Jules1973 v Abbey

[jules1973]

Hi Marmite-girl

 

You are like me now, I am not going to contact them anymore to settle, its 100% all the way. Lets hope they dont submit their bundle in time so you can have it struck out.

 

Fingers crossed for you.

[marmite-girl]

likewise - ive asked the question a few times now and there is no evidence of shAbbey ever submitting a bundle.. so i think we are safe there.. have you got a letter prepared for the strike out??

[jules1973]

Not yet, I am still waiting on directions from the judge as it was only transferred a couple of days ago. I am waiting to see if they have done away with the AQ and if it will go straight to a case management trial, same as the people who attended on 17th July.

[jules1973]

Marmite

 

have a look at reka's thread if you havent prepared a letter yet, as he had his thrown out for that reason, and he prepared a letter which he took along with him.

[marmite-girl]

cheers - thanks for that - will have a butchers and rattle the letter off.. ready for friday! - the waiting is killing me!! grrrr x

[cherryblossom10]

I am also in the same position now. Had my case transferred to guildford and am waiting to see if there will be an AQ or not. I am def going to go for the abuse strikeout. I Sent email to inga saying i was rejecting the 65% offer and would not accept anything less than 100%. Also said i was prepared to see them in court and look forward to seeing their bundle. She sent a reply within mins saying thank you for my letter and she had placed it on my file. LOL. Hope it dosn't take much longer now.

[jules1973]

This is the headlines on channel 4 news website

 

"Financial institutions have agreed to go to court to test the legality of overdraft charges and suspend all current claims for compensation"

 

Does anyone think it will actually get there?, bummer though that they have suspended all current claims, especially for people who have court dates soon or have been waiting in the system for ages.

[jules1973]

This is the whole text on the bbc website

 

 

Banks agree to charges test case

 

Thousands of customers are suing their banks

 

A number of UK lenders, including HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide, have agreed to go to court in a test case about overdraft charges.

Banks have had a long-running battle with consumers over whether fees levied for unauthorised borrowing are legal.

The Office of Fair Trading will sue the banks claiming the charges are unfair.

Tens of thousands of cases have already been settled out of court, costing the banks millions of pounds in refunded charges, and clogging up local courts.

Market watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) will allow banks to suspend dealing with any claims filed against them until the test case is decided.

However, the banks will still need to make a note of any claims lodged, and will have to honour offers to settle claims that were made before the test case and waiver were announced.

Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said that legal clarity was needed to end uncertainty for banks and consumers alike.

Unfairness rules

The Office for Fair Trading (OFT) said that the lenders approached the UK's financial watchdogs in order to sort out the problem and agreed to the test cases in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

LENDERS IN TEST CASE

Barclays

HSBC

Royal Bank of Scotland

Clydesdale Bank

HBOS

Abbey National

Lloyds TSB

Nationwide

 

 

The OFT said that on Friday it would commence proceedings in England's High Court for "a declaration on the application of the law in respect of unauthorised overdraft charges".

"The banks do not accept that the unfairness rules of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations apply. The OFT believes that they do and is seeking to establish this legal principle clearly in the court," it added.

"The OFT considers that a quick determination of this point of principle will assist in securing a clear and orderly resolution of the fairness of these charges."

Out of court?

To date, the banks have been reluctant to contest such cases, usually settling out-of-court.

So far no bank has outlined the case for its charges in open court. If a bank were to do so and lose its argument that the charges were fair, it could lead to many more bank customers getting refunds, analysts said. However, Ms Knight of the BBA said that banks had been unwilling to take an individual to court as the case would be different from person to person and would not offer a definitive answer on the legal issues being questioned. She added that the banks had not softened their view that the charges were legal and fair, and could only "start looking at the issues underneath" once they had a ruling.

[reka]

Ooooooh, its all getting interesting now, you are all going for the 100%, wicked news...

 

(I am still reading but its summer hols so don't get asmuch time atm to be on here)

[jules1973]

The OFT said that on Friday it would commence proceedings in England's High Court for "a declaration on the application of the law in respect of unauthorised overdraft charges". - Hopefully this will finally mean that everyone will get their charges back. As long as the judge in the High Court is nice and believes as we do that the charges are unlawful

[Guest louis wu]

Interesting times indeed, it does make you wonder if the banks have got something up their sleeve though doesn't it.

 

Hopefully, they just want to p[ut off all future claimants by stating that they will go to court, but if they did start, then not only would it cost a fortune, but the court system would grind to a halt.

 

Still, it's something we've all hoped to see for a long time now, but to be honest, I have to wonder if they will actually see it through.

 

Best of luck with the latest twist in your saga Jules, trust Shabby to put a spanner in the works.

 

louis

[jules1973]

Question:

Having read the OFT report re the `Test Case`, am I right in assuming that people that already have court dates may still be able to proceed with their claims and attend the date given to them, as it is up to the individual court to decide whether they are to proceed with the claim or stay the claimant’s case until the test case has been heard?

Also, say someone has already issued their claim, are Abbey still under obligation to comply say with the 28 days to acknowledge and defend, or has that all gone out the window now?????.

Also, if the OFT hope to have come to a view on fairness by about the end of the year (5 months away), then still have to possible take enforcement action if the banks do not voluntarily co-operate, it could be this time next year before anyone gets their money. I personally think this will put a lot of people off from either starting a claim against the bank or from pursuing their claims and will just give up. (me I am in it now for the longhaul, well, it will pay for next years summer holiday).

I must admit I am surprised that the banks have agreed to a test case (especially as they chickened out of the last one in Hull), as I never in a Million Years thought that they would be willing to divulge their actual costs. The OFT must thing they have a strong enough case to spend what could be a lot of money taking it to the high court.

In my heart of hearts, I am still glad we rejected their 65% offer, I still firmly believe that if they knew what they have charged us for going OD was legal, they wouldn’t have settled tens of thousands of cases out of court in the past, they would of been willing to defend themselves in the court room in the past on each and every case.

STICK WITH IT EVERYONE, DONT GIVE UP, Just spend the time imagining what you could spend your money on next year.

[jules1973]

Test case which will resolve the battle of the bank charges | News | This is London

 

I liked this part.

 

"The court case will clarify these points and provide certainty for customers and banks alike." Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat shadow Chancellor, said: "There is widespread dissatisfaction over the way charges are applied capriciously and are often unrelated to any costs.

"I look forward to the courts coming down firmly on the side of the consumer."

[jules1973]

Just read the Press release on martins Website site, contrary to belief, he says that the consumer action groups were not told of this development, even though the OFT documents said they would be Why were they not kept in the loop, considering the OFT are supposed to be on the same side.

 

It apparantly came as a complete shock and he said there would probably be a request sent to the Master of Rolls to inform all county courts to suspend all claims until the test case has been heard. :mad:

[jules1973]

Each bank has until next friday to file and serve an Acknowledgement of service and have to give the OFT by 1st Aug acopy of their T&C's.

 

the OFT will then issue POC to each bank by end august, whereby each bank has to offer a defence by 28th Sep, then the OFT will serve a reply and defence to counterclaim by 26th oct.

 

So basically, no court date is going to happen this side of christmas.

[shuby]

Safe to say that there is going to be no settlements in the next few months then!

 

why do they need a test case, why not just take us all to court and have done with it

[ICY]

Safe to say that there is going to be no settlements in the next few months then!

 

why do they need a test case, why not just take us all to court and have done with it

Not at all please dont panic, this doesnt really change much, the court claims are highly likely to go ahead as they have been, dont let this put you off

[jules1973]

i agree, we should now wait until the courts all start staying cases, then we can start panicking. Most people that have rung their courts have been told business as usual. maybe we have have a thread or a sticky highlighting which courts are carrying on as normal, that way it may put peoples minds at ease.

[kev2b3]

well jules this makes things interesting. i read that if the banks made a offer before yesterday the offer still stands, are you thinking of taking that offer now? something tells me no because jules is a fighter so i guess you will have to put up with me and my questions for a few more months

[jules1973]

You know me to well, I rejected their 65% and even if I hadnt i would still reject it even now. If we have to wait then we have to wait. Even if there is a slim chance we lose, at least I can go down with my head held high by taking on a multi-billion pound corporation.

 

Looks like then kev, you and Louis are stuck with me or a bit longer. Aint you the lucky ones.

[kev2b3]

You know me to well, I rejected their 65% and even if I hadnt i would still reject it even now. If we have to wait then we have to wait. Even if there is a slim chance we lose, at least I can go down with my head held high by taking on a multi-billion pound corporation.

 

Looks like then kev, you and Louis are stuck with me or a bit longer. Aint you the lucky ones.

 

You took the words right out of my mouth, but i am sure those very clever, highly paid bank manager have something up their sleeves. Let just hope that the people at the OFT and FSA are just as clever,these guys have loads of people willing them to win.The papers say it could take up to a year to sort things out, but i am sure that if the banks lose you could possible add an extra 6 months on that because i am sure the banks will appeal.

[jules1973]

My hubby (claim is in his name) is waiting to see if they send him a letter seeing if he wants to settle for what they offered us. He said if they do, he will hang it out for the full two months to see how the test case is progressing before he makes a decision on whether to accept, and we should know a bit more about the test case then, and the scenarios involved.

 

Without taking the 8% interest into account, we would be down by £500.00 (with interest £1000.00 ish). He said he is lucky enough to be in a position that if he decided to take their offer instead of waiting potentially a year +, that losing £500.00 would be less than a weeks wage to him. We rejected their 65% offer as we knew that we would get the full amount by proceeding, but now he is in two minds. He is going to ring the court first thing monday to see if ours is going to be stayed or not before he decides what to do.

 

Thing is, he said that I can have the final decision on what we do, so I think I will continue the fight, unless it looks like we wont win.

 

I think the thing that bothers my hubby the most, is WHY THE BANKS SEEM SO KEEN ON A TEST CASE, he is a bit worried that they think they have a good chance of winning and we will all lose out. Hopefully, I can persuade him otherwise. Fingers crossed he listens to me.

[Guest louis wu]

Thats me....louis LUCKY wu:D

[jules1973]

Tom Brennan has lost his claim, he is going to appeal though.

[jules1973]

Hubby just rung Southend Court and apparantly our court order is being looked at as we speak and she couldnt access our file, but she thinks us is going to have a stay on it. I expected this as we are not as far along as a lot of people.

 

She did say that we will get a letter in the post telling us what date the claim has been stayed till.