Hi, I am not paying unsecured debts before council tax but just wondered if councils had a definite max to pay back any arrears. I have just written to them with the usual planner and debt lists and offered to pay this year on time and the arrears by Feb 2009 - we will see what they say. Thanks

Hi, Am up to date with this years council tax but for various reasons still have £800 to pay for 07/08. Can I treat this in the same way as any other offer of payment - is there any maximum time they will accept the arrears over (being the council) or can I simply supply a budget sheet to show that it might take 2 years to be up to date ? Thanks

Hi Kev, The Abbey one is still to pay out. The letter refers to their fee for a payment I received for bank charges last June which they did not chase and in fact I received no correspondence from them regarding it until Feb 2008 when I made my offers of payment. I have read the OFT guidlines under section 2.6 f Pressurising debtors to pay in full Which appears to cover this situatio of not asking properly for payment and then being unreasonable with demanding it to be paid in such a short period of time. My only worry by going on with the orig plan and paying the £200 is that they will still proceed, does anyone know if fees are added as soon as they apply to the court or are they only applied after the court has made a decision? Kenny

Ok, the whole story....... Employed a company to get some charges refunded which they did. Abbey bank charges currently on hold pending the court case. Received 3 refunds and and invoices for £375 and at the time and I tried to pay via debit card over the phoen with them. They told me that this wasnt possible. I do not have a cheque book but had thought that the Abbey payout would settle all the payments to this company (case was about to pay out). 4 months went past and I received a statement (not a reminder to pay) and I didnt really think much about it. At the start of Feb the company called to ask for payment which I thought was odd as this was the first time they had really chased it. As in my 1st post I offered payment. Here is what I received Thank you for your email. I have now had the opportunity to discuss your payment proposal with the Director of our company. Please be aware that our legally binding terms and conditions which you have signed state that you will pay us within 10 days of receiving your compensation. If invoices are not settled we reserve the right to charge interest at 1% over the base lending rate of Lloyds TSB. In addition to this you are liable for all collection costs that we incur. You are currently 221 days late on settling your account with regards to the Morgan Stanley account that we have settled for you back in June 2007! I am sure that you will understand that any trust we had in you settling our invoices has now gone and we do not intend to do any more work in order to collect our fees. I can confirm that your payment proposal has been rejected by us and and the full amount £417.01 is due immediately. (This includes a £41.34 collection fee as per our terms and conditions). What will happen next. I have just passed your details to a collection company The Credit Protection Association (CPA), you will receive a final reminder from them later this week. This has cost you the above fee of £41.34. CPA will then contact us again if your invoice remains unpaid and will send litigation papers to us. This is likely to happen in about 2 weeks time. I will immediately sign the papers and return them in order to start court action against you. Unfortunately this is a very expensive process and I would imagine it adding around £200.00 to your outstanding debt. We have found that we always win in court as our terms and conditions are so tight. If this were the case you will then have a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against your name and will be ordered to pay immediately. Once we have the CCJ in place we will not await payment and will authorise High Court Enforcement Officers to collect goods from your property which will be sold at auction. Again the cost of this is added to your invoice. I would personally recommend that you fully read our terms and conditions which you have signed. _________________________________________ Now, I do not dispute the debt, I have already sent £100 and another £200 will be with them in about 10 days or so (I could also understand the letter if they had been chasing me for 6 months but they havent.) My feeling is that they forgot about this also and have suddenly realised its way overdue (why wait over 200 days before chasing it ?) They seem to be doing as they state in the letter, my fear is that even though at the time there will only be maybe £75 outstanding, they will get a claim issued and £££ will be added to the debt - can they do this? I have tried to be reasonable with them, as soon as they actually asked for the money I have sorted it out and I also want to keep them on side (as I still have £5,600 to get from Abbey through them!!!!!!!) but they seem to be hell bent on chasing this. Looks to me as if the Bank Case has affected their cashflow and they are being overly tough - but this seems crazy. Cheers

Hi, Quick question. I owed a company £375 from June last year and as they didnt send any reminders I actually forgot all about it. At the start of Feb 2008 I got a call from the company demanding payment, I said I would sort it out. I sent an offer of an immediate payment of £100 and a further payment of £200 by the end of March and then the remaining £75 by the 1st week in April. They wrote back rejecting the offer and said they would refer the matter to a debt collection agency. Within 3 days I received a debt letter adding £50 to the bill and threatening court action. I sent the £100 as I had said and assumed they were bluffing. I have now received a solicitors letter stating that unless the balance including the £50 is paid by return, an application to the court will be made - adding £200 to the debt. Question is, by the time this happens I will have paid a further £200 (could probably manage £275) in my eyes clearing it in full. Whats the score here, are they really going to proceed knowing I am paying it off as I said I would? Can anyone advise? Cheers

Hi again, Well I have setup a new account and it is now ready. SAR letter all ready and will post in the morning http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/516-data-protection-act-subject.html One things springs to mind though, I know they are going to stall on this and I will end up estimating anyway - can I not just estimate from the statements I have managed to find rather than waiting 40 days for the evidence in full. Any reason why I cannot skip the SAR stage? Cheers Kenny

Estimate it. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-bank/18106-abbey-rach-no-more.html

It was a preliminary hearing but people need to be aware that every now and again they will be required to turn up in court and represent themselves a little bit - scary stuff !!!!! Kenny

Be warned though........... This has actually happend where the bank did turn up. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/scotland/13879-i-am-going-court.html

Am thinking of going for my full amount (approx £3K) in an English court rather than chopping it all up in to £750. Would be easier to do it in Scotland though! Unfair UK Bank Charges | legal help from Govan Law Centre, Glasgow, UK

Who says you must have an address in England? Unfair UK Bank Charges | legal help from Govan Law Centre, Glasgow, UK

Hi, The English address requirement seems to contradict what is being said on other threads? http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/scotland/5115-scotland-claiming-via-english.html arrandolly "This question arises time and time again. Please note that if the bank has an address in England then you simply raise a claim on Form N1 and send to the local County Court of the Bank's registered office. I did this with A&L, I live in Scotland but raised an action in Leicester. It is not difficult or complicated in any way."

Hi, natweststaffmember, I didn't mean to annoy you, you may have missunderstood the way in which it was written - sorry ! I have read the post bankfodder put up and it clearly states that I can raise a case against the bank where they are 'domiciled' (London) - this is fine and great ! Prompted by natweststaffmember I read my own (current) Abbey "T&C" and they state These Conditions are governed by the law of the country in the UK (i.e. England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) where you opened your account. So the Govan article says I can do it in London, my Abbey T&C (current ones, I dont have a copy of the ones I signed so they may have changed) say I am limited to Scotland. Which is right and how enforcable are Abbey T&C in court - is my point. Kenny

Abby T&C 25 Governing law These Conditions are governed by the law of the country in the UK (i.e. England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) where you opened your account. Am I stuck now to £750?

So can someone tell me if I can use an English court against Abbey as my claim will be approx £3,000, its not worth it if it's limited to £750. As far as I can see from Mike Dailly, Govan Law centre snippet, if I use a London court I will be ok up to £5,000. Natweststaffmedmber, there terms also state that they can charge you £30 if they want for bouncing a cheque- we know this isnt the case! Am hoping this might be the case for living in Scotland and using English court, even if T&C say otherwise. Can someone advise before I start the ball rolling? Kenny