HARDSHIP - In court with Abbey on Thursday, any advice please . .

[kevandmary]

Hi, this is our first post on the forum; found it by chance while googling UNFAIR BANK CHARGES - HARDSHIP CASES.

We are in court on Thursday 25th Sept with Abbey and would welcome any help and advice as to what the day might bring ! !

In return, we shall post full details of the outcome to perhaps help others.

Our case with Abbey begins in Feb 07 when we wrote to them asking for the last 6 years statements.

Despite sending a £10 fee as requested, no statements arrived, and in June 07 we made 'an application to grant an order for documents to be disclosed' via Bromley County Court.

We were given a court date, but surprise, the statements arrived a couple of days prior to this.

We used the statements to calculate a claim of a little over £2,000 including interest, and filed a claim with Abbey giving them the usual 14 days.

No reply whatsoever, several more letters sent, we finally filed a claim with Bromley County Court in early August 07.

The court gave Abbey 28 days to respond, in which time they informed the court that they were requesting stay pending the outcome of the test case.

We were then 'in the system' and like many others, awaiting the High Court verdict.

Our story further complicates, as in September 08 we went off to work in Tenerife in the travel business.

We hade a U.K. c/o address for any Abbey/court letters.

In May 08, we heared that some cases were being heared early if one could prove financial hardship.

We wrote to the court requesting the stay be lifted, on account of now wishing to return to U.K. and needing the money for flights home and accomodation on return.

Much to our surprise, we received a reply from the court in June, giving a Notice of Hearing on 25th September 08.

Further to previous threads, it would appear it is not necessary to be in receipt of benefits to claim hardship.

We have written and e-mailed Abbey half a dozen times since July asking for an out of court settlement prior to the hearing, and have received no reply.

I understand it is common for banks to pay around 75% of the claim into your account a day or so prior to the hearing so as not to attend and set a precedent - i beleive it is true that no bank has yet gonne to court to contest a claim ?

So, less than 3 days to go, no word and no money . . . . .

Has anyone been in this situation and can give any advise as to what Abbey might do next ?

We are quietly hoping for a payment tomorow or Wednesday, but then again, do Abbey know something we dont ?

Any help much appreciated, and in return, a full update to be posted on conclusion.

Many thanks,J and K

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Sorry I don't have an answer so my reply is to BUMP your thread in the hope that someone can advise.

Andy

[alex_the_lad]

Hi! I'm not an expert in this area but I found the followng thread which might be worth reading through:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-cahoot-successes/113839-my-stays-been-lifted.html?highlight=abbey+solicitor

 

Also it may be worth giving Abbey a call just to say that you're due in court tomorrow and give them one last chance to settle. I believe that a good contact for hardship claims is Ronan Coyle - his contact details are:

 

Tel 020 775 64398

Fax 020 775 65627

Edited September 24, 2008 by alex_the_lad

[caro]

Is this hearing to hear your charges claim, or simply to decide whether or not to lift the stay? I suspect the latter.

 

I realise this is late in the day for you to do much now, but take a look at these links which may help give you some ideas for things to mention in court.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/115023-application-removal-stay-grounds.html#post1142776

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/154154-hardship-stayed-claims.html

 

If you have time for nothing else, try and complete the hardship spreadsheet showing your income and expenditure, and any debts or arrears you may have.

 

Oh, and if Abbey DO want to settle in advance, hold out 100% of your charges, court costs, and interest up to the date of settlement.

 

Try and get an order not to add further charges too.

[feater]

How did it go then? I'm hoping to push Abbey into paying under harship rules too.

[kevandmary]

Many thanks to those who replied ; and as one poster suspected, the hearing was in fact to lift the stay, not to hear the case.

Update is as follows :

I telephoned Abbey the day before the hearing to make one last attempt at an out of court settlement, and was told the following over the phone -

'We have sent you two letters requesting further information regarding your circumstances; as you have not replied, you have put us in a very difficult situation and we now have to send a barister to attend in court'.

We had in fact never received any letters from the Abbey.

We attended court, their barister was in fact a very nice guy, as was the circuit judge, and the hearing was put on hold for a further 2 months to enable us to send the requested forms to Abbey.

The judge said he had no choice but to do it this way, as if he was to actualy hear the case, that we would all be on News at Ten !

The general 'read between the lines' was that the Abbey would settle out of court prior to the new court date, as no bank has yet attended an actual hearing.

We sent the requested forms by recorded delivery the next day, and now sit once again and wait. . . .

For the benefit of anyone going down this route, it would appear that any request to lift a stay is, in the first instance, always contested by Abbey, it is very much down to you to prove hardship to both Abbey and the court, and the only fast track answer seems to be an ongoing claim for Jobseekers Alowance, Income Support, or similar maximum benifit.

I would love to hear from anyone who has had a claim settled out of court under Hardship; meanwhile, i will of course keep you all posted.

[TUTTSI]

"For the benefit of anyone going down this route, it would appear that any request to lift a stay is, in the first instance, always contested by Abbey, it is very much down to you to prove hardship to both Abbey and the court, and the only fast track answer seems to be an ongoing claim for Jobseekers Alowance, Income Support, or similar maximum benifit".

This is very true it is up to each individual to make Abbey aware of there own financial hardship circumstances.

You should complete an income and expenses schedule, include with your letter as much evidences as possible under the FSA hardship waiver rules, and also send an upto date spready of your charges claim. Include your court case number as well as your Abbey account no. I sent mine to Ronan Colye- his phone number and address is on my thread. My claim was dealt with withing 4 weeks and I received 65% of my stayed claim.

Mine was granted on the basis of suspended possession order and numerous debts due to my O/H being ill last year and debts were mounting. Our income and expenditure was also in the negative.

 

Tuttsi