A D Skinner v Abbey National PLC - Defence help needed

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Hi all,

 

I made a claim against my bank, using the template on here to help me, i have a good understanding of the court system and have already won another claim, though on an unrelated matter, however Abbey have entered a defence and am not sure what to do now, i have seen some parts of the defence which is weak and unclear and hoping to get it thrown out, please help; the defence is;

 

"DEFENCE

 

1. Save as is specifically admitted in this Defence, the Defendant denies each and every allegation set out in the Particulars of Claim.

 

2. It is admitted that the Claimant has a bank account with the Defendant, account number to be particularised (the "Account")

 

3. At all times the Account has been subject to the applicable terms and conditions ("Conditions"), which form part of the contract between the Claimant and the Defendant and to which the Claimant agreed when the Claimant opened the Account. The Defendant will refer at trial to the full Conditions but for the purposes of this defence will refer to the following extracts:

 

(1) "You can apply for an overdraft on your Account. If we give you an overdraft we will tell you your limit and the interest rate applicable."

 

(2) "An unauthorised overdraft occurs if without our agreement you overdraw your Account or exceed the limit of an overdraft which we have agreed."

 

(3) "If you have an unauthorised overdraft, you will be charged fees as set out in out Tariff of Charges or specified to you and these may include fees for transactions we are unable to process due to lack of available funds in your Account."

 

4. Throughout the period that he has had the Account, the Claimant received a number of copies of the Conditions and of the said Tariff of Charges as they were amended and updated (though there has been no material amendment to the Conditions extracted in paragraphs 3(1), (2) and (3) above).

 

5. Any overdraft facility on the Account was (and is) subject to the Conditions.

 

6. The Claimant has overdrawn or exceeded authorised limits on the Account on a number of seperate occasions, full details of which will be provided on disclosure. Therefore by virtue of the Conditions referred to in paragraph 3 above such overdrafting was unauthorised and in breach of contract and the Claimant became liable to pay fees to the Defendant in accordance with its Tarrif of Charges applicable at the relevant time. In accordance with the Conditions, such fees were debited to the Account.

 

7. In view of the facts and matters referred to in paragraphs 3,4, 5 and 6 above, the Defendant denies that the amount of £435.59 or any other, amount was unlawfully debite to the Account and the Claimant's claim for the repayment of that amount is therefore denied. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to claim interest or at all.

 

8. The Claimant's contention that the said fees are unenforceable and/or are "penalty charges" is denied. The fees reflect and are proportionate to the Defendant's administrative expenses incurred due to the Claimant's breach of contract and are a genuine pre-estimate of the damage suffered by the Defendant.

 

9. Further or in the alternative, even if the said fees are not proportionate to the Defendant's administrative expenses incurred (which is denied), the Claimant remains liable to pay such fees as may be found to be proportionate and the Claimant is not entitled to claim repayment of the full amount of each charge made to the Account.

 

10. No admissions are made as to the amounts claimed by the Claimant and the Claimant is put to strict proof of the same.

[sparkydawg]

thats exactly the same defence I and others have received. Dont worry bout it

[Karish]

Yep. That was what mine said as well.

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Yes it is the standard abbey defence - next you will receive the allocation questionnaire - with this you can ask for an order to strike out the defence if you feel it in insufficient - or use the draft order in the allocation questionnaire templates - there are a couple of links in my signature which may be of help to you.

 

Thanks so much, another problem i have is that although i have commenced legal action, the bank have charged me for another charge of "unauthorised overdraft" and also charged interest, how do i get these charges added to my claim though?