Thankyou for that Michael X

Hi Tom Forgive my ignorance here (but at least your thread will get a little bump) .What if the banks just send in the debt company bailiffs? Do they need to obtain a CCJ to do so? Wouldn't they be very wary of taking it to court in case the claimant did defend? Kim x

Received lovely cheque in full ! Have been on a bit of a bender:D Hic!! I will now be able to buy my grandchildren the presents that Santa couldn't bring them because the court elves needed the money for claim and allocation fees. Thankyou so much everyone for your help, support and discussion.Donation on route to CAG. "If you think you are too small to make a difference try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito" (African proverb) SG (Kim) XXXXXXXXXX

"If I were still A poacher" - Sounds like a member of some secret club Not the best (but possibly the most apt) discription he could of used his collegues may argue, Quite refreshing for him to speak up though; hopefully the continued complaints are finally hitting home. sg

This is excellent - would be interested to hear about any response you get (usual defensive tat no doubt). I would only question the final sentence of your letter - I don't think good conscience is in Mrs. K's arena (as you so rightly allude to) Great stuff

Well done and congratulations SG x

Thanks T4FF x and Mjanet - I wasn't being critical just following the theme of the thread. As for my sticky I was told this was the way to go about it by a cag member who has been a member for a long time. Had I of known that this was not the case and that you were inundated with them I would not of bothered you - I was enthusiastic and I meant well. Will go and find a corner to sulk in now! LOL - SG x

Garibaldi, hello and welcome. If you go to the 'welcome to our forum' before you do anything it will send you in the right direction SG

sorry - my big gob got in between you two there :o Good points Glenn Sir sg x

Hi Guys- Don't know have you've read up behind the scenes so apologies if 'sucking eggs' is appropriate Misrepresentation does again come into the equation regarding 'Mistake' (see also 'Reality of consent').For Mistake to be operative, it must be of fact and not of law; the loss under mistake may not be relieved unless there has been misrepresentation by the seller. (Hence my PM to you Ron).Also, a contract affected by mistake is void;a contract affected by misrepresentation is only voidable. This is of course IMHO SG x

Good luck H - Will keep a look out for you sg x

Okay so just forget about the recorded bit and use the money saved to send even more letters via normal post (Hee! Hee!) Yes I know it's childish but oh the amusement! SG

Hello PKea Also it's not for Abbey to instruct the court anyway - it's your case. (I wrote and told them to butt out, that I would tell the court once any funds had cleared and until such time the case was still active) I did get this info from the court itself (Well they didn't say "butt out" exactly but you get the idea ) Personally I would continue as if you were going to court - if Abbey don't show it will be another black mark against them and you'll get your money regardless (Just IMHO of course) SG X

Hi Chrissy and welcome If you scroll down to the bottom of this page you can click onto other threads regarding the wonderful studio. I sent them a letter saying that the charges were unlawful and that if I was not reimbursed within 14 days I would take the matter to court. They sent me £100 within a week (I had more than one charge obviously). They charged me a further £20 over the christmas period, I wrote again and they repaid right away. Regards SG x

Harry - Go to the 'studio cards PPI HELP!!!!' link at the bottom of this page Sg

_A couple of things : As I have never taken out a PPI (just a personal viewpoint, but I think they are a money making rip off) I can only advise you IMHO . I still don't believe that you will not be able to claim back on this retrospectively (but again I have advised you to look for separate threads regarding this) because you should of cancelled it before and had the option to do so when you saw it on your first statement, by continuing to keep it you were effectively giving the okay. There will undoubtedly be something in the small print saying that if you don't want it then to let them know; it may not be right to do it in this way but they can argue that it was clearly in the small print. If you are able to prove that it was mis -sold to you then you open up a whole new ball game. This is an area to be covered in itself and once again I urge you to check out the PPI threads as we could be here for weeks dicussing this when it has already been dealt with and will be far more useful to you elsewhere on the forum. If you only have one statement giving the total amount of admin etc it will be difficult to work out the exact amount of interest due because,to simplify, it acrues from the date the charge was made. I thought you had individual statements - would you clarify. The interest rates and how they are worked out are on the back of original statements (in my case) By the way, don't worry if I don't get back to you immediately, as life gets in the way, but I will come back as quickly as I can to try and help SG x

Battleaxe - I think my husband may of seen you giving out slips He said he is going to say hello if he sees you again (so don't worry if some stranger starts talking to you out of the blue!!) I would like to find someone who had a light aircraft/helicopter (unfortuneatly my circle of Glastonbury going friends are not in that league!!) and drop millions of slips over key points up and down the country I also have a scenario in my mind's eye of thousands of members of the CAG - or anyone who is dealing with bank charging etc - all sending a letter of complaint to the BBA/FSA (whatever). You may say that's already happened, but what if the letters were all sent to go, by recorded delivery,on the same day For the sake of two quid we could even double the number and send two copies each. Oh the amusement when the postman struggles up the garden path with the load! What do you guys think?? SG XXX

Yes that's right chetz - I should of made it clearer. I was under the impression that Harry was going to try and reclaim it in full and that may of caused problems. Everyone is different I know, but I just made a list detailing all the charges etc and sent it with a letter requesting repayment to which they paid back within a week, you do it your own way of course Harry, but you could try this yourself. Yes, you could wait for them to default but I believe that an opportunity should be given for them to repay first as it would look for better on a case you were to bring against them for default were they not to pay up.. SG X

Hi Guys- I think there are quite a few 'oldies' out there who because of the generation they come from find it hard to use the site or simply don't know how. This I know sounds very patronising, but I work with Old folks and this has come from their own mouths. They too have been ripped off by various organisations and are very vunerable. One of my 'ladies' has been very intimidated by letters etc and I helped but would not of been able to do so were it not for this site (Thankyou - donation from reclaimed charges on it's way). She would of been able to help herself but the website was too 'fussy' as she put it. I know this can't be helped;at the end of the day this is a self help site. I think the home page could certainly do with an overhall as although still relevent it's a bit out of date and I also think it gets by passed alot. Also, there is some important info that is not always being looked at because it is being presented in a way that looks too intimidating to the uninitiated. I did a thread in the general forum recently called oft referal to the competition commission after reading a link from a sticky saying it was highly relevent with regard to bank charges. I would of liked a sticky put on it because it presented an intro into the report in a palatable form where people could share a joke at the same time. i did not keep bumping it (even though it has had alot of views) because it looks like you're up your own arse and needing the attention and that is not the case.You could argue that it's up to everyone to do their own research but we are not lawyers and in some cases, people will be more aware of things if presented in such a way and if it gets the job done. Hi T4FF ! Got to go and cook for the family now , catch up later SG x:)

As unfair and unjust as it may seem Bank charges have yet to be proven as being unlawful. It's the penalty charges in contracts which are unlawful (unenforceable). Without disclosure of liquidated costs by the Banks it has not yet been possible to prove the charges are penalties.of course we all know they are unfair etc etc but this in essence doesn't change the fact that unless we can get a case to fast track or higher court (and can actually get it heard!!) we have no precedent set in these cases. This is why the sods pay up before it even gets to court, the losses they incur in doing so are a fraction of the amount they would have to pay out were a case to succeed. Taking them to court for 'Theft' or whatever may mean using a sucessful case as detailed above as evidence (if this has not been proved in such a way there is not a case to answer). There are essentially many things they could be taken to court for but a lot of it would ride on a precedent being set regarding the above. Interesting thread - not been here before. SG x

Congrats ! SG X

Just confirmed that the default has not been put on account as one would be lead to believe by the way the letter was set out. Had a phone call from Inga Kirkman to make full and final settlement (will celebrate once the money is all mine!). After all my worry about telephone allocation etc there was nothing to worry about!! Had a letter this morning part detailing the settlement (and of course denying any liability) part of which says "We will now write to the court requesting that the telephone directions hearing be vacated" The hell they will!! I am about to ring them pointing out that it is not their position to do this; the case is not their's to steer! I will say that I will contact the court once the cheque has been honoured and until that time, as far as I am concerned the case is still active!! Any ho we shall see what happens and how long it takes for the lovely cheque to arrive SG x

Hiya Harry ! Found you at last -having a quick look in before work! Re: The PPI have you looked on the separate forum for it? May have some interesting pointers. As I understand it, this can be cancelled - you are not obliged to have it but I have don't beleive you can claim money back on it retrospectively unless you can prove you were knowingly misled and this can take some doing. Re:IMHO I don't think you'll get far trying to reclaim the service charges as these appear to be within limits with Studio and thus deemed fair (I can only go my own situation here of course as I don't know what you were charged exactly). The service charge is made up of interest (you may a bit less if you pay by direct debit) and a pro-rata charge upon purchases. Re: Admin charges - These at (in my case) £20 a time are the ones to go for as these are unfair and the law is on your side here. Regards, SG x

I have no experience of this paricular scenario so can't comment as such. But what I would say is DON'T WORRY!! The Judges in these cases are very knowledgeable and by the very nature of this type of court,they deal very sympathetically with the lay litigant. I would suggest that you ring the court (the staff are very helpful) and they will be able to point you in the write direction with regard to what you may need to take although they cannot tell you anything which involves issues of law. Do not get yourself in a state because there is really no need! I have spent endless sleepless nights which I can now say I need not of done because I have an offer in the pipeline and apart from these pre-court hearings these cases never go to court anyway. The problem is that until it actually happens to you,you live on nervous energy!! I hope this has, if nothing else, been of some support to you. Believe me, you will look back on this and laugh unlikely as it may seem to you now By the way, on this particular point, you may find it better to put a thread in the general forum as you may get a better response. SG XX

Good luck Nick Well luck doesn't come into it but you know what I mean ! SG XX