Thank god for internet banking, makes checking so much easier. xxx

Thanx for that Wendy, Youve been great help!!!! Any ideas how long it will take them to pay the money into the account? Im gonna be sooo stressed untill they do. xxxx

For some reason I cant get the page to open, but that paragraph you have highlighted is just what I wanted to hear. Fingers crossed they will honour the offer. xxx

Thanks, That really kind of you. Tanya xxx

Thanx for that Wendy, Any idea what time they shut? The claim is in my partners name and he doesnt finish untill 5. Tanya xxx

Last Wed we recieved a gesture of goodwill letter from Natwest offereing the full amount of £3,033. This was dated the 17th Of July. We signed and returned the aacpetance form and sent it the same day. With the recent OFT action will they still pay up? Thanx Tanya xxx

Nope the money was paid into my account with no letter etc. Just a quick question, As I now have the money, although I havent had confirmation that its my settlement payment will it be ok to cancel the claim with the court? Tanya xx

Can any one help? Tanya xxx

He all, After my sucsessfull claim against abbey (see Corn Flake V Abbey *WON*) I have decided to try for wasted costs. I emailed Inga earlier today with this message: Dear Madam, I refer to your letter dated the 30th of May 2007. Thank you for accepting my settlement offer of £357.49. Once the settlement monies have cleared, as requested I will inform Taunton County Court that I am withdrawing my original claim. However Abbey National Plc has wasted my time as well as that of the courts and I require that my wasted costs be returned to me. If you refuse to refund these costs, within the above mentioned letter I will also be seeking costs in view of your abuse of the court process by means of applying to the courts for a wasted costs order, requesting my preparation costs of £362.15 be refunded. I have included a copy of the Schedule of costs incurred and time spent. If I do not hear from you before the settlement monies have cleared in my account I will forward a copy to you of all correspondence to the court regarding this matter,. I look forward to receiving your response to this letter. Yours Sincerely With which she replied: Dear Madam, We note that your offer of settlement, that was accepted by Abbey National Plc, was in "full and final settlement" of your claim 7QZ41364. You are therefore not at liberty to raise any further claim in respect of claim 7QZ41364. Should you pursue this claim for costs, we shall raise this issue with the Courts and seek and order for wasted costs against you. We sincerely hope such action is not necessary. Kind regards, Inga Kirkman In my letter that Inga is referring to I dont think I mentioned that the offer was in full and final settlement. Heres a copy of the letter I sent them: Thank you for your letter dated 17th May 2007. I respectfully decline your offer of £220 as Full and Final settlement . The charges you have levied from my account are a penalty and, as such, are unlawful, in light of this, I require full settlement . My claim is for £272.00 as outlined in my Particulars of Claim, plus court costs of £50 and interest of £35.49. This claim will continue until payment is made in full. As you are aware the hearing will be taking place in June. Alternatively, should you wish to settle my claim in full, then please forward the balance of the claim £357.49 without further conditions and I will inform the court that the claim is settled. Please find enclosed another copy of my schedule of charges relating to this claim. As requested by the court I have enclosed a copy of all documents that I intend to rely at the hearing. A copy has also been forwarded to the court. I hope to hear from you very soon so that a reasonable conclusion to this claim might be achieved. I am sure that the courts would whole heartedly approve of our settling this matter in a timely manner and without their further intervention. I trust this clarifies my position. Yours faithfully So have I shot myself in the foot or is Inga in the wrong?? If she is what reply should I send her? As always any advice appreciated. Tanya xxxx

WHOOOOOP WHOOOOP IVE WON!!!!!!!! I cant believe it!! After recieving no letter from them this morning I thought I would check my account in case the money has been paid in and guess what IM RICH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The full amount of £4413.32 is in there. We went away camping at a vw show this weekend so I havent had chance to check my account, it was actually paid in on Friday!!!!! I just want to say a HUGE THANKYOU to everyone who has helped me, I couldnt of done it without you guys! Tanya xxxxxxxx

Hi Guys, I need a bit of advice as to what to do next!! I wrote to Gmac on the 1st of May with the following letter: We are writing to ask you to refund the charges which you have levied from our account to the sum of £2531.70. Please find enclosed a schedule of charges detailing dates, amounts. We now understand that such fees are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer Regulations. In the case of Castaneda and Others v. Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498 the House of Lords held that a contractual party can only recover damages for actual or liquidated losses incurred from a breach of contract as oppose to a charge which represents a penalty. This law was confirmed and upheld in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79. A charge will be held to be a penalty if the sum stipulated for is extravagant and unconscionable in amount in comparison to the greatest loss that could conceivably be proved to have followed from the breach. A penalty clause is void in its entirety and unenforceable. In addition your charges appear to represent an unfair term of contract which is contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI. 1999/2083). Our account falls within the ambit of Regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 as we are consumers. Your charges constitute an unfair penalty under Schedule 2 of the said Regulations which provide an indicative and non-exhaustive list of terms which may be regarded as unfair. Under paragraph 1(e) of schedule 2 this specifically includes terms which have the object of requiring any consumer who fails his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation. We would vigorously contend that this is the position regarding the fee of £2531.70 which you deemed fit to apply to our account. I would like to bring your attention to the following statement by The Office of Fair Trading: "A term in a mortgage agreement which requires the borrower to pay more for breaching the contract terms than actual costs and losses caused to the lender by the breach (or a genuine pre-estimate of that) is likely to be regarded as an unfair penalty and to be unenforceable both at common law and (in a consumer mortgage) under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. We believe that the charges you have levied of £2531.70 far exceed any true cost to yourself as a result of our breaches and any genuine pre-estimate you could conceivably reach. If you disagree, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put to as a result of our breaches, in order to reassure us that your charges really do reflect your costs. We really hope that this matter can be resolved amicably and without the need for redress to the courts. Thus we are asking that you refund the charges which have unlawfully been levied on our account. Failure to refund all the money unlawfully taken from us will result in us taking further action. We will give you 14 days to reply accepting, unconditionally, our request in principle and letting us know a date by which we will receive payment. We believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments. I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets. Yours faithfully, In this list I included the ERC, arrears fee, unpaid direct debit fee, etc but did not include the £10 non payment by direct debit fee. They replied back saying they needed 4 weeks etc etc. Then today I recieved the following 3 page letter with a cheque for £446.70 as a refund for the ERC. Have I reached the end of the line? Ihave sucsessfully reclaimed bank charges but am a bit nervous when it comes to the mortgage company. Just to say I am now with a new company. Thanx for reading Tanya xxxx

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!! Tanya xxx

I sent it along with the court bundle so not sure really what pushed them into the decision but heres a copy of the letter: Thank you for your letter dated 17th May 2007. I respectfully decline your offer of £220 as Full and Final settlement . The charges you have levied from my account are a penalty and, as such, are unlawful, in light of this, I require full settlement . My claim is for £272.00 as outlined in my Particulars of Claim, plus court costs of £50 and interest of £35.49. This claim will continue until payment is made in full. As you are aware the hearing will be taking place in June. Alternatively, should you wish to settle my claim in full, then please forward the balance of the claim £357.49 without further conditions and I will inform the court that the claim is settled. Please find enclosed another copy of my schedule of charges relating to this claim. As requested by the court I have enclosed a copy of all documents that I intend to rely at the hearing. A copy has also been forwarded to the court. I hope to hear from you very soon so that a reasonable conclusion to this claim might be achieved. I am sure that the courts would whole heartedly approve of our settling this matter in a timely manner and without their further intervention. I trust this clarifies my position. Yours faithfully Hope it helps you. Tanya xxxx

I'll just dig it out for you. Tanya xxxx

Just to let you all know I recieved the cheque today!!!!!! Once its cleared I will be putting in a claim for wasted costs. Tanya xxxx