car2403 -v- Lloyds TSB

[car2403]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm at the stage where Lloyds TSB have just entered their Defence, which is;

 

Defence

1. The Defendant Lloyds TSB Bank plc “the bank” is a bank whose registered office is 25 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7HN. It is admitted that the Claimant has been a customer of the Bank at all material times.

2. By opening an account with the Bank, the customer enters into a commercial arrangement with the Bank for the provision of banking services. The Bank is entitled, as part of that arrangement, to charge for those services. At account opening a customer is provided with details of the Bank’s charges, currently in a leaflet a guide to our banking charges. By using the account, the customer acknowledges that the charges are incorporated into the contract. For personal customers, a number of services are provided for free, notwithstanding that they are an expense to the Bank. Such services presently include, but are not limited to, providing;

Cheques

Bank statements

the facility to make payments by Direct Debit and Standing Order

Debit cards

ATMs, “cash machines”

3. By maintaining the account in credit, or within any limit agreed with the Bank, the customer may avoid most if not all charges. If the customer fails to ensure that there are sufficient cleared funds in the account to cover payments, whether by cheque, debit card, standing order or direct debit, the customer makes a request for a payment to be made from the Banks own funds. If the Bank makes payment, or returns the payment, it provides a service as specified in the leaflet and makes a charge in accordance with the terms of the contract. On page 1 of the leaflet, the Bank explains that ? there are normally no charges for everyday banking at Lloyds TSB when your account is in credit.

When you use an agreed overdraft, there is no monthly fee and we only charge interest on the amount you are overdrawn each day. Where you go overdrawn without an agreement or where you use special services, such as copy statements, we will make a charge. This guide explains how these charges work1 and when they will apply.

If you want to use a service that we haven’t listed, we will tell you the cost of that service before you give us the go-ahead

4. There is no breach of contract; the charge cannot therefore be a penalty, consequently there is no requirement that the charge be a pre-estimate of the Banks loss.

5. The customer is given advance warning of charges being imposed: statements show the charges, if any, the customer has incurred during the course of a month, and which will appear as debits on the following months statement. Customers are warned by letter when they go overdrawn or over their agreed limit without arrangement with the Bank. If the customer fails to remedy the position, and payments such as

standing orders and direct are refused then again the customer is warned by letter.

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, and on each monthly statement. The charges are terms which relate to the price payable by the customer for a service provided by the Bank, and pursuant to Regulation 6 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, are not subject to the assessment of fairness.

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 its entirety. It is further denied that the Claimant is entitled to the sum claimed or to any sum from the Bank.

 

I'm sending the letter here in response;

 

No Allocation Questionnaire

[car2403]

Hearing date is 31 August @ 14.00 hrs.

 

Court bundle/statement of evidence on it's way, then...

[BARTY]

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Barty:)

[car2403]

Just received this today from [problem];

 

We act for Lloyds TSB Bank plc (‘the Bank’).

We have been passed a copy of the proceedings that you have issued against our client in Morpeth And Berwick County Court. The Bank will be defending these proceedings on the following grounds:

1. The fees that you seek are properly incorporated into your contract with the Bank; and

2. By making payments (whether by cheque, debit card or any other means) from your account where you have insufficient funds to cover them, you are making a request to the Bank for an increased overdraft, which the Bank may meet or decline. If it meets your request, you must pay the necessary charges. The issue of penalties only arises as a matter of law, where there has been a breach of contract, and there is no breach of contract here.

Looking ahead, a situation which gives rise to a dispute is not one the Bank wishes to continue. In view of this, you are requested, please, to make contact within the next 14 days with your local Lloyds TSB Branch Manager, on 0845 3 000 000, to review your account. A review may be useful to consider whether your current banking arrangements are the most appropriate for your needs.

We await confirmation from the Bank that this action has been taken

Yours faithfully

Sechiari Clark & Mitchell

 

Reading the threads of others, it looks like I'll get a settlement letter in a few days...

[car2403]

Settlement letter received - payment in full.

 

Interesting how they've worded it though;

 

"The Bank believes that it isn't in the best interest of all parties involved to allow an individual claim to be considered by the Court, as such, we are willing to offer... Blah, blah, blah"

 

I don't care - I've won!

[christinajanep]

wahey

congratulations

[nicsussex]

If they have attached any conditions that you are not happy with then just delete them - well done on your win!

[evoix]

good for you. I got same letter today. Faxed and sent acceptance. Hope money comes through as quick as they have settled -claim acknowledged 30.6.9 (intend to defend in full)

[car2403]

The only parts I'm changing is from "in full and final settlement of your claim" to "in full and final settlement of this claim" - I don't want to exclude making another claim if I'm charged again. (I don't actually bank with Lloyds TSB any longer, but you never know what will happen in the future)

[BARTY]

Congratulations!! :-D

Barty:)

[car2403]

Received payment today!

 

Only another 6 claims to go... Phew!

 

[nicsussex]

Excellent - don't forget to fill out the survey

[evoix]

Excellent news car, I phoned this afternoon and they said that there was about a 2 week backlog, Hope mine is paid tomorrow, I want to blow it all on a car lol

[car2403]

Order received withdrawing the claim, but no wasted costs included in it.

 

No wonder these banks are taking so long to sort these out as the Court's just aren't pushing the issue with them!