Splatrowe Vs Satan's Bankers

[splatrowe]

Afternoon all,

 

I couldn't find this information elsewhere, so thought i'd post it and see what response I get from the great intellects that inhabit these forums.

 

I've two accounts with Barclays and have been through the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) stages and sent the letter last week laying out how much Barclays owe to me and they are to pay etc etc. This morning I recieved a letter...

 

'Dear Mr Rowe,

 

We acknowledge receipt of your complaint about bank charges. We believe your complain concerns the level, fairness, or lawfulness of the charges. If it concerns something else, such as an administrative error, please let us know.

 

We believe the charges are legal, fair and transparent.

 

However, Barclays (along with a number of other banks) has now become involved in legal proceedings with the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") in relation to bank charges which we believe will resolve the legal issues regarding 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 complaints, and the FSA has agreed to this request subject to conditions 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 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 that 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).

 

Given this court case 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. FOS has indicated that as a general proposition 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, Barclays will immediately apply to the court for an order to stay your action until resolution of the bank's 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.

 

If you have a complaint regarding a matter other than the legality of bank charges then these will continue to be dealt with in line with our normal complaint process detailed in the enclosed leaflet.

 

If you require any further explanation with regard to this letter please refer in the first instance to the Questions and Answers provided on our website under the "Help and Information" section. If you do not have access to our website you may call 0845 300 5857.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Elaine Shillito

 

Customer Relations Advisor'

 

There are another two pages addressing 'questions' but they relate to (and are answered) by the letter above.

 

So i'm thinking that the best course of action is to take it to the County Court, but can anyone confirm that whether the case is 'stayed' or not is purely down to the presiding magistrate?

 

Personally, I think that all cases where Barlcays have received the letter outlining the amount of charges to be claimed back by the consumer should be settled regardless of the test case.

 

I also think that a judge would agree that the test case is simply a mechanism to put the issue of unfair charges to rest in terms of how much the banks should be charging but in the meantime the charges remain unfair, unlawful, and unacceptable, so should be resolved as the banks have been doing.

 

I look forward to hearing from you all.

 

Splatrowe

[welshcakes]

Hi splatrowe

 

and welcome to the B's forum (rather appropriate abbrev.)

 

You seem to have received B's latest automated response to current LBAs they receive so I wouldn't worry to much about the intimation they give, they ideally want potential claimants to think the case is hopeless and go away.

 

Absolutely agree that you should take it to court, the alternative is that you lose by not even trying to attain your rights to fairness ie give up. Worst case scenario is you have to wait til OFT TC completed but you will be earning 8% Statutory Interest as soon as you lodge it as a claim.

 

The majority of county courts are either self imposing a Stay or backing the bank's application for one. Whether this will happen to you depends on the court and more importantly the judge as imposition of a Stay is not mandatory and remains up to the discretion of the individual judge.