Ombudsman Advice!!!!????:? :? :? Hi, Got a few threads, some of which still awaiting advice, however last week something happened which concerned me a lot. My sister in law is going through the same process with her bank, she has gone through the ombudsman as opposed to the court route I and my wife have taken, she has been advised by the ombudsman representetive to "accept" the offer from her bank (£2000 on a £3500 claim) as if she doesnt the court will look unfavourably on her not "negotiating" with the defendant so to speak, OK first red flag - we turned our offer down from Natwest and are due in court 22nd May- second red flag , why is the ombudsman giving this advice? and finally, my wife is now taking a second claim via the ombudsman as opposed to the court route - and has said because of her sisters advice she will accept the first offer from Nat west!!! This cannot be good news if the ombudsman is giving this advice sg51bmw

Hi need some advice, have finally got a court date, been fighting Nat West since November 2006, court 22nd May, when do I need to get my court bundle out? Interesting the court clerk said they are running 40 a day as they know the banks wont contest? Surely by now the courts need to impliment action if they are wasting this much time and admin on court actions they know will never come to court, our court is in a provincial devon town, so whats the rest of the country's courts doing on a daily basis???? Anyway - what is the recommended time frame for court bundles being sent out? Regards sg51bmw:)

Thanks for the reply, I agree to a point, "bird in the hand" and then pursuing the remainder from that point, however, when we refused under those terms, i.e " not in full and final settlement and not accepting the caveats attached to no longer pursue further claims" the money was out of our account within 5 minutes of arriving - long story...... However my point is, I think you have to go all out for the "full" amount regardless, as it is an academic/moot point about accepting a partial repayment, the banks will just yank it out of your account if you don't play their game, accept it as final payment and don't pursue them further, or they will pursue the convuleted route of Cobbetts threats/letters and awaiting a court date etc. (In my experience so far) before paying up the full amount (not experienced this point yet however based on numerous CAG members to date) I see where you are coming from, however charges/interest and the 8% court set rate is surely worth fighting for - even if you do become the test case, as long as you have done your homework, have followed the set process and protocols the ball lands very firmly in the banks "court" to defend the charges and justify the whole system they have employed... N'est Pas?

Hi all very interested in Tom's comments regarding obtrusive behaviour if turning down an offer from the bank, we did just that, refused the offer, as I am under the impression a full and final settlement offer which is less than the amount owed is a compromise but is not a just resolution to what the banks are doing - let's face it we are doing this because we believe the banks have capitilised profits through unknowing customers accepting fees and charges on their accounts which are illegal. So does Tom think that we should accept the offers from the Banks/Solicitors representing them? Or it may go against us if it proceeds to court? If so, does this not go against the theme of advice provided throughout this advice group???? Confused in Devon- sg51bmw:confused:

Hi hels thanks for the reply, I have the notification of charges, however as a limited company I think anything claimed would go back to the creditors via the liquidator anyway - limited company , so slightly different rules to partnerships I will look into it further - thx

Hi I need some guidence here; Had a company which closed last year, had a business account with Barclays, charges est. £16k, I had to pay all the bank charges and payments as the personal guarantor (Sole Director) The question is, If I paid all the charges and costs, even though the company was limited, and is now closed and so is the bank account, can i pursue the reclaim of charges on behalf of the company from the last 6 years? sg51bmw :idea:

GaryH thanks for that, sorry I know this thread is for AQ, my question was a follow on from previous AQ questions; Sent another copy of schedule of charges to cobbetts, waiting court date and preparing our court bundle I guess, great help from this site as our claim is split between me and wife it comes to nearly £9,500 inc interest, so want to get it right. sg51bmw:)

Hi all had a few threads on this site, however just got another letter from Cobbetts today, after we had sent the AQ to the court, our local one now, we have copied in Cobbetts on all correspondance, however they now want a copy of our schedule of costs, we sent a copy with the CRP 18 letter and a copy to the court, they also want a copy which includes the court interets at 8% - likewise they have not read the letter sent with the copies properly as they want to know what legal basis I am claiming loss of earnings, it actualy states if I have to take a day off work, I am a contractor - self employed so no work, no pay!, to go to court I will claim that days loss based on the current contract, is this legally ok? and do I have to send another breakdown of costs to cobbetts, I know its just another copy, but are they delaying again, this has been going on since november 06 - sg51bmw

Hi all Recieved a letter today from cobblers asking for a schedule detailing charges, this was sent with the reply regarding the CPR18 to them and the court, as well as a copy sent to the courts with our AQ, the AQ has already gone to our local court this week, my wife has a N149 and I have a N150, should we send another copy of the schedule of costs ,which now include the 8%, to cobblers or ignore them? I like the letter from alimehmet but trying to see how it would fit into our situation? sg51bmw:confused:

Hi OK just got AQ, mine is N150, my wife got N149,both our claims are less than 5000? Hey ho, anyway onto more litigious matters, section F on the N150 got the proposed draft order and the additional comments for Section H however - in laymans terms what does the claimant need to provide; I get the copies of statements and the excel spreadsheet for charges, however have a problem with - A statement of evidence of all matters relied upon as tending to show that the charges are irrecoverable as penalties or otherwise Copies of decided cases and other legal materials to be relied upon. what decided cases? Or did I miss something If any one can point me in the right direction, as we both want to get our facts, stratedgy etc right.....we dont want to score the own goal that screws it for everyone Bst rgds sg51bmw:o

Hi all:) Long story short, originally wrote requesting interest/bank charges be refunded in Nov 2006 (after sending DPA letter for statements, calculating interest/charges etc) No reply until mid December "Nat West looking into it etc" Next reply 4th Jan 2007, wrote and told them this was delaying tactics and I was pursuing court action. Started court action (claim is £8,496 inc Court costs) Having refused an offer of £6656 we are now doing battle with cobblers - gone down the CPR18 standard reply - sent copy to Northampton court. OK - here is where I need help:idea: Do I need to send a copy of the CPR 18 letter and court letter I sent to cobllers and Northampton Court to my local court ?(we are now being dealt with by them) Also any guidelines on filling out the AQ? - I have a different one than my wife, she has a small claims AQ I seem to have a fast track one? THX SG51BMW:confused:

AdVoc 8 thanks for the advice, funny enough I found one of the strings you and martin3030 wrote regarding this very matter..I will send the bulk standard letter to cobblers re copy to letter to court, scare tactics etc and wait for the AQ to arrive thanks again sg51bmw

If this is still on then counme in.. Fighting nat west, at the same stage as a lot of you guys - sending the wicked letter Martin 3030 quotes, but...Cobbets do send a very threatning letter, especially for those who don't have access to a forum like this...by the way Nat west offered £6,600, we refused..our claim is £8,498, not including 8% interest, claim split between me and my wife to keep it under 5k small claims threshhold (jt account) Keep the free information highway alive! sg51bmw

Further to last posting; sg51bmw So the banks solicitors, Cobbetts, now want all the information, every charge listed over 6 years - they refute the claim stating "particulars of claim do not disclose reasonable grounds for bringing a claim.." "...claimant must plead all accounts to which charges relate.." read the letters to your client I think is the reply here? "...the claimant is put to strict proof of each and every charge the subject of the claim..Dates the same was debited...the amount of same....the description aplied to the charge.." They then go on with a string of areas I have to prove....within 14 days, Come on! Why make an offer and then go down this road after our refusal, any help here would be gratefully recieved TTFN

Further to last posting; So the banks solicitors now want all the information, every charge listed over 6 years - they refute the claim stating "particulars of claim do not disclose reasonable grounds for bringing a claim.." "...claimant must plead all accounts to which charges relate.." read the letters to your client I think is the reply here? "...the claimant is put to strict proof of each and every charge the subject of the claim..Dates the same was debited...the amount of same....the description aplied to the charge.." They then go on with a string of areas I have to prove.... Come on! Why make an offer and then go down this road after our refusal, any help here would be gratefully recieved TTFN

Nat west defending!! OK, twist to the tail here, today I recieve in the post an 8 page defence document and request for more information from Nat West's solicitors, cobbets in Manchester - I have not seen any posts where this has happened, do I wait for the courts summary forms or reply to the solicitors?? Our complete case was based on the OFT rulings, house of commons and banks statement about charges, we covered off the 3 main points in our N1 - " For the period 02/01/2001 - 30/12/2004; The Bank charges which have been applied to my account are unfair under schedule 2(e) of the unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999(the regulations) which states that a term is unfair if it requires any consumer who fails to fulfil his/her obligation to pay a disproportionatley high sum in compensation;in this instance the bank has charged me an amount which is not proportionate to the amount borrowed. The amount charged by my bank is a penalty charge, which under the law of penalties, is 'extravagant'and therefore unlawful. Under the law of mistake my grounds for restitution are that the bank automatically debited the amount of the charge from my account and was not legally entitled to do so." Ok anyone out there got any suggestions on how to play this situation now?????? Thanks sg51bmw:confused:

OK strange twist here, amd I have not seen any postings where this has happened, I have recieved a Defence statement and request for more information from Nat West's solicitors today - Cobbetts in Manchester? A full 8 page defence??? This is after Nat west made me an offer which was eventually refuse? So do I reply to their solicitors or wait for the court to sent their forms? sg51bmw:confused:

HI Does any one know when, after the bank put in a defence, the court hearing will normally take to be heard? I agree Ann Number, that a logical time line of events, letters, and a spread sheet of costs mapped to the time line is a good idea, out with the statements again! Would that be posted to the court as a summary of evidence? SG51bmw

Hi all, new to the site, however got a real headache situation, started our claim in 2006, 25th Nov, no reply for first letter sent, from Bank, told them they had 14 days or court action, finally two letters in Jan 2007, "they are still looking" into the matter, wrote to them saying this was a delaying tactic, went to Money on line and submitted action 5th Feb 07, they acknowledged within the 14 days, then on the 19th Feb got a letter offering £6,600, (our claim is in two parts as a joint account, £4900 from me, £3900 from my wife, the original letter was claiming £7000, but because of the wait for them to reply, and statuate of limitation being 6 years, we had to revise the figure for the court action, taking 6 years from Jan 2007 back to 2001 Jan) and the court action started on the 5th Feb - We accepted the offer as they state in letter "..will be paid direct into account.." However a week later nothing, phoned up the NWest Cust Serv centre, they had no record of the acceptance form being received, my wife faxed and posted hard copy, and the payment could be over 14 days to process, which would take it past the time span for them(NatWest) to register a defence on line, we therefore told them we would no longer be willing to accept their offer and would continue with the court action, lo and behold 24 hours later the £6,600 was in our account, our manager called and told us it was in, within 10 minutes of the call they had taken it back out again! Today they have lodged a defence against our claim???? So I am now wondering what to do? SG51BMW HELP!!!

Hi BitingBack Yes we informed that an offer had been made and we had refused, as the court had marked it as satisified?? They amended the moneyonline.gov section as still open, we have two claims as stated earlier, one initiated by me one by my wife, as the 6 year period of charges was over £5000, so we split it between the two of us. The £7000 was the original claim on the first letter to Nat West, but because of the time lag from that letter to Natwest responding, Nov 2006 they reply Jan 2007, the figures changed because of the 6 year statuate of limitation and also because the original £7000 did not include interest, just the charges, hence the claim made at court was £8,800. I have kept all the letters, requests and their offer letter. So you think just keep going on in this way? SG51bmw

Hi all, new to the site, however got a real headache situation, started our claim in 2006, 25th Nov, no reply for first letter sent, from Bank, told them they had 14 days or court action, finally two letters in Jan 2007, "they are still looking" into the matter, wrote to them saying this was a delaying tactic, went to Money on line and submitted action 5th Feb 07, they acknowledged within the 14 days, then on the 19th Feb got a letter offering £6,600, (our claim is in two parts as a joint account, £4900 from me, £3900 from my wife, the original letter was claiming £7000, but because of the wait for them to reply, and statuate of limitation being 6 years, we had to revise the figure for the court action, taking 6 years from Jan 2007 back to 2001 Jan) and the court action started on the 5th Feb - We accepted the offer as they state in letter "..will be paid direct into account.." However a week later nothing, phoned up the NWest Cust Serv centre, they had no record of the acceptance form being received, my wife faxed and posted hard copy, and the payment could be over 14 days to process, which would take it past the time span for them(NatWest) to register a defence on line, we therefore told them we would no longer be willing to accept their offer and would continue with the court action, lo and behold 24 hours later the £6,600 was in our account, our manager called and told us it was in, within 10 minutes of the call they had taken it back out again! Today they have lodged a defence against our claim???? So I am now wondering what to do? SG51BMW HELP!!!