Cheers for the support Gaz, much appreciated as was the advice from Caro & Bank Fodder. Have got my letter into the Court seekign further stay pending amendment, so just have to wait and see. Also worth saying, as sure we all appreciate but sometimes forget, that the site is run for free but comes at a cost of a great deal of time and effort by those giving their advice...so we must really try and provide info in the form that is best for them.....apologies to the aforementioned on this point, and I shall try and get my stuff together in better order once I know about the stay. Thanks again all

Good to chat to you this morning Caroline, and thanks for the help. I have spent the last couple of hours trying to find that link we discussed...and finally 2004 Half Year Financial Results - Analyst Briefing Transcript - The National Australia Bank Group - NABGroup Edited: Richard MacKinnon "Secondly, a fall in penalty fees as a result of increased charges and changed customer behaviour. And finally, as we have concentrated on higher quality customers, particularly in business lending, our share of the higher risk segments, which have both higher margins and higher fees, has fallen." Edited:John Stewart: "Now we haven't achieved this by good management, or by luck. We've achieved it by charging the customers more. We've achieved it by having high margins, and you can see where our margins are up there, again compared to the average. The same thing pretty well goes for costs. If you add that to a number of investments, you've got a situation where you do that for a few years, and it becomes unsustainable. What then happens is that you start to suffer from customer attrition and your growth falls." Also been in touch with Bury CC and they advise that whilst many cases are coming to the end of their stays. VERY FEW claimants are continuing with them. It seems that at present they only have two people seeking to carry on. Sadly I imagine that this picture will be repeating itself nationwide:( They also advised that if I am planning on amending my claim, that I simply need to advise them of this and they will place this before the judge who should grant me further time to do this.

Greetings all,...and a belated Happy New Year, Hoping for a qucik reply from someone on this...as my latest stay ends on 31st of Jan, with my claim being struck out unless I request otherwise. I have noted that Caro is very kindly accepting emails with POC's, with a view to amending claims, and will be doing this in the next day or so. Prior to this though, and in the hope that I can get myself some more time. I wondered if anyone could advise as to the best wording to the court requesting either a listing (with amended POC's) or a further stay whilst I amend? Many thanks all R

MANY MANY THANKS to Varda and all those who have advised in this thread. Was great to see as this mirrors my situation almost perfectly. I thought the "cover" was something of a savings plan and had no idea that the interest from that would accrue for the whole loan period. I only found this out (having taken the loan out in 2006) when i came to sort out my mortgage again in July. I en found that it is a complete pain if you want to make a lump sum payment off a loan with 1st+. Seems they will only cut the length of loan rather than amount outstanding. I shall be firing off my SAR to them this week. Cheers guys (& gals) and keep at 'em

A real case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing. Found last week that a couple of DD's had not been paid then I got a letter from YB advising that i was beyond my "agreed borrowing limit", and demanding immediate payment of £400! They also ordered return of all chq books and cutting up or cards...along with threatening to close the account unless I paid up!!!! A quick call to the bank to check the letter confirmed that they had without "my agreement" reduced my limit by £700 so causing some £200 in "penalties". Pointing out to them that my account was in dispute and subject to legal action seemed to confuse them as did my refusal to pay the £400 requested. The YB lady got even more confused when I advised her that I would be contacting the FSA and the Ombudsman within the next 2 hrs unless I had the money refunded. Lo and behold a call back from my branch who claimed to be completely unaware that the account was in dispute. I advised that I would expect the funds repaid or be lodging a complaint. I also pointed out that the judge in my soon to be reveiwed stayed case may find this an interesting tactic by YB. The funds were all repaid with an apology. Just makes me so glad i have been in this site to get the knowledge and support to question what YB are doing. MANY THANKS FELLOW CAGGERS

Too late.... owner.......OCCUPIER

doctor

Don't know if I am being thick here...which is probably the case!....but wondered why we are still referring so often to "charges" when our arguement was that they were in fact "penalties"! Certainly, with Yorkshire Bank (NAG) claims, the comments of their CEO can be cited to show this. Also important as has been referred to, is the fact that credit card cases have still gone through the courts even with the £12.50 max charge being known. So, even with the verdict and the possibility of stays being lifted pending any possible appeal, I reckon we should all be able to go for the all amounts taken to be refunded. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that teh county courts see sense.

First stay expired on 15th March with me contacting court by fax and requesting the matter be re-listed. This simply so that it could not be struck out for failing to act. Like many others I am sure, the matter has been stayed once again, this time to 30th September 2008. So much for a fair hearing. Still, let's all think of that interest building up ;-)

Yes, Hils, disappointng for so many that had put the time and effort in only to be thwarted by the banks and OFT working behind our backs. I had my initial court date scheduled for the day before the announcement but asked for a delay due to outstanding commitments. I pointed out the the Judge that it was unfair on all those claimants still in the system that we had not been advised of the negotiations, but he simply brushed it off. I think that if the judgement goes against the banks then only after a year or so from the initial stays will the "Right to a fair and speedy hearing" come into play. Well LET'S ALL HOPE SO!!!!

Let us all hope that she has not been able to reply as she is off on a week long celebration!

HI there, best of luck on the 12th and will be interesting to see how the judge views what will be the undoubted request for a further stay from YB. I am about to get round to making contact with my local court as my stay is up on 11/3 and so will be waiting with baited breath. Abit late now for you, but wondered whether prior to any second hearing, it would be worth makign another attempt at getting the judge to set draft directions regarding disclosure of costs? Did you submit anythign different from the first court date? Best of luck again

Many thanks Michael, Much appreciated. I got a little concerned that I may have left things a little too late as I should have got my additional charges in before the test case started. I shall like you no doubt, be watching the news with great interest on Wednesday.

A belated Happy New Year to one and all, Just a couple of Q's hopefully that those more enlightened may be able to assist with. I am looking to add the latest charges on my account to those previously submitted in my claim/court bundle and wondered.... ...Do I have to notify YB prior to amending the amount of the claim? ...Give YB further time to respond? ...Pay additional costs to amend amount claimed? .....and is it worth me simply waiting until shortly before the stay on my case expiring (13/3/08) before amending claim and seeking removal of the stay at the same time? Many thanks in advance.

Gotta say Motor, that seems an absolute disgrace. As Caro says, no bundle, nobody in court and not even a letter to court requestign a stay.....as you say the judges just dont want to seem to put themselves out. I bet he just didnt want to have to spend the extra time reading your bundle. Wouldnt mind betting it was a sunny day and he already had his tee off time booked.

Hi Motormouth, See my thread for what happened to me in Bury this week. I was in the same boat with Yb failing to provide me with the bundle. Yet despite this the simple fact that they had informed both me and the court that they would be requestign a stay, in the view of the judge, meant they didnt need to bother! Of course this is nothing like the matter being pre judged is it!!!!!!!!! I read in another thread that it is worth stressing in court, when asked by the judge why the matter should not be stayed.......that the OFT test case does not really have a bearing on your matter, as the test case only questions the level of charges and does not deal with the matter of penalty charges being unlawful....which is of course what the 2004 quarterly meeting tells us they are. Best of luck, and hope you dont have a wasted day. Another bit of info I got from my day in court was that if you want to request the judge to stop the bank placing any more "charges" on your account until the outcome of the test case...you will need to make a formal application. I cited Nadine Fay v Barclays before Judge Abrahams sitting at Luton CC....still with no success. Go for it Motormouth

Gutted, hacked off....and many other words, but all boiling down to one word...STAYED:mad: Pitched up at Bury CC on Tuesday and found myself in the company of 3 other CAG'rs fighting various banks. All listed for 2hrs hearing with Judge Haigh. All sols for banks turn up and speak to each of us advising that they will all be seeking stays.1st case goes in and I am gettign hopeful as he is in there for over half and hour????....and all for a stay? Alas, after 40mins he comes out and utters soem fine words to the HSBC sol, "I don't know how you sleep at night". Would have been funny save for the fact i knew what that meant. Eventually get my turn and find that the Judge is basically only looking to consider real hardship cases. He was fully aware of the "standard" letters from CAG and other sites (that I had submitted when YB had first stated they were minded to go for a stay) but wanted to know how my case differed. I didn't see the point in going through the whole letter, albeit with personal ammendments, and so just pointed out that YB had failed to comply with the order to submit their bundle. Well, the response from the Judge, even amazed cynical old me.....he said that as they had stated that they were going to request a stay, the didnt really need to go to the expense and hassle of providing a bundle!...I knew there and then that I really shouldn't have bothered turning up. So then, even though, the Human Rights angles aren't accepted they go and stick a 12months stay on the case...which seems a little odd as he had stated that it was the courts view that the test case should be over by Feb. Well, I suppose I shall just have to fill my time now with hasslign the bank for my statements since 1993:p Best of luck all, and should you be heading to Bury CC make sure you have a really different arguement planned.

...and aren't YB so so considerate in advising me today that they will indeed be requesting a stay in court on Tuesday:mad: You would have at least thought that they could have done so abit in advance so that i could have avoided booking the day off work, but no, we all know that this is the way they work and the way they will continue to work unless one judge decides to call their bluff and take a stand against their time wasting. Lets just hope I can do a decent job and catch the judge on a good day. ...and that the judge isn't impressed by their failure to provide us with their bundle. Have a good weekend all

Hello one and all, Not sure if I should be excited or worried about the upcoming court date (11/9) in Bury. Just wondered if anyone else had an upcoming date there, or had recently been dealt with there? Is Bury simply caving in to the Banks' request for stays?...or are tyhey still considerign cases on their merits? My own court bundle in as ordered, yet completely as expected no such item forthcoming from YB. So I guess they are going to simply turn up on the day and go for the stay. Well we can but hope. Any basic advice on presentation from any succesful claimants gratefully received.....if of course it gets that far! Sure I read somewhere about judge asking if claimant was aware that he was breaching his limit, and his answer counting against him. Anyway, keep at it one and all. Cheers

Many thanks Caro, a star as always:D

Hi all, well a busy weekend approaches with me slaving over a hot computer getting my bundle sorted. Good job I will be at work over the weekend to allow me to avail of the facilities! Anyway, just hoped that should Caro drop by, that she could drop me a line with any up to date stuff about CYNthesys, or advice on the compilation of stuff, and indeed all latest matters. Lets just hope that YB and Bury CC dont go for the stay in between now and 11/9. All good so far. ...and finally....when including the SOC, do you use the one submitted at the time claim was lodged with details of daily accrual of interest, or submit up to date (i.e. 14 days before hearing). Many thanks one and all.

Sorry to hear about that Hilary. Look at it as even more reason to keep fighting YB, the fact that they spoilt your birthday! The thing I found interesting about the unifomr letters YB sent out was the dating and time of delivery. Mibne was dated 31st July, yet I didnt receive it until 7th August. I have sent off my objections to any request for a stay, but have not heard anything fromt the courts (Bury), so do not know if they have already submitted their request. I wouldnt be surprised if they had delayed the posting to fit with their mass request for stays:evil: Fight on Hilary

Thanks Caro, I should have also said in my last post a big thanks to AlanfromDerby & GaryH for their work on the docs relating to objections to stays. Great work and very much appreciated.8-)

Well, like many others I have received the mass letter from Clydesdale stating that they are about to request a stay. Lets just hope as others have siad, that the courts stand up against this and see that the banks are trying to save themselves more money. So its back to letter writing and getting one off to the court objecting to any application by YB. The YB sols must be rubbing their hands with glee at causing all claimants yet more grief and anxiety by throwing this spanner in the works. Anyway, on another matter.....can anyone offer some advice. I have recently received all my statements for my YB Visa. After threatening YB with action for failing to comply with the SAR. Using the number for the AQU I contacted them and was advised that they would, on request, refund all penalties above the £12 agreed with OFT. Just wondered whether this is standard, or whether it is worth trying to claim the full amount taken prior to the agreement of the £12? Good luck all and keep going despite the extra grief.

With all this OFT stuff going on, how annoyed am I that I sought an adjournment on 24/07:( :( I appreciate that the judges have it within their power to continue with any cases that are already in the system, and wondered whether any of the wonderful and more legal minded amongst our community, may have some ideas on drafts letters to the courts insisting/requesting the case continuing???? It almost seems to me that the constant delaying tactics of the banks have are being rewarded, and this delay just allows them to keep our money...and keep claiming penalty charges!!!! for the next couple of years. Lets just hope Courts around the country see fit to try and clear their books of those already with dates. Otherwise it would be galling for all claimants to have put in the work and submitted court bundles, not to see the light of day for the next year or so. Best of luck all.