Venetian Fire, if you are adamant on pursuing this then contact agencies advised by saintly. What I feel you want is, and I may stand corrected....... more money in terms of an apology!! Why don't you highlight all your 'issues', highlight all your 'losses', send them in a letter to the bank and tell them what you feel is an acceptable amount and see what they reply (send them an email, much quicker this time of year!) I would think if they're offering £200, the 'MISTAKE' is quite a serious breach and maybe worth a try to get a bit more, Merry Crimbo, DWD.

OK, with a little more digging and a few contacts here is the references needed with regard your situation!! Depends on the state in which that person relocated. Each state has their own collection laws and they all have to deal with the Federal laws that also deal with that topic. If there is a judgment or just a debt? If it just a debt, you can find the US federal law on debt collection practices in Title 15 of the United States Code. Donate to the Legal Information Institute Debt collection in the USA is big business and is governed by the American Collectors Association with the commission rate charged anything up to 50% of moneys collected or paid to the creditor and like this country there are agencies who undertake NO COLLECTION NO FEE. What I am saying is that the fees in the USA are higher than in the UK. Do some of your own groundwork to put your mind at rest/unrest, you decide. Call or send an email to a debt collector in the US and ask them if they can recover monies for you, from a British citizen, residing in the US - I know what the answer will be The Knowledge Base of the Credit and Collection Industry The question of collection through a US court would be undertaken by a Lawyer in the relevant state and as with this country these legal fees are recoverable and added to the debt. The relevancy I believe, is the amount of the debt, allied with the ease by which a contact is sought, if for example the debt was with a large worldwide bank then they would have people in place already to deal with debtors moving abroad. DWD

The internet has allowed the process of contacting and finding debtors in other countries economically viable. An email to a contact in a debt collection / private investigation company in ANY country that would undertake the service within the laws of that country/state is all that is required. I wouldn't like to put a ceiling figure upon which a debt would be chased abroad but service of papers can be as little as £50.00 and (again an email costs nothing) this is widely used with the rise in Brits moving abroad. Bigger companies will also have offices in other countries and/or very strong ties within the industry. The short answer is yes, its whether the amount is considered worth chasing! DWD

Sounds about right, were costs mentioned at all? dwd

at stay hearing today, apparently the fact they offered the lower sum, was 'good business' . I took the plunge and told the judge of the 'without prejudice' offer letters, not interested, and this did not negate the hearing. relying on hardship and defendant conduct to remove stay, not interested either, see A & L thread, cheers

Load of tosh! Hearing duration 35 minutes - a pound a minute!! Stay remains, I'm not an hardship case (apparently) 'I could seek alternative employment' and Alliance & Leicester have acted wholly respectably and did I seek the advice of a solicitor. I thought these hearings were fast track and thus NO costs!! Do you know what, I have a DMP and have failed to keep up payments along with other debts. Look up 'Hardship', I do endure monthly pressures to meet outgoings. Get a better paid job, they reduce your Tax Credits. I wouldn't be better off AND have the flexibility I currently have with my job and looking after the children when they are on school holidays (wife cannot change her hours ). And the payment wouldn't significantly ease my burden, £$%&*^_+£. Different Planet Oh yeh, then he asks the Barrister (very nice chap) if the bank would like to apply costs (apparently not, very considerate) and started talking about 'multi track' and the fact that costs would have been around £6-800 POUNDS :shock: just pass my cheque to the nice Barrister The Laws an Ass As you can tell I'm NOT bitter at all

interested to know if you had an offer from A&L and then lower offer from Wragges prior to Test Case announcement at the end of July

Sent letters to A&L and solicitors with regard lifting my stay due to hardship and avoid the necessity to go to court.......solicitors reply........we have been instructed to proceed with the hearing. We await the outcome of the hearing. Abuse of the FSA Waiver guidelines??

Sorry, not what was meant. I received an offer of say £750. from A&L themselves in June (refused). I receive an offer from Wragges of £600.00, 1(ONE) week before the test case announcement. Have Wragges abused the process knowing full well the last offer is the one the banks have to commit to for the '2 month' FSA guideline to settle and thus, send out lower offers to all claimants?.

are there any other claimants that have received lower offers prior to the test case announcement or was this the done thing prior to full hearings before the announcement?

I am due to attend a Stay Hearing and would like advice - Am I right in assuming that the banks would have had prior knowledge of the FSA waiver guidelines 'with special regard to being committed to paying out on the last offer for a two month period' If this was the case then surely this could prejudice a case and a factor in Wragges sending me a revised lower offer just seven days prior to the oft test case announcement.........was this practice rife among claimants?? Thanks DWD

ANOTHER QUESTION - Am I right in assuming that the banks would have had prior knowledge of the waiver 'with special regard to being committed to paying out on the last offer for a two month period' If this was the case then surely this could be a factor in Wragges sending me a revised lower offer just seven days prior to the oft test case announcement.........was this practise rife among claimants??

Hi all, Have stay hearing shortly and am looking for advice on a few points. 1) is a 'without prejudice' letter wholly void from being involved with a claim. (wragges stay defence states that it was only speculation that my account would be closed.) - the 'without prejudice' offer letter contains the paragraph........'you may have seen media reports that some banks have considered closing certain customers' accounts where the customer has comlained about bank charges. We would like to reassure you that if you do accept our offer of settlement we will continue to operate your account.We would only do so on the basis that you accept the Terms and Conditions of your accountpreviously notified to you and that charges will be applied in accordance with our current charging policy'.......is this a threat of account closure? 2) Has anyone been to a stay hearing to answer wragges defence (Mark Heynes -V- HSBC and Mark Heynes -V- A & L) ? I'll post others as they come to me!! thanks, DWD

Hi all, got the hearing for 20th and received Wragges document for stay hearing. Have sent further docs which have crossed. The offer made which is acceptable for two months, can someone advise that if say Test Case 'eventually' finds that £10 is acceptable for charges will we only be able to claim for excess after the £10 on each charge or is the full amount reclaimable as per previous claims. WOULD THIS THEN MEAN I MAY AS WELL ACCEPT THE OFFER IN FULL AND FINAL AS THIS WOULD AMOUNT TO AROUND THE SAME REFUND, Thanks DWD

Hi all, I am looking for the terms and conditions for the 'cashplus' account (as at start of claim, 2001) and T&C's for the changeover to the 'basic cash' (as at finish of claim 2006). I cannot find them anywhere and I remember that at the time of change that the terms were changed whereby you couldn't use the counter to deposit money and the online bank doesn't let you cancel/see direct debits - I ended up cancelling DD's with a letter placed in the letterbox of the local branch. I was hoping to use these terms as unacceptable in keeping my account in order at my stay hearing. TY, DWD