Barclay defending claim - help needed

[bren_01uk]

Hi everyone.

 

I filed my moneyclaim case a few weeks ago. My case was copied and pasted from the library section:

 

I had a contract with the defendant bank dated XXXX and which is conducted on their standard terms and conditions. I am claiming the return of money taken by the defendant in the way of charges over the last xx years plus the interest they have levied on those charges. The bank's charges are a disproportionate penalty and therefore unenforceable as they are contrary to common law. Further, as a disproportionate penalty they are invalid under the Unfair (Contracts) Terms Act 1977 s.4 and under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Para.8 and sch.2(1)(e). In the event that the charges are not a penalty then they are unreasonable within the meaning of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.15.

 

 

I am also claiming interest at 8%.

 

Barclays have now filed a defence, which is:

 

blah blah

 

2. The defendent is entitled to charge the claimant for the unauthorised borrowings by virtue of its standard terms and conditions, which the claimant accepted when the account was opened.

 

3. The terms and conditions which applied to this account would be:

i) "A paid referral fee is charged when you go above your paid referral buffer. You will not incur more than 3 fees within any monthly charging period". £25 per account per day.

ii) If you go overdrawn without agreement, or if you exceed your agreed limit we may return your cheques, standing orders or direct debits. £30 maximum per account per day.

iii) If you go overdrawn without an overdraft limit or exceed your overdraft limit, you will be charged interest at the unauthorised rate. The unauthorised interest rate will apply to the excess balance only. Additions accounts - 1.22% per month Typical 15.6% Equivalent annual rate (variable).

 

4. The charges and interest the claimant paid to the defendant when they incurred an overdraft were payments which, under the terms and conditions of her account, they agreed to make.

 

5. Such administrative costs were consideration for the defendant advancing further credit to the claimant. The defendant was under no obligation to advance the aforementioned further credit to the claimant, and was entitled to impose the charges when the claimant incurred the overdraft.

 

6. It is denied that the defendants charges are unenforcable. It is further denied that under the terms charges and interest were unlawfully debited from the claimants account.

 

7. In all the premieses, it is averred that the defendants charges are legally enforceable and the defendant was entitled to charge.

 

8. In the premises, it is denied that the charges or any such charges constitute unfair and/or unreasonable charges and it is denies that the legal principles governing the enforceability of liquidated damages clauses applies or is relevant to the charges, as alleged by the claimant.

 

 

 

Now my questions:

 

Is this a standard defence that other people get?

 

What on earth is the bit liquidated damages clauses about? I never mentioned anything like that in my case.

 

Now I have this defence, how do I go about filling in my allocation questionnaire? What should I be putting in it? Any extra case details? What should I be asking from the bank?

 

Thanks very much,

[BankFodder]

I am sorry to say that if you read the forum material and the FAQ then your question about what is liquidated damages would not arise.

 

As far as the allocation questionnaire goes very little of it applies to you. No you don't want experts. No you haven't sent any documents to the other side yet. No you don't want a waiting period (unless you want more time) etc.

 

I don't know if there's a standard defence you will have to look through the forum material. Anyway it is not a defence that poses much of a problem. In fact I can see one or two flaws and it any few go as far as the court then we will help you with it. I am sure that we have got useful information which has been collected from all the thousands of other users who have received letters and other documents from Barclays

[bren_01uk]

Hi there,

 

Thanks for the reply. I did try a search for liquidated, but got no matches, I think I was searching incorrectly - apologies.

 

What about the section on the the questionnaire entitled: 'Other information'? It says you should write in there any information you think should be supplied by the other party. Should I be asking for a detailed breakdown of charges? Actual cost to the bank of a DD return etc?

 

Thanks very much

[andrenasr]

Hi guys

 

can yo9u help me... I have had my statements arrive from Barclays today showing my charges . What do I do next - ?/ Could someone kindly let me know how i work out the interest and which letter i send now to ask for this back.

 

thanks

 

YOU'RE HIJACKING SOMEONE ELSE'S THREAD. PLS START YOUR OWN THREAD TO ASK YOUR QUESTION AND IT WILL GET ANSWERED THEN.

[jonni2bad]

You need to update your existing thread.... hijacking another one will not help you.

[icefall]

Hi there,

 

Thanks for the reply. I did try a search for liquidated, but got no matches, I think I was searching incorrectly - apologies.

 

What about the section on the the questionnaire entitled: 'Other information'? It says you should write in there any information you think should be supplied by the other party. Should I be asking for a detailed breakdown of charges? Actual cost to the bank of a DD return etc?

 

Thanks very much

 

when I filled in my questionnaire I left the other info bit blank, I was not sure of that bit either and asked another member who told me they had done the same, hope that is of use to you...

 

good luck!

[bren_01uk]

In the end I decided that since the section said that you should also put in there any information you think the other party should provide, I said that the bank should provide a full breakdown of the charging costs and a full breakdown of the charging process....

 

I hope I haven't messed it up?

[CrispDust]

How is you case going?

[Pillowatrick]

I, too, have found out that Barclays intends to defend the claim in full, and have duly received an Allocation Questionairre (and Transfer of Proceedings notification to my local court).

 

I am just in the process of completing the questionairre, when a few thoughts came to mind:

 

1. Should I state in the questionairre that I intend to bring evidence, in the form of OFT Reports/sound files (the latter found in templates), showing that the bank charges are disproportionate?

 

2. As Brent mentions, should I not ask for the bank to produce a beakdown of how the charges are calculated?

 

Surely the above would provide further ammunition against the bank?

[jonni2bad]

We are working on a form to give you guidance which will hopefully be in FAQs very soon. If you are getting too close to the deadline for responding to it, please PM BankFodder and he will help you out.

 

Don't do this unless you really are running out of time though, as he is incredibly busy, as I'm sure you can appreciate.

 

John

[bren_01uk]

This topic was closed on 10 March 2019.

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