Claims over £5,000

[Soutie]

I contacted the forum about a month ago to say that I was helping a friend to claim back the bank charges over the last 6 years that have effectively forced her to close her small shop.

We received the first lot of statements from one of the banks last week (I won't say which one until I know more about her chances in this case).

So far I have worked out the charges for 01,02 and 03, and it stands at just over £8,000, so it's fair to say that the final figure is going to be over £10,000.

At no time in this period was she more than £3,000 overdrawn, sometimes agreed, sometimes not. It was as if the bank waited for the slack periods then pulled away the overdraft facility (it's a seasonal business and the high periods more than make up for the low).

Now that the total is going to be above the Small Claims threshold how do we go about chasing them for the money. We don't want to let them get away with all of this money by settling for less that £5,000 because getting this back could help the business back on it's feet, and pay off some of the outstanding debts that have accrued.

Any advice about this will be greatly appreciated.

[GaryH]

The procedure is no different at all - it just means your claim will (probably) be allocated to the fast track. With that carries a slight theoretical costs risk, but also some benefits too. Many claimants have been successful with claims as large as yours, or in some cases even larger.

[PhantomReclaimer]

I contacted the forum about a month ago to say that I was helping a friend to claim back the bank charges over the last 6 years that have effectively forced her to close her small shop.

We received the first lot of statements from one of the banks last week (I won't say which one until I know more about her chances in this case).

So far I have worked out the charges for 01,02 and 03, and it stands at just over £8,000, so it's fair to say that the final figure is going to be over £10,000.

At no time in this period was she more than £3,000 overdrawn, sometimes agreed, sometimes not. It was as if the bank waited for the slack periods then pulled away the overdraft facility (it's a seasonal business and the high periods more than make up for the low).

Now that the total is going to be above the Small Claims threshold how do we go about chasing them for the money. We don't want to let them get away with all of this money by settling for less that £5,000 because getting this back could help the business back on it's feet, and pay off some of the outstanding debts that have accrued.

Any advice about this will be greatly appreciated.

 

As far as I'm aware the thresholds for the track allocation are only guidance. You can still ask for it to be kept in small claims and the judge may agree as the legal issues at stake are not particularly unusual. Penalties are long settled law and the Courts are used to dealing with them.

 

P.

[Soutie]

Thank you GaryH and PhantomReclaimer.

You have put my mind at ease and I shall carry on adding up the next 3 years.

Hopefully the bank will receive the initial claim in the Christmas week. That should cheer them up!

I'll put the final amount of the claim on here when I've totalled up.

Thanks

[PhantomReclaimer]

Thank you GaryH and PhantomReclaimer.

You have put my mind at ease and I shall carry on adding up the next 3 years.

Hopefully the bank will receive the initial claim in the Christmas week. That should cheer them up!

I'll put the final amount of the claim on here when I've totalled up.

Thanks

 

Your other course of action would be to try and negotiate a partial settlement with the bank to get the amount under 15K thereby avoiding the multi-track route and suing for the balance later on.

 

P.

[Glenn UK]

Something worth bearing in mind, is that if you wish to limit your liability in terms of potential costs, then you would need to keep the claim in fast or small claims track.

 

As you are aware I'm sure costs are generally not available in small claims and with some exceptions, are limited to 750 in fast track.

 

If your claim were to be suitable for allocation to multi track i.e. above £15K, then any and all costs can be awarded should you loose your claim. This is bad, very bad because when i say any and all i mean just that, so its obviously something worth thinking about.

 

Re the value of your claim theres a CPR rule, cant remember the number offhand, but it basically says that for the purposes of allocation to track that interest is not considered. This seems quite straight forward, however, i had information from a judge where this wasn't highlighted and then further info from a former solicitor who told me their view was that this was aimed entirely at Sec 69 interest and not contractual interest.

 

So with this claim being in the region you mention i presume without interest you have some issues to address before deciding on the direction you wish to take.

 

You will no doubt get told you can split your claim to keep it below the £5K threshold and you can indeed do this. However, if you don't have a good reason to do this then any subsequent claims may be at risk from a claim of vexatious litigation i believe.

 

JMHO

 

Glenn

[Soutie]

So can I assume that if the claim is kept between £5,000 and £15,000, without splitting, liabilities will be kept to a minimum, and the claim could still possibly be dealt with in Small Claims?

 

S

[Glenn UK]

Soutie

 

As others have said the values often quoted in relation to track allocation are for the guidance of the courts and therefore in theory at least claims significantly outside of the thresholds could be allocated to a higher or lower track.

 

As far as I have seen there have been cases where claims have been 'up' or 'down' graded dependant on the judge doing the allocation.

 

However, if the claim naturally falls within a particular track then you can ask if the claim is allocated to a higher track that the costs rules of the 'right' track are adopted.

 

I have seen claims where this has happened.

 

All in all the decision about the size of the claim and hence the track you aim are up to you.

 

You can of course put the claim in for the full amount and argue for small claims based on the straight forward nature of the claim.

 

I was told by a judge that if i didn't like the track my claim was allocated to based on its value ie if it was allocated to multi track, i could apply to reduce the claim below the 15K threshold. However, there is no obligation on the part of the courts to allow this even though i understand its unlikely they would refuse to allow the amendment.

 

HTH

 

Glenn

[Soutie]

Thanks for that Glenn,

I've just come up with the final figure, £13,750.

I've done a cumulative comparison of the totals of the bank charges/overdraft. Amazing! Apart from the first couple of entries back in 2001, at no time did the amount of the overdraft catch up with the cumulative bank charges. So, the bank kept her in the red, and battling to keep her head above water, to the detriment of her business and her health.

And they do sleep at night!

 

S

[Glenn UK]

Dont forget contractual interest as well!

 

Glenn

[steelmouse]

I have bank charges going back to when I was 18 and at the time there were apparently no restriction on number of charges per day/ per month so they were really high, getting the statements down from the loft, thankfully i'm a horder! Had to take a loan out to pay them off to get them off my back- by their recommendation, great start to being an adult, still paying it all now as a result!