Some help please!?

[Fairycakes]

I have today received a letter from First Direct offering £1804 as full and final settlement against my £2179.00 claim. The deadline after the lba was today, so I was going to proceed with my claim.

 

What should I do, should I file a claim with the courts anyway or send the standard letter back to them, saying that I except it but as part payment and then give them another 14 days to respond to it? As they have hit the deadline, should I send the letter, or ignore it? I would like to get all of it back if I can, as I feel I'm entitled to all of it and there's another £375.00 to come yet.

 

Sorry but I'm not sure what's best at this stage and whether to go ahead and file a claim with the courts or whether I should give them another chance and send the letter of rejection but extend the timescales?

 

Any advice would really help me! thanks!!!!

[dubliner10]

Hi Fairycakes,

 

As much as this advice helps, if it was my money I would stick to my guns and go the whole hog. If you went to Tesco and they overcharged you £375 you wouldn't let it lie (sorry Vic Reeves!), so why should you let a bunch of gits like FD have your cash. I've just started out against them and intend to go to court if I need to.

 

Good luck

 

Dubliner

[Fairycakes]

Hi Dubliner

 

Yes absolutely I agree with you 100%. I just don't know whether I should send a letter now giving them another 14 days to respond for the full amount or skip that and just file a claim with the courts.

 

The deadline was today, so not sure whether I should just forget the letter and go straight for the claim.

 

Good luck with your claim!

[Fairycakes]

Well I've decided to go ahead with the claim and ignore the letter from FD. Think it's best to stick to the deadlines.

 

However, I am absolutely terrified of what I'm getting myself into. I've been reading through the site for months but still don't feel I really know what I'm doing once I submit the court claim. I have to get a court bundle together and all these things seem to be worrying me as I have no idea what I'm doing!! I've also seen posts about an AQ and other things!?!

 

Does anyone have any advice to give? any help would be appreciated as I am rather confused about everything at the moment!

[Roen]

If it's any help FD offer to me was about £300 short and I sent them a letter accepting part payment and asking for the rest. That was Thursday and today I received a offer for the whole amount.

You could get them an additional 7 days to give you all your money.

[Fairycakes]

Thanks very much for the response. I've taken your advice and sent another letter. If I don't hear in 7 days I will file the claim.

 

Congratulations on your claim for the full amount, that's really good news

[Fairycakes]

Nothing heard from FD so I am now just about to file a claim online and go for the whole lot - interest included....

[dubliner10]

Good luck Fairy, I'm watching with interest. I'll probably go the same road. Keep the faith

[Fairycakes]

Hi Dubliner10, thanks! I've been putting the particulars of claim together and feel I'm doing well with it. I'm not rushing it, I'm just researching what others have done and then I can make sure I have a very good claim. I'm more determined than ever now and will make sure they pay back every single penny...

 

Good luck with your claim!

[Fairycakes]

Filed my claim and received a notice that the defendant has filed an acknowledgment of service. FD are going to defend all of the claim. Pretty much what I expected to be honest. It says they have 28 days to file a defence.

[dubliner10]

Hi Fairycakes,

 

Have to file my claim if I don;t hear from them in the next week.

Did you use MCoL and if so was it relatively easy?

 

Have stashed away my £120 for the fee.

 

Dub

[Fairycakes]

Hi Dubliner10

 

No, I didn't use MCOL. Not sure if it was only me but I had real problems with it and it was driving me totally mad! So, I used the N1 claim form instead and attached my schedule of charges. I found it so much easier to be honest. It's a more detailed claim than what you would put on MCOL as you are limited to the amount of characters you can use online which makes it a bit tricky.

 

There's a standard template you can use for the N1 form and I just sent a cheque off with 2 copies of the form. I got a notice of issue from the courts a couple of days later. It was all quite simple! (so far anyway!!)

 

So good luck with filing your claim. It's all very nerve racking isn't it but we've come this far now and we're entitled to all of our money back! You never know, they may pay up before you have to file a claim. Although I have to say, it seems they're doing all they can not to pay up early!

 

Fairycakes

[Fairycakes]

I've received my notice of issue from the courts and the bank has until the 19th feb to reply. I haven't heard anything at all from them and the deadline is Monday.

 

As I haven't had anything in the post today, I thought it's unlikely that I will get anything Monday. Has anyone else had this with FD solicitors? I must admit, I thought I would atleast hear something, ie receive an acknowledgement of service or something but so far there's been nothing!

[Fairycakes]

oh dear! ignore the above I was in a muddle!!! They have already filed an acknowledgement of service so I will have to wait....must be all that wine I had last night!

[:Boy:]

Not to worry, you will be OK.

 

They will more than likely cough up soon. You will more than likely have to do a AQ (costs an extra £100 normally, but you will get this back) and then they settle. Out of all my cases I have done, Abbey were the only one that went to a Court Bundle stage, and they settled on Thursday (that claim was started in June 2006, my longest claim!)

 

Don't worry, and just wait for your money!

[Fairycakes]

Help please!

 

I've had a letter from DG Solicitors today, offering a refund of the money and all the 8% interest (well, all of the claim bar £30). However, they have put the following paragraph in:

 

'That payment is made in full and final settlement of your claims arising from the charges applied to your account in the period referred to above and by accepting this payment you agree not to make any other claims relating to charges for the period stipulated above blar blar blar...

 

What worries me is the bit about 'not making another other claims relating to charges in that period'. A request has already gone off for the statements on 2 other accounts at FD, so this would have an impact.

 

What should I do? Send a letter back saying I accept the offer in full and final settlement on that account only?

 

Can anyone help with this please? The deadline for the solicitors to defend the claim or pay up is this Tuesday and this letter was received today.

[Michael Browne]

offering a refund of the money and all the 8% interest (well, all of the claim bar £30).

Does this include court fees? If so and you want to accept the offer you can send your own acceptance letter (amend as you want0

 

Date

Dear Whoever

Ref: Your Offer of Settlement

 

Account: xxxxxxxx

Sort Code xx-xx-xx

Claim No: XXXXX in XXXX County Court

 

I acknowledge receipt of your letter date xx/xx/xx and your settlement offer of £XXX

 

I accept your offer as full and final settlement only for this claim of bank charges made on my account between xx/xx/xx and xx/xx/xx(dates of first and last charge)

 

I accept this offer without prejudice and I reserve the right to make any further claims should you apply future charges that may be considered unlawful under common law or in violation of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 or Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

 

I will be willing to withdraw my claim and will send a Notice of Discontinuance to the Court upon receipt of unconditional full settlement of my claim

 

I am also not prepared to agree to any confidentiality clauses you try to impose, unless of course your client wishes to make an offer of due consideration in addition to the amount of £xxxxx, in order to be afforded this privilege by myself.

 

I trust that you will find this arrangement acceptable.

 

Yours Sincerely

[Fairycakes]

Hello Michael, many thanks for your help with this.

 

Yes, the money they offered was the penalty charges plus interest plus court costs and the amount they have offered only falls short by £30.

 

Thank you very much for that letter I will send that off. However, I am unsure about the last paragraph and the charge for the confidentiality issue? Should I put this and how much!?

 

Thanks again!

[Michael Browne]

I am also not prepared to agree to any confidentiality clauses you try to impose, unless of course your client wishes to make an offer of due consideration in addition to the amount of £xxxxx,(this is the amount of the settlement offer, not an amount for your confidentiality) in order to be afforded this privilege by myself.

[Fairycakes]

OOPS! of course! Thanks Michael very much for all your help. I am getting the letter ready now.

 

Just out of interest, if I don't hear back from them early next week, should I contact the courts? Their deadline to defend is Tuesday?

 

Many thanks again

[Fairycakes]

Success!! I'm over the moon to say the least...I've just come back from a very nice weekend away to find a letter from DG solicitors and payment in my bank account for the full amount plus interest.

 

Many thanks to everyone for their help and advice. I will most certainly be donating to this fantastic site!

 

Now for a glass of wine or two and on to the next claim

 

Good luck to everyone who's claiming back their bank charges!

 

Cheers!!!!

[Michael Browne]

Excellent!!

 

Please complete the bank survey……….cheers for the donation.

 

See here for advice after settlement:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/7261-when-you-get-your.html

 

Please PM a Mod with details of your settlement for the Litigation Concluded forum

 

Congratulations. Enjoy the dosh!!!

[Tiffla]

Well done Fairycakes, brilliant result!!