Good morning,
I am trying to get the Royal Bank of Scotland in to court. I am not a lawyer, but I do have some legal training and a (so far) 100% record as a litigant-in-person.
I asked the RBS for my charges to be refunded, they offered me part settlement, but also demanded that I accept their charges in future or face losing my account or having it reduced to a "simple" account or changed to any other kind of account that attracts charges.
Of course, I refused this tempting offer and filed a claim on 9 March at Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court - Claim Nº 7EC01469.
The bank have now offered to settle in full (without interest), but still demand that I accept their charges in future.
My claim is in three parts:
1) a refund of charges plus interest etc
2) I'm asking the court to rule, as a separate matter, on the lawfulness of the bank's charges, because I'm being asked to accept them in future or face having the bank's service to me altered unilaterally. I'm basing this on Schedule 2 (k) of the UTCCR, which says a term is unlawful if it allows them to "alter unilaterally without a valid reason any characteristics of the product or service to be provided". I'm arguing that if their charges are unlawful, then refusing to accept them would not a be a valid reason for them to alter their service to me. I'm arguing that altering the sevice would include closing the account, if that's where they decide to go.
3) In order for the Court to rule on the lawfulness of the charges, I'm asking the court to order the bank to provide breakdown and proof of their charges and then align their charges to it.
Oh, and they also demanded that I do not publicise this case in any way - good job I refused their offer, I guess...
The bank has now submitted their written defence, but as I'm currently abroad, I don't have it yet - back this week. It has been my firm intention since I filed the claim on 9 March to get the bank to justify their charges in court.
I would really appreciate any advice or comments from lawyers on this approach. In particular, I heard there are some documents from the Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks that say what the actual cost of bouncing cheques and d/ds is. Can anyone let me see them? They would be really helpful.
I am firmly supporting Tom Brennan in his attempt to do the same thing in a different way. I'm hoping my way, if successful, will be easier for non-lawyers like me to argue.
Best wishes, and thanks for all support.