About to begin court proceedings.

[peonyqueen]

Hi! I'm not very good at this- bit of a techno phobe but my fear of actually taking Abbey to court has helped me to overcome the computer fear!:o

I am claiming £3969.85 from Abbey and have today received a letter from them offering me a big fat "goodwill gesture" of £775.00!

Firstly I am a bit concerned as I get confused as to the procedure and sent the spreadsheet including interest with my first letter. Does anybody know if this matters greatly?

Secondly, any idea as to how long it takes for a date to come through for the hearing if they are stubborn enough to let it go that far? I don't want to rush it obviously but at the same time I could really do with that money to fund my studies so that I am no longer in a position where I might go over my overdraft limit!!

And finally, I could really do with a buddy but I had a bit of a problem when I tried to get one (told you I was no good with this computer lark!) so if anybody out there would be prepared to hold my hand through this I would really appreciate it! :?

Thanks,

Peony Queen.

[bish]

Hi peony Queen,

 

Well done for overcoming your fears and welcome to the forum, there are plenty of people to hold your hand. Obviosly have a good read of the library and FAQ's. I would write back and accept the £775 as partial settlement of your claim, include another schedule of charges adjusted to take account of the £775 and reitterate request for full repayment of charges. The interest you refer to, is this interest due to the charges or the 8% you can claim when you take court action.

As to hearing dates, I would allow at least 3 months from when you start your claim. Some can be longer than others, started mine in June, still no closer to the hearing date. All I can say is that abbey will drag it out as long as possible, and probably all the way to the court date. On the up side this gives you time to prepare. You can find all the relevant info in the library section, have a good read, and the best of luck.

 

Regards bish.

[peonyqueen]

Thanks bish, I'll take your advice and send an amended schedule of charges. So do I carry on putting the interest on as my spreadsheet automatically calculates the interest for you so every time I go into it, the amount has increased. Shall I send this or copy and paste the original amount for now, minus the £775?

I am truly grateful for this by the way, I don't feel so alone now- I put this off for about a year as I was too afraid to take them on single-handed! Thanks!

[Glenn UK]

Personnally i wouldnt amend the schedule, the GOGW is just that, when they settle you can subtract the money they have paid from the balance due at that time.

 

If its a refund of charges then they need to tell you which ones so you can adjust your schedule properly.

 

JMHO

 

Glenn

[bish]

Hi

 

You could do as Glen suggests, however abbey could only argue that they were the most recent charges that have been refunded. I received my GOGW after issuing my claim in court, I then wrote to the court and informed them that I had accepted the money as partial settlement. It is up to you realy, you have not gone to court yet so it may be better to ammend your schedule now so that it is correct ready for issuing court action.

If the interest you refer to is increasing daily this is the section 69 8% interest that you claim once you issue court proceedings. You do not send this amount in your initial aproach to abbey for repayment of charges, so amending the schedule now may be the best approach. I am not sure what spreadsheet you are using, but for now you only need to send the charges less the GOGW if you want to deduct it. If you put the date you received it and enter it as -750.00 the spreadsheet should deduct it and alter the interest.

The only interest you can put at the prelim stage is interest that was a direct result of the charges. This interest is shown on your original statements and relates to the interest you pay for being in overdraft or for exceeding the overdraft etc. A certain amount of that interest is due to the charges, so you can claim it back.

I think every one feels as you do and have about taking court action. Just stick with it, its a hard slogg but worth it. HTH.

 

Regards bish.

[Glenn UK]

Hi

 

You could do as Glen suggests, however abbey could only argue that they were the most recent charges that have been refunded.

 

Bish

 

im curious to understand what makes you say that about the charges that a gogw could/should be applied to?

 

I know many have said similar things, but if i was the defendant i would argue they should have been applied to the oldest charges for obvious reasons especially where contractual interest is being claimed.

 

For this reason I have been coming to the conlcusion that unless the defendant specifies that the money is for a refund of charges then it is a matter for the courts to decide what its status is, if it gets that far.

 

As an aside, if they sent a gesture of goodwill consisting of something of a non monetary form, say a bunch of flowers, how would you deal with that? I dont suppose for one minute that anyone would amend their cliam, not becuase the flowers didnt have a value but because they would recieve it as a gesture.

 

Just because its moeny i dont believe its status is any different, its 'like a bottle of scotch given to you at xmas'.

 

JMHO

 

GLenn

[bish]

Hi Glenn

 

The reason I say this is because I noticed on my statement that it said refund of charge or along those lines not GOGW as it said in the letter. Also I received mine after taking court action, so claiming interest and 8% s69 interest on charges. They could well argue that these were earlier charges, but would then have to refund you the interest incured due to those charges. You are correct in what you say, I was just trying to avoid any pitfalls further down the line. They have previously made settlement offers then deducted the GOGW from the 50% or 75% offer. Assuming they are the most recent charges does not loose you to much 8% interest on the interest. I did not deduct the GOGW from my claim as it came after I had filed the N1, I just informed the court, as you should if you receive any payments. My schedule for the court bundle will show it though. I don't think it really matters when you do it, just that any settlement is going to include the GOGW.

It would be perhaps an argument to get it in court, if you refuse to deduct the GOGW from your claim and take your stance Glenn, not sure I have the bottle for that though.

 

Regards bish.