Sorry Paintball, I didn't mean to mislead Lemony:-( . I was just relating my own experience. Upon looking back at my own claim, I also included the paragraph in the POC about the alternative 8% interest, but i did not send in a spreadsheet using those figures. I had one prepared OK and included the total figure in the relevant paragraph. I thought I would only present this to the judge on the day if he decided to go down that route. I guess I just didn't want to give Capital One the option of offering the lower figure BEFORE any hearing. Gary

Lemony, Yeah, my claim was settled 2 weeks ago IN FULL (less what they'd already refunded). Get your NI filed, with your CCI spready, don't forget to include all charges up do date, even if they were levied after you started your action. Capital One seem to stick to a certain way in these cases. They may file an actual defense (though they didn't in my case!!! ) but will agree to pay up before the deadline (return date) for filing a defense. All in all, should be done and dusted with a month. So get that N1 in!!! Just make sure you use the tried & tested POC's on the site. Or the ones that you have come up with with Paintballs help, I'm sure they are dead on. Good Luck Gary

Just get the claim lodged as quickly as you can Lemony! The sooner you do the sooner you'll get paid. Capital One will not put up much of a fight going by mine and others' experience. I just put in the whole claim ignoring the fact that I got a partial refund, Capital One will comment on this in their "non liability good will offer" and automatically deduct from your amount what they've already paid. Oh, and send in the larger CCI spready. IMHO, the 8% one would only come into play if it ever got to a hearing and for the judge to decide. Since Cap One have no intention of getting your claim to court it is not relevant, know what I mean? I got my settlement about 2 weeks after the claim was deemed served. All the best Gary

Well money safely received in full settlement. Phweew!! The timing was very tight in my case. Another couple of days maybe and it would have been all on hold. I'll be keeping in touch, as I'm now going for PPI with Capital One! Keep up the fight anyone. If I can be of any help to anyone, particularly with the Northern then don't hesitate to ask. Gary

Just received a letter from local court. It seems that the courts here in NI are applying a blanket stay on all bank charge small claims until at least Feb 2008:( I feel sorry for those still stuck in the system now and I guess I was just lucky with the timing in my case. I feel the consumer has been well stitched-up by the powers that be (old boys network) and REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that the banks lose this test case. Gary

Hi, just subscribing to your thread. I will also be writing to Capital One on the grounds that they have been fined, and so presumably are guilty of blanket mis-selling. My account was opened in 2002 so I cant see how their proceedures were any better then than for the period they were fined for 2005/2006. Gary

Flushed with success of claiming back unlawful charges, my attention is now on £500 odd PPI that was levied. After a bit of research on this site and MSE, I believe my only cause for misselling would be the fact that Capital One were fined by the FSA in Feb 2007 for not having adequate and fair proceedures regarding PPI. Now, heres my question. The FSA based their findings on a period Jan 2005 to April 2006. My account was opened 2002. Is it safe to assume that the same faults that Capital One were fined for were in place earlier than the period that the FSA investigated? And this would be safe grounds for reclaiming PPI premiums. I have not written to Capital One yet asking for a copy of application/agreement yet so do not know if I ticked any boxes asking for PPI, but is the crux of my argument that they did not follow up by sending full policy details for my information? Gary

Flushed with success of claiming back unlawful charges, my attention is now on £500 odd PPI that was levied. After a bit of research on this site and MSE, I believe my only cause for misselling would be the fact that Capital One were fined by the FSA in Feb 2007 for not having adequate and fair proceedures regarding PPI. Now, heres my question. The FSA based their findings on a period Jan 2005 to April 2006. My account was opened 2002. Is it safe to assume that the same faults that Capital One were fined for were in place earlier than the period that the FSA investigated? And this would be safe grounds for reclaiming PPI premiums. I have not written to Capital One yet asking for a copy of application/agreement yet so do not know if I ticked any boxes asking for PPI, but is the crux of my argument that they did not follow up by sending full policy details for my information? Gary

Hi 'rodders. Yeah they paid out in full everything I claimed for. I used one of Vampiress' spreadsheets (no.2 or 13 ) "with CCI from the start":) must admit that the whole process with Cap One was pretty painless. They dont seem to put up much of a fight really. Gary

Chalk another victory up to the good guys! I've WON!!!! Received letter today dated 14th advising that full refund would be debited into my account that day (which it was). Unfortunately it will just reduce my balance and I will not actually get any cash in my hand, ah well! Might go after the PPI now:p Can a mod please contact me about claim details for the database and change / move thread to success status?? Gary

They CANNOT DO THIS!!!! The following is copied from the guidance given to the banks from FSA in how to respond with customers following announcement of the test case.... Scenario 4: Complaint has been received by a bank – no case before FOS or Courts - offer on the table but not yet accepted. We refer to your complaint about unauthorised overdraft bank charges. We wrote to you recently making you a goodwill offer in full and final settlement of your complaint about these charges. Although we believe the charges are fair, transparent and lawful, since we last wrote to you the banks have become involved in legal proceedings with the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") in relation to the charges which we believe will resolve the legal issues regarding the fairness and legality of your charges. We have asked the Financial Services Authority ("FSA") to suspend the normal timetable for dealing with unauthorised overdraft bank charges complaints, and the FSA has agreed to this request subject to conditions that protect your rights. Given this court case we have also asked both the Financial Ombudsman Service ("FOS") and the Courts not to proceed with any other case they are hearing until the test case is resolved. FOS has indicated that as a general proposition it will indeed not proceed with cases which rely on the legal issues being considered in the test case. Similarly, you should be aware that if you choose to issue a claim in the Courts, [we will immediately apply to the Court for an order to stay your action until resolution of the banks' proceedings with the OFT].** However, the goodwill offer the bank made to you still stands and you can accept or reject this offer. If you decide to take up this offer, you must contact us within 2 months from the date of this letter. You should be aware that if you accept this offer, this will be in “full and final” settlement of your complaint. This means that it is unlikely you would be awarded a further sum even if the test case indicated that you could be entitled to a potentially larger amount. Though this does not preclude you asking for repayment of any future charges if the court finds they are unlawful. If we do not hear from you within the specified 2 months, we will assume that you have decided to reject this offer and await the outcome of the legal proceedings with the OFT. This means that the bank's offer will expire (i.e. can no longer be accepted by you) and we will reconsider your complaint once the test case is resolved. We can assure you (in that instance) we have registered and stored your complaint. We can assure you that, if you do not accept our offer, once the legal proceedings are completed we will resolve your complaint as quickly as possible, applying the test case principles. This may produce a larger or smaller figure when compared with the current offer. If at that stage you do not agree with our conclusions you will of course be able to refer your case to the FOS (or to the courts). Obviously exactly what will happen next will depend on the Courts. We do not know how long the case will take – we have promised to proceed as quickly as possible but inevitably given the importance of the issues being considered this may take many months to finally resolve. Please retain your bank records, as this will make it easier for you to support your complaint on resolution of the test case. We will keep you updated appropriately about the proceedings with the OFT. You can also check the latest position on our website at . The FSA requires us to ensure that your complaint will not be adversely affected by the delay in dealing with it. Customers for whom Scotland is the most likely jurisdiction should be particularly aware of the following: 1. You may choose to take your complaint or claim against us to either the FOS or the Courts in Scotland. 2. Your right to refer your complaint to the FOS will not be affected. The FOS provides a convenient alternative to the Courts, and is free for consumers. However, as already explained, you should be aware that the FOS has, at our request, decided not to determine these complaints for the time being until the test case is resolved. What have they said in the letter withdrawing the offer? Has 2 months past since they made the offer? Gary

No Hilary, don't worry I'll get the money. The lady i spoke to on the phone was straight up I believe and seemed genuine enough to sort the matter out. Latest advice from FSA to the banks IIRC says that banks should honour all offers for 2 months unless they have been rejected outright. I think I have been lucky in that I hadn't rejected the latest offer outright but was seeking clarification on a few points. Gary

We haggled down to £1224 basic charges (due to "alleged":) refunds at the time). This was made up of safe charges for unauthorised borrowing, warning letters, unpaid items etc. In the interest of a quick payout, I agreed to take out the monthly maintenance fees. I was willing to go all the way to a court hearing for those, but the OFT sticking their size 10's into the mix scuppered the threat of an actual court hearing IMHO, so that weapon was lost to me I thought. Ah well. Interest of £175. A bit more than it should be after taking out the relevant charges from the spreadsheet. Don't say anything though;) And the £62 court fee. Gary

Have today sent off acceptance letter for £1462. When money clears, donation on the way:D Thanks to everyone especially Caro and NorthernWarrior for all advice and guidance. Suppose I can get a ***WON*** on my thread now? Oh and do I submit my claim details now or wait 'til I get the money? Now wheres that Capital One claim............. Gary

Got a letter today regarding the OFT action. Dear xxxxxxx You have referred your complaint about unauthorised overdraft bank charges for determination in court. Although, we believe the charges are fair, transparent and lawful. Since you filed your claim in court the banks have become involved in legal proceedings with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in relation to bank charges which we believe will resolve the legal issues regarding the fairness and legality of your bank charges. We have asked the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to suspend the normal timetable for dealing with bank charges compalints, and the FSA has agreed to this request subject to conditions that protect your rights. Given this court case we have also asked the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and we intend to apply to the Courts not to proceed with any other case they are hearing until the test case is resolved. FOS has indicated that as a general proposition it will indeed not proceed with cases which rely on the legal issues being considered in the test case. Similarly you should be aware that if you choose to issue a claim in the courts we will immediately apply to the courts for an order to stay your action until resolution of the banks' proceedings with the OFT. We will keep you updated appropriately about the proceedings with the OFT. We can asure you we have registered and stored your complaint. Please retain your bank records, as this will make it easier for you to support your compalint on resolution of the test case. Once the legal proceedings between the OFT and the banks finish, we will resolve your compalint as quickly as possible, applying the (test case) principles. As a general matter, we will ensure that your claim will not be adversely affected by the stay of your court proceedings. Yours sincerely Now this looked to me like a standard draft letter going out to everyone and not a specific reply to my last letter so I phoned them and arranged for someone to phone me back. While waiting I decided to phone the local courthouse to try and find out if it was business as usual or if any cases had been heard or stayed lately. The clerk told me that business was on hold until the end of august for summer recess anyway as the local judge was on holiday and would make a decision on several applications that had been made so far for stays then. Anyway, the bank phoned back and to cut a long story short I think we have agreed to settle ! I wasn't happy about waiting until November and certainly not for up to 2 years for the test case decision, so I basically backed down on the disputed amounts and am getting my interest and my court fee.

Caro, My case is listed for 20 November at Newtownards CC (Co. Down). What do you think of my situation? Am I right in thinking that interest + court fee must be included in any settlement offer, even though the bank are offering practically full refund of charges? As I said, I'm willing to wait a wee while longer to see what they write back with. The more i think of it, I think that the court would be sympathetic to my case if they were aware that the bank were welshing out of paying interest and fee even if they did ask for a stay. Gary

Why not Caro? What exactly is the decision making process for a stay? Will the judge make a decision based on one side of the story? ,ie, the banks because to all intents and purposes they will have made the application without me knowing (even though I do know;) if you get my drift). The first I would hear about it is when I get notification that a stay has been granted! Then I would have to go about appealling that decision and any expenses that would occur. Would I not be better writing in now and asking for my objection to any application for a stay that may be made and explaining that the bank are refusing to pay interest + fees. Then maybe the judge could issue some sort of decree or order that the bank must include such amounts in any settlement offer. As I say, I have another few weeks to hear from them before time runs out on their last offer. Gary

Received information pack back from Small claims court. Return date 14 September 2007. Hopefully hear from CapOne in about 3 weeks?

Thanks for the heads up NorthernWarrior:) We hadn't actually agreed on a figure as such. They wouldn't include the monthly maintenance fees, I wanted too and was willing to go all the way to a court date to see if they blinked first. They also have never included the 8% interest or £62 court fee as litigation had been initiated. Again, I was confident of the courts backing on this as its part of the settlement process, but if the bank are going to apply for a stay, then i feel that this "protection" has been whipped away from under my feet. If they are granted a stay (is that still up to the individual judge?:? ) then I cant see how they would be obliged to honour the interest + fee because due process will have been suspended. Also, when are they going to apply for the stay? It is 3.5 months to the hearing date, are they going to do it now or wait until the last minute by which time I will be outside of the banks 2 month period to agree on any offer. Would I be better getting a pre-emptive strike in by writing to the court objecting to the stay (using the excellent template on this site) and saying that basically we have agreed to settle but they are not paying interest + fees. The Northern website says that they will be writing to complainants within the next few weeks and in my latest letter to them I gave them 14 days to reply, so I'll probably give them another week and a bit to write back. Any comments? Gary

We actually haven't "agreed" as such on a figure. There is still £25 plus interest plus court fee which they still haven't officially recognised and agreed to pay. So to get that I was mentally expecting to have to wait time out until the court case to force their hand. Now following last weeks events with the test case, I am now fully expecting to still have to wait until the case date only for a last minute stay application to be applied for by the bank or automatically by the court before then as it is so long to wait.

Um, lets not congratulate myself too soon guys!!! I'm still waiting for a reply about my latest offer, and following the "helpfull" (NOT) intervention by the OFT last week, I fully expect the bank to pull the shutters down until the court date and then they will apply for a stay:mad: Just you wait and see, thats what they'll do. Gary

Thanks Caro. I actually feel a bit "dirty" ,you know, backing down a bit but I feel a lot better having come to this decision. At least I feel I am calling their bluff and secretly hope that they dont pay up!!! At least I have given them the chance to "take my complaint seriously" as they always say. Anyhoo, on a wee side note, just today received paper copy of Notice of Hearing along with a copy of the banks Notice of Dispute. Their great defence is ; (1) The charges are levied in accordance with contract(that I asked for at the very start and still haven't received) and are the charges previously advised to the applicant. (2) The charges are not in breach of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.(oh, terribly sorry, thats all right then!) Is that it???? The second one gets me. All I can visualise now is like a pantomime......Oh yes it is!......Oh no it isn't! LOL:lol:

OK folks, after a few days of anguish and soul searching I have come to a decision. My main reason was that I could really do with some cash soon rather than wait 4 months for an extra £200. So basically, I have today written to the bank and stated that if they agree to pay immediately all the fees we do agree on, plus interest on those fees plus my court fee (total £1526) then I will consider the claim settled. However, I included a little caveat! If they do not agree, or get in touch within 14 days, then all bets are off and the full claim goes ahead. I know some on hear will probably think I'm mad caving in like this (yes NorthernWarrior, thats you I'm talking about!!! ) but if I can get my hands on £1500 odd now thats great for me at the moment, if not, then theres the back up plan of more to come, though I will have a long wait. So heres waiting for a reply from the bank. Gary

LOL I know what you mean Caro! Her last few posts to me have given me the impression of "virtually" being shaken by the shoulders and being told to get a grip!!!! Hey NW "only slaggin'" (local joke, she should get it). Seriously though, I take on board your comments on being close to the end, its just that everything up to now has been to a quick clearly defined timetable so to speak, and now its all on hold for longer than its taken up to now, you know? At least I have a Capital One claim to play about with, and going by other threads it should be settled without a court date. Gary

Right, I've been thinking about this overnight. TBH, the fact that I now have to wait practically 4 months until the hearing date has got me down a bit. Wasn't expecting it to be that long really:( Basically, the difference between me and the bank is £200 in total, and I dont really know if its worth waiting 4 months (assuming they take it up to the last minute:rolleyes: ) for an extra £200. I haven't sent off my latest letter yet (it is all sealed up and stamped ready to post this morning). Gonna think a bit more and will of course hear any comments you guys have. Gary