Ready to take Abbey to court - need help & advice please!

[Les1]

I have sent the 14 day letter to Abbey, including spreadsheet detailing charges, dates etc. I received a standard to which I sent 2nd letter. They have written to me saying that their investigations could take another 4 weeks and will write to me after this time to let me know how the situation is progressing! This letter totally disregarded my 2nd letter! I am annoyed and want to take them to court for my claim of charges which amount to £1300. I have filled in most of the on-line claim form, but really stuck on completing the wording of my claim to the best effect. The claim was for usual charges, unpaid direct debits, going over overdraft limit, etc. My husband was made redundant 4 years ago, he got another job after 3 months, but had to take a £7000, pa pay cut. We found it very hard to manage and explained all this to Abbey. Despite this there were occasions when Abbey charged us over £150 in 1 month, I think this is disgusting!

 

Any help/advice greatly appreciated.

 

Kim

[fendyweather]

Firstly you need to be sure you read all the FAQ's on the forum. Ensure you know what youre doing before you start. You have to follow the guidelines on here if you want to be truly successful and ensure youve covered yourself on everything.

 

Send Prelim + 14 days

then LBA + 14 days, and if no offer of your charges back, then and only then should you file at court. You shouldnt jump the gun. Wait the full 28 days before filing MCOL, because if you dont, no court would look kindly upon you jumping in too quick to claim. We are all behind you to help you through this, but you have to follow the steps carefully to ensure victory.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/

 

Best of luck, but dont get down hearted, there will be many delaying tactics by the bank along the way. But they can all be overcome with all our help.

 

Warm Regards

 

Fendy xxxxx

[Les1]

Thanks Fendy.

 

I have sent the 14 day letter and only response was that they are still looking into my complaint. I sent 2nd letter after further 14 days, both recorded delivery. First letter was sent on 16 April. So I have done what you sgguested, i.e. prelim + 14 days, another 14 days and 2nd letter. Not sure what LBA is? We've not had any offer of charges back so this is why I feel the time to go to court. Sorry, a bit new to all of this and find it all so mind boggling, but I think I've followed the procedure correctly?

 

Kim x

[Robdblynd]

Kim, if you follow Fendy's advice, go back and read the FAQs, it tells you what to do almost every step of the way.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/

 

You really have to be very much prepared to take on the banks now, they're playing hard ball and will pounce on any little error in your case.

 

The letters you need to write are in here.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/

 

When you're really sure about what you are doing, then file the claim and then spend every moment you can reading about the process and what you can expect to happen and what you need to do.

 

Please take your time and prepare properly, it would be dreadful to lose because you overlooked something.

 

Good luck with the claim and if you need advice, support or have questions you can't find answers to, post back here and someone will advise.

 

This site is all about self help, with a little extra from others along the way.

[charleyfarley]

Hi Les,

 

for what it's worth, I would advise strongly against using MCOL, and use the N1 form instead..................it's a much better way of filing your claim

[fendyweather]

Hi Kim, from what I can see youve followed everything so far fine. So time to start court claim. For information LBA is letter before action and as youve already sent this then its fine to start court now. All the best.

Its up to you whether you file at your loca court or do it through MCOL (Money claim Onlin). I used the MCOL and found everything fine, but each to their own. Choice is yours. Heres the Particulars of Claim below when you file. All the very best. Fendy xxxx

MONEY CLAIM ONLINE PARTICULARS OF CLAIM

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/681-4-particulars-claim-n1.html

POC HARD COPY VERSION

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/681-4-particulars-claim-n1.html

[Les1]

Have anotehr question which I can't find in the FAQ's. We filled in the N1 form last night and wrote out all the necessary 'minimum' details as advised. Our real problems began when my OH was made redundant and although found another job the salary was significantly less. We contacted our banks to explain the problem but they continued charging us up to £160 per month in charges (Abbey) do I write this on the form as support of our appeal?

 

Thanks

 

Kim

[Les1]

We have all copies of the N1 form & schedule of charges, can someone tell me how many copies ot send to the court, also do I send a copy to Abbey?

[Robdblynd]

You need to send three copies of everything to the court. One they will keep, one they stamp and send to Abbey, one they stamp and send back to you.

 

In case there was a problem I made four copies, gave three to the court and kept one for myself. Didn't fancy having to till it all in again if they got lost or something.

 

Good luck.

[Les1]

Thank-you!

[Les1]

Received a letter from Abbey today, offering us a measly £240, from a claim of £1300. Pathetic. I politely rejected their offer and informed them that court proceddings have begun.

[hughstjust]

We initially went through the Financial Ombudsman for my mentally ill daughter (aged 35) to recover £290 in charges - their process proved too convoluted.

 

Then in March this year we wrote with our claim direct to Abbey - who sent us all the statements except the ones with the bank charges on! Plus advice how to stay in Credit (when my daughter had already closed her account some 2 years earlier.) Luckily my daughter by some miracle had most of her statements anyway.

 

After 2 more letters we received a cheque for £20 which we promptly returned and commenced court proceedings in our local county court in Kent. Our total claim was for £312 - including interest.

 

This week, Abbey have offered us 65% of our claim to withdraw our action - albeit they have filed a defence.

 

With the possibility of a High Court judgement in the offing, we have deigned to accept this improved offer from Abbey.

[Les1]

Despite sending the rejection letter Abbey have credited our account! Also received 2 more letters from them today, one saying they are still looking into our complaint and the other saying they are sorry we are unhappy with the way our complaint is being dealt with and will look into it!! 'Shabby' is definitely what I would call them!

[Les1]

We have just done an MCOL claim for our Barclays account and realised we may have calculated the interest wrongly for Abbey claim which we did using N1 form. Difference of 5p per day, less than claimed. What should we do? Should we inform the court?

 

We received Issue of notice form yesterday for our claim. What do we do with this? I have read somewhere that we need to send a copy to Abbey's solicitors, if so how can I find the address, there is no mention of this on the form. Also as Abbey has credited our account despite rejection letter do we need to inform the court of this?

 

Sorry so many questions, this is all so mind bogling!

 

Thanks.

[Michael Browne]

Difference of 5p per day, less than claimed

.Don't bother amending. It's trivial and won't affect your claim

I have read somewhere that we need to send a copy to Abbey's solicitors

,That's when you file via MCOL. With N1 you should have included the SoC,which will have been sent to Abbey with your claim.

[Les1]

Thanks so much!! Yes we did send SoC with N1 form, plus further copy to our bank. Is the notice of issue just for reference then? have read it through and I can't see anything that says we need to do anything!

 

Kim

[Michael Browne]

Is the notice of issue just for reference then

Yes

[Les1]

We received a letter of notice that acknowledgement of service has been filed from the courts today saying that Abbey are intending to defend all of the claim.

 

I am getting scared now, I knew it could come to this. Is there anything I can do to be prepared for a possible court hearing? In everyones experience are Abbey likely to attend court?

[Robdblynd]

Don't panic Kim, Abbey will submit a templated defence (everyone's is the same), next step might be filling in AQ although most courts are skipping that step and going straight to directions (sometimes at hearings). Then and only then will you get a court date, sit tight cos Abbey will pay up, they just wait till the 11th hour cos they're trying to scare you into backing down.

 

Have a read of my thread if you want, I've won so my first claim is settled but number 2 is up and running.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-bank/70740-robdblynd-abbey.html?highlight=Robdblynd

 

Relax, it's all going very much the way everyone else's has gone before you. Just read up on the stages as they happen and you'll be fine. Post back if you want clarification, advice and just general support, we're all in this together and we will help where we can.

[Les1]

Thanks so much, just the reasurrance I needed!!

 

Okay, we have received a letter from Abbey offering us more money if we settle ourt of court, nothing like enough though, they are not even covering charges let alone interest and court costs! We haven't replied back yet, do I need to? Today we recveived an AQ - must admit I feel so deflated again and haven't really got he £100 fee. But not going to let them win.

 

Appreciate any advice on filling in the AQ and whether or not to send a reply to Abbey.

 

Thanks,

Kim & Les

[Robdblynd]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/11644-allocation-questionnaires-guide-completion.html

 

Have a look here, it tells you how to do things.

 

I would write to Abbey and say thanks but no thanks, you may however accept as part payment and tell them you're still going ahead for the rest.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/25716-rejecting-offers.html

 

That's the link to rejecting offers letter, adap them as you feel necessary.

 

Hold your nerve and you will get the full amount back, it's just a bit unsettling when they keep offering you more but not the full amount, hang on and they will offer it.

[Les1]

Thanks!!

[Les1]

Have sent of a rejection letter to Abbey, haven't heard back from them.

 

Have read and re-read the thread on AQ's but I'm confused (doesn't take much - lol!) I have printed off both of these (see below) and written as such in section G.

1) Section G - other information

2) Draft order for directions

 

However, I'm not sure about the draft order. I understand a) schedule and b) copies of statements, but what do c) A statement of evidence of all matters relied upon as tending to show that the charges are irrecoverable as penalties or otherwise;

 

and d) mean? Copies of decided cases and other legal materials to be relied upon.

 

Also the draft order says:

The Claimant shall within 14 days of service of this order send to the Defendant and to the Court:

However later on it says:

If the judge has aceeded to your request and ordered the directions as proposed, you will THEN have to submit the claimants documents as per a), b), c) and d) of the order.

 

So do we send the documents within 14 days or wait to be notified??

 

Any advice asap would be most appreciated!

[Michael Browne]

©Statement of Evidence - for Draft Direction Order

New strategy for Allocation Questionnaires

(d)Court Bundle

Basic Court Bundle

 

wait to be notified??

Yes youy only need to send all this if the judge agrees

[Les1]

Thank-you!