Sechiari, Clark & Mitchell - Confidential letter

[jomo]

Hi everyone,

 

Firstly, this is my first posting so I'd like to thank all the participants of the forums for their help and advice, which I have followed since starting this reclaim charges procedure. I'm sure thousands of us would never have had the courage to do this without the advice the forums provide.

 

I'm trying to claim more than £1000 in charges back from LTSB. I've received a letter from SC&M headed 'Strictly Without Prejudice' and 'Confidential'. In the letter they are offering to pay me back the total amount plus court fee of £120. However they are asking me to sign an agreement stating that, among other things, 'The payment will be in full and final settlement of your claim'. It also seems to me that the agreement is asking me to agree to them applying in the future the same kind of charges I'm currently claiming back.

 

A few days ago they (SC&M) sent me a letter saying they would defend the claim, and asking me to contact my local LTSB Branch Manager 'to review your account'. (This sounded to me a little like a threat that they wanted to close the account.)

 

Also, since I started proceedings the bank have applied charges of around £500, which the agreement doesn't (of course) mention.

 

I have the following questions, if anyone can help:

 

1. What confidentiality applies to the letter? (I haven't agreed with SC&M any such confidentiality)

2. What would happen about the charges applied by LTSB since the claim was initiated if this went to court? Would a judge take them into coinsideration, or would I have to initiate a new claim?

3. Has anyone else gone through this particular stage with SC&M?

4. They have given me a week or so to sign and return the agreement. Any advice would be welcome.

 

Thanks again to everyone,

 

jomo

[bobcatman]

dont accept it, continue claim for full amount,dont sign any conditions there are links to letter of rejection in the forum but i cant put my finger on it now dont let em beat you

[eileen58]

Hi , totally agree with bobcatman, don't accept any of their conditions. Go the full way with them and go to court. You will get all of your money, plus expenses, plus 8% interest.

As far as your £500 in new charges, if you sign their letter you are basically giving them your money, because you cannot then take them to court for these new charges.

I took a claim out against lloyds in the Scottish Courts for just under £1,500 and I tried to get them to add in my new charges and I was told from them that they will only deal with the amount on the court form. We have a smaller claims system up here, anything over £1,500 we need a lawyer of we have to go down the fos route.

Maybe someone can help you with the english system.

Good luck anyway.

 

Eileen

[corsicanpine]

I received the same letter a couple of weeks ago, took advice from this site and crossed out all the terms that I did not agree to, including those you mention, then signed and sent it back. Was then expecting [problem] to go all the way but received the full amount in to my account this week followed by a letter to tell me so and ask that I write to the court to close my claim.

 

Good luck

[Notahappybunny]

Hi

I have also recieved my full amount claimed, I sent a letter rejecting their claims, it was sent recorded so i know they received it, but a day after I recieved the money SC&M sent me a letter to the effect that since I hadn't given them the courtesy of a reply to their offer letter (which I had) they would put the money in my account on the basis that it was in full and final settlement, I would agree to maintain my account within agreed limits and I would make an appointment with the bank to review my account. These were the conditions I did not agree to, but they have still given me the money and then later told me I am getting the money on those conditions, does any body have any ideas where you stand with regards to this situation???

[jomo]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses.

 

I'll give it some thought over the weekend, but I think I'll reply declining the offer of settlement on the terms set out in their letter, and stating that I won't agree to any conditions being applied to the settlement. And I'll point out that I intend to also reclaim the recent charges.

 

I'd still appreciate opinions on what the view of a court would be on the recent charges.

 

Thanks for the support. I'll update as and when.

 

jomo

[christinajanep]

jomo,

the settlement letter is very standard and all u need to do is cross out the t&c's apart from the one that states u accept it as full and final.

as long as the amount your claiming and the amount their offer is matches your ok,

as far as the new charges go you'll need to claim for these seperately.

 

can i ask what stage your at

[eileen58]

Hi Notahappybunny,

Bos tried to do the same with my son with his claim by not giving him the full amount, so what I did for him was to write to the bank declining the offer and also a letter to the court telling them that he was declining the banks offer.

What this in effect does is let the court know that you are not accepting their offer and conditions and because you have sent the court a copy of your correspondence to the bank they cannot then come back and say that you have accepted their offer.

What I would do is send scm a letter stating that you did in fact send them a letter (hope you sent it recorded delivery then you can find out on the web site what day it was signed for) and you are willing to accept their offer but with NO CONDITIONS ATTACHED. Also inform them that you are sending a letter to the court explaining that you are willing to accept the banks offer but you are not accepting any conditions.

 

I hope this helps you a little.

 

Eileen

[jomo]

Thanks again everyone for your input.

 

I still haven't replied to SC&M's offer. I do have a letter drafted out saying that I won't accept their offer. However, after reading the responses to this post, I think I will follow the suggestions and strike out the conditions, but sign to accept the offer without those conditions. I think I'll also enclose a letter of explanation. Perhaps it might be an idea to send this separately, but again by recorded delivery?

 

Then, if/when I receive payment in full It'll be back to the court to try to reclaim the more recent charges.

 

christinajanep, I hope that explains the stage I'm at currently. The waiting game continues.

 

jomo

[christinajanep]

recorded delivery is good, lloyds have a habit of denying receipt of anything sent my snail mail.

 

good luck

[jomo]

thanks christinajanep,

 

regarding the stage I'm at with the process - I initiated the claim through MCOL, but then I had to amend the Particulars of Claim. So I was informed that it could no longer be handled online and I would have to communicate by phone or letter with the Northampton Court.

 

I have recently received a notice from my local court saying that it has now been transferred to them. I phoned them to ask what happens next, and they said I need to wait until I hear from them. So I'm waiting.

 

But SC&M sent a letter a couple of weeks ago saying they would be defending the claim. This was followed two days later by the offer to settle the claim in full, with the conditions I outlined in my first post.

 

I will be sending my response today turning down the conditional offer of settlement.

 

jomo