LRD vs Lloyds TSB**Settled**

[LRD]

Having been spurred on by Martin Lewis' site, I started asking for statements at the end of last year, and sent in a Data Protection letter requesting the 6th year as I could get majority of statements online.

 

Various calls, letters (two advising i'd go to court unless I got some satisfactory correspondence), going into branch etc later. I finally received the statements i'd actually asked for yesterday........ so much for 40 days. Have also had several standard template response letters along the way, all completely impersonal to me as per usual.

 

So today, I have submitted my claim using money claim, now that i actually know what i can claim for. Cost me £50!! And my claim is not for that much as unfortunately my student days are beyond the 6yr statute barr, and i'd be getting back thousands if i could request the money from back then. i have since been a bit better at managing my account, namely because i moved banks, but still have £350 of Lloyds charges that I think are worth pursuing.

 

Am a bit concerned i havent sent in all the info on the online section - I put in the s.69 of 1984 act bit, but didnt give a breakdown of how i'd arrived at my figure - not enough space. So i am hoping i have provided enough info. Any advice??

 

am going to give the courts 5 working days to service claim, and then lloyds 14 calendar days from then to acknowledge.

 

bit scary, but will see how we go.

 

they are the worst bank i have ever dealt with, and deserve all they get. so much for customer loyalty....

[BARTY]

Hi

Just checking that have sent the Preliminary letter and Letter Before Action? There is no mention of it on your post??

Barty:)

[LRD]

Thanks Barty,

 

I think so!

Prelim letter was sent in at same time as data prot request, saying i believed i'd been given unlawful charges, outlining the ones i knew about, and linking it to my DPR where i asked for final 6th year of statements.

 

I have prob sent in two kind of LBAs. Each were chasing up the statements, and complaining about the template response i got initially. Both said I would be going to court unless Lloyds took action.

[PPMAN159]

Once the claim has been served on LLoyds and they have acknowleged receipt you will get a letter from the court to this effect advising you of the date that Loyds have until to respond.

 

What they will probably do is defend the claim and if this happens they then get 28 days,but the clock for either the 14 or 28 days starts ticking from the day that the claim was served on them.

 

If they do defend then you get an acknowledment of service and when this has been received this is when you can submit your 8% interest claim.

 

You can find the template of this on this site and it even calcs the 8% interest for you.

 

Any more probs or questions let us know.

[LRD]

started court process on moneyclaim. lloyds had til 29th apr to ackn. letter arrived yest, advising they are defending their claim - as of 21 Apr, so 28 day starts from then.

 

however, also got letter direct from lloyds "customer service" - the crap people in andover, dated 12 april, but arrived yest (25th) advising they will make one off settlement of £246 (which does not even total the amount of charges, let alone interest, and the moneyclaim fee) which they'll pay into my account within 10 days. so far no money into account.

 

they clearly dont know what tack they and their solicitors are taking - as both are saying diff things!

 

What should next steps be - continue as per usual? assume lloyds andover letter is a mistake and solicitor intention to defend is correct?!

[BARTY]

Hi

You should send one of the letters here:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/25716-rejection-settlement-offer.html

 

And carry on with your claim.

Barty:)

[Champnos]

Please look around the site, i beleive the idea is now to claim as far back as you can. The barrier of 6 years appears to have been lifted, seeing as the charges were never justified you could still make a new claim for your older charges. Look around there is a few articles on this.

 

All the best

[LRD]

sent template advised by Barty refusing their offer, also copied this to the court. waiting out on response. worded it in relation to past six years only, but wondering if i should even start trying to get the rest of it back - prior to 6yr bar covers 5 student years when i was getting charged all the time.....! it could be an awful lot of money, i have no real idea. i have a similar query as some others - i.e whether you can make two claims covering the whole period of time, or if the courts would just look positively at the 6yrs permitted under statute.

it took me from dec to april to get the DPR responded to for the statements in the original 6yr period (40 days - yeh right!)

[nicsussex]

Best thing to do is to get this one under your belt as a win and then start again on the pre six year claim - that way you eill hknow exactly how they work and will be well prepared.

[LRD]

Heard from court today - it has been transferred from Northampton to my local one, Basingstoke.

it has also been ordered that the filing of an allocation questionnaire be dispensed with in this case unless the dist judge at the court orders otherwise, i have 14 days to apply to have this order set aside, varied or stayed, and an allocation fee may be payable.

 

Defence submitted by Lloyds:

1. By opening an account with the bank, the customer enters into a commercial arrangement with the bank for the provision of banking services. the bank is entitled, as part of that arrangement, to charge for those services. at account opening a customer is provided with details of the bank's charges, currently in a leaflet a guide to our banking charges. by using the account, the customer acknowledges that the charges are incorporated into the contract. for personal customers, a number of services are provided for free, notwithstanding that they are an expense to the bank. such services presently include, but are not limited to, providing; cheques bank statements the facility to make payments by direct debit and standing order debit cards ATMs (cash machines).

2. by maintaining the account in credit, or within any limit agreed with the bank, the customer may avoid most if not all charges. if the customer fails to ensure that there are sufficient cleared funds in the account to cover payments, whether by cheque, debit card, standing order or direct debit, the customer makes a request for a payment to be made from the bank's own funds. if the bank makes payment, or returns the payment, it provides a service as specified in the leaflet and makes a charge in accordance with the terms of the contract. on page 1 of the leaflet, the bank explains that there are normally no charges for everyday banking at lloyds tsb when your account is in credit. when you use an agreed overdraft, there is no monthly fee and we only charge interest on the amount you are overdrawn each day. where you go overdrawn without an agreement or where you use special services, such as copy statements, we will make a charge. this guide explains how these charges work, and when they will apply. if you want to use a service that we havent listed, we'll tell you the cost of that service before you give us the go-ahead.

3. there is no breach of contract; the charge cannot therefore be a penalty, consequently there is no requirement that the charge be a pre-estimate of the bank's loss.

4. the customer is given advance warning of charges being imposed; statements show the charges, if any, the customer has incurred during the course of a month, and which will appear as debits on the following month's statement. customers are warned by letter when they go overdrawn or over their agreed limit without arrangement with the bank. if the customer fails to remedy the position, and payments such as standing orders and direct debits are refused then again the customer is warned by letter.

5. the charges are fair and reasonable, and it is denied that they are unlawful.

6. the customer is notified of the charges in plain intelligible language at the conclusion of the contract, and on each monthly statement. the charges are terms which relate to the price payable by the customer for a service provided by the bank, and pursuant to regulation 6 of the unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations 1999, are not subject to the assessment of fairness.

7. in the premises:

7.1 the charges are for banking services, and are not damages nor a penalty;

7.2 it is denied that the charges are unlawful or contravene any statute or regulation.

8. Further, insofar as part of the claimant's claim is based on charges levied on her account prior to six years from the date of issue of her claim, that is 10th april 2001, this part of the claim is statute barred by section 5 of the limitation act 1980. the defendant is unable to verify the amount claimed prior to the 10th april 2001 as the particulars of claim does not show how the amount claimed is arrived at.

9. the claimants claim is denied in its entirety. it is further denied that the claimant is entitled to the sum claimed or to any sum from the bank.

10. the defendant has paid the claimant £246.00 on the 26th april 2007 as a gesture of goodwill.

 

 

i first made a data protection request in Dec 2006 - and it took until April 07 for lloyds to give me the correct info. I made a claim back to dec 00 which was the 6 years - it is not my fault that lloyds did not comply with the timescales. further, in my various letters to lloyds, i sent them a breakdown of my claims - so they HAVE been given a copy of this, though i did not submit this to the court when i first made the claim online. i just added the £50 fee to the charges plus interest and have only ever sought to claim back that amount.

 

i did get a letter about the £246, which i wrote back to refusing, and cc'd that to the court.

 

i was expecting this questionnaire, but it has been cancelled. what am i meant to do now?

[BARTY]

Hi

Have a read of this:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/80091-your-court-dispensing-allocation.html?highlight=dispensed+AQ

 

Barty:)

[LRD]

I think I have won - well once I accept the settlement and the money is put in my account.

 

I got the same 2 letters others have received, one being about this Billercay branch which I am ignoring.

 

They are settling to within a few pounds which I am more than happy to accept. Some have been advised to cross out T&Cs then sign acceptance form - why is this.

 

How do I do the I have won thing - not vgd at this site, and have just typed v.similar to this on someone else's thread who got the same letters as me.

 

v.pleased tho, and relieved no going to court to worry about it seems.

[BARTY]

Congratulations!!:grin: :grin:

You need to send a Private Message to one of the Mods (names are in green) and ask them to change your title and move you to the "Successes".

Barty:)

[nicsussex]

Congratulations on your win - well done!

[christinajanep]

many congrats

[sarahbeth]

Congratulations!

[GaryH]

Congratulations!!!