Dynosaw v Citibank

[dynosaw]

Hi,

 

I'm at the LBA stage with Citibank and HSBC. From reading forums I expect HSBC to be quite straightforward to deal with, Citibank looks like being much more fun.

 

The gist of what I've read so far is that unlike others Citibank vigourously defend claims and acually turn up in court. It also seems that a figure of £12.88 is claimed by Citibank to be the actual cost of administering their default charges. I am a qualified accountant and it seems to me that to arrive at the figure of £12.88 some very creative accounting has taken place and would probably not stand up to close scrutiny. As it seems 100% certain that I will have to go through the court process what advice can you arm me with, and bearing in mind that accounting wise I should be able to hold my own in court, is there a chance of me undermining their arguments and figures??

 

I am a complete novice with court proceedings so any advice would be most appreciated.

[gizmo111]

Are you claiming from Citicard or Citibank?

[dynosaw]

Told you I was new to all this, claim is against Citicards as in Citifinancial Plc, have sent two letters by recorded delivery to registered office, 85 Castle Street, Reading plus cc copies to PO box no 49920 London.

[dynosaw]

Hi, today is last day of 14 given in LBA sent to Citi cards and HSBC and no replyto LBA from either of them, is this usual i.e no reply from them & just wait for me to make next move?

 

Have claimed in LBA:- Citi Cards £ 534 default charges

HSBC Bank £ 585 default charges

 

Have not claimed for any interest at this point.

 

is it worth any further communication with either, or just press ahead with court claim?

 

Just a line of thought from reading numerous threads, all banks in general and Citi in particular are putting as many obstacles as possible in our way presumably to make some of us give up (for instance finding £160 for me to go to court is going to be difficult) is it worth complaining (or threatening to complain) about these tactics to the ombudsman? from what I can dechipher, cases get dropped like hot potatoes when he gets involved.

 

as & when, I will probably go to my local County Court in person to file my action as I believe the staff there are quite helpful in guiding novices like me through the system. Anyway will now have a whole Bank holiday weekend to consider (fret) next move.

 

Any advice gratefully received. enjoy your long weekend!

[dynosaw]

PS to last message, please change title to Dynosaw v Citicards

[bongobaz]

i would go ahead and file your claim with ther courts!

[dynosaw]

Hi, have just been reading todays Daily Mail moneymail pages who suggest going straight to the Financial Ombudsman with complaints on the basis that 1) it doesn't cost anything - 2) if you dont agree with the Ombudsmans decsicion you can still take your case to court, but not the other way round and 3) so far every case that has been taken to the Ombudsman has resulted in the bank paying up before it has reached adjudication.

 

As I am really strugging to find the £160 needed to County Court Citicards and HSBC (no I dont qualify for fees exemption) I am seriously considering going straight to the Ombudsman. According to the Mail you give the bank eight weeks to resolve your complaint and then take it to ombudsman without further correspondnce, and then he takes 'two or three months' to come to a decision. As the whole court process seems to take months anyway I dont see what I have to lose going this route.

 

Would really appreciate pros and cons discussion re this, one point immediately coming to mind being that the Mail makes no mention of interest on claims directed to the ombudsman.

 

Have also received reply from Capital One to my initial letter and they have offered £112 partial refund of £345 claim will obviously reject this with LBA.

[elsinore]

Hi Dynosaw.

 

Before FOS will take up your case, you will have to provide a ‘Final Response’ letter from the lender.

 

You’re right, you have nothing to lose by going via the FOS, except maybe time. What FOS don’t say is that it is not always a full refund of charges. Of course, many are satisfied with a reasonable offer, to alleviate their financial problems and avoid the hassle.

 

Somehow, I cannot see Citi coughing up a full repayment of charges. They won’t even do it at the last minute prior to court, as other banks do. They are likely to restate any offer they will have made to you (usually charge less £12) and FOS will invite you to accept it. I’m not sure how far FOS push for a full refund of charges, but I’m quite sure that Citi will resist.

 

Maybe someone will tell us that they have secured a full refund from Citi via the FOS. If so, I’ll be happy to be proved wrong.

 

As you have said, you will not be able to claim interest, as you would be able to through the court.

 

Even though you may not qualify for fee exemption, you might still obtain a remission (pay less) on the grounds of hardship.

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/fees/exemption/index.htm

 

HTH

Els:)

[dynosaw]

Hi, As luck would have it received a letter in last nights post from Capital One replying to my rejection of their partial refund. They finish their letter by telling me that this is their 'final response in relation to this matter' and telling me that I 'now have the option to contact the FOS within six months....'

 

so taking in all replies, advice etc have decided:-

 

1) County Court Citicards

 

2) Take Capital one claim up with FOS

 

3) Hang fire for now with HSBC and wait for reply to LBA but kind of decided to do this one thro' FOS as well

 

Will keep you all posted & thanks again for interest

[james2747]

Hi Dynosaw

Its a pity the court fees deter you at the moment .. I appreciate cash is tight (we all been there!) but on receipt of the County Court summons a cheque would soon follow for payment in full from Capital One.

Citi bank, on the other hand, play the game to the end .. and sometimes win, as certain individuals are 'unlucky' with the judge they get, or were not as prepared as they should have been.

best of luck.

J.

[dynosaw]

Thanks for that James, might have to rethink and look at a few Cap One threads.

 

On the grounds that I always wanted to be dillatory but never got round to it, and also found out today that Great Yarmouth no longer has its own County Court (I have to go down the coast to Lowestoft) will now probably not do anything till next week, still the weathers nice.

[megan34]

I agree - you proabaly would get offered the full amount plus interest from capital one about 3 weeks after submitting to mcol. They say 'this is a final offer' 2-3 times before paying up.

[dynosaw]

Hi,

 

Got home last night and opened a nice letter from Mark Clibbens of Citi cards. He tells me that to review my case he may be required to obtain copies of my statements but, unfortunately it may take between six and eight weeks to do this. He goes on to say that once he has this information he will confirm the outcome in writing, how nice of him. In the meanwhile he tells me that I may refer my case to the FLA (Finance and Leasing Association) at any point during the first eight weeks of my complaint. What can the FLA do? (have not come accross this tactic before)

 

Anyway I'm starting to get used to this game (for surely thats what it amounts to) so might just play along for a while. I fortunately have kept all my statements so to help Citi in their investigation will copy and send them to Mr Cribbens, highlighting their charges, together with a spreadsheet summary of my account, and sympathise with mr Cribbens having to manage with such a crap system that it takes six to eight weeks to recover my info. I think I'll give them anther 14 days( gives me time to save for court fees) and then County Court them.

 

As a thought, how about if I ask them to stop adding interest to my account while this matter is in dispute? I still 'owe' them approx £250 but am claiming £500+ in fees, and their interest at 30.3% outstrips court interest at 8%. I think this is a reasonable request, yes/no?

[miss muppet]

Just a quick thought Dynosaw, have you sent an S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) with £10, this has a strict time limit of 40 days from receipt after which Citi would be in criminal default. We decided to go the CCA route as although they owe OH a lot in penalties, they do have a fearsome reputation - although people can and do win against them, see Gizmo's post. However we found they had no agreement (typically they said they don't need one and that everything was on the card carrier) they defaulted after the 12+2 days which meant we could legally stop paying them and we are now counting down the 30 days when they go into criminal default and we can report them to the various authorities. NO AGREEMENT ANY ALLEGED DEBT IS UNENFORCABLE!