40 days - no response

[wordword]

Hi,

Sent the ‘Preliminary Approach’ letter and received a standard letter/leaflet in reply. It’s now been 14 days, so am about to send the ‘Letter Before Action’

• Do I send this letter to the same address as the Preliminary Letter?

Head of Customer Relations

Barclays Bank plc

1 Churchill Place

London

E14 5HP

• Should I include the 8% interest on my Schedule of Charges with this letter?

• Also, I had to rework the letter template because they did reply…does this sound ok?

I am very disappointed that you have not responded positively to my letter of the 03rd July 2007, instead choosing to send a standard letter and leaflet in reply.

Thanks for your help in advance

[saintly_1]

send lba to same address ....... no you dont add the 8% interest

All template letters are just that templates and should be amended to suit

[wordword]

ok, sent my LBA letter, its been over 14 days (gave them a bit extra due to postal strikes)...just received the following letter...

 

...............................................................................

We refer to your complaint on bank charges. We believe that your complaint concerns the level, fairness or lawfulness of the charges.

 

We believe the charges are legal, fair and transparent

 

Since we last wrote to you, the bank (with several other banks) became involved in legal proceedings with the office of fair trading (oft) on bank charges which we believe will resolve the legal issues about the fairness and legality of your bank charges.

 

It would be our normal approach to resolve your complaint through our internal complaints process as quickly as possible. However, until the determination of the legal issues in the above proceedings, we have asked the financial services authority (fsa) to suspend the normal timetable for dealing with bank charges, and the fsa has agreed to this request to condition that protect your rights.

 

We can assure you we have registered and stored your complaint. Please retain your bank records, as this will make it easier for you to support your complaint on resolution of the test case.

 

Once the legal proceedings between the oft and the banks finish, we will resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.

 

We are sorry that we have not been able to respond in full to your complaint now, but we (together with the fsa and the oft) think that it is necessary to resolve the key legal issues before we decide how we should respond to your complaint.

 

Obviously exactly what will happen next will depend on the courts. We do not know how long the case will take - we have promised to proceed as quickly as possible but inevitably given the importance of the issues being considered this may take many months to finally resolve. But we can assure you that once the legal proceedings are completed we will resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. If at the stage you do not agree with our conclusions you will of course be able to refer your case to the financial ombudsman service (fos) (or to the courts).

 

Should we decide to refer your case to the financial ombudsman services (fos), you should be aware that we have asked both the fos and the courts not to proceed with any other case they are hearing until the test case is resolved. The fos has indicated as a general proposition that it will indeed not proceed with cases which rely on the legal issues being considered in the test case.

 

Similarly, you should be aware that if you choose to issue a claim in the county courts, the bank will immediately apply to the courts for an order to stay your action until resolution of the banks proceedings with the oft.

 

We will keep you updated appropriately about the proceedings with the oft. You can also check the latest position on our website.

 

The fsa requires us to ensure that your complaint will not be adversely affected by the delay in dealing with it.

 

...............................................................................

 

not sure what to do, should I move to the next step - issue a court claim???

[saintly_1]

Yes carry on with your claim ......

[wordword]

is this a standard letter they reply with?

[saintly_1]

yes we all seem to be getting them at the moment

[wordword]

thanks for your replies, im gonna go for it...:?

 

i have to now issue a court claim, i understand that its not advised to file claims online through MCOL (courts are frequently threatening to strike out claims filed by MCOL, due to the shortened particulars of claim, and because a list of charges cannot be included)

 

I will therefore use a N1 form..Im trying to reclaim charges from Barclays, so should I use the

 

Particulars of claim - N1 - hard copy version

 

or the

 

## New POC for N1 Barclays bank ## in the (Bank Templates Library)

 

• Do I post this (how many copies?) to my local county court?

• Do I need to send it with a covering letter?

• Should I send it to a particular person/position?

• Do I enclose a cheque? if so, who should i make it payable to?

 

Thanks

[saintly_1]

Ok you need 3 copies of everything ... to send/take to your local county court

As i took mine in person i just handed them in to the woman on reception and paid in cash so that it could be processed and issued immediately

Dont forget to include 3 copies of you schedule of charges

 

and use the New POC's that are specific to Barclays

 

Hope that covers everything

 

Saint

[saintly_1]

Cheques should be made payable to HMCS ....... missed that out sorry

[wordword]

hi,

 

still debating whether to issue the court claim, spoke to a solicitor but he didnt really have any advice.

 

The way i see it, I could spend £100+ issueing the claim, barclays are likely to ask for a stay to see what happens with the test case...if they win, then ive lost the court fee...

 

However, if they lose the case then they will have records of my claim (LBA etc) and will pay up. so is it worth just waiting for the result of the test case.

 

Is there a certain amount of time to complete this process? i.e. if I sent the LBA 2 weeks ago, do I have to issue court claim within a certain time?

[saintly_1]

No you dont have to issue the court claim within a specific time

 

As for whether to proceed with the claim only you can decide

[tonycee]

still debating whether to issue the court claim.

 

How far back are you claiming ?

Any OFT/Bank agreement will undoubtedly include the limitations act

(6 years).

[wordword]

am claiming from July 2002 to now...so have some time.

 

I think

[wordword]

the solicitor did ask if the test case had any relevance to my case...

 

I basically am claiming loads of 'Paid Refereals' caused by unauthorised overdraft.

 

not sure where i stand with this...

 

i can imagine going to court, and them saying it was my own fault i kept getting charged?!?!?

[dar£n]

it want your fault the bank was penalising you by applying unlawful charges which lead to even further hardship.

[wordword]

Hi,

 

In June 2007 I had reached the point in the reclaim process where I had sent my LBA letter and had received a standard letter in reply. The next stage was to issue a court claim.

 

I debated whether to issue the court claim, spoke to a solicitor but he didn’t really have any advice. A few things in my personal life happened and this was all put on hold. I’m now ready to carry on with the claim however,

 

Is there a certain amount of time to complete this process? i.e. if I sent the LBA June last year, can I still issue a court claim now? Or should I re-start process again?

 

I’m still incurring paid referrals – however my documentation only looks from July 2002 to June 2007. Will any further charges (after June 2007 to present day) be taking in consideration and also refunded?

Should I issue the court claim, or wait and see what happens in the test case?

 

If the banks lose, will they just refund charges as standard to all customers, or only to those that have issued a court claim?

 

Appreciate any advice

[saintly_1]

You can add the newer charges onto you scedule of charges right up until you submit to court.

 

As its been so long since you sent the LBA I would be tempted to resend the LBA with the updated SOC's then file at court.

 

The templates at the moment are ofline being reworked due to the outcome of the OFT case hopefully they will be back online soon.

 

The LBA is also in Wiki here:

Letter Before Action - Consumer Wiki

 

but bear in mind this is the old version. otherwise wait a few days for an updated version following the OFT judgment in the Bank Library

 

 

saint