Reassurance needed pls! (glennuk especially!)

[Eva247]

Good Morning everyone,

 

I followed the process described on this site and sent my N1 claim form last Tuesday to reclaim my charges against Abbey.

 

To my surprise in yesterday's post (no Abbey haven't offered me full money back!), I received my 'Notice of Acknowledgement of Service Has Been Filed' by the court with the response that the defendant has responded to the claim indicating an intention to defend all the claim and has 28 days to put forward their file of defence.

 

AND

 

I also received a seperate letter from Abbey (shock horror - amazingingly coincidental how quick they finished their investigation into my reclaiming of bank charges). This letter states that they are satisfied that their charges do not contravene the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, that they comply with the OFT, their charges are based in extra admin work incurred, are fair and transparent, etc, etc, yada, yada, bla bla and as a gesture of goodwill, they are happy to refund £55.00 and have sent a cheque for this amount to their debt management department to help repay any remaining balance on my account.

 

Okay, so here are my queries;

 

1. Just need reassurance as to the process of the courts now - is this all the norm (i.e. them defending).

 

2. Do I need to send a response to Abbey's letter stating that I do not accept their ridiculous goodwill gesture?

 

3. I'm quite intrigued as to how Abbey intend to pay this £55.00 goodwill gesture to their debt management department to assist in any money owing when they in fact sold the debt to Moorcroft Debt Recovery Company in June 2006 and I have been dealing with Moorcroft ever since. Do I need to point this out to Abbey?

 

I really look forward to your replies asap - I have a feeling I will be advised to do nothing and say nothing else to Abbey and continue in what I have commenced via the court however, would just welcome advice on this as my brain is in overload at the moment - 30 weeks pregnant, moving in 2 weeks time and redecorating our new property to make it habitable!...

 

Thanks, Eva

[debt_mountain]

I would tell them that any payment made to the debt management dept will be deeed as unpaid as you require the fund to be paid direct to you as it is your money to decide where it is to be paid.

[Eva247]

Thanks Debt Mountain for your reply.

 

I have drafted a letter I would like to send to Abbey and have copied and pasted it below, I was hoping that perhaps you and any others could advise me whether to send this or not, I would like to however, I was unsure whether by pointing out what I have in the letter would leave me with 'nothing up my sleeve' so to speak, if it goes to court. But, on the flip side, I thought by pointing this out to them they may just offer me the full amount back without proceeding to court.

 

HERE IT IS:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Re: 'my details'....

 

Further to your letter dated 16th April 2007 confirming that you have carried out a full investigation into my reclaim of bank charges, I would like to inform you that I do not accept your goodwill gesture of £55.00, as detailed below;

1. Any offer made to me by Abbey which I choose to accept, would need to be paid directly to me as otherwise, it is deemed unpaid.

2. My account was terminated/closed back in June 2006 and the debt was sold to Moorcroft Debt Recovery who I have liaised with since. As such, paying any funds offered to me to Abbey’s Debt Management Dept in effect means you are passing your money from one department within Abbey to another department within Abbey which, in effect means that you have not paid me any money offered as my debt is no longer held with Abbey National Plc!

3. I am in fact, reclaiming for charges which were issued due to the fact that I had written to Abbey various times by signed for recorded delivery over the months of January 2006 to April 2006 explaining a financial crisis which was forthcoming and, requesting assistance from Abbey in the way of freezing my account and overdraft and all charges/interest associated with the account and allowing me to enter a payment arrangement to clear the debt on the frozen amount.

However, to each and every letter and telephone call made, the response I received from Abbey was that this could not be done and no payment arrangement could be set up unless my account went into default and was terminated then passed to debt management/debt recovery and then, this would be the only point at which a suitable payment arrangement could be tailored for me.

In view of this, all charges I intend to reclaim via the County Court are in fact the debt which was accumulated and forced on me by Abbey in order to set up a payment arrangement! I am sure that this predicament I was forced into by Abbey, a financial institution, does not reflect the Banking Code of Conduct and Good Practice in terms of working with your customer to find a solution to a financial crisis. Furthermore, they do contravene the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and do not comply with the Office of Fair Trading in dealing fairly and openly with your customers. Unless, Abbey is agreeing that persons such as myself who have made pleas for assistance and are forced into debt to reach a payment solution, is common place and fair working practice.

To summarise, Abbey forced me into this debt at a time of considerable financial hardship and did not assist me in any way other then in forcing me to incur this debt in order to enter a payment solution. Proof of which I have in way of signed for recorded delivery letters to Abbey, letters from Abbey and telephone calls made by myself with dates, times and names logged.

Unless Abbey offers me at the very minimum, the full amount I intend to reclaim via the County Court, directly paid to me by cheque, I would prefer if Abbey did not insult my integrity by offering me any further miniscule amounts and as such, I very welcome taking Abbey to the County Court with my evidence and even more welcome the intriguing defence Abbey can provide against my particular claim.

Finally, may I point out that if Abbey had indeed carried out a full investigation into my claim as stated in the letter received by me, then Abbey would have been aware of all the above points made. The standard letter sent to me by Abbey is just an even further insult to my intelligence and my time.

I look forward to seeing you in the County Court.

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Eva Rodriguez

Encl. Schedule of Charges

[Eva247]

BUMP...... Any others that can give me advice on the above

[Lula]

Hi Eva, as you expected, send the letter, but continue with your claim, are you saying that they are paying it to somewhere that you dont even deal with? if so, then make that very plain in your letter.

[jcaps]

I've had the same experience Eva, although my account was closed and payed off in full 6 months ago. They have paid £60 into an account that has been closed?? even when I rejected this miserly offer. TBH I have spent 6 months reclaiming these charges, on my next abbey project I will defo go to the fos first. Its a no lose situation, doesnt cost anything and by recent threads could be all over within a month.