MarkyT vs Cahoot

[MarkyT]

A second copy of the schedule has gone of yesterday. Interestingly enought cahoot called me yesterday to explain that I had gone 10 pound over my overdraft and demanded I bring my account up to date - they have not bothered to do this in well over a year.

Interesting what a little court action can bring.

[MarkyT]

Quick question folks. On my schedule of charges, I have the dates from and the dates to as being the dates of the 1st and last charge that I am claiming.

The 8% interest has now been included upto the date I entered the claim to the court which is about 2 months after the last claim.

So do the dates at the top of my schedule stay as they are or should they now be the date of the 1st charge to the date I entered the claim?

[121o121]

Hi Marky

 

Leave them as they are. Otherwise you'll be constantly updating them everytime somehting changes.

[MarkyT]

Cool thanks for the heads up.

I recieved an offer from Abbey on Saturday for £1257.12 along with a copy of their defence. Exactly half of what I'm claiming.

 

Time for a rejection of settlement letter methinks.

[MarkyT]

Recieved my Allocation questionaire this morning.

The letter states that the questionaire must be returned by 10th April 2007 including the court fee of £100 as my claim is over £1500.

I thought I already paid this at the MCOL stage.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

[MarkyT]

AQ ready to send tomorrow - I work 2mins walk from the court so I might just drop it in.

I got another letter from Abbey yesterday saying "Well its now been 8 weeks since you asked for your money back and we have pretty much ignored you for that time. We now give you our permission to report us to the Ombudsman. Ta Ta!"

What a cheek.

I have draughted another letter which I may or may not send tomorrow basically referring them to the court case which they should really know about as I am now in the process of suing them.

[jellybabe]

sorry noone replied to your post #30.

At MCOL stage you pay for filing the claim. The AQ costs extra if it's over £1500. When they finally pay up, they have to pay you both amounts back. So, you are not really losing anything in the end. Hope that clears things up if you haven't found the answer already.

jellybabe

[MarkyT]

Thanks jellybabe, had remembered reading about this somewhere else - went back double checked and wrote out the cheque.

[MarkyT]

HELP!!! I think I've cocked-up

On the AQ, section G - other information, do I have to list everything I will be presenting in court? I don't quite understand what its asking for. Is this the documents in my court bundle, my schedule of charges, letters etc or just the draft order for directions.

Please help quickly as I only have until tuesday to get the AQ in.

[jellybabe]

Hi MarkyT, in my AQ section G i put something like this:

I am respectfully requesting that my claim be allocated to the small claims track. This issue is not a complicated one; it is an issue of fact and not of law. The issue is only whether the money levied by the Defendant in respect of its customer’s contractual breaches exceed their actual costs incurred. I am happy to pay their actual costs and I am surprised the Defendant did not counterclaim for these, because I would have paid them without argument.

 

However, the continuing problem is (in common with the 100s of other cases currently being brought by other bank customers) that the banks refuse to reveal the details of their penalty-charging regime. As the banks have a fiduciary duty towards their customers, they have a duty to deal straightforwardly and in utmost good faith.

But there has been some new things to consider, like the new draft order for directions, which could speed things up a bit.

You find the thread here:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/53570-new-strategy-allocation-questionnaires.html

If you haven't read it yet, please do so. It's really informative. And i am sure you can get better answers to your AQ query there than off me.

There are a few knowledgable people on there.

Sorry if that is no big help, i'm no expert in those things myself.

[jellybabe]

oops, sorry, i just read your question again, and seen that you are aware of the new draft order for directions.

On the abov ethread they advise you to write the following in section G:

Please find the following attached to this allocation questionnaire;

 

1) Section G - other information

2) Draft order for directions

 

This allocation questionnaire and its attachments were sent to the defendant on **/**/**.

Please read post #3 of GaryH on the above thread. That should clear things up a bit.

[MarkyT]

Thanks jellybabe - I spent a bit more time reading it through everything again last night and have completed the questionnaire.

Thanks for the help - much appreciated.

[jellybabe]

your welcome

[121o121]

Hi Mark

 

Sorry I haven't replied to your PM, I haven't been around for a while.

 

Which did you opt for with the AQ? Draft directions?

[MarkyT]

Went for the Draft Directions bit attached to the AQ.

AQ was recieved by the court on Thursday so thats in on time and just waiting for my court date now.

[MarkyT]

Just a quickie:

 

Is it possible to send Abbey/Cahoot a letter asking them to settle for x amount advising that any action will be dropped if they comply.

I'm thinking of asking them again to refund the original requested asked minus the 8% interest.

If I do, what do you nice folks think my chances are and is this a good idea at this stage?

[jellybabe]

Hi, i tried this approach and got nowhere.

This is the reply i got:

Dear jellybabe,

 

Thank you for your letter.

 

Due to the extreme volume of cases being dealt with at Abbey National Plc I am undable to prioritise your in front of those older claims on foot unless there is some commerical advantage to Abbey National Plc to do so.

 

A settlement in full at this stage does not offer Abbey any commercial advantage that is different from any other request from another claimant who would have commenced a claim before you i.e. ongoing interest/ court costs etc. Please appreciate all claimants take this view.

 

The conduct of all claims is being strictly monitored in accordance with the Civil Procedure Rules and dead lines imposed by the Court. This is a necessity in view of the number of claims we are dealing with. It is simply a timing/ volume issue.

 

If you would like to reconsider your position and put a settlement offer to me, that gives me a commercial reason to extract and verify your claim ahead of normal time schedules, I am more than willing to do so.

 

Kind regards,

 

Inga Kirkman

Best thing to do is being patient.And believe me...it took me alot of patience, but i got there in the end.And so will you.

[MarkyT]

Whoohoo - got my court date - 14th August.

Now things are getting scary as I'm really struggling to put together my court bundle.

[MarkyT]

Got a strange letter from Abbey yesterday regarding my letter dated 22nd Feb 2007 saying that they have unfortunately mislaid my information and as a result have closed my file.

From my records, I never sent a letter to anyone on the 22nd Feb 2007.

Anyone have any idea what they might be up to if anything is this some sort of tactic?

[MarkyT]

:eek:WHOAAA!!!

 

Just logged into my bank this evening to see that someone has deposited £525 into my current account with the reference GOODWILL PAYMENT.

I've had no notification by letter, email, secure message or telephone to say that any money was to be paid into my account.

I've seen something on here about recieving goodwill payments but cant find it again. I'll keep looking but in the meantime if anyone has a link please let me know.

 

Cheers

[crystalcag]

Hi there, the same thing happened to me a few days ago. Very strange feeling isn't it? "goodwill" !!!! hahaha. I sent a letter rejecting their offer yesterday - I could do with the money hugely but wanted to be totally clear that I want the whole lot back not just a piddly 1/8. Here is the link to the templates .. rejecting offers. good luck!

[MarkyT]

Thanks for that crystalcag. I was planning on sending one of those templates but I'm not really sure which one would apply to this situation. As I mentioned in my previous post, they haven't contacted me at all about this.

I'm going to transfer the money into a (cahoot) savings account and write back telling them that I will accept it as a partial settlement but that I will be continuing the claim through the court but giving them the option to remove the funds from that savings account within 7 days of my letter. I will also write to the court to explain they have part settled (proving they dont withdraw the funds of course).

 

Do you think this is a good idea?

 

I'm even tempted to write back to cahoot asking them to settle for 1500 quid (the balance of my overdraft) and to close the account which is all I ever wanted in the first place.

[crystalcag]

Accepting the money as partial settlement sounds like a good idea. Wish I'd done that now - Lloyds have been sending me enforcement letters to bring my account back in the overdraft limit...It was when they paid in the money and now if/when they take it out it'll be over again! drat!

 

Hmmm - don't give up now. It must be tempting - and not to receive any replies frustrating, but that could be part of their tactics. Just wait, in the end you will be able to relax and enjoy getting back the money they owe you! It will all be in your favour in front of the judge anyway - how can they charge such huge charges when they don't even send letters!!!!!

[jellybabe]

Hi,

it's all tactics. They done the same to me.haven't had any replys for ages.

Not sure about moving the money out of your account into a savings account. They probably take it back straight after they receive your letter. But then, i could be wrong.

Anyways, Good Luck...not that you need it . All you need is a bit of patience. It will all come good in the end.

[MarkyT]

A letter was waiting when I got home this evening saying that "contrary to their previous letter" they are happy to confirm that they have investigated my case after all and have paid 525 pounds into my account. How jolly nice of them - especially when they already offered me 1200quid to settle a few months ago.

I've had to move the "Goodwill Payment" into the savings account to stop me spending it by mistake. And of course I will instruct them specifically to withdraw it from that account. Might as well make some interest out of them in the mean time.