Wild Billy - ..all of which would all be very well if we were frequenting a forum of like-minded subject-matter experts. We aren't. There are a hell of a lot of ordinary people on here who neither know nor care about netiquette and have not like you clearly have, or myself, been on the net for a good number of years. No - they've heard of the site throught various sources and heard that there's good information available, delivered by friendly, savvy people. These people, well into six figures by now, represent the present and future success of the site. They vary in their levels of education, background, knowledge, geography and in so many other ways. Some of them have become almost as skilled as lawyers themselves, diving into the vast store of resources and knowledge here, building up their cases; enjoying success then sharing it with others. Others are not so confident and self-reliant and require more help. But they all contribute to the site in their own way and help make it the effective and amiable community it generally is. Your position, however appears to be that of a reluctant contributor - you impart a fair bit of knowledge, but don't seem to be able to do it without also imparting your lowly opinion of the recipients - calling some 'idiots' at one stage which I found disgraceful. I don't disagree with you that some have been posting with some misplaced assumptions and flawed logic. But that's life - this is not the Oxford Debating Soc. Far better in my view that you wear your knowledge a little more lightly I feel, Billy. Show a little good grace with your intelligence and insight Best regards Mac

hi deedee aw tyvm for your kind words and for the reputation i thoought it was lovely and guess what its mmy first one lol i have done it for many but for me its my first tyvm hugs abg

Hi All, and DS especially I think the following may help in persuading Courts to continue with current claims rather than 'staying' them. I'm doing a Witness Statement for my forthcoming Allocation Hearing, and am thinking of including the following 'extra' paragraph - "The Claimant is aware of the Test Case being initiated by The Office of Fair Trading in order to test the validity of The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 to claims of this nature. The Claimant believes that the Test Case does not seek to test the validity of the remaining issues in this claim and therefore believes that the Defendant must still comply in full with Item 3 of the General Form of Judgment or Order issued by the Court on 13th July 2007 which requires the Defendant to file with the Court and serve upon the Claimant draft directions for this case to proceed as a test case." GaryH has already agreed that what I'm saying is right - see here, Post 45 http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/lloyds-bank/85444-jimmyboy-lloyds-tsb-3.html I'm hoping that the statement might just influence the Judge to continue, rather than 'stay', the claim. I also think that the statement could be easily adapted for use in the Witness Statement at any type of hearing. I'd be very grateful for any thoughts or (constructive!) comments. All the best - Adam

Just thought it might be important for anyone claiming against a business account to be aware that there are some subtle but VERY important differences in regards how to go about this. I hope this thread can be a valuable source for those doing so, to exchange information, ideas and methods. Any takers? PLEASE, Business account claimants or those that know about business claims ONLY !

PAYMENT PROTECTION INSURANCE Before reclaiming or cancelling PPI you should have a look at the following Notes and see what type of PPI you actually have. Always consider all the facts and figures before starting a claim.. Whatever you do Do Not Just Jump In without researching your own policy, and don’t be afraid to ask for help / advice on the forums on CAG. There are basically 2 types of Payment protection Insurance policies. 1) Monthly paid premium (as used by most of the credit card companies) These policies should not be a big problem to cancel; normally they will cancel this type of policy if you write to them or Phone them. Of course if you consider that you have been mis sold this type of policy you can of course try and reclaim all the premiums that have been made, plus claim the interest on each payment at the Contractual Interest Rate. 2) Single Premium Policy (these are the biggest rip off ones) These policies are Paid for in full to the insurance company at the start of the policy. Most loan Companies will finance the full cost of the policy by adding the cost onto your loan. What they do not tell you is that you will also be paying interest on that amount at the loan interest rate for the full term of the loan. Example 1. PPI Cost £3300 Interest Rate 7.9%APR Interest payable over the 5 year loan = £1300 Actual cost of PPI cover £ 4600.00 Example 2 PPI Cost £3300 Interest Rate 7.9%APR Interest payable over the 15 year loan = £3913.00 Actual Cost of 5yr PPI Cover £ 7213.00 As some loans have variable APR the costs used in the above examples could be in fact a lot higher. Most of this type of Policy will cover you for 60 Months (5yrs) so beware if you have taken out one of these policies and have a loan which runs over the 5 year period. As in example 2 you would require a further 2 * 5yr PPI policies to cover the full loan period. I did one calculation on an original loan of £17,000.00 , when the PPI was added and calculated to cover the 15yr period; with an APR at 7.9% fixed the actual cost to repay the loan was calculated at almost £55,000.00. Cancelling a single payment Policy, This can be a bit trickier than a standard monthly paid policy. These policies will offer a very small percentage of the premium should you just cancel it. An example of this is shown below. Their answer to this part is normally that the insurance premium pays more in the early stages of the loan as there is higher risk. (Yeah - higher risk to the lender and not the Customer) £3300 policy which had been running for 3yrs, Refund of £97.00 if cancelled. Some companies will state that the only way that you can cancel one of these policies is to refinance and settle the complete loan agreement with a new loan without PPI on the new loan. Some of the lenders will also try and fob you off with excuses like, you may not get a new loan at the same low %APR without PPI. Some will also state that you may not in fact be able to obtain a new loan from them at all; this of course is all scare tactics to try and make you change your mind about cancelling the loan etc. If your credit rating is not good then they will use this against you too. In my own case I managed to obtain a new loan from another provider at a far better %APR (5.8%) rate without PPI, though they did really try and sell their PPI..lol. I also took out a stand alone PPI policy from an Independent provider at well under a tenth of the cost I was quoted from the new Lender. Personally I have nothing against PPI Insurance, in fact I think it is a good thing as long as it sold properly and not at an extortionate rate like it is by the major High Street Banks and Loan Companies. 3) Mis Sold Policy The mis selling of these policies is a major concern not just for Consumer but in fact the FSA and the OFT are looking into this whole matter. Have you been Mis Sold PPI. (Some standard Conditions for PPI) a) Payment Protection Insurance cannot be made a condition of obtaining a loan. (This is the most common reason for mis selling) b) You are permantley resident within the United Kingdom c) You are Over 18 and Under 65 at the commencement of your loan, and you will not reach the age of 70 during the insured term. d) You are in Full time employment – Some policies define Full time employment as being working Over 16 Hours per week and that you have been in full time employment for at least 6 Months prior to the start date of the policy. e) Pre Excisting Medical Conditions may also Invalidate your Policy f) Some policies may cover if you are self employed.. Check your T & C first though. ** Latest Additions to be added to above (thanks Todge)** 1 You were not in work or self employed at the time of sale 2 You were told that you had to take the PPI out at the same time as the loan or not at all 3 You were not asked whether you had any other insurance which would cover the loan 4 You were not told you could buy PPI elsewhere to cover the loan 5 You were sold a policy which had age restrictions which you fell outside of 6 You were led to believe that Payment Protection Insurance was compulsory 7 You were told that you would stand more chance of getting the loan if you took the Payment Protection Insurance 8 It was not explained to you that there were certain exclusions within the policy that could affect you 9 You were pressured into buying the PPI 10 You paid upfront for the PPI but it was not explained that there were some PPI policies where you could pay monthly 11 Your PPI was an upfront premium and you repaid the loan early and received no refund 12 You increased your loan and the PPI was increased automatically 13 The Terms & Conditions of the small print were not fully explained to you You should in the first instance read through the full terms and conditions of your Payment Protection Insurance Policy. If you do not have these I would personally advise you to contact the Insurer and request these. If you do have to contact the Insurer for a copy of the terms and conditions you will need to know the date that you signed up for the policy, Request a copy of the terms and conditions relating to the policy that they had in place on that date. I would personally always deal with complaints regarding PPI by way of letter, unless you have the ability to record any telephone conversations regarding the complaint. Obviously should you have to take the complaint to court, the more evidence you have in writing the better. Some Interesting Facts Regarding PPI. On some Single premium PPI policies the actual cost for the insurance can be a low as 10% of the cost charged by the lender …That’s a whopping 90% straight profit for the lender.. Plus of course the extra Interest that they will make. Out of all the types of Insurances Policies available ( Car, Home etc) PPI has the lowest percentage of payout in claims, Making PPI the most profitable Insurance Policy currently on the market. Payment Protection Insurance has the highest rate of claims for Mis Selling than any other Insurance policy available. Most policies will only pay out for 12 Months maximum in any 1 claim. I hope this has helped, If you have any queries please do not be afraid to ask for help or advise in the forum. If you find any Interesting information relating to PPI I would be grateful if you could pass it on to me, I’m on a bit of a Mission with PPI..lol Additions to Post 22/3/07.. Reclaim your PPI premiums There's no need to pay someone a fee to pursue your mis-selling claim. By following our guide - and using our letter template - you can right the wrongs committed by your bank or lender. You will find the downloadable letters at the bottom of this page. Here we explain how to decide whether you have a case for reclaiming your premiums, and how to go about it: The background Payment protection insurance generates billions of pounds for banks and building societies and is widely recognised as being routinely mis-sold. The policies are designed to repay a particular debt if you find yourself out of work. We know of many instances when borrowers have been forced to buy an expensive policy as a condition of being offered a loan. {I:1} Do you have a mis-selling claim? • Being forced to buy a PPI policy in conjunction with a loan does not breach FSA guidelines. But the FSA says that fact does not exclude borrowers from making a mis-selling complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, who assesses whether the way the policy was sold was fair and reasonable. Banks and lenders who subscribe to the Banking Code agree they will not force customers to also buy their payment protection insurance, but they can insist on them having some form of PPI. We have heard a litany of complaints from borrowers who say unscrupulous salespeople told them they would not get a loan unless they signed up to the lender's own protection insurance. If this has happened to you, you should pursue the bank through its usual complaints process. If you have no success, the next step is to complain the Financial Ombudsman. • You may also have a case for mis-selling if you have been sold a policy while you are self-employed, unemployed or retired – all of which make PPI void. PPI policies are valid only for people who are employed by someone else and the lender or insurer should have checked your employment status when they sold the policy. • Most policies do not cover you for loss of income caused by a wide range of illnesses or ailments, including mental illness and back trouble, which keep thousands of people off work each year. A lender or insurer should warn you that illnesses like these, and other pre-existing conditions that might keep you off work, will not be covered. • If a lender sells you a PPI policy with a card or loan, it significantly increases the interest rate you will be paying. Lenders are obliged to advertise the total APR so you know exactly how much your monthly repayments – including insurance – will be. If they haven't, you can pursue them for mis-selling. The lender should also have explained to you the full cost of the policy, and how your monthly repayments without insurance would be affected by adding insurance to the loan or credit card agreement. If your lender did not do any of these things, you may have a claim for mis-selling. Additionally, you may have a claim if you have tried to cancel your PPI policy, and have been refused, or if you have cancelled the policy part-way through the loan period and received a smaller reduction in monthly payments than you were expecting. Template Letter 1 [Your address] The Complaints Department [Lender’s address] [Date] Dear Sir/Madam, Ref: [Your PPI policy number] I believe I have been mis-sold a payment protection insurance policy and would like to request a full refund of my premiums, plus interest paid. I took out a £xxx loan/credit card at your […. Branch] on [date] and also bought a payment protection policy which would cost me an extra £xxx over the life of the loan. [The name of the salesperson who sold me the policy is ...] The total amount of my premiums plus interest is £ xxxx. I am [self-employed/work as a contractor/unemployed/retired] and therefore will not be eligible for any payments from the PPI if I find myself unable to meet my debt repayments. Possible additional paragraphs – include the one which applies [Your salesperson knew this at the time of sale but did not point out to me that this would make the insurance policy useless to me.] or [Your salesperson did not check my personal circumstances at the time of sale, which they are under obligation to do. If they had done, they would have realised that a PPI policy was useless to me.] Insurers are under an obligation to ensure that the policy they are selling is appropriate to that customer and clearly, as my employment situation means I am unable to claim on the policy, you have not fulfilled this requirement. I am requesting a full refund of all my insurance payments, plus interest, which total [£ xxx]. If I do not receive a favourable response from you I will pursue this claim through the Financial Ombudsman. Yours sincerely [Your signature] Template Letter 2 [Your address] The Complaints Department [Lender’s address] [Date] Dear Sir/Madam, Ref – policy number I believe I have been mis-sold a payment protection insurance policy and would like to request a full refund of my premiums, plus interest paid. I took out a £xxx loan/credit card at your [branch name] branch on [date] and also bought a payment protection policy which would cost me an extra £xxx over the life of the loan. [The name of the salesperson who sold me the policy is …] The total amount of my premiums plus interest is £ xxxx. When I took out the loan, I was told that my application would be refused if I did not also buy a PPI policy. The Financial Services Authority’s advice to consumers is that, while it does not breach FSA guidelines, a borrower should not be refused a loan if they choose not to buy an insurance policy. Possible additional paragraphs – include any which apply to you [i also told your salesperson that I had adequate insurance cover through a separate income protection policy.] [i said I did not need the PPI as my employer provides a generous illness and redundancy package.] [You are not allowed to make PPI a condition of taking out the loan unless you include the costs of PPI in the quoted interest rate, which you did not do.] [in forcing me to buy this policy, you have also breached paragraph 8.6 of the Banking Code, to which you are a signatory.] I do not believe being forced to buy this policy as part of the loan was a fair and reasonable obligation as I did not need this insurance and said at the time of taking the loan that I did not want it. I am requesting a full refund of all my insurance payments, plus interest, which total [£ xxx]. If I do not receive a favourable response from you I will pursue this claim through the Financial Ombudsman. Yours faithfully, [Your signature] Hope these additions are Helpful.. Ian

HOW DO I........? Internet Forums are not always the easiest thing to navigate, so here is a guide to some of the commands you can use. Some are very basic, some will take a little bit of practice. If you want to practise, don't hesitate to create yourself a thread in the Bear Garden, once confident enough, you can always ask a moderator to delete it for you. Create a new thread: Click here to see how to create a new thread

For anyone who is interested, I found this on HSBC's website:- FSA: HSBC Bank UK

Here! here!

Sorry, but caj123 wasn't trying to point out anything about choices never given to them.....the CHOICE is entirely their's.....this site repeats in numerous places....READ, READ, READ. If you choose not to read and YOU make a wrong decision....you can't just set up a thread slagging off other people for it. As a newcomer 'cheekcherry' - you will find that CAG means a lot to a huge number of people......it's not about getting into 'slanging matches' here....as you put it. It's about pointing out that blame shifting doesn't help anyone.....caj123 made a mistake.....yes, people are frustrated but how many times do people have to say....NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Get on with your claims and be THANKFUL for the help given on this site. See how far you'd get without it!!

Hi aloofy As long as you have it in writing that a settlement is offered from Barclays you can : 1) Send a copy of the correspondence to the court with a covering letter just advising that the enclosed is for the court records so that they are aware that agreement to settle has been reached between the parties and that you are presently awaitng payment. Furthermore, that upon clearance of the funds, it is your intention to submit a Notice of Discontinuance. Send a cc to Barclays so they know that the court knows! ; 2) Take a copy of this letter and all correspondence leading up to the offer with you on the 14th. This makes it easier for the judge to put pressure on any Barclays' representative to honour the clear intent as per the email.

I was made a nanna when I was only 34, so I'm a very "young" nanna. My granddaughter is now 14, & my grandson has just turned 9. Do you ever go to SSL? 'cos I'm sure I've seen posts of yours that have been recorded at about 3.30am ish. All I can say is that you must be very committed to the cause, but you really need to sleep sometimes. lol

This company is enought to make anyone Paranoid really - but they are not the most honest company to deal with. They are likely to give you the runaround really. What Seahorse is saying is all good advice get the CCA and SAR requests in the post (make sure you do them recorded delivery too - so you have proof of postage) http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html = letter N for the CCA request (£1 fee) http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/516-1-data-protection-act.html = SAR request (£10 fee) As seahorse says send this to Cabot Financial Europe Ltd - you can ask how this works later You could get a copy of your Experian report and see who is writing what about you etc.. this costs £2 - and will show you an up to date record of who is writing to your Credit Reference Files etc.. This may help you a little in seeing exact dates of defaults, CCJ's and all the stuff that is generally contained in your credit reports. Keep reading and updating your thread - Cabot is a "long story" really - the more you read the more you'll see of their tricks - don't worry we have the main of this stuff covered - I reckon they'll run out of sleeves soon enough

Ok. Look on the enveolpe. Was it posted, or hand delivered? If posted, it isn't properly served. Just a threat-o-gram. Do you have any idea what the debt is likely to be? i.e, when the debt was taken out, what for, and how much the original debt was for?

Hi Fairy You will find the templates for rejection letters in bank templates. Just pick the one that sounds right for you . You could alter it a wee bit to suit your own circumstances. Dont worry about all the talk about test case. Im not completely sure what is going on myself but the general feeling on here is to just keep going with your claim. As far as I can gather not all Courts are upholding the waiver. I think it is up to the individual Judge. If Ive got this wrong way up I hope somebody with more nous on the matter will correct me. Not 100% sure . I personally have yet to put an N1 in Court against the Abbey but when I get the pennies together Im still going to go for it . Even if it does get set to one side Im sure we will win in the end . If the Banks were being up front with their charges then WHY on earth would they be prepared to shell out vast sums of money that they have already reimbursed people with . If they had nothing to hide then they would not be frightened about going to Court to Defend their actions. Surely there would be an awful lot of cases where the banks did turn up in Court but there isnt so, to my tiny mind anyhow, they know full well that the charges are extremely extortionate hence the pay-outs left, right and centre. Im waiting for a judgement to go through the Court re a claim against the Halifax, hopeing Ill hear something positive this week. Dont know if this has helped in any way but Good Luck with your claim and dont worry. Regards

I hope our barrister friend can come up with some good words to keep our cases alive. I really need the money back... LOVE & PEACE

I dont want to imagine, as it'll only P me off!!!!!!

hi fairy have a look in the link below was it the letter before action they replied to Rejecting Offers

It looks like you have to send off your schedule of charges to your court and DG. Make sure that it has your details on it i.e name, account number and claim reference number. make sure that your schedule amount agrees with your claim and then add onto the bottom the interest amount that has accrued to date. Send the one to DG with a letter saying someting like:- Please find enclosed my schedule of charges as requested in the order from the court dated xx.xx.xx. then follow on with some of the stuff from the nudge letters saying that should they wish to settle you will be preapred to accept £xxxx.xx, which is made up of £xxxx.xx relating to charges levied for the period xx.xx.xx to xx.xx.xx, £xxx.xx relating to statutory interest @ 8% and the court fee of £xxx.xx. don't forget to put in whether you want the repayment by cheque or straight into your account and that you do not agree to any clause of confidentiality and you reserve the right to any future claims.

Hey i havnt slept in a while, so the spelling with blurred eyes. :eek

How about you be polite to people who are trying to give you genuine advice by asking questions pertinent to your situation? Or did you just come on here to be sycophantically agreed with, regardless of the actual legalities, hmm?

aww same here i buried my old dogs ashes in garden , he got put to sleep due to tummour but as i say he still with us in spirit and now i got dog from woodgreen hes a doll ,, love him to bits ,, hope all goes ok with your claim

think everyone should continue as normal ,, carry on with claims and keep calm til we hear any different , many courts are continuing as at the end of day is up to judge to decide not banks as judges dont take orders from the banks as far as i know lol ,,

From Govan Law Centre: Sheriff Principal rejects banks' defence of res judicata | GLC July 2007

If you are not claiming interest other than 8% stat then i would remove it

Rosey Carry on regardless. There is nothing stopping you. Nothing has been decided yet, and may take some time. How long, nobody yet knows. It is important still to get your claims in and follow the normal schedule. This will put you near the front of the queue once matters are resolved and resume. You really ought to start your own thread, so yourself and others can then follow your claim, and respond more specifically. You are not likeley to get specific answers to your questions by posting on other threads such as this related to other issues. Good luck and best regards PM

Write and tell them that. Tell them that the account is now unenforcable and that they must not 1. ask you for payment 2. add any charges or interest to the account 3. pass on any information about the account to any third parties 4. put any marks on your credit rating relative to this account. Tell them that, if they take you to court about this account, their non-complaince with the CCA 1974 is a complete defence. tell them that, as far as you are concerned, the matter is at an end. Copy the letter to the OFT and your local Trading Standards.

hi chelli am glad Garyh came through for you in the end bearing in mind the crap hitin the fan fri nite. good luck for the 2nd aug

OK, that's a fairly standard order the court grants automatically, each time a defence is submitted. Ring the court tomorrow, and ask if any application has been made to life the stay. They still need to supply the rest of the information, you've by no means lost yet even if the credit agreement is valid (and we'll need to see a copy).

Just typical, I have been going through the posts here and am just as fed up as I was about to do N1 on Tuesday. I was looking forward to the money for christmas and had no. 2 claim ready to go. I used to work in financial services and was involved with the pension mis selling and subsequent claims. Based on this, I reckon the banks are employing delay tactics and will seek as many facilities from the FSA as possible. I have no experience of the OFT but I have with the FSA and believe that if pressured they in turn will pressure the banks and may remove/amend the waiver.It will take a lot of people sending a lot of letters to both OFT and FSA highlighting the imbalance and requesting removal of the waiver. As to the banks now undertaking more work to demonstrate the validity of the £30+ charges, I think this would have to be proven to have been in place historically. The pension provider I worked for, knew it was going to have to pay big time and was basically Sh*tting themselves regarding what the FSA said and told them what they had to comply with.They wanted more time to deter people and to make interim offers and to buy time to generate the revenue from other lines of business so the impact was not too devastating. Peoples main concern is the delay in getting a refund, if we all apply continued pressure to the OFT and FSA things should be sped up, it is good that a case is being heard, but I reckon the banks when they lose will seek favourable refund methods and stagger the money just to be awkward. Not sure on this one but I imagine the FSA have a duty to acknowledge complaints as with any other organisation, imagine the workload if 100000 complaint letters needed replies every week?(all to be signed for) On a positive note, the banks need to comply with whatever the FSA tell them to do, they may see this as a small victory but it is early days and no doubt they will seek further stalling of procedures. I agree with Josie8 "What we now all need to do is try and devise a strategy to stop the banks benefiting from the stay and keeping on imposing penalty charges" - we do need t devise a strategy. We need to carry on with the claims, object to any stays and apply pressure wherever possible. I think we need to act fast and email/post/call OFT and FSA repeatedly until we are heard. 80-90% of banking is with 7 banks in the UK - there is only so much "voting with your feet" we can do - we would just move to another bank in dispute and the musical chair banking begins, they won't lose out then. We should switch to non UK accounts or start our own bank!!anyone fancy being a fat cat?

Hi Simon. I see that you have had the most excellent of help from abroadgirl! Hello abroadgirl - I have to give you major props , for assisting Simon As you can tell, you are a bit further along than a few of us on this thread, hence why we were not able to answer as definitively as you have. Anyway guys, hope you good luck to you all. ABG - I'm off to read your thread! deedee x

hi matt ur not butting in i would say yes i have sent and added it and i have done more than i should i think not to worry everything u see here that i have posted ive sent and more some send 75 pages some 95 me laughs thousands i guess still not to worry laughs yes i would as i say i did hugs abg

What I have is this: State which facts in the statement of claim are admitted: I admit that I entered a credit agreement regulated under the consumer credit act 1974 with the pursuer, which was scheduled to terminate on, or about 2 / 4 / 2004. I admit that I agreed to pay monthly payments to the pursuer, between 2/4/2002 and around the 2/ 4 / 2004. I admit that I have been resident for a period in excess of three months proceeding the raising of this action. I admit that I failed to make some payments, in the amount and at the time originally specified under the original contract, although I do not admit that these failures breached the agreement as I agreed a management plan with the pursuer due to unforseable financial circumstances State briefly any facts regarding the circumstances of the claim on which you intend to rely: The agreement was not properly executed, having no default charges in the main body of the agreement, no statement of protection, and no total charge for credit. i was unaware of how much the agreement would cost, when I agreed to it. Further, my my calculation it was impossible to repay the agreement within the 24 months stated. I have also asked the pursuer to provide copies of the terms and conditions of the account, and to provide lists of transactions (payments, interest charges, and other charges) for the account. I have also asked the pursuer to provide me with an explanation of how it calculates the amount due. At the time of writing, the claimant has failed to provide this information. I am unable to understand why, three years after the end of the original agreement, and after making regular payments (albeit, due to an unfortunate financial situation, less than the original agreement) I should be indebted to the extent the pursuer claims, given that I paid the required monthly payment for a large proportion of the period of the original agreement, and smaller figures for the remainder. I would respectfully ask the court to review the agreement as an extortionate credit bargain under s134 of the consumer credit act 1974, since the interest rate (at or around 60% APR) is extortionate in so far as it is significantly higher than normal lending rates, during a period of remarkably low interest rates (between 4% and 7% of base rates, and 7% - 14% lending rates), and the pursuer had the contractual right to vary said rates at any time. Further, the pursuer had significantly reduced risks compared to normal commercial agreements because the agreement was insured in respect of illness, unemployment and other eventualities at the time it was made State details of counterclaim, if any: It is my belief that the amount claimed by the pursuer is made up, in part or whole, of charges deducted in respect of late payment and interest upon those charges, and other charges described loosely as collection charges. I have asked the pursuer to provide me with a break down of all charges over the duration of the agreement, but it has failed to do so. The pursuer contends that these charges are fair and lawful, and incorporated into the terms and conditions of the account. No admission is made on this point. I contend that these charges are unenforceable at law, being penalty charges designed to penalise the claimant for a breach of contract and generate profit for the pursuer rather than liquidated damages designed to compensate the pursuer for fair loss. I claim a sum of money equivalent to the difference between the liquidated damages and the charge levied by the pursuer, in each case, plus interest incurred at the contractual rate for each charge. I further contend that these charges are unlawful at common law, and that the contractual provisions that enable the pursuer to levy these charges are unenforceable by virtue of the Unfair terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999), the unfair terms act 1977 and common law.

Hi gerih There is a Good thread here. http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:kCVLdX9TTmIJ:www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/20955-dca-help-please-lowell.html+lowell%27s+dca&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk and number 29 is a Lowell employee!! Take a look at the 4th post regarding writing without prejudice at the top of your letter other wise its possible you acknowledge the debit with your reply. may be add it on to the one stating i do not acknowlegde this debit, you can never be to protected ;-) Zooman has many threads on here and a lot of them hold some excellent information, don't let the n/a on the details put you off. good luck

Dear Lowells, I do not acknowledge any debt to your company. A request for a copy of my Consumer Credit Agreement (Consumer Credit Act, 1974) was made to Westcott..... on xx/xx/2007. As they have so far failed to comply with my legal request however, the account remains in dispute, is unenforceable and should not have been passed/sold to yourselves. Please be advised that until such times as my request is actioned, no payments will be forthcoming. Yours faithfully/sincerely, Send by rec. delivery..... keep the receipt.

Aktiv, I'm delighted to see you back in the Cabot fray and have learned a thing or two en-route. Cabot NEVER want too many facts readily available because they have had their little empire, which they built up out of the people they dwell upons ignorance, blown wide apart, investigated and exposed. They think they have won on this .eu bit, but do you think Seahorse would have just given it back without a reason, so simply and so easily? ( Oh he buckled under the pressure of those incy wincy big guns solicitors didn't he ? - HA HA Think again my friends down there in the Towers - We had one or two strings attached to a deal which they ignored and it will be something they live to regret because one of those strings offered them an alternative to improve their image with our help. All deals are now off so exposure is something they better get used to cos they ain't seen nothing yet. There was always a plan 'B' . I'd suggest Ken and his mates had better employ a few more staff to cope with what's coming next As a matter of interest Mr Maynard, had you accepted the offer you could have saved many of the companies in your boys club at the CSA from exposure too, no doubt the Cabot Fan Club will be coming into the conversations a little more at your meetings and they of course will be looking for your leadership - or your P45......Such a shame, it could have been so different Sarah

I am engaged in a PPI battle with HFC at the moment and I think I may have a good case for Exemplary Damages against them. They auto filled the box for me even though I said I didn't want it and since I was self employed it was almost useless to me. I have since been "mystery shopping" around their main retailer clients and have had salespeople try to ram it down my throat after asking if it was suitable for me as I was self employed. The credit industry is raking in millions through mis-selling this useless product. Even if you are PAYE you'd have to be off work for about 9 months of a 4 year contract to actually benefit from it. Lemma the bright side of the coin is that if you make an issue out of this you will probably scare them off altogether. I am in two minds as to whether to go for the jugular or just get the debt written off.

Not a word did you say???

mmm I wonder ssl. deffo wont be a man tho mine dumped me 8 weeks ago, still, i got a coc lab puppy 4 weeks ago, named her cookie and shes my love now, oops best not forget the kids. no news on house yet we have a bid system here which closes friday but im in with a good chance because im homeless. we see hey moneys safe atm incase i do get it cos i have absolutely nothing to go in it. thanks again all megstaff

Hi and welcome to CAG! You may find it useful to start a new thread in the LLoyds forum (or I could ask for this thead to be moved if you wish????) - as this is where you'll receive advice and support that's specific to your claim. Whilst the letter is probably standard, Lloyds claimants will be able to advise you on what it is and what your next steps should be. Don't worry about the later stages of your claim too much at the moment. You'll find that, with the support of other Lloyds bank claimants, your confidence will grow immensely over the next few weeks - so having to attend a court hearing won't seem quite so daunting! Best of luck with your claim

The OFT are due to give us the result of their internal review on the FoIA request on Tuesday. I fully expect a negative response, not least because the OFT's legal council who is conducting the review is probably, err, the same lawyer responsible for advising Jennifer 'pussy' Slocombe to refuse the request in the first place and will therefore be reviewing his own work. A complaint to the Information Commisioner is a cert. In the meantime I have received this out the blue and and have responded accordingly. The letter appears to suggest that the decision taken to investigate credit card default charges - their flagship inquiry according to their own recent annual report - was taken by someone with a rank barely higher than the office junior. It then goes on to say that on reflection, perhaps this wasn't a bright idea. Dear crfx I write in response to one aspect of your letter of 25 June In your letter you refined question 2 of your information request of 17 May to ask ''...the position of the person taking the decision'' that the OFT would investigate credit card default charges. We have considered this refined request in line with our obligations under the FoIA and provide the information you request. At the time the decision was made to investigate credit card default charges, the OFT Chairman delegated the authority to make decisions about which cases to open/sectors to challenge, to deputy branch director and branch director levels. The decision to investigate credit card default charges was therefore taken at those levels. Although deputy branch directors and branch directors still have the delegated authority to make these decisions, please note that with regards to allocation of OFT resources to sectoral challenges, the OFT has recently been moving towards engagement (and sometimes formal agreement) at a more senior level, including sometimes Chief Executive level. This is to ensure that the limited resourses of the OFT are allocated appropriately to those areas the OFT has identified as priorities. And, in investigations like those into credit card default charges, there is ongoing involvement in decision making at these more senior levels. Yours sincerely Miss J Slocombe Team Head Consumer Protection Enforcement Group Markets and Projects OFT Miss J Slocombe Office Of Fair Trading Fleetbank House 2-6 Salisbury Square London EC4Y 8JX 25 July 2007 Your Reference EPIC/ENQ/L/3692 Dear Miss Slocombe, I refer to your letter of 19 July. Your answer to my question referred to in your letter is wholly inadequate. The question asked for, specifically and unequivocally, the position of the person taking the decision to investigate credit card default charges, not the levels of the people to whom authority for which cases/sectors to challenge had been delegated to. Therefore will you please answer the question. Yours sincerely crfx

Charges aren't my thing, but to add to Rory's reply, once charges are refunded aren't they supposed to be removed from the debt too...? Good luck, Dave.

Yes you can do all that. All claims should continue as usual.

Hi Abroad girl I don't quite know what to say, you such an amazing person andI mean that. You have selflessly given up your time and got me every piece of info I could need for this bundle and a dam sight quicker than I would have found it and thats a fact. I do not know what to say other than a massive thank you for what you've done for me, you are fantastic and deserve all the recognition that comes your way. If ever you need any help with anything, or just another persons view, I am here, just ask. There are 3 stars shining for me tonight in CAG land. Queen Tricia and my damsel in distress Kia, who have also helped me out a great Deal, and Kia has been so supportive of me lately. But the shiniest star of all has to be you Abroad girl. I am real proud to know you through this site and if you want your feet kissing as promised...........bring em on! Thanks again for finding this for me and helping me out! Si:smile: xxx

Archie thats a general clause thats added to the court directions what do the other directions say ? pete

This is the letter I sent when I didnt get a reply to my original letter/request (this is usual and its normally the second letter that gets the results.. this is a NON COMPLIANCE letter) (this letter was taken from this website but I cannot find the link! so I have copied and pasted it) Dear Sir/Madam Ref: (Account number goes in here) I refer to my letter dated {enter date} which was delivered via Recorded Delivery to your offices on {enter delivery date}. You have failed to acknowledge this request by not supplying the requested documents. The documents I requested should be readily available as proof of your legal right to collect this account. In my letter of the {enter date} I made a formal request for a copy of the signed, executed credit agreement for the above account under Section 77(1) and Section 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and a true signed copy of the Deed of Assignment. In addition a full statement of my account should have been sent to me detailing all debits and credits to the account from the time {debt agency name} purchased this account, along with any other documents mentioned in the credit agreement. You are reminded that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not, as defined under Section 189 of the CCA 1974. The Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for this request to be carried out before your company enter into a default situation. If the request is not satisfied after a further 30 calendar days, your company commit an offence. These time limits expired on {enter date} and {enter date} respectively. As you are no doubt aware, Section 78(6) states: If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with subsection (1) - (a) He is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement; and (b) If the default continues for one month he commits an offence. Therefore on {enter offence date} this account became unenforceable at law and no further payment will be made by myself to the account, as you have failed to comply with a request for a true signed copy of the said agreement, and other relevant documents mentioned in it, and failed to send a full statement of the account and failed to provide a true copy of the Deed of Assignment, under the relevant sections of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Further, i do not acknowledge any debt to {debt agency name}. I require the following action from {debt agency name} : 1. All payments made to date to {debt agency name} for this account should be refunded in full, including interest at the rate of 8% per annum. 2. Removal of all defaults entered by {debt agency name}. Note this is to be a complete deletion and not merely an amendment. 3. I look forward to compensation under Section 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to be offered for the processing of my data in the manner it has been done over the past number of years. 4. After a full refund of all payments with interest and compensation are received by myself, you will be required under Section 10 and Section 12 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to cease and desist all manual and automatic processing of my data within your company and any other company within your group. If you do not respond positively to my request, court action may be taken under Section 14 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to force {debt agency name} or any other company within the group to comply with the refund of all monies paid, removal of all defaults maintained and compensation for damage and distress as a result of unlawful data processing. I may also pass the matter to the relevant enforcement authorities including, but not limited to, the OFT, the Information Commissioners Office, Trading Standards, the CSA, the FOS and my local MP. I look forward to your reply within 14 days to resolve the matter amicably. Yours faithfully HOPE THIS HELPS.... The first CCA request letter is on my office pc which I cant get to till next week so hope this helps for now unless someone else comes along and offers more advice!! p.s if I have been even a little bit helpful can you 'click' my scales to add to my reputation!!

Come on get yer bloody act together Barty! LOL:lol: :lol:

DS, i agree, do nothing except what the court tells you to do. Like you said they have to honour the offer made to you, but you do not have to ask them to honour it untill you know the outcome of the test case. That way you can see which is more beneficial to you.

You need to change your name as PD says! Not sure how to do it though! I will ask a moderator to have a look and tell you. You need to start your own thread in the hsbc forum. Click on this HSBC Bank and then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on where it says "start new thread". Do it now!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the way, don't give any details away to the members on here! They are like hanabal lecter. You tell them the slightest thing and they will own you!!!!! Only kidding, they are a good bunch on the hsbc site!

congrats ms trotter