Help! not sure if i can go ahead now

[merdoom]

Hello,

and sorry in advance if this is in the wrong place or has been asked before.

 

i started sorting out my claim in october last year, got the statements calculated how much i was charged and sent off the first letter to my bank, i recieved a standard reply from tsb saying they didnt agree it was unlawful and they would not consider the claim. this was a final answer.

 

Unfortunatly due to family issues i did not move onto the next step of lba and am wondering if i can still do it? the charges have kept up and if i were to move on the amount would now be more than the first letter.

 

can i still claim for the original amount i sent in my first complaint, should i start again or just give up!

 

Many thanks for your time, and good luck to everyone else!

 

em.

[rbrears]

Dont worry about the delay my friend. Just calculate the amount owing to you today and claim for that. You don't have to do another LBA. The reason for these is so that you have raised the issue and the amount is essentially irrelevant. The bank have told you to sod off - final answer. Your next step is to issue the claim for the amount you are owed - and that should be up to date at the date that you issue the claim.

 

And best of luck

[tunecookie]

You do need to do an LBA seeing as you never got to that stage before. Just adjust the figures as of todays date. 14 days after that start court action with figures as of that date. Unless of course they have paid up (in full) between those dates.

[rbrears]

No you dont need to do an LBA - if you have written to the bank suggesting that their charges are unlawful and asking for repayment that will suffice. They have refuted your suggestions and told you that this is their final response. An further letter saying you will sue if they dont pay is pointless now.

[Glenn UK]

I have to say that imho write the lba, if it comes to it the court will see you have been reasonable.

 

The defendant could suggest you had been unreasonable having left it so long without giving further warning as they would have settled.

 

Yeah I know its crap but whats the harm? 14 days delay max before submitting youyr claim.

 

 

JMHO

 

GLenn

[rbrears]

Defendant can say you've been unreasonable? With what result? If you seriously think the court will give a monkey's about whether an LBa was sent in the way you suggest it just shows that you know diddley about the way things work in the court system in the real world.

[paddym]

ok settle down people we try to stick to the tried aand trusted ways we have done this thus far !

Merdoom you say in your 1st post you started in october so that i assume was with your pre lim letter requesting them to refund your charges ? you got a standard fob off letter then due to unforseen circumstances you never followed it up ? well now your back and raring to go although you have got more charges ? my advice to you is add your new charges to your original total type up your LBA send this along with your speadsheet of charges allowing them 14 days to reply after the 14 days issue them with your court papers and take it from ther hope this clarifies the situation some what for you any other problems just post here and some one of us will be along to offer you help or advice no panic my friend your still on course you dictate the speed this claim is to proceed nobody else good luck !

[thecornflake]

I can see both points about the LBA, however I think if the bank have absolutely said they will not consider paying you anything I think that would justify missing out the LBA step. If it came to it in court I think that would be justified as you being fair and reasonable. Especially with the time lapsed since you sent the prelim.

 

However I think this would only be an option if their reply categorically stated there was no way they were going to consider settling.

 

I've used 'I think' a lot here as I'm probably not as knowledgeable about the court system as either rbrears or Glenn.

 

If you're not fussed about another 14 days I'd play it safe and send the LBA just in case.

[Glenn UK]

No you dont need to do an LBA - if you have written to the bank suggesting that their charges are unlawful and asking for repayment that will suffice. They have refuted your suggestions and told you that this is their final response. An further letter saying you will sue if they dont pay is pointless now.

 

Thats very kind of you to say so rbears, why not give us the benifit of your advice then and explain why there is no risk and that the methods tried and tested should be sacrificed for the sake of 14days?

 

Bearing in mind, as you say i know diddly squat about the courts, although i have heard about one or two banks trying every tick in the book to get claims struck out or to cause the claimant greif by making them submit further info and make amendments.

 

What the courts are interested in is to see that a genuine effort has been made on the part of the claimants to reach a settlement. It may be that the court wont give a damn, it really depends on the judge, what side of the bed he or she got out of, and how the rest of their day has gone i suspect.

 

So the OP must do as they feel fit.

 

If you have some special knowledge then please let us have it rather than being vitriolic because someone has dared to put a counter argument.

 

GLenn

[rbrears]

Ok Glen - didnt mean to be vitriolic and I withdraw the remark - was a bit worse for wear when I posted.

 

But it is clearly sensible where the bank have considered your request for repayment of the charges and given a no response and stated that this is final and they will not further correspond on the matter that someone doesnt waste their time, paper and a further 14 days on another letter asking for repayment, stating that the charges are unlawful and threatening to issue proceedings to recover them.

 

In my experience no judge would criticise a litigant in person for pursuing the claim after the final response from the bank. The bank aren't seriously going to make an issue of it by writing to the court to complain that after they'd given the claimant a final response he didn't then write to them again. If I remember rightly the initial letter mentions that a letter before action will follow if no repayment is forthcoming and that proceedings will be issued thereafter - so why repeat this when there is clearly absolutely no point in doing so?

[thecornflake]

If I remember rightly the initial letter mentions that a letter before action will follow if no repayment is forthcoming and that proceedings will be issued thereafter - so why repeat this when there is clearly absolutely no point in doing so?

 

I owuld have said then that if you're going to do this if they give final refusal then you should omit that part of the letter. You can still send an LBA if you want but if you've stated in the prelim that you will send an LBA I think you should honour that.

[Glenn UK]

Rbrears, don't worry we all get a bit prickly or whatever at times, no offence taken.

 

I think that the attitude i have taken with my claims is that i am giving the banks as little chance to criticise me for procedural issues as much as possible.

 

You could be entirely right and the court would probably tell the banks to go forth and multiply if they tried to raise it as an issue.

 

Its me just being an old woman.

 

Glenn

[tunecookie]

My point is we have all read & understood the 'best way of 'doing' it! why change that now?

[reidnet]

I would follow the tried and tested procedures, You know how slippery the banks are getting and I would not take the risk of letting them try and get out of any claim.

 

You cant afford to cut corners, if we all did that then the banks could start to seriously challenge claims for not giving reasonable times etc to settle complaints.

 

The site has worked long and hard to establish a tried and tested route to recover these charges, so please dont risk taking short cuts.

 

Ian

[merdoom]

thanks for all the advice, i am not to worried about the time involved(have waited six years!) so re did the schedule and sent lba.

better to be safe than sorry i guess,

thanks again everyone!!

[JonCris]

HI merdoom

 

Send your LBA as some have suggested (it does no harm but could if you don't) but in it refer to their 1st refusal whilst asking them to confirm that that is still their position. Give them 14 days to respond