The MP's campaign-Responses

[ncf355]

Further to my previous post re contacting John Penrose MP for Weston Super Mare, he has now replied stating he will write to the appropriate minister and contact me ASAP once he receieves a reply

 

 

Thanks John

[ja-de]

I have just received a reply from Edward McMillan-Scott MEP-Yorkshire & The Humber. I'll leave it up to you, as to what you make of it:

 

Dear Miss ja-de

 

Thank you for your email regarding the OFT's decision to commence litigation proceedings against the big seven banks over possible unfair overdraft charges. I apologise for the delay in my response which is due to the European Parliament having only recently reconvened following its summer recess. For your information, I also reply on behalf of my fellow Conservative colleague for Yorkshire & Humber, Mr Timothy Kirkhope.

 

I have consulted with the Conservative Spokesman for Internal Markets and Consumer Protection, Mr Malcolm Harbour, as well as the Office of Fair Trading, and have been informed that the litigation proceedings form part of a test-case which is aimed in the long-run at providing the consumer with more certainty and fairness regarding bank charges that they incur.

 

You mention in your email that whilst the OFT are carrying out their investigation that the FSA has put a stop on all claims currently being made against these banks. You will be pleased to hear, however, that this is not entirely the case. I have been informed by the OFT that there are some district and county courts in the UK which are still processing claims and are finding in favour of the claimant when banks fail to turn up to Court to defend themselves. I suggest that if you would like to find our further information on this matter, that you follow the below link:

 

BBC NEWS | Business | Banks still being sued over fees

 

For assistance in moving your claim against a bank forward, I suggest that you contact your local Consumer Direct branch. The number to call is 08454 04 05 06.

 

I hope that you find this information useful.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Edward McMillan-Scott

 

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP (Yorkshire & Humber, UK, Conservative)

Vice-President of the European Parliament

 

Email: [email protected]

 

Tel: +32 2 284 5959

Fax: +32 2 284 9959

 

Website: Official site of Edward McMillan-Scott MEP - Home

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Miss ja-de

Sent: 04 August 2007 02:25

To: MCMILLAN-SCOTT Edward

Subject: Letter from your constituent Miss ja-de

 

 

This message was also sent to: Godfrey Bloom MEP, Diana Wallis MEP,

Linda McAvan MEP, Timothy Kirkhope MEP, Richard Corbett MEP

[MacBoy]

Helpful, non?

[ja-de]

Maybe I'm a bit tired, & I'm missing something?? but no not really, I don't think so, anyway....

[olden]

Hi ja-de

 

Well I can't believe it ! First of all "you will be pleased to hear the courts are still hearing cases" well I never!! what are we worried about then lets all go and find one shall we:rolleyes: We have all seen that article thankyou sir ! Also "for assistance in moving your claim against a bank forward" do you think if all of us in wales asked nicely they would lift our stays so we could transfer? ( and everywhere else) lets ring the consumer direct then shall we.

[crfx250]

That was pitiful.

 

''You will be pleased to hear, however, that this is not entirely the case. I have been informed by the OFT that there are some district and county courts in the UK which are still processing claims and are finding in favour of the claimant when banks fail to turn up to Court to defend themselves.''

 

I'm just sorry that after all your hard work , Je-de, you got a response

like that.

[ja-de]

Hi all, not to worry because looking at the stats for the moment, the MP's etc. backing us, far outweigh the ones who don't. So what if he's Vice-President of whatever & so forth, he must have known that he hasn't really told us anything that we don't already know. Besides he's an MEP, & the MEP's haven't been bothered about our campaign yet apart from 1!!

 

Like I said in an earlier post, we might as well just concentrate on targeting as many MP's as we can, because let's face it, if they want our vote at the next election, they have to be seen to be doing something for their constituents.

[MacBoy]

I propose we drop the MEP effort altogether and focus our firepower on Westminster MPs. That's where the power to amplify our voice and gain momentum and political visibility, lies.

 

MEPs are completely the wrong people to be taking this to IMHO. I'm not even convinced that the MSP/MWAs can be that much help to us either, if I'm being honest.

[jojo1974]

Recieved note saying from HM Treasury saying that the Private Secretary acknowledges receipt of the letter I sent via Nick Harvey MP for north devon

[ja-de]

I think you could be right Mac, because up to press we've not had a good response from any of them, if at all!

 

Could I ask everyone to send the template letter to their MP's only please,as the response we have had has not been a very good one from the MEP's-only a quarter have replied, with 5 not interested, the MWA's-not one reply, & the MSP's-2 have been contacted, & 2 have replied.

[MacBoy]

I think you could be right Mac, because up to press we've not had a good response from any of them, if at all!

And not only that, I doubt their capacity to help us very much even if we got more responses from them - let's concentrate on what works - everyone has a Westminster MP and they are the people walking the corridors of power; the ones that can raise this at the appropriate levels and disrupt the cosy arrangement between the regulators and the banks.

[olden]

Hi Macboy, and all

I agree with you I think we have been so meticulous in our efforts to bring this to the attention of someone high up, to do something about the corruption going on, that some replys are an insult and then there are the ignorant ones who haven't answered.

 

lets send to more MPs

[Beserker]

Written to The Rt Hon Andrew Mackay, MP for Bracknell,

[olden]

Hi Ja-de Today I had all these responses !! I have pasted them over from the Cardiff Directions site, I am fuming what do you think of this lot:-x

 

 

Classic Account Customer

 

Join Date: Jun 2007

Posts: 193

 

 

 

Re: Cardiff directions hearings *POST HERE*

Hi Jenny, (and all of you) This is my day for receiving answers GET a load of this:

 

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

JUDICIARY OF

ENGLAND AND WALES

ANDY CATON

PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE DEPUTY HEAD OF CIVIL JUSTICE

14th September 2007

Dear Ms

Thank you for your letter dated 10th September 2007 and enclosures

Unfortunately this office does not have any record of receiving your letter of 13th

August, but in response to the points raised it is quite correct to say that no "blanket"

direction to stay cases involving bank charges was made by the Deputy Head of Civil

Justice. Instead the Designated CivilJudge for each area of England and Wales was

asked to consider the cases for which he and his District Judges have conduct and to

make an assessment as to the appropriate course of action.

In some areas there is a large volume of cases which relate to the same point, it is

therefore not surprising that an assessment has been made that a great many of the

cases should be stayed pending the outcome of the High Court hearing.

It is of course open to you to make representations to the County Court to have the

stay lifted. It is however, a matter for the local Judiciary to decide how a case should

be conducted.

 

 

Master of the Rolls Private Office Room E214 Royal Courts of Justice Strand London WC2A2LL

Telephone 020 7947 7402 Fax 029 7947 7475 Email [email protected] si.gov.uk

Website Judiciary of England and Wales website

 

and this

 

Dear Valerie

 

Jessica has asked me to contact you about your e mail of 7 September in connection with the above.

 

I have spoken to Jessica and she thinks the best course of action would be to take your concerns up direct with the Chief Executive of the Office of Fair Trading along with a request that they contact you direct to try and resolve your difficulties. In this respect, therefore, are you content for me to release copies of your correspondence to OFT?

 

I look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, I will let you have a copy of the letter Jessica sent to the FSA.

 

Anthony Jermyn

Caseworker

Office of Jessica Morden MP Newport East

Suite 5, 1st Floor, Clarence House, Clarence Place, Newport, South Wales NP19 7AA

01633 841726

[email protected]

 

 

AND THIS:-x

 

General form of Judgement or Order Before District Judge Hendicott sitting at Cardiff County Court etc..etc..

 

Upon reading the Claimants submissions to the proposed order of stay it is ordered that the submissions be treated as an applicaiton to remove the stay in the order of 07 August 2007

 

The application be refused.

 

As this has been refused without a hearing either party may apply for the applicant to be reconsidered at an oral hearing. Any such applicaiton shall be on notice and is reserved to HHJ Hickinbottom or DJ Hendicott unless expressly released by either:-x

 

Firstly the Master of Rolls I have proof of delivery of my first letter signed for!!

 

Second, PASS THE BUCK WHY DON'T YOU FSA

 

And Third The judge saying my application to be treated as an application ???what ???

 

I already asked for an oral hearing ???

[ja-de]

Hi olden, well what can I say, apart from the fact that I'm utterly amazed at the replies, but unfortunately not surprised at the treatment you have received by these people who don't have the first idea of what it's like, to have to struggle through life, with no money to spare. You are right to be fuming about this.

Thankfully you have signed proof of delivery, for your letter the Master of the Rolls. Sometimes I have to wonder what MP's are for; if they won't help us in our time of need, who will??? I'd let this chap send it all to OFT, & see what they have to say about it.

Now this Judge Hendicott, I have a feeling that either he can't, or won't read what he has in front of him. Surely if he had he would have noticed that you have requested an oral hearing, personally I would put in a complaint to the court in Cardiff, & see what excuse they have to give.

I'm sorry I can't give you the answers you need, but please don't give up hope, as I'm sure that there is someone on here, who will be able to advise you much better than I can!

But, Please do keep us posted on your progress won't you.

[olden]

Hi ja-de I might contact the court to ask them about that, but I don't think there is much more we can do now, I have written to the BBC after looking on the penaltycharges.co site

 

SEPTEMBERS NEWS LETTER

 

Dear ~Members~

 

Following on from the OFT announcement that they are conducting a test case against the bank we were concerned and we are still concerned whether the test case will ever get heard. It appears from recent media source as if The OFT is going to set a limit which they think is a fair amount and if they banks agree to that limit the test case will be dropped.

Link to media source BBC NEWS | Business | OFT may compromise on bank case

 

Most of you would have also noticed this paragraph in the article

 

"In most instances we would probably agree with the banks' arguments that these are not penalties as defined in common law," said Mr Elithorn.

 

Now what is interesting about this is the fact that Mr Elithorn use to be a Senior Manager for Capital One . See http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2007/62-07

 

So in realty his comments were not that surprising "however it does beg the Question what on earth is going on at the OFT" and is it all ex bank, credit card mangers making the decisions?

 

Remember we have a published advice and a template for Members to have stays set a side, however remember you will need to amend this to suit your circumstances, people who are struggling finically will probably be more successful in having stays overturned.

 

We would advice people to WRITE to the OFT and ask them to confirm that Mr.Elithorn Statement is correct, (remember spell it out) if they confirm it is I would included this in your application for stays to be lifted as clearly there is no guarantee the test case will ever get heard.

 

Joined Forces

 

We are happy to announce that we have joined forces with Moneysaving expert and Consumer Action Group and in August the three sites published the bank charges Charter there is also a new petition on the Governments web site that we hope you will sign.

 

Link to the charter http://www.penaltychargesforum.co.uk/announcement.php?f=182&a=61

 

Link to the Petition http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BankCharter/

 

BBC NEED YOU

 

The BBC Money Programme is making a film about bank charges. We're investigating the current situation between the banks and the OFT examining at how it effects those still hoping to claim. We'd like to hear your stories.

 

Are you going to court in the next few weeks to claim back bank charges? Do you know if your case will be heard or not? Since the ruling on the 28th July have you had your case heard or been offered a settlement? Would you be willing to speak to the BBC about your situation? We'd like to film with someone currently in the process of trying to claim back their penalty charges.

 

We'd also like to hear from people who feel they've experienced intimidating behaviour from their bank after submitting a claim.

 

If any of the above apply to you and your willing to share your story, please contact

[email protected]

0208 752 7447

 

WE NEED YOU

 

We are trying to find people who are in finical difficulty because of bank charges who have applied for stay to be removed and argued that they are suffering from hardship

 

We like to hear from you is you made an application to the court for the stay to be lifted but this was declined. And or you told your bank but they have ignored you!

 

WHAT NEXT

 

The simple answer is keep filing you claims if your claim is stayed decided if using the application to have the stay lifted is suitable for your circumstances.

 

GREAT NEWS

 

We almost at 5,000,000.00 refunded to members so great work everyone.

 

THANK YOU

 

To all the sites Admin and Mods and Members that have given so much of their time to help people because it's the right thing to do. With out you and without your input this site would not work.

 

So a big thank you from me

 

Stephen Hone

Founder of the war against bank charges,

[UKLASS]

Wrote to Rt. Hon Michael Jack MP for Fylde to request support. No response yet

[The Phantom]

Received reply from Alison Seabeck who has received a reply from the FSA which she forwarded to me

 

She is not happy with it and will now take the matter further and has raised concerns with the relevant Minister as she agrees that the ruling is clearly a disadvantage for consumers.

 

I try and upload the letters for your information

[The Phantom]

OOPS - too small

Will try Photobucket

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Nicole99/seabeck.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Nicole99/FSA2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Nicole99/FSA1.jpg

 

These are now readable

Ms Seabeck will contact me when she has more news

[olden]

Hi Phantom The FSA1, is identical to mine, well thats no surprise anyway. lets hope something good comes from your MP at least Alison Seabeck is thinking a lot more about this than most other MPs I am waiting for my reply to my rather angry response to mine.

[The Phantom]

She is quite good and is not afraid to rattle some cages if needs be.

The FSA just send her a standard letter they carefully prepared before all this kicked off and she obviously knows that's what it is.

Let's hope the minister gives her a little more info and assistance than a standard letter !

[ja-de]

Hi Phantom & olden, yes unfortunately it's correct, it seems that the FSA is sending Templated letters to our MP's, which I personally think is rather naughty of them (very polite opinion).

[The Phantom]

They knew what would be coming their way and prepared themselves !

That template was ready before the announcement was made I bet you

They run these off in their thousands and send them to whoever asks about the waiver.

It only shows what a disgrace this entire affair is

[livelylad]

NOTICE TO ALL

 

I will be removing posts that are not required anymore, I shall leave posts that provide links to contact sites for MP's. If you have a post removed you WILL recieve a Cagbot message, this is a standard message. Should you wish any post to stay please inform Ja-de or Macboy via Pm before Thurs morning. Thank you

[olden]

I agree an absolute disgrace ! and as I said before I am so angry that they are allowed to get away with this. If the boot was on the other foot we'd be arrested by now !! yes ja-de you are being polite aren't you. I don't think we will get anywhere, but keep trying.