Argos Offer

[steven4064]

i have no experience of the FOS but plenty of court - I guess I'm not the peson to answer that question. Why don't you post here what you have so far for your POC an we'll comment.

[animal_lover]

I don't have anything apart from the origional poc.

 

I don't know where to start

[steven4064]

Try this

IN THE XXXXXCOUNTY COURT

 

 

 

BETWEEN

 

xxxxx

Claimant

 

and

 

BANK

 

Defendant

 

 

 

 

PARTICULARS OF CLAIM

 

 

1. The Claimant entered into an agreement (“The Agreement”) with the Defendant on or around date, whereby the Defendant was to advance credit facilities to the Claimant under a running credit account, Account no xxxxxxxx ("The Account").

 

2.The Agreement essentially consisted of the Defendant providing the Claimant with a credit card (“The Card”) which would allow the Claimant to make purchases and receive cash advances on credit. In return the Defendant was entitled to charge interest at the published rate.

 

3.The Agreement was a Regulated Agreement for the purposes of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

4.At all material times the contract was subject to the Defendant’s standard terms and conditions which could be varied from time to time.

 

Summary

 

5.Throughout the course of the Agreement, the Defendant has added numerous default charges to the Account for the Claimant’s breach of the Agreement by his failure to make the minimum payment on the due date and or for exceeding the credit limit and or if a payment was returned. (Full particulars are set out in the attached Schedule).

 

6.The default charges were applied in accordance with the standard terms of The Agreement which were:

a). A penalty payable on breach of contract and thus unenforceable: and

b) An unfair term under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (“The Regulations”) and therefore not binding on the Claimant.

 

 

7. The Claimant is accordingly entitled to repayment of the sums wrongly added to the Account plus interest levied thereon.

 

The Charges

 

8. The standard Terms of the Agreement in substance provided as follows:

 

(a) The Defendant would provide the Claimant with the Card. The Claimant was entitled to use the Card to make purchases and receive cash advances up to a credit limit (“the Limit”) set by the Defendant. The Defendant could unilaterally change the Limit by giving the Claimant notice in writing.

(b) The Defendant was entitled to charge interest on the purchases and cash advances at the published rate.

© The Claimant was to pay the minimum payment specified on the monthly statements of account by the due date as notified in the monthly statements.

(d) In addition the Defendant was entitled to charge default fees (“the Charges”) where the Claimant exceeded the Limit, did not pay on the due date or had a payment returned. The Charges are currently £12 for each transgression. Prior to 2006 the Charges were £15.

 

 

Contract Penalties

 

9. The Charges were payable on breach of contract by the Claimant.

 

10. The amount of the Charges exceeded any genuine pre-estimate of the damage which would have been suffered by the Defendant in relation to the Claimant’s transgressions.

 

11. In the premises the Charges were punitive and a penalty and thus unenforceable at common law.

 

The Regulations

 

12. At all material times the Claimant was a consumer within the Regulations.

 

13. At all material times the terms of the Agreement providing for the Charges were unfair within regulation 5 of the Regulations in that, contrary to the requirement of good faith, they caused a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to the detriment of the Claimant.

 

14. Without prejudice to the burden of proof, the Claimant will refer to the following matters in support of the contention that the terms are to be assessed as unfair as at the time of the conclusion of the Agreement, and of each revision to the Standard Terms.

 

(1) The terms relating to Charges were standard terms; they would not be individually negotiated.

(2) The Charges were a penalty for breach of contract.

(3) The Charges exceeded the costs which the Defendant could have expected to incur in dealing with the exceeding of the credit limit, late payment or returned payment.

(4) Accordingly the Charges were a disproportionate charge incurred by the Claimant for their failure to meet their contractual obligation and thus within the ambit of Schedule 2 (1) (e) of the Regulations and indicative of an unfair term.

(5) As the Defendant knew, the Charges were of subsidiary importance to the customer in the context of the Agreement as a whole and would not influence the making of the Agreement.

(6) As the Defendant knew, the Claimant had no means of assessing the fairness of the Charges.

(7) In the premises, the effect of the Charges would be prejudicial to the customer who incurred them, and cause an imbalance in the relations of the parties to the Agreement by subordinating the customer’s interests to those of the Defendant in a way which was inequitable.

 

 

15. Without prejudice to the burden of proof, the Claimant will contend that the terms imposing the Charges are not core terms under regulation 6 of the Regulations and relies on the following matters.

 

(1) The assessment of fairness does not relate to terms which define the main or core subject matter of the Agreement.

(2) The assessment of fairness does not relate to the adequacy of the price or remuneration as against the goods or services supplied in exchange (in other words, whether or not the relevant services were value for money).

(3) The Charges are correctly described as default charges by the Defendant in the key information provided to new customers.

 

 

16.By reason of the said matters the terms were not binding under regulation 8 of the Regulations.

 

17.The Defendant wrongly applied Charges to the Account totalling some £xxxx between date1 and date2 and interest levied thereon of £xxx. Particulars appear from the attached Schedule.

 

18. On date the Claimant demanded repayment of the sums wrongly applied.

 

19. The Defendant has not repaid them or any of them.

 

And the Claimant claims:

 

(1) Payment of the said sum of £xxxx and interest of £xxx applied by the Defendant thereon.

(2) Interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of payment of the Charge to date in the sum of £xxx, and at the daily rate of 0.022% until judgment or sooner payment.

(3) Court costs

I believe that the facts stated in these particulars are true.

 

Dated this xx Day of xxxxx 2008

 

Signed

 

name

 

From the Terms and conditions currently enforce.

 

4.5 You must stay within the Credit Limit and make sure that the Cash Advance Balance does not go over the Cash Credit Limit. If you do go over the Credit Limit we may charge an over limit fee to compensate us for the added costs of monitoring your Account and creditworthiness, even if we authorised the Transaction which made you go over the Credit Limit. When we decide whether to authorise a Transaction, we may take account of any Transactions which have already been made or authorised and any other amounts payable under this Agreement, even if they have not yet been added to the Account. You can tell us if you want a lower Credit Limit or if you do not want your Credit Limit to be increased. We may require a minimum Credit Limit

 

10.1 To compensate us for our additional costs if you break this Agreement, we will charge:

§a late fee of £12 each month you do not pay the minimum payment by the Payment Date;

§a returned cheque fee of £12 each time a cheque, direct debit or other item in respect of payment of sums due to us under this Agreement is returned unpaid by the relevant financial institution or an Account Cheque is returned unpaid by us;

§an over limit fee of £12 each month that the Account Balance is over the Credit Limit; and

§the amount of any other losses and reasonable costs which we incur as a result of your breach of this Agreement. These will include (but not be limited to) costs of tracing you, notifying you of the breach, communicating with you about the breach, and enforcing payment of any amount due under this Agreement.

THe bit in red i sfrom Goldfish T&Cs - you will need to find similar bits from the Argos card T&Cs. See what you can find and post here if you like.

You will also need a brif POC for the N1 form:

Repayment of charges unlawfully applied to the Claimant’s account by the Defendant for purported breaches of a contract plus interest levied thereon in contravention of the common law and the UTCCR1999.

The Claimant claims:

(1) Repayment of charges totalling £xxx and interest of £xx applied by the Defendant thereon.

(2) Interest of £xxxx under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 and at the daily rate of 0.022% until judgment or sooner payment.

(3) Court costs

[animal_lover]

I've found some t+c on the argos website, i don't have a copy myself so i'm not sure if it would of changed since i opened my account in July 2005.

 

When i opened the account it was a buy now pay in 6 months plan

 

Buy Now Pay Later Plan

 

Your APRTypical 27.9% APR (variable) for all Buy Now Pay Later Plans.Your Interest Free Period Buy Now Pay Later Plans (up to 12 months) offer specified periods to opt out of interest. Deferred interest will be payable if you do not pay the balance by the due date.Your Minimum Payment No repayments are necessary during the Buy Now Pay Later Plan period, except for any insurance premiums which are due on the balance. After that you pay 4% of the balance each month or £2 (whichever is the greater).Annual Fees £0. There is no annual fee for the card.Other Fees £0 if you pay on time. Fees are charged at a rate of £12 for Late Payment fee, Returned Cheque fee, Returned Direct Debit fee, Over Credit Limit fee, Collections Letter fee and a Tracing fee.A Typical Example Spend £195 on a 6 month Buy Now Pay Later Plan and you don't have to pay anything for up to 6 months (although you can begin earlier if you wish) then settle the balance by the due date. Total payable £195. Or choose to spread the cost for longer, and start paying the monthly minimum of 4% of the balance or £2, whichever is the greater. Your balance includes deferred interest from the purchase date. Credit is provided by Home Retail Group Card Services Ltd, Royal Avenue, Widnes, WA88 1AL.

 

This is all i can find.

 

Is that all i need to change, as it's a store card i don't get cash advances does it need to be removed

[steven4064]

THat will do. Put it in but highlight as follows:

Buy Now Pay Later Plan

 

Your APRTypical 27.9% APR (variable) for all Buy Now Pay Later Plans.Your Interest Free Period Buy Now Pay Later Plans (up to 12 months) offer specified periods to opt out of interest. Deferred interest will be payable if you do not pay the balance by the due date.Your Minimum Payment No repayments are necessary during the Buy Now Pay Later Plan period, except for any insurance premiums which are due on the balance. After that you pay 4% of the balance each month or £2 (whichever is the greater).Annual Fees £0. There is no annual fee for the card.Other Fees £0 if you pay on time. Fees are charged at a rate of £12 for Late Payment fee, Returned Cheque fee, Returned Direct Debit fee, Over Credit Limit fee, Collections Letter fee and a Tracing fee.A Typical Example Spend £195 on a 6 month Buy Now Pay Later Plan and you don't have to pay anything for up to 6 months (although you can begin earlier if you wish) then settle the balance by the due date. Total payable £195. Or choose to spread the cost for longer, and start paying the monthly minimum of 4% of the balance or £2, whichever is the greater. Your balance includes deferred interest from the purchase date. Credit is provided by Home Retail Group Card Services Ltd, Royal Avenue, Widnes, WA88 1AL.

Yes, remove the bit about cash advances.

[animal_lover]

Where do i need to put it, I'll do the POC now and then i'll post it just to make sure it's right before i put it into the N1 form

 

Thanks for your help

[steven4064]

It replaces the bit in red, which relates to Goldfish

[animal_lover]

Claim No [ ]

 

IN THE [ENTER YOUR LOCAL] COUNTY COURT

 

 

BETWEEN

 

 

 

 

Animal_Lover

 

 

Claimant

 

 

and

 

 

Argos Card Services

 

 

Defendant

 

 

 

 

 

PARTICULARS OF CLAIM

 

 

 

 

1.The Claimant entered into an agreement (“The Agreement”) with the Defendant on or around xx/xx/xxxx, whereby the Defendant was to advance credit facilities to the Claimant under a running credit account, Account no xxxxxxxxxx (“The Account”).

 

2. “The Agreement” essentially consisted of the Defendant providing the Claimant with a store card (“The Card”) which would allow the Claimant to make purchases on credit. In return the Defendant was entitled to charge interest at the published rate.

 

3. The Agreement was a Regulated Agreement for the purposes of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

4. At all material times the contract was subject to the Defendant’s standard terms and conditions which could be varied from time to time.

 

 

Summary

 

5. Throughout the course of the Agreement, the Defendant has added numerous default charges to the Account for the Claimant’s failure to make the minimum payment on the due date and or for exceeding the credit limit and or if a payment is returned. (Full particulars are set out in schedule 2).

 

6. The default charges were applied in accordance with the standard terms of The Agreement which were:

 

a). A penalty payable on breach of contract and thus unenforceable: and or

 

b) An unfair term under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (“The Regulations”) and therefore not binding on the Claimant.

 

 

7. The Claimant is accordingly entitled to repayment of the sums wrongly added to the Account.

 

The Charges

 

 

8. The standard Terms of the Agreement in substance provided as follows:

 

(a) The Defendant would provide the Claimant with the Card. The Claimant was entitled to use the Card to make purchases up to a credit limit (“the Limit”) set by the Defendant. The Defendant could unilaterally change the Limit by giving the Claimant notice in writing.

 

(b) The Defendant was entitled to charge interest on purchases at the published rate.

 

© The Claimant was to pay the minimum payment of 3% of the amount owed or £5 (whichever was the greatest) by the due date as notified in the monthly statements.

 

(d) In addition the Defendant was entitled to charge default fees (“the Charges”) where the Claimant exceeded the Limit, did not pay on the due date, had a credit cheque returned or had a payment returned. The Charges are currently £12. Prior to 2006 the Charges were £xx.

 

Penalty

 

9. The Charges were payable on breach of contract by the Claimant.

 

10. The amount of the Charges exceeded any genuine pre-estimate of the damage which would have been suffered by the Bank in relation to the Claimant’s transgressions.

 

11. In the premises the Charges were punitive and a penalty and thus unenforceable at common law.

 

The Regulations

 

 

12. At all material times the Claimant was a consumer within the Regulations.

 

13. At all material times the terms of the Agreement providing for the Charges were unfair within regulation 5 of the Regulations in that contrary to the requirement of good faith they caused a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to the detriment of the Claimant.

 

14. Without prejudice to the burden of proof, the Claimant will refer to the following matters in support of the contention that the terms are to be assessed as unfair as at the time of the conclusion of the Agreement, and of each revision to the Standard Terms.

 

(1)The terms relating to Charges were standard terms; they would not be individually negotiated.

 

(2)The Charges were a penalty for breach of contract.

 

(3)The Charges exceeded the costs which the Bank could have expected to incur in dealing with the exceeding of the credit limit, late payment or returned payment.

 

(4) Accordingly the Charges were a disproportionate charge incurred by the Claimant for their failure to meet their contractual obligation and thus within the ambit of Schedule 2 (1) (e) of the Regulations and indicative of an unfair term.

 

(5) As the Defendant knew, the Charges were of subsidiary importance to the customer in the context of the Agreement as a whole and would not influence the making of the Agreement.

 

(6) As the Defendant knew, the Claimant had no means of assessing the fairness of the Charges.

 

(7) In the premises, the effect of the Charges would be prejudicial to the customer who incurred them, and cause an imbalance in the relations of the parties to the Agreement by subordinating the customer’s interests to those of the Defendant in a way which was inequitable.

 

15. Without prejudice to the burden of proof, the Claimant will contend that the terms imposing the Charges are not core terms under regulation 6 of the Regulations and relies on the following matters.

 

(1) The assessment of fairness does not relate to terms which define the main or core subject matter of the Agreement.

 

(2) The assessment of fairness does not relate to the adequacy of the price or remuneration as against the goods or services supplied in exchange (in other words, whether or not the relevant services were value for money).

 

(3) The Charges are correctly described as default charges by the Defendant in the published tariff of charges.

 

16. By reason of the said matters the terms were not binding under regulation 8 of the Regulations.

 

17. The Defendant wrongly applied Charges to the Account totalling some £[xxxx] between [ xx/xx/xxxx] and [xx/xx/xxxx ]. Particulars appear from Schedule 2.

 

18. On [ date of your preliminary letter ] the Claimant demanded repayment of the sums wrongly applied.

 

19. The Defendant has not repaid them or any of them.

And the Claimant claims:

 

(1) A declaration that the sums totalling £[ xxxx.xx] have wrongly been applied to the Account

 

(2) Payment of the said sum of £[xxxx.xx ] and interest of [£xx.xx] applied by the Defendant thereon.

 

(3) Interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of payment of the Charge to date in the sum of £[xxx.xx ], and at the daily rate of [ xx ] until judgment or sooner payment. (4) Court costs of [ xxxx].

 

I believe that the facts stated in these particulars, comprising of x pages, are true.

 

 

Signed

 

 

Dated

 

 

 

 

Schedule 1

 

 

From the Terms and conditions currently enforce.

Your APR Typical 27.9% APR (variable) for all Buy Now Pay Later Plans. Your Interest Free Period Buy Now Pay Later Plans (up to 12 months) offer specified periods to opt out of interest. Deferred interest will be payable if you do not pay the balance by the due date. Your Minimum Payment No repayments are necessary during the Buy Now Pay Later Plan period, except for any insurance premiums which are due on the balance. After that you pay 4% of the balance each month or £2 (whichever is the greater).Annual Fees £0. There is no annual fee for the card. Other Fees £0 if you pay on time. Fees are charged at a rate of £12 for Late Payment fee, Returned Cheque fee, Returned Direct Debit fee, Over Credit Limit fee, Collections Letter fee and a Tracing fee. A Typical Example Spend £195 on a 6 month Buy Now Pay Later Plan and you don't have to pay anything for up to 6 months (although you can begin earlier if you wish) then settle the balance by the due date. Total payable £195. Or choose to spread the cost for longer, and start paying the monthly minimum of 4% of the balance or £2, whichever is the greater. Your balance includes deferred interest from the purchase date. Credit is provided by Home Retail Group Card Services Ltd, Royal Avenue, Widnes, WA88 1AL.

 

 

Schedule 2

 

 

 

 

Attach your schedule of charges and head it schedule 2 be sure to include the date that charge was applied to the account, the date you paid the charge, the type of charge eg over limit, late payment etc __________________

 

 

Is this right

Edited June 10, 2008 by animal_lover

[animal_lover]

is this ok to send

[steven4064]

Yes, don't forget the schadule of charges.

 

Try and get a copy of the 'proper' T&Cs off them next - just in case you need them (which I doubt you will). Write to customer services and ask for a copy.

[animal_lover]

ok will do.

 

For the charges do i need to put what there for as it doesn't say what there for on the charges they sent

[steven4064]

If it doesn't say, then you can't put what they are for - it is up to tem to defend them

[animal_lover]

ok, i'll post it off tomorrow then

 

Thank you

[midge61]

hi

 

I have just found out that the claim I filed has been lost so can I pinch yours for my second try as the first ones were wrong anyway?

 

Thanks

[animal_lover]

yep no probs