Court Date Looming!

[yogi33]

Hi everyone, this is my first thread so be patient.

 

I'm in the process of claiming around £2700 back from the Lloyds TSB. I have sent all the correct letters and had a couple of letters from the bank telling me my charges were unique and therefore my claim wasn't valid, the usual b******t. As no refund was forth coming i started the MCOL process at the end of March. I received a letter on 17th April telling me that Acknowledgment of Service has been filed then on 2nd May i received a letter from the courts telling me the bank has filed a defence and the matter is going to court. Today i received a letter saying that there will be a Case Management Conference on 19th June.

I'm starting to worry a little, do i need to take legal representation to the conference? If I lose will i have to pay large court fee's? Is all this usual?

If anyone else has been through this or has any advice i would be very grateful.

 

Thanks Yogi

[nicsussex]

All sounds perfectly standard in the main. However it is unusual for Lloyds to claim that your charges are 'unique' and that the claim is 'not valid'. Perhaps you could give us a little more information on your claim. What is the £2700 made up of ? What period is the claim for? Are you claiming contractural interest?

 

No you do not need to take legal representation to court. If you lose (and if you have everything covered there is no reason why you should) costs are not awarded in the small claims court.

 

Might also help to have a look here

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/lloyds-bank/82148-got-court-date-important.html

[yogi33]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. I may have miss quoted the letter from the bank. I'm looking at it now and what it says is relating to the The Office of Fair Trading new guidlines, it says "The Office of Fair Trading has published new guidelines on credit card default charges. We're still talking it through with them, but the important point is that the guidelines are about 'default' charges that people pay when they break an agreement with us. This doesn't apply to your charges as these were for dealing with your request to go over your agreed averdraft limit. They are not default charges because you haven't broken your agreement. They are prices for the service we provide in these situations".

The £2700 is made up of a small amout of un paid direct debits but the majority is overdraft interest and overdraft excess fees.

The claim is for the period April 2002 to Jan 2007. I added £205.90 in interest.

 

I hope the information gives more of an insight, how do you think the next few weeks will pan out?

 

Thanks again

Yogi

[nicsussex]

The letter is perfectly standard. However you say that your claim is for a small amount of unpaid dd fees and the majority is o/d excess fees and o/d interest - I assume that you have only claimed the amount of O/D interest that relates to your charges?

[yogi33]

The o/d interest i calculated included all the o/d interest charged on my account which totalled £534.04. I'm curious why you ask, have a made a mistake?

I read a couple of other Lloyds threads and i noticed one claimant who said she had received a copy of the banks defence statement and also a AQ to fill in, i have never received this form, my latest correspondance is "Notice of Case Management Conference" on 19th June. The only documentation i have sent to the court was the original claim filled out on MCOL.

[nicsussex]

The o/d interest i calculated included all the o/d interest charged on my account which totalled £534.04. I'm curious why you ask, have a made a mistake?

 

Yes I'm afraid you have - the only O/D interest that you can claim is that which is directly attributable to the charges that they have made.

[yogi33]

What will be the result of my error?

Will i be able to correct my mistake?

 

Thanx

[nicsussex]

You will be aware that Lloyds have recently 'won' a couple of cases - the only reason that they have done so is that these cases have not been properly conducted. This will most likely be the case in your current situation, and you have left it very late to try and resolve the situation.

 

It is important that you obtain a copy of the banks defence as soon as possible (yesterday would be good) and let us see what it says.

[yogi33]

I have a copy of the banks defence?

What do you need?

[nicsussex]

Sorry my mistake - it is obviously the AQ form that you are saying you did not receive (not a problem) how many points are there inthe lloyds defence?

[yogi33]

there's 7 points

[nicsussex]

Can you post the salient issues?

[yogi33]

My mistake there's 9 points, there was another sheet.

What do you mean by salient? i'd guess valid or relevant

[nicsussex]

Sounds like the standard 9 point defence - but just in case - can you cover the brief facts on each of the 9 points?

[yogi33]

Ok nicsussex, i've run out of time tonight so i'll get the points on tomorrow, i work stupid hours.

Once again, many thanks for all your help

[yogi33]

Ok here goes,

 

1, States bank name and address

2, By opening an account with the bank, the customer enters into a commercial arrangement with the bank for the provision of banking charges etc.

3, By keeping the acount in credit the customer may avoid some if not all charges etc.

4, There is no breach of contract; the charge cannot therefore be a penalty etc

5,The customer is given advance warning of charges being imposed etc.

6, The charges are fair and reasonable and it is denied that they are unlawful

7, The customer is notified of the charges in plain intelligible language at the conclusion of the contract etc.

8, In the premises:

8.1, the charges are for banking services, and are not damages nor a penalty

8.2, the bank is entitled by contract to impose the charges, which are fair and reasonable;

8.3, it is denied that the charges are unlawful or contravene any statute or regulation

9, The claimant?s claim is denied in it's entirety. It is further denied that the Claimant is entitled to the sum claimed or to any sum from the bank.

 

That's everything, let me know if you need anymore detail for any of the points, i quoted exactly points 8 & 9.

Please let me know what you think?

 

thanx

[nicsussex]

Perfectly standard defence - nothing to worry about.

[yogi33]

So how do i solve the problem with my miscalculation of my claim amount?

[nicsussex]

Have you had a look here?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/lloyds-bank/47344-claim-too-vague-defence.html

[yogi33]

Brilliant, very helpful!

 

Quick question, as i have had a defence statement from the bank but their defence doesn't say my claim is "Too Vague" does that mean they see my case as adequately prepared?

[nicsussex]

Quick question, as i have had a defence statement from the bank but their defence doesn't say my claim is "Too Vague" does that mean they see my case as adequately prepared?

 

 

Best not to assume this until the refund is in your account

[yogi33]

the reason for my question is purely because i'm worried my POC aren't adequate, i read through the thread about amanding your claim and it said if the POC aren't good enough then file the N244 form etc. Because i miscalculated my claim amount should i persue the N244 route bearing in mind that their defence didn't say my case was too vague?

[yogi33]

I've just read through my notice of transfer of proceedings from Northampton County Courts and it says

It is ordered that :-

 

1, The filing of an allocation questionaire be dispensed with in this case unless the District Judge at the court of Transfer orders otherwise.

 

What does that actually mean? Why don't i need AQ form?

[yogi33]

nic i'd like to apologise for my relentless questions, i only discovered this site last week my claim up to here has been progressed using This Is Money not CAG, if i'd found this site earlier i would have used it. This is money was fine until the court part of the claim after that the advice was poor, so here i am and i'm getting a crash course and unfortunately it seems you've inadvertantly become my advisor.

[BARTY]

Hi

Have a read of this:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/80091-your-court-dispensing-allocation.html?highlight=dispensed+AQ

 

And there is no need to apologise, we would rather you asked questions then make a big mistake.

 

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Barty:)