Rhio, I think the legal aid changes you are talking about are (as far as I know) just proposals at the moment. However, I would check with the solicitor who is working for you to see what costs will be involved and who will be paying for them. At the moment tribunals can take a very long time due to the amount of people appealing against ATOS decisions and the like.

Have you got someone handling your tribunal or supporting you with it? I know you have a health worker, but do you have someone with experience in welfare rights? And have they sent off the letters written by your doctors to the tribunal?

Everyone should be able to access a basic bank account. However we all know in practice this is not always the case. It is just not a good idea to let anyone else use your bank account for their own financial dealings. I do not feel that HTH's comments are particularly helpful. No-one should be threatened or deserve to lose their children because they try to help out their ex-partner. It may not be the wisest course of action, but there was no intention to deceive the DWP/Council. It does not mean they have resumed a relationship with their ex. Most ex-partners have to have some sort of contact with their ex if they have children. This is a case which shows us that it is wiser not to enter into any sort of financial relationship other than declared maintenance payments. We should keep these forums for help, advice and support, not moral judgments. We are all human and, therefore, make our own mistakes.

Well done, grrrrrr! I am so glad they have finally admitted that there was no intention or actual loss. I hope you can get all this sorted so you finally get what seems like in the end you are owed, not the other way round. The sheer amount of letters sent to them which they lose and the amount of letters they "send" which never arrive is abominable. If they got this sorted it would save many people an awful lot of bother.

Wouldn't that be the best Christmas present? At least we both got our AQs in on time.

Fingers crossed for both of us, Wilchy. I do wish BC would just go away at the moment.

As we are still in the process of getting the claim set up, I haven't mentioned anything as yet. Just clarified the penalty charges are an issue and the s69 interest they are trying for. Due to having to get the AQ in today, I'm still doing the N1 for the charges, though i have managed to get the amounts sorted, just not the interest as yet. Apparently BC was right not to include a fee with their AQ as the claim is for less than £1,500. So they don't need to pay according to the court officer. Pity, I was disappointed. The court couldn't confirm whether they have received BC's AQ.

AQ completed. I've just written in the other information box that to clarify the defence the amount claimed includes penalty charges and the s69 interest which shouldn't be included with agreements regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. And that we would be happy to enter into mediation to resolve this matter. I wish we get brownie points for keeping it short and sweet for the judge.

Has BC ticked yes or no to whether he has included the fee necessary with his AQ on the one you have received from him, Wilchy? He has ticked no on mine and I received it from him, not the court. Sorry, just re-read your post- so he has ticked yes and enclosed the fee with yours. He has ticked no on mine. Wonder what he's up to?

Hi Wilchy. Just checking out your thread as we are both at AQ stage against the big bad Bryan. I'm trying to write a statement of case for mine to include with my AQ and considering asking for records Cap1 hold of repeated phone calls when they were told the account was in dispute. I've only got a couple of days to hand this in, so I'm feeling up against the wall. Your defence looks sturdy though.

Thanks, Andy. I thought about making sure I had all the points we would be relying on in the defence to try to negate the problems of a holding defence solely due to lack of documents. I'm glad that you agree that now this means I don't need to submit an amended defence. I'm searching to find other people's examples for our statement of case. Just for syntax and tone, if you know what I mean. I just don't trust BC and want to make sure any judge gets the facts that we do not want to avoid any money we do owe, we just don't agree with the charges added and the blatant attempt of getting s 69 interest. All we want is a revised amount and a payment plan which we can pay from our benefits. And to guard against attempts to secure the debt to our home, though the house does not belong to my husband so I don't think they could do that.

And do I need to put in an application to amend my defence? I included in my defence the three main points I want to rely on as well as the lack of documents. They are- 1) Vague POC This was their POC- The claimant's claim is for the balance due under an agreement which is now all due and payable. The defendant agreed to pay monthly installments under account number ************** but has failed to do so. And the claimant claims the sum of ***** The claimant also claims interest thereon pursuant to s69 county court act 1984 limited to one year to the date hereof a the rate of 8% per annum amounting to ****. 2) Unlawful charges 3) Their addition of s69 interest even though they are not allowed to on a debt relating to an agreement covered by the CCA 1974. So if I include with my AQ a possible statement of case(?) and a list of the disputed charges, would that be ok. I only have tomorrow to hand this in, so I am completely floundering. Can someone please help?

We got those charges removed but when they added more the account went back into dispute. Finally the account was terminated and we are dealing with a court claim for the balance, including charges we didn't have time to start a court claim for. Don't put off a dispute and a court claim for charges! Now we are battling them in court and we could have avoided this I feel.

So I need to know if I should include a statement of case. BC haven't by the looks of things, though I wouldn't put it past them to do one but not include it in their copy to us. Briefly it would say that in December 20** my husband took out the credit card with Capital One. In September 2008 he discovered that they had added charges. He got disputed these charges and started a court claim against Cap1. They refunded these charges in April 2009. We stated to them we would dispute any additional charges they applied to the account. In July 2009 they again added a charge to the account. We asked them to remove this. They did not and continued to add additional charges each month from them. We disputed these charges and refused to pay them until the charges were removed. My husband was my carer and due to his caring responsibilities at this time, he was unable to launch another court claim against Capital One to remove these charges. Though on the numerous times Capital One contacted him, he informed them that the charges were disputed and if they removed the charges he would bring the account payments up to date. In March 2010 they sent a default notice and in April 2010 they closed the account, even though it was in dispute. In July 2010 we were contacted by a DCA (Fredricksons). When we explained the account was in dispute they said they would investigate. The next we heard from BC threatening court and then receiving a court claim from them in September 2010. We dispute that we owe the amount claimed by BC as the amount includes penalties charges which are unlawful at Common Law, under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the UTCCR 1999. Also that the claimant has added s69 interest which they are not entitled to where the claim is in relation to a debt regulated by the CCA 1974. Is it a good idea to add a statement of case? Or do I hand in the AQ as it is?

I'm sorry I haven't been on here for a couple of days. My health is not at it's best right now and stress makes it worse. Add to that, the pills make my head fuzzy- like trying to function after a few stiff whiskeys. We would love to settle this with BC. Unfortunately they have shown no inclination to be reasonable. In fact their subterfuge and silliness have been annoying. We would be quite happy to get them to take away all the charges and interest and then give us an affordable payment plan. Between everything going on in our lives at the moment, the last thing we needed was this. However we are not going to lie down and get shafted by these guys. Our position is reasonable. We only stopped paying Cap1 when they added charges after we had already taken them to court to remove them. We disputed, they ignored. If I hadn't been so ill, we would have proceeded back to court. But my husband was focused on caring for me and (almost before we knew it) then the account was closed. We told them repeatedly the account was in dispute- nothing. They passed to a DCA who we told the account was in dispute, they bogged off. The next thing we have a court claim landing on our mat. So I think I'm going to just tick the boxes on the AQ and get it in tomorrow. Do I need to write up an explanation of our position/case/defence to include with this? Or can I just tick the boxes for now? There doesn't seem to be any argument from either side about this going to small claims track. Then I can put together our claim against Cap1 for charges over the next few days and get it into court asap. Then we can connect them.

I must refer my CPN to that BBC report when I see him tomorrow. He and his colleague have attended the ATOS medicals with a patient and then got the ATOS report which bore no relation the the interview or the facts about the patient's condition. Can you imagine someone taking their own mental health professional to the medical and then the ATOS report giving them nil points? If I didn't know the professionals involved I would think it was too bad to be true. Luckily the CPN is making sure the patient appeals- they are too sick to even consider it, never mind pass a medical. Personally, my health has deteriorated hugely with the stress of the last year. Every day I expect a letter requesting my presence at ATOS. It is like permanently waiting for the hangman to knock on my door.

Your local council may have a welfare rights officer who can help. Otherwise, do you have a CPN (Community Psychiatric Nurse)? They can sometimes get you a welfare rights adviser from MIND who can help. There are benefits you can claim- during my appeal after an Incapacity Benefit assessment went wrong (for me) I was able to claim Income Support until the appeal was heard. It wasn't much, but it kept me in beans and bread just. If your landlord situation is causing you bother, perhaps get in touch with your local council housing department. My old one used to have a worker who tried to find ways to stop people in crisis situations like yours from losing their tenancy. Worth asking about.

Well done for your hard work, grrr! It is so easy to let paperwork get muddled- let's face it we have all had letters from the DWP/HMRC go "astray". Funny how they get nasty when one of ours does. I really respect how you have fought these decisions. And thank you to Jabba for getting a different perspective on the issue. Very useful.

Our AQ is going in the middle of next week. I think I'll just tick the boxes- Yes to mediation- even though BC has ticked no No to change location of hearing Yes to small claims track No witnesses No experts Yes to dates unavailable- thanks for that Andy Other information- if I add draft directions like those in the Bank/card charges cases? For information about costs involved in charges for credit cards- how much it costs them to send out a template letter automatically on the computer system, etc and Draft Direction as in charges cases? Does that sound like a plan? Or am urinating in a force ten gale.

Also a quick query. We know we will be called as witnesses in an upcoming court case, but have not got the date of the trial through yet. Can I just say on the AQ that there will be some days in the next few months where we will not be available but will give them the exact dates when we are informed by the CPS? Or is that too vague?

There isn't anything attached to the AQ- no applications- but I will get husband to check with the court on Monday. Just in case Mr Carter is pulling another fast one. So on the N244 I can make an application for a counterclaim? I didn't know that. Sometimes I feel like I'm just stumbling round in the dark on all this. We should get fee remission as we're on Income Support so that's good. Should I include with my AQ a request for how the charges are calculated or is that pushing my luck? Should I ask to amend my defence, though I've already stated about the charges and the s69 interest BC have added? Just to remove the request for documentation.

What is an AN and how do I do that? Can I just add a counterclaim and would the 8% be from the date the card was ended? I was thinking they might try for a summary judgment and thought this would come with their AQ, but nothing there. Yet. How will I get notification if they try for that? Will the court send me notification as BC have tried every sneaky trick so far!

I haven't actually done a counterclaim yet! I had to wait for the information from BC before I could get exact figures. I've got to x amount which includes the interest on the charges added by Cap1. Then I need to add s69 but I can't remember when to start this off from- 8% from the date of each charge or 8% on the charge plus their interest from the date the account closed. I didn't realise receiving post from BC would mess my head up so much. So can I now start a counterclaim even though I didn't when I did the AOS. Or do I start a new claim against Cap1. Befuddlement city.

The DN is not exactly the same- different reference numbers, typeface for name and address, no barcode, etc. But the amounts, wording and giving us 28 days are all the same. Really it's only the charges (and their interest on them) in the amounts that we can argue with. The agreements are alright as well. I've now gone through the charges amounts and it is just under a third of the amount claimed- minus BC's spurious s69 interest/fees/etc. So do I just complete and send the AQ without draft directions. Or do I think of new things for draft directions. It really looks like they have done nothing more on their AQ than tick the boxes and send it back.

The other people's details are just names and claim numbers- thankfully for them. I do hope Mr Carter hasn't sent ours to them! Their AQ is minimal. No to Settlement and location of hearing. Yes to small claims track. Witnesses left blank. No to experts and no dates they can't make it to court.No other information . No to fee attached. That is all they have sent by the looks of things. The copies sent are clear and legible. The agreement is signed and dated- no problem there. Default notice is included- I can't scan at the moment as scanner is not working. Our issue with the DN is just the amounts contain the disputed charges. Statement of Default included dated 33 days after DN- same issues about the charges included in amount. Basic statement information- sums in and out including charges. Terms and conditions which seems to match the ones we have from the beginning of the account.