Hudu V Lloyds (Getting Money Back)

[hudu]

To update...

 

The court never replied to the letters. I called them twice and all I got was a court officer/receptionist repeating over and over that 'All cases are stayed' - Yes, but Lloyds were in contempt BEFORE the stays were effected!!!

 

To now...I have just posted this in General Banter, but thought it best added in here as the battle begins again in earnest.

 

This may be a long post, but I shall try to paraphrase as much as possible whilst outlining my case.

 

Along with thousands of others 2 years ago I began reclaiming my bank charges. From one bad period in my life and the bank adding charge after charge, month after month I fell heavily into bank debt. To the tune of over £5000 in charges.

 

I went all the way and was at the stage that Lloyds had to provide their defence to the court within 28 days. On the 29th day - the blanket court stays came into effect.

 

I wrote to the courts detailing this - no response.

 

I called the courts twice and could not get past the court admin or whoever simply repeating that 'ALL cases are stayed'

 

Work and life took over, and I figured as i was in the system, then soon there would be an outcome. This battle had taken over my life for the best part of that year. I am to this day sure that the bank were in contempt of court. But if the court ignores me, what could I do without legal help?

 

Anyway. I had work to do, self-emp and trying to start a business.

 

I had opened a new account with another bank. I moved everything out of lloyds account and asked to close it. They would not let me close it as the account was (and still is) with their collections dept. This is due to my loan repayments that both I and my ex-partner had with lloyds. So I had to keep the dormant account. Thing is, it was a select account, so there was a 7.95 per month fee, which kept my car in the AA so each month i would transfer 7.95.

 

...until I ran into more difficulties. last month it was not paid in until a couple of weeks late. Meaning the account went overdrawn by the huge sum of £4. I called them and asked if I could downgrade my account and get the amount written off. They told me i could not do this by phone and would have to go to my branch. My branch is 75 miles away after a house move. So i explained i would not be able to get there straight away, and not to add any more charges.

 

I made it to the branch last week. I got my account downgraded, and they took off one of the charges (£75!!), but was told i could not get the other one removed as it was now with collections. So I called collections. They said I would have to go to my branch. I tried to get an appointment with my branch manager yesterday, but none were available. The lady on the phone just said to pop into branch near me.

 

So...I did.

 

To be told there that there was a further £72 charge to be added for this month. And there was absolutely no way they would remove it. The manager even said it was ridiculous and unfair himself, but there was nothing he could do.

 

So my new partner had to march out, take £150 out of the hole in the wall, and pay it up - lest more charges were put on in 2 weeks.

 

So.

 

I have no income at the moment...work is hard to come by. I am living off my partners goodwill and credit cards. I tick all the boxes for a hardship case, especially since the main things that are bouncing and being charged for are Lloyds loan and lloyds charges. There is no activity in my accounts which i can prove and little work. And I am still sure that if my case was looked at by the court then lloyds were already in contempt PRIOR to the stays. i have all my documentation and my full papers are still with the court.

 

Can anyone advise me? Where to next? are there templates for hardship letters? Should i take these new charges as part of the evidence against the bank or start a new reclaim for these vicious to be charges repaid?

 

Since posting that a couple of hours ago I have been on the phone.

 

The bank manager I spoke to yesterday said my best hope now was to call The Customer Support Unit, he gave me the number. Once I had rang it and gone through the button options - I ended up back on the general advice line - i was told anything related to charges will redirect to them

 

So i get a poor girl who tried to help. I went through it all - AGAIN. She tried calling CSU for me but they refused to speak, saying I had to speak to collections. Collections told her they would not speak to me and I should write to them. They gave me the Andover address where I sent my first claim 2 years ago at the start of this thread. :twisted:

 

I asked her to put a note on the account saying that no-one else would speak to me regarding this matter. I doubt she did.

 

So...

 

1. Lloyds lines - dead end

2. lloyds face to face bank managers - dead end

3. Court - dead end

4. Financial Ombudsman - (just looked at their site, no further cases until legal matters adressed) - Dead End.

 

Seems hardship is only way forward.

 

Does anyone think that getting legal help on this would be worthwhile? God knows how like, as i assume it will cost me But in light of the legal aspects and the stays being affected after breach by lloyds, could that angle be used?

 

Feel like i'm being beaten up here.

[GuidoT]

Welcome back.

 

Getting anywhere with hardship will very difficult.

 

Have a look here.

 

I am going to look around at the latest position on hardship for you.

[GuidoT]

This may help too.

[hudu]

This may help too.

 

Hi Guido, chuffed to know you are still here, hope you are well.

 

This one has loads of info. in it, thankyou. I'm going to give it a try - nothing to lose but more sanity and time...hope I can make some time

 

I'll be sure to keep this thread up to date.

 

Any thoughts on the legality thing? That they still breached the court order prior to the stays.

[GuidoT]

The only way around the blanket stay, is the uphill route via hardship.

 

You could mention the legality thing as part of your hardship claim, but I would not run it in isolation.

[yourbank]

The only way around the blanket stay, is the uphill route via hardship.

 

You could mention the legality thing as part of your hardship claim, but I would not run it in isolation.

LloydsTSB are notoriously the worst of all the financial institutions with regards to hardship. Where most banks make an offer to alleviate hardship, lloyds seem to make it worse in spite of all the evidence and the fact that the waiver clearly states reasons why a claimant is exempt from the waiver.

Definitely follow the advice given and target the letter accordingly, for example, "I am in hardship because of x y and z.

 

"2.

In making an assessment of financial difficulty the firm will take into account:

a.

evidence of changes in lifestyle, including loss of employment; disability; serious illness; imprisonment; relationship breakdown; death of a partner; starting a lower paid job; parental/carer leave; and starting full-time education;

b.

evidence of the following events:

i.

items repeatedly being returned unpaid due to lack of available funds;

ii.

failing to make loan repayments or other commitments;

iii.

discontinuation of regular credits;

iv.

notification of some form of insolvency or court proceedings;

v.

regular requests for increased borrowing or repeated rescheduling of debts;

vi.

making frequent cash withdrawals on a credit card at a non-promotional rate of interest; and

vii.

repeatedly exceeding a credit card or overdraft limit without agreement (and, in this regard, where a complainant has incurred over £500 in unauthorised overdraft charges in the previous 12 months, that is to be treated as indicative of financial difficulty)."

The above is the criteria for hardship. I don't know if you are looking at Statute of Limitations s.32 but if not you can go back to 27th July 2001 for all charges.

[hudu]

So now I'm left an extra 550 quid out of pocket in court fees - hundreds of hours of work bringing this.

 

The Courts sat back and ignored the letters I sent explaining that Lloyds had already been in contempt of their previous ruling for delivery of defence, and I have to pay them for nothing at all.

 

Would anyone like to help me take this as a test case?

[hudu]

To: District Judge [name], [court] County Court.

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I refer to my claim number Claim No. ********

for the refund of bank charges dated [date issued], which was stayed on 10 August 2007

I understand that the Judicial Press Office has advised Claimants to write and request a lifting of their stayed claim.

 

As my claim for Bank Charges is brought under Regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, and is therefore not affected bt the recent Supreme Court Judgement, in fact the Supreme Court has indicated that a challenge to "fairness" of my Banking Contract under Regulation 5 may be an appropriate route to take.

 

Furthermore, in reference to my letters to the court dated 12th August 2007

And 19th September 2007 respectively (copies enclosed) to which I received no response from yourselves I pointed to the fact that the defendant was in contempt of court instructions by not presenting a response by the date instructed. This was one day prior to the blanket stay being effected. Further telephone calls to the court office met with being told they would no longer discuss individual cases until the stays were lifted.

 

I therefore request that the stay be lifted, that any necessary directions be given, and that a date be listed for a hearing of my claim.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

 

Any comments gratefully recieved....

[hudu]

bump?