deevs v HSBC - MCOL Help

[deev]

Hi,

 

I was after a bit of advice regarding the MCOL. I did my MCOL on November 29th and claim was acknowledged on 5th December by DG Solicitors, where they stated that they intended to defend the whole of the claim. I sent a copy of the schedule of charges to the court relating to the claim and a copy to DG Solicitors when I received the acknowledgement. However I haven't heard a dickie bird since & am now getting a bit worried!!! I received a letter from Colin Langdale on 22nd December saying that he hadn't quite completed a full investigation into the charges and we would hear from him by 4th January - which has confused me no end as I thought everything was now in the hands of DG?

I wanted to know if anyone else has had this.

Also, when checking the MCOL it says that this claim cannot proceed online and will be transferred to the appropriate court - is this normal? - as I thought that after the 28 days were up I could enter default judgement - or have I got it all wrong!!!!! Please help!

 

Deevs:confused:

[claire78]

OK, no problem deevs

 

It's perfectly normal procedure for the MCOL to transfer the case to your local court after the defendant has filed a defence. Don't worry about it. Basically everything that is happening in your claim is standard for DG.

 

Ignore the letter from HSBC, they may not be aware that you have issued proceedings.

 

You just need to wait for DG to contact you and make you an offer

[deev]

Thanks claire,

 

I was beginning to think that mine might be the 'test case' that we're all in fear of!!! don't suppose you know how long I have to wait to hear from DG & if there is a time scale on this now that they have entered a defence before the 28 days were up?

 

deevs

 

Deevs

[steve_n]

It is 'standard' practice to enter a defence - it buys them more time, 28 days to be precise !!

You shouldn't expect to hear a 'dickie bird' until the 23rd hour, and then if they follow their usual pattern you will receive a letter either making a partial or full 'offer' check this carefully !!! you will then be running around writing the acceptance, and preparing your AQ - if you listen carefully to the wind you may just hear DG laughing !!!!

 

But what ever happens DON'T suspend your action against them until the money is firmly in your account !!!

 

And if you do havve to submit your AQ you will add another £100 to the total !

 

Good luck

[deev]

Well today I received my AQ in the post - I have until 16th Jan to return it so am trying to hold off until after payday next week before I fill it in and return it to the local court....fingers crossed they make an offer before I send it off to the court with the £100 fee! trouble is that they paid me my full amount (and it was all for exceeding my overdraft) on my single account - this is for my joint account and is solely for exceeding my overdraft - a few months ago so if it ever did go to court then it's not going to look very consistent for them to have paid me for one account and not the other!!!! Just a matter of waiting now I guess (will send the AQ off in a week or so).....

[steve_n]

The reasons why the charges have been applied is irrelevant - they are still punitive charges !!

So am I correct in thinking this is your 2nd claim against HSBC ?

 

You would be wise to have another account with another bank up and running, just in case they close down on you, it has been known in the past when submitting a 2nd attempt !!

[deev]

I do have another account up and running just in case they do decide to close the accounts down - although about a month ago they asked if we wanted to upgrade our account to a plus account - so who knows what they'll do?

This is my second claim (although in fairness this one's in my husbands name and the first was in my name) against HSBC, the first one was for about £750 which they offered me in full about 3 days after the LBA was up - and before I filed the MCOL. They're dragging their feet with this one though - they offered me £910 on a claim of £1150 about 2 days after the MCOL had been done...

 

They're saying this about the claim:

1.the claimant account is governed by the defendants personal and or business banking terms and conditions

2.Pursuant to the defendants terms and conditions the defendant is entitled to make a charge for its services as set out in the defendants price list, including an overdraft review fee for considering whether to provide and providing an overdraft

3.the defendant denies that the charges applied to the claimants account amount to penalties at common law and/or unfair contract terms for the purposes of the UTCCRs

4.The charges applied to the claimants account are reasonable and are properly and fully disclosed in the defendants terms and conditions and published price list. The charges represent the contractually agreed price for the services provided and the UTCCRs are not applicable to them....Further the charges are not default charges and, accordingly cannot amount to a penalty.

 

Has anyone else had this defence by HSBC?

[deev]

Well, got some good news in the post today - a letter from DG with a full offer!!! I have to admit that I was starting to get a bit nervous as today was my deadline for having to send off the AQ papers to the local court.

 

I actually found it rather amusing because in the letter that DG send they spout something about it being an ex gratia payment which must be kept confidential and they also say that they are confident that if it went to court they would defend successfully, blah blah blah, and they (this is the bit that really made me laugh!) then went on to say that if I managed my financial affairs better then it wouldn't have come to this and that I should check the terms and conditions set out by HSBC...I felt like a child being told off by a teacher! Oh well, all that matters is that I have a cheque for just over £1500 coming to me in the not to distant future - Yay!!!

 

Does anyone know if I need to let the court know that I won't be proceeding with the case or do I just need to ignore the AQ papers and send the DG letter back accepting the offer??

 

Deev

[lateralus]

have you had your money yet, deev?

yes, you should let the court know. here's a link:

: When You Get Your Refund

and you can pm blueskies vbmenu_register("postmenu_254163", true); to move your thread to successes

 

congrats again and spend wisely.

[deev]

Refund is in the bank!!!! I have phoned the court to let them know (they said to wait until it was in my account just to be on the safe side) & have posted it in writing to them as well....

[lateralus]

now that's good news!