60509]

I rang them on Friday and the woman I spoke to said that as they are dealing with so many claims at the moment, they will be getting in touch with me around 2 weeks before the court date to settle. I asked if they are deffinately going to settle and she said yes, they are settling with every valid case they get...

[dickeggsy]

everyone please note what was said on the last post THEY ARE GOING TO SETTLE EVERY CLAIM.

so every one carry on with your claim.hehe.