General form of judgement or order??

[araynick]

Reclaiming charges on behalf of my partner. Firstly the court was changed to our local court (another cost of £100.00). Allocation questionnaire returned to Court, have now received a General Form of Judgement or Order, really not sure what this means, reads as follows:

 

"To Claimant's Solicitor

 

"Before District Judge ...... sitting at ..... Court

 

Upon both parties filing allocation questionnaires

 

IT IS ORDERED THAT

The action be stayed until 21st April 2007 or until further order on the basis that there is a possibility of a test case before a Higher Court within the next few months the result of which is likely to reduce the need and/or amount of litigation in these type of cases:the stay will afford the parties an opportunity to try and settle the matter without a court hearing.

 

Liberty to apply to remove stay.

 

File to be referred back to the District Judge by 5th May 2007.

 

order was made on the District Judge's own initiative to CPR Part 23.8. If you object to the terms of the order you make an application to the court to have it set aside, varied or stayed within 7 days of receiving it pursuant to CPR Part 23.10

 

21 February 2007."

 

Any one know what do I do from here and what does this mean?

 

Also Abbey have cancelled his overdraft facility and have passed his account to a debt management recovery service, can they do this?

 

Any help much appreciated.

[Mad Nick]

araynick, can't say I know much about it, but this is where to look :

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mercantile-court-cases-stays/

Regards, Mad Nick

[pmahonc]

Could this be in atticipation of the oft declaration thats supposed to come out in April? .

 

pmahonc

[Mad Nick]

pmahonc, Yes you're right, I obviously hadn't read it properly.

 

araynick, ignore my post.

 

Regards, Mad Nick

[araynick]

Thanks for your ideas, anyway rang the court today to clarify, thought that was probabbly my best approach and basically they said that as there are so many of these cases the Judge recommends that the claimant tries to sort it out with the defendant, in this case before the 21st April 2007, should neither party contact each other during this period then the Judge will set a date for the hearing, unless there is a test case during this time and then I guess this will set the president for future claims. So should we contact the Abbey and try to come to an arrangement, like accepting to pay £12.00 per charge or just sit it out, obviously the Abbey aren't going to push this are they, they'll be quite happy to sit back and wait. As I said this account is now in the hands of Debt Recovery Services so my partners in a situation where he needs to sort this out. I didn't think the Abbey could put this to debt recovery as we have a claim with them. Any suggestions as to where I go from here would be very gratefully received.

[Glenn UK]

IMHO

 

I wold write to the court asking that they lift the stay on same basis that has been listed before, prob in the link Nick posted.

 

The stay only benifits the defendant and they will not enter into meaningfull negotiations i expect.

 

Its up to you.

 

JMHO

 

Glenn

[araynick]

OK thanks, I guess this is the epic template (application for removal of stay) do you know if there is a fee for doing this as have just paid another £100.00 for change of Court, which they've banked. Also any ideas on what I can do re: the Debt recovery, Abbey are still obviously charging huge amounts of non -authorised overdraft interest on this account, should I write to the debt recovery explaining the situation and can this non overdraft interest be persued as well?? Thanks

[Glenn UK]

If you havent already you should write specifically to them telling them the account is in dispute.

 

Its often said that sending them a SAR/prelim or whatever registers a dispute.

 

IMHO it doesnt, once in dispute they shouldnt take any enforcement action until that dispute is resolved.

 

HTH

 

Glenn

[araynick]

Can I ask Abbey at this point to freeze any further charges on this account due to the fact that this is now in dispute????

 

Thanks again.

[Glenn UK]

araynick

 

I think you have to formaly dispute the account, what they do is then up to them, no harm in asking.

 

The banking code can be found online i know sec 13.6 deals with accounts in dispute but not sure if it suggests they shouldnt add interest or charges to disputed accounts.

 

HTH

 

Glenn

[araynick]

OK, Have decided to write to the Abbey - like you say no harm in asking, have written as follows:

 

"To The Abbey Bank,

 

Ref .................

 

With reference to the above account, I have today written & e-mailed Debt Management and Recovery Services Ltd., requesting that no further action be taken on this account as it is in dispute, I have also asked them to confirm receipt of this letter and also to confirm that nothing has at present been registered with any credit reference agencies.

 

You are obviously aware that this is now in hands of ……..County Court, - Claim No: ……… I have received from ………. County Court a General Form of Judgement or Order, ordering a stay on this claim, which I have today asked to be removed and that the case be allowed to proceed.

 

With regard to the interest still being charged on this account I now request that you do not apply any more interest to this account on the amount in dispute being £.....00 + interest and that any amounts of interest that have been applied to my account for this amount be refunded.

 

Please confirm receipt of this letter along with your comments.

 

Yours faithfully"

 

 

I will be very suprised if I even get a reply, let alone my requests actioned but thought if I mentioned that I had applied to have the stay removed it might just kick them into action - I live in hope !!!!!!!!!!!

[Glenn UK]

OK, Have decided to write to the Abbey - like you say no harm in asking, have written as follows:

 

"To The Abbey Bank,

 

Ref .................

 

Dispute Registration (or something)

 

With reference to the above account, I have today written & e-mailed Debt Management and Recovery Services Ltd., requesting that no further action be taken on this account as it is in dispute, I have also asked them to confirm receipt of this letter and also to confirm that nothing has at present been registered with any credit reference agencies.

 

You are obviously aware that this is now in hands of ……..County Court, - Claim No: ……… I have received from ………. County Court a General Form of Judgement or Order, ordering a stay on this claim, which I have today asked to be removed and that the case be allowed to proceed.

 

With regard to the interest still being charged on this account I now request that you do not apply any more interest to this account on the amount in dispute being £.....00 + interest and that any amounts of interest that have been applied to my account for this amount be refunded.

 

Please confirm receipt of this letter along with your comments.

 

Yours faithfully"

 

 

I will be very surprised if I even get a reply, let alone my requests actioned but thought if I mentioned that I had applied to have the stay removed it might just kick them into action - I live in hope !!!!!!!!!!!

 

I would head the letter up with something in large bold letters ensuring there is no mistake what this letter is about.

 

Make sure you send the letter recorded too.

 

It may have no effect but it just might. I know others have said being in dispute makes no difference but historically i don't think people have actually written to this effect but just relied on the fact they are reclaiming charges as a means of instigating a dispute. IMHO it has to be a specific letter to count.

 

good luck and i hope it helps

 

Glenn

[araynick]

Thanks again, have done a little delving and so have edited the above to read as follows;- (thought it might sound as though I know what I'm talking about -lol)

 

"To The Abbey Bank,

Ref

 

With reference to the above account, I have today written & e-mailed Debt Management and Recovery Services Ltd., requesting that no further action be taken on this account as it is in dispute, I have also asked them to confirm receipt of this letter and also to confirm that nothing has at present been registered with any credit reference agencies.

 

I believe I am right in referring to Section 13.6 of the banking code, which states that if an account is in dispute then you cannot pass this on to a credit reference agency or debt recovery service. I consider this matter to be a serious breech of the banking code and data protection act and I now require you to remedy this situation by

 

a) recalling the debt from (The Clangers Debt Recovery)

b) removing any reference you may have made to any credit reference agencies

c) informing me in writing within 7 days that you have actioned my requests.. If not then I will make a formal complaint under the Banking Code and to the Information Commissioner.

 

You are obviously aware that this is now in hands of ……..County Court, - Claim No: ……… I have received from ………. County Court a General Form of Judgement or Order, ordering a stay on this claim, which I have today asked to be removed and that the case be allowed to proceed. I have also notified the District Judge at this Court that you have passed this matter to a Debt Recovery Service.

 

With regard to the interest still being charged on this account I now request that you do not apply any more interest to this account on the amount in dispute being £2,762.00 + interest + my costs and that any amounts of interest that have been applied to my account for this amount be refunded.

 

Please confirm receipt of this letter along with your comments.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

 

 

.........."

 

Hope this might help anyone else in same boat, still not sure if I'm witihin my rights to ask them to stop charging interest on amount in question or to refund any of it either- just trying to bluff my way through it.

 

Thanks for all you comments. Will keep you posted. Good luck to all of you.

[Lula]

Hi, Why were you charged £100 to change the court venue? did you file with MCOl in which case, they automatically put it to the court nearest to you

[araynick]

Filed my claim with moneyclaim on line and the Court originally was Northampton and then received notification that they were transferring to my local Court and an extra £100.00 was payable I guess this is refundable as well.

 

When filing a claim with the Court you then claim your 8% interest, does this interest keep accruing then until till the matter is resolved or do you just get the amount stipulated on your claim. Just wondering now how I add the extra £100.00 to the claim as well? Thanks

[Lula]

I think that they mean when you fill in your Allocation questionnaire. It doesnt cost £100 to transfer to your local court as Northampton is the clearing court for MCOL

[araynick]

OK Thanks, think I will give the Court a ring tomorrow and clarify this, as the Court have taken this payment on top of the original fee to moneyclaim. Will keep you posted on that one.

[pmahonc]

I take it that abbey have used drms as collectors i just rang them and they said fine we'll get in touch if we need anything further. I would think they will do the same when they receive your letter. I think where abbey are concerned its a case of the l & r hand, i always thought that once the matter was handed to a debt collections agency they (the bank) could no longer charge you, as the debt collection agency will be adding admin charges etc so if the bank did apply charges that would make two lots and i dont think any judge would like them doing that. Also mad nick made a good suggestion in post #22 of my thread pmahonc v Abbey.

 

regards pmahonc

[araynick]

Yes I think you right in what you say regarding the interest being stopped once it goes to a collection agency, so in some ways your probably financially better off if it does but then knackered with your credit rating! I will keep posting when I get any further info. Thanks again and I will have a look at that thread.

[araynick]

"To The Abbey Bank,

Ref

 

With reference to the above account, I have today written & e-mailed Debt Management and Recovery Services Ltd., requesting that no further action be taken on this account as it is in dispute, I have also asked them to confirm receipt of this letter and also to confirm that nothing has at present been registered with any credit reference agencies.

 

I believe I am right in referring to Section 13.6 of the banking code, which states that if an account is in dispute then you cannot pass this on to a credit reference agency or debt recovery service. I consider this matter to be a serious breech of the banking code and data protection act and I now require you to remedy this situation by

 

a) recalling the debt from (The Clangers Debt Recovery)

b) removing any reference you may have made to any credit reference agencies

c) informing me in writing within 7 days that you have actioned my requests.. If not then I will make a formal complaint under the Banking Code and to the Information Commissioner.

 

You are obviously aware that this is now in hands of ……..County Court, - Claim No: ……… I have received from ………. County Court a General Form of Judgement or Order, ordering a stay on this claim, which I have today asked to be removed and that the case be allowed to proceed. I have also notified the District Judge at this Court that you have passed this matter to a Debt Recovery Service.

 

With regard to the interest still being charged on this account I now request that you do not apply any more interest to this account on the amount in dispute being £2,762.00 + interest + my costs and that any amounts of interest that have been applied to my account for this amount be refunded.

 

Please confirm receipt of this letter along with your comments.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

Sent the above letter to the Abbey and they are now long overdue in replying, anyone any thoughts on where I go from here. I've have had the stay lifted and have a court date now for April.

 

Also paid an extra £100.00 for a transfer of court, which Lula (above) thought was incorrect but a friend of mine also had this situation and had to pay the extra £100.00. I guessing that the court will automatically add this to the amount I am claiming from the Abbey.

 

Thanks all.