Urgent Advice needed please help

[smutley]

Hi, I have not read on here of anyone having to pay Barclays legal fees... but why dont you ring the court again and ask for the Directions section or Diary Manager perhaps and see if you can get a better answer... Its great news that you have got this far and the chance to have your say about lifting the stay, so go for it girl !

[jansus]

I also ticked the box for no hearing - but have been asked to go in and see the judge on 28th august:eek:

 

reading other threads that have used the arguments here it looks like pot luck on how it goes.

 

I have not seen anything about fees.

 

Jan

[welshcakes]

Hi Yank

 

First things first, I've hjad a quick scan through page 1 of your thread and the amount you're claiming puts this case into Small Claims (as oppose to Fast Track). In Small Claims Court cases, consideration is not given by the judge to award costs unless one party can be shown to have knowingly abused the judicial process (eg not complying with court directions etc).

 

You have not chosen to have a hearing, it has been court ordered contrary to your explicit wishes.

 

I am always highly suspicious of over zealous court staff giving advice regards judgements and the legalities of case considerations; which court is it Yank? In my humble opinion, I think the court staff member is bang out of order giving an opinion like that - if you are Small Claims, it is not procedure for the judge to award costs against the losing party especially in what is essentially a side matter of the main case, it being merely to determine the propriety of lifting a Stay.

 

Along with your essential paperwork, take along another copy of the DRaft Directions. It seems the judge is entertaining the idea of allowing your case to proceed independently of the OFT Test Case and you can always urge him to get the claim done & dusted very quickly by granting the Draft Directions there and then.

 

The fact is, the judge hasn't ordered this hearing simply to agree to the Stay - he is looking for a strong argument from you that will allow him to proceed the case.

[Yankeeruinx]

Thanks for the advice I have kept up my end of the deal regarding the draft directions which I submitted when I took my AQ in and the Judge decided to use them but Im guessing Barclays will not do the same now the Stay has been put on.

Has anyone got any advice on what I should say in the hearing to get the Stay removed so I actually sound like I know what I'm on about because I'm really nervous about this.

I basically have the arguments I put in section C on the application to lift the Stay which I copied from here:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/17065-application-removal-stay-updated.html

 

I used the one in the second post and thats about all I have to go on at the minute

[Yankeeruinx]

Hi everyone, ok I have my hearing for the removal of my stay on the 6th of November and was wondering what I need for it.

I have been away for a while so have missed out on all the latest developments on whats happening in the world of bank charges. I have had a skim through and see a removal of stay bundle and skeleton argument I'm guessing these are the things I need for my hearing and should get them filled out and sent off asap but thought I had better check here first.

So if anyone has got any advice or pointers on what direction I should be taking that would be great just want to make sure I'm on the right track

Thanks for your help guys and girls

[Yankeeruinx]

Come on surely someone should be able to offer me some pointers on what I need to do to try and win this thing

[saintly_1]

Have a look here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/114505-bundle-stay-hearing.html and there are a few more in the template library

[slick132]

Hi Yankee,

 

Sorry for lack of response but the chance of the Stay being lifted seems to be virtually zero now and it's been that way for many weeks. Unless you're in exceptional hardship or emmigrating, it's not going to happen.

 

Slick

[Yankeeruinx]

Hi me again. Ok going through all the stay removal stuff and on the grounds of hardship I'm not sure what to put in there.

I filed my Court forms on the 5th May 2007 and from that date I was struggling with my money. Between 5th May and 3rd of August I had 7 overdraft charges of £30. In August I had one on the 1st one on the 2nd and one on the 3rd I was in such a mess I tried to get a loan but no one would touch me because of all the bank charges. Luckily though Halifax sent me a letter towards the end of the month (August) so I gave them a ring and because I had been such a good customer with them in the past they had me pre-approved for £13000 so wouldn't run any credit checks so I took £10000 and got a really good apr rate too, paid off all my credit cards and other loans and haven't been in any trouble since then.

Should I use that for my grounds of Hardship pretty weak I know or should I just leave out the Hardship bit.

Thanks

[slick132]

Yankee,

 

Sorry, but I think you've got v little hope of getting stay lifted.

 

Having £10K to clear the debts, get good APR and keep out of trouble is really good, but you are not going to be regarded as a hardship case.

 

Circ's that SHOULD count (but often don't) are if family benefits are being paid into a/c and bank is leaving nothing for food shopping after taking charges out.

 

By all means proceed - just don't be disappointed when the Stay remains.

 

Slick

[Yankeeruinx]

Hi again. Ok I've just been going over my paperwork and found that on my letter informing me that I have a hearing to remove my stay it says nothing about providing a skeleton argument or any kind of paperwork to the court or the bank before the hearing.

Does this mean I don't have to send in all my stuff and can just take it with me on the day?

My hearing is next Tuesday (06/11/07) so I need to get this posted today if I still need to send within 7 days of the hearing.

Thanks for your help

[smutley]

Hi, take a look at my thread smutley v and also Olden v and also Cardiff Directions V ........ we had a hearing to lift the stay and the notice did not include any directions re bundles etc., from our experience on the day you need to take with you your skeleton argument and be prepared to state your reasons why you want the stay lifted. We did submit basic bundles to the court - mine was actually the day before the hearing and there was no need to submit to barclays. I took one along for the b's solicitor but she didnt want it anyway. So I wouldnt panic about a bundle, just submit the basic one on here for the judge and ring the court to double check if you need to give one to barclays but I think not. Good luck, but think the outcome a foregone conclusion! If appealing on grounds of hardship have your arguement thought out and paperwork to back up.

[slick132]

Hi Yankee,

 

Smutley has been through it all trying to get Stay lifted - to no avail.

 

If there is a 7 day cut off (was this ordered by court) for info going in to court and you still want to send it in time, now is the time to do so.

[smutley]

Tell me about it slick!! me and olden are the stay lifting never say die team!! But we do have the Judgement been passed tomorrow by Judge and should have notification of all his reasons within 5 days, will post up when received, hopefully before Yankee goes to court so she/he can add a few more arguements to the Judge!

[Yankeeruinx]

Ok well this is exactly what my letter says

 

The hearing of the claimant's application for A Lifting of The Stay (see copy attached) will take place at 10:40 on the 6 November 2007 at Mansfield County Court.

 

Thats it then its got a copy of my N244 and witness statement attached to it

 

Is it me or is anyone else getting the feeling that we are just going to end up getting screwed over by this OFT Test Case and no one will be able to claim anything back when its all done because I have no faith in it what so ever.

[slick132]

Yankee,

 

No, it's just you on your own with that theory.

 

Post OFT, CAGers are gonna be reaping the rewards for sticking to their guns.

[Yankeeruinx]

Help, I have a court hearing on the 06/11/07 (Tuesday) and have just had through the post today a letter informing me that a company called Simmons & Simmons will be acting on behalf of Barclays at the hearing they have also included a Statement of our Client's costs in advance which total up to £1650.88 :o

Am I going to have to pay this if the stay doesn't get removed because I specifically asked for this to be done without a hearing and the judge decided that a hearing was need to get both sides of the argument.

I'm cacking myself now I can't afford to pay that its crazy.

 

Help Help Help

[Bigmac versus]

Although there arent any cases ive heard where costs have been awarded

an order for costs might follow if an application is unsuccessfull.

I would be worried more if the judge had suggested costs may be awarded should you lose your application.

[Yankeeruinx]

Well when I handed in my application to remove the stay the clerk asked me if I was sure I wanted to do it as I might end up paying costs if I lost but then she realised that I didn't want a hearing so said I would be ok. Then I got a letter a couple of days later saying I had a hearing for it so I rang up and the judge said that a hearing would be needed to get both sides of the argument.

[freakyleaky]

After seeking advice on this I can tell you that generally no costs will be awarded against an unsuccessful party in small claims cases unless that party has acted unreasonably. This does not necessarily include refusing a settlement offer.

A bank or their advisors who try to force a settlement or the withdrawal of court action by means of a threat of costs are incorrect and this kind of disinformation is calculated to intimidate and should be responded to by informing the Bank or their advisors that a complaint will be made to the Judge. This should then be followed up with a complaint to the judge. In your case you should do this immediately and deliver the complaint to the court for the urgent attention of the judge before the hearing on Tuesday.

Let the bank know that a letter of complaint will be made against their advisors.

The banks' lawyers have a reputation for this kind of intimidation and so the Judge will take it on board when hearing the case.

I will try and draft a letter of complaint to the judge and post for you later!

 

 

.

[freakyleaky]

Generally all banks' lawyers have a reputation for this kind of behaviour.

 

 

The BBC found that there existed within Barclays a culture of dishonesty and there is no evidence to suggest that anything has changed.

[Yankeeruinx]

Thanks freakyleaky that would be awesome thank you so much for your help it has really put my mind at rest. I was so worried when I read that letter from them I didn't know what I would do if I had to end up paying them that much. As for the letter that would also be very awesome if you can sort me out some rough draft kind of thing because I'm sure it would be much better than anything I can come up with.

In regards to the bank as the hearing is on Tuesday should I send them a letter of complaint or just ring them up, if so who should I be asking for?

Again thank you so much for your help

[Bigmac versus]

Looking through at mo.

[Bigmac versus]

Ok lets consider all the options here first you must be realistic that the lifting of the stay is unlikely to happen so on that basis and the understanding that the FSA have a waiver for Hardship cases then appealing for the uplift of the stay through hardship SHOULD avoid any costs being awarded should you lose, you have the financial story to back this up so should use this to your advantage.

We are aware that there are no blanket stays on Personal bank charge claims in place and it is to the judges discretion so to apply to uplift this stay on any other grounds (RISKY) could be viewed by the judge (if persuaded by the solicitors) as Incompetant therefore subject to a further hearing for costs, remember the judge may not be very sympathetic to your request and the solicitors will push for their costs.

So in my honest opinion i would suggest using the Hardship route.

[Bigmac versus]

As freaky said i would certainly put in writing a letter of complaint regarding the intimidation from the Bank.