** WON ** About to start any advice offered is much appreciated

[dzaster]

Only 2 days to go before LBA is sent, is it usual to feel a bit worried about now?

[Movingon]

Abject terror would be closer to the mark; but hang in there mate - they WILL pay.

[dzaster]

Thanks Stone, the laugh I got from your reply has made me more determined to stick to the old latin saying

 

'Nil illegitami carborundum' or in english 'dont let the bar stewards grind you down'

 

[dzaster]

No reply to my prelim letter so have posted LBA recorded delivery today, 14 days time and I start proceedings

[dzaster]

7 days and still no reply to the LBA I sent, am beginning to think they are rushed off their feet and dont have the staff capable of writing a polite letter

[mikeyitup]

Keep to YOUR time limits and give it to em good!

 

BTW, read and re-read the FAQs and always check the libraries on a regular basis as they are always being updated/improved.

 

Good Luck!!

[dzaster]

Last day they had to reply was today, and instead of a letter I received a phone call from customer relations. The gist of it was that they are working in strict rotation of cases and it currently takes upto 6 weeks per letter. I politely explained that today was the final day they had to reply to my last letter dated 1/07/06. They said they have not received it as yet, but this letter was signed for on 05/07/06.

 

Somehow though they knew exactly what the letter contained and said they were not prepared to finalise this today and had upto 8 weeks to deal with it according to the FSA.

 

Looks like my claim goes into MCO today

[dzaster]

Have also received a letter today whilst at work informing me that my account has now been terminated and they want the O/D to be repayed immediately.

 

How the hell do they think they can get away this sort of behaviour??

[Movingon]

One thing is for absolute certain; they cannot demand the entire overdraft paid off instantly. There is a school of thought that they can't close the account in this way either, but that has yet to be tested in court.

[dzaster]

They have given me until the 27th of this month to clear the overdraft otherwise they will start charging interest at £0.66 per day on the outstanding balance.

 

Am wondering now whether or not I should start a new claim to get all that interest back as they have put a fixed sum down, not a percentage?

[dzaster]

Today have received a letter offering me approx a quarter of the amount they owe, they also folowed up with a phone call detailing this, luckily I have not started the action in the courts as yet (mainly due to them closing my account and leaving me with only a few quid in my parachute account). I explained the situation and have followed this with an email informing them they have now until Friday to pay the full amount they owe otherwise I will see them in court (I have worded this differently but you know the gist)

 

So will have to now wait and see.

 

Also a little bit of good news I have today accepted a new job which will start September

[dzaster]

Quick Update:

 

Barclays have offered me £550 as full and final settlement

 

I have accepted this due to financial reasons and am currently expecting a cheque to arrive from them within the next week

[dzaster]

I would have held for the full amount, but as it was not much more than they have offered and also the fact I have recently had financial difficulties meant I could not really wait any longer

[dzaster]

Another development, since accepting there offer they have now sent another letter to me, stating they are sorry that I have not accepted their offer of £550 and are unable to agree to my request for full settlement.

 

I am have not received anything as yet from Barclays and am wondering if they actually know what they are doing.

 

I have now therefore now started proceedings against Barclays for the full amount

[Nightstar]

Good on you matey:) I feel that with all the consumer pressure they are under the cracks are well and truly beginning too show, they cant keep up with the pace:p JOG ON Barclays:p

[dzaster]

Now its getting silly, I have started a claim with MCOL against Barclays and received a copy of the claim form today. The one problem I see with it is they have actually cited myself as the defendant and also Barclays as the Claimant.

 

Before I submitted the claim I checked and double checked everything and also had a colleague of mine check it. What do I do now as I cant afford to resubmit and spend another £80 for the privilege

[dzaster]

Oh and before anyone has a good laugh at me for entering the details in the wrong boxes, My colleague at work (lawyer) checked before I submitted the claim and also has a printout of the forms before I paid to submit them

[Nightstar]

have you contacted MCOL Helpdesk? to inform them

[dzaster]

Unfortunately by the time I got back from work they were closed, will contact them tomorrow and see what they say

[Nightstar]

Good Luck.

[dzaster]

Have today received back from the courts an Acknowledgement of Service for my claim

 

28 days to go from the 29/09/06

[dzaster]

Barclays have filed a defence against my claim, I am now busy trying to fill out the allocation questionnaire

 

Nothings easy is it

[Welshman]

It is easy to complete if you follow the link here and in section G you put the following:

 

"I am respectfully requesting my claim be heard via the small claims

track. This issue is not a complicated one; it is an issue of fact and

not of law. The issue is only whether the money levied by the

defendant in respect of its customer’s contractual breaches exceed

or even reflect their actual costs incurred. I am happy to pay their

actual costs and I am surprised the defendant did not counterclaim

for these, as I would have paid them without argument. However,

the continuing problem is (in common with the hundreds of other

cases currently being brought by other bank customers) that the

banks are refusing to reveal the details of their penalty-charging

regime, and that the charges they apply to accounts for exceeding

overdraft limits and so on are entirely disproportionate to the

actual costs the banks incur. As the banks have a fiduciary duty

towards their customers, they have a duty to deal straightforwardly

and in utmost good faith. Accordingly, I would respectfully ask that

the court in this case, not withstanding allocations to the small

claims track, order standard disclosure. I understand that it is in

the courts discretion to do so. I believe this would bring a rapid

end to this litigation. I have attached the schedule of the charges

I am claiming for to this allocation questionnaire to show a

breakdown of the amounts for the courts perusal".

Good Luck

 

[jamiesmum]

ok, at the risk of seemng really dim, do you put this on section G on form N149 AQ for small claims track:?: (given its allready for small claims track) so confused..........

[dzaster]

Just so everyone knows the defence Barclays have offer is 10 points in total please see below

 

1. The Particulars of Claim do not provide details or particulars of the account in question and/or the precise charges alleged to have been unlawful, or the date thereof - I thought that was in schedule of charges, which the court have also received

2. To the extent it is alleged that the Claimant incurred bank charges on his unathourised borrowings (whether unpaid fees for returned cheques, 'Paid Referral fees' or any other such fees), the Defendant puts the Claimant to strict proof of each charge and the date thereof - again schedule of charges

3. The Defendant's standard terms and conditions give the Claimant a fair and transparent veiw of the terms and the charges applicable for unauthorised borrowings (including where the account is overdrawn without an overdraft limit or where the Claimant exceeds his authorised overdraft limit)

 

4. If and to the extent it is the Claimants case that the failure to make necessary payments and/or failure to remain within authorised overdraft limits, failure to to arrange an authorised overdraft constitued a breach of the terms and conditions applying to the account and that the contractual entitlement to debit charges from the Claimants account constitutes a liquidated damages clause, the same is denied. The charges constitute payments the Claimant agreed to make by reason of the terms and conditions of his account and were consideration for the Defendant advancing credit to the claimant, which the Defendant was under no obligation to advance. The Defendant was entitled to impse such charges and intrest when the Claimant incurred the overdraft.

 

5. Accordingly, it is denied the the legal principles relating to liquidated damages clauses and penalty charges are relevant or applicable to the facts set out above. Further or alternatively it is denied that any such charges constitute unlawful penalty charges or are in breach of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 or are in breach of th Unfair (Contracts) Terms Act 1977, or are unreasonable within the meaning of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (or indeed any other provision).

 

6. Therefore, it is denied that the charges were unlawfully debited from the account.

 

7. If and to the extent the Claimant incurred charges on his account, this was caused by the Claimant having gone into overdraft without having agreed with the Defendant an authorised overdraft facility or to increase the overdraft facilty and/or his failure to make payments to bring the balance of the account back into credit.

 

8. It is averred that the said charges and intgrest remain lawful and enforceable and the Defendant was entitled to debit the same. Accordingly, the Claimant is not entitled to a declaration by the Court as to the enforcability of the said charges

 

9. The Defendant denies that it is liable to the Claimant for the sums claimed and interest as pleaded by the Claimant or at all. In the alternative, which is denied, if the said charges amount to summs payable on breach of contract, it is averred that the charges asserted by the Claimant to have been applied to the account prior to 12 September 2000 would not be recoverable for reason of exhaustion of time in bringing contractual claims from the date of accrual, pursuant to the Limitation Act 1980.

 

10. In the alternative, and without prejudice to paragraph 6 above, if (which is denied) the said charges and interest or any part thereof are unlawful or unenforcable as alleged by the Claimant or at all, the Defendant has nonetheless suffered loss and damage as a consequence of the Claimants breach of contract in allowing that accountto go into unauthorised overdraft. Accordingly, in the event that the Defendant is unable to rely on its express entitlement to enforce the charges set out at paragraphs 2 and 3 above, it will seek to recover to the extent necessary such loss and damage as it actually suffered, which will not necessarily be limited to the value of the said charges, and the defendant seeKs to set off such sums against any liability owed hereunder to the Claimant.

 

Adrian Ruffhead

Litigation and Disputes