Thanks freakyleaky. My main question is what does my son need to say at the hearing. Does he just read out the skeleton argument or should he have some other speech which is shorter and covers the main points?

Which announcement? I have been looking at lots of forums and haven't spotted an announcement.

Is there anyone out there? I don't seem to get any responses to my posts. My son's appeal against a stay has a hearing at the local court on 23rd October. Does he just read out the statement that was attached to the appeal? Should he be preparing something shorter and less generic? Does he need to bring copies of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Civil Procedure rules for the judge and the defendants? Please, please could someone help we don't even know what happens when he goes to court.

I agree with Dougal16T about the class action and asked about this in another thread some time ago (sorry can't remember which one ). In the letter to crfx250 from the FSA they mention "a public document (agreement of 25 July 2007 between the OFT, the FSA and the litigant banks and building society)" where can one see this document? It is the first time that I have heard that the FSA were involved in the agreement between the banks/building society and the OFT. Why do they get to "agree" between them without consulting consumers?

Could you please PM me the letter from the OFT? Also do you know which EC directive they are referring to and where I could get a copy.

Do the OFT guidelines Section 2.8k cover businesses? Is there a link to the guidelines somewhere?

Don't know if this the right place to ask but anyway. If a bank annually increases an overdraft limit without informing the account holder, other than by printing it on their statement after the fact, are they in breach of the CCA?

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/nationwide/112997-macca-nationwide.html Sent an application for removal of stay on 10th September and have today received a Notice of Transfer of Proceedings. They have transferred the case to Colchester (just as far from me as Northampton!) I called Colchester and they said that it was a common mistake as there was a town with the same name as my home town but that they would automatically transfer it to my local court. It also had two Orders from Northampton County Court. ORDER 1 It is ordered that: 1) The Claimant's letter stands as an application for leave to lift the stay 2) No fee payable 3) Transfer to Claimant's home County Court Note: Any party affected by this Order may under Rule 3.3 (5) apply to have it set aside, varied or stayed. Such a party must apply under Rule 23.2 within 14 days of service of this order. ORDER 2 It is ordered that: 1. The filing of an allocation questionnaire be dispensed with in this case unless the District Judge at the court of transfer orders otherwise. ** Note: Any party affected by this Order may under Rule 3.3 (5) apply to have it set aside, varied or stayed. Such a party must apply under Rule 23.2 within 14 days of service of this order. ** Please note that an allocation fee may be payable in this instance. Please contact the court of transfer for further details. What happens next?

I rang the court before sending off the application for removal of stay and they said that I didn't have to pay as the judge had given leave to appeal in the document notifying us of the stay.

Had the same letter from Nationwide on 7th August followed by a letter from the court dated 29th August. Have sent off application to remove a stay. see: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/nationwide/112997-macca-nationwide.html

I have never had to do a personal statement to creditors - is there somewhere he can get help to do this?

My son has tried to get his credit report from both Equifax and Experian. Experian - filled in the form and got as far as trying to confirm address when told that couldn't go any further, please call a number. Called the number and told them that he didn't want to continue the service beyond the 30 days so please cancel his card. Haven't had the free report from them yet (6 days so far). Equifax - started filling in form but couldn't progress as site kept insisting that his surname wasn't "valid". We have a two word surname without a hyphen which seems perfectly OK on birth certificate, electoral roll, passport, building society account, etc. A bit of a Catch 22 as he can't register to request a report and both phone help and email require you to register - looks like snail mail is the only route!!

Called the court to ask how to apply to have the stay removed and was told to fill in N244 and append a statement as to why we were appealing - payment not necessary as Judge had given leave to apply. Sent off the forms (statement as found on http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/17065-application-removal-stay-updated.html) and form on 09/09/07 by fax and registered post and have received no response as yet. In the meantime my son has tried to open a Student Account with a bank and has been refused as well as being advised not to try and open one elsewhere as it will show on his credit report each time. Not much hair left now - tearing it out in chunks:mad:

Could someone tell me if my son can claim hardship. He is about to start university and has already been granted a bursary by the university as a result of our low income. He should also be receiving a full loan and a maintenance grant but we haven't had this confirmed as yet. He has been trying to claim £374 from the Nationwide (http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/nationwide/112997-macca-nationwide.html) but has had his action stayed. He was given leave to appeal the stay which he did on 9th September but didn't mention hardship and hasn't heard back from the court. He has researched all the student accounts and come up with a few that look OK so applied to one of them to open an account and they refused him. They said it was to do with his credit rating but there is no record of them having looked at his credit report. They also advised him not to apply elsewhere as it would leave a marker on his credit report each time he did. At this point in time he is so fed up that all he wants is his default notice removed so that he can at least open another account. Nationwide have also continued to charge him so now the amount is up to £490 including costs and interest. Does receiving a maintenance grant for university count as benefit?

I filled in a complaint against the Nationwide Building Society on the FSA website and got a waffle response from them. The link is: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/114177-fsa-waiver-preventing-claims.html I am not very conversant with the law - but isn't there something called a "Class Action" where a group of people get together and take a company to court? Or is that in the States?