Claim advice

[Dav3y]

Hi there,

 

Just like to say what an excellent and helpfull site this is.

 

I'm about to start my claim against MBNA for 3 different cards, and I'm after a bit of advice. I have two cards still with open accounts on them which they refused to close as they obviously had balances on them that consist only of late fees. I also have furthur charges I'm claiming back over the past 6 years that i have paid.

 

Now as they refuse to close the accounts, should i just group the paid and unpaid charges together and claim for the lot and then pay off the balances from the refunds if/when i get them or should i pay the balances off before filling in the form on the moneyclaim website. Doesn't really bother me either way, but the only benefit is it would stop them adding furthur charges, and take away a possible reason for a defence. I guess the other option is to seperate the paid and unpaid charges on the claim and state that the unpaid charges are being claimed because the bank refuses to close the accounts unless these balances are paid off even though i dispute them.

 

Any advice would be greatly apreciated.

[bram stoker]

Have you already gone through the DPA letter, preliminary request and letter before action routine? These should all be done before the moneyclaim I believe.

 

Re paying off the debt: have you requested they put a hold on the account rather than closure and ask for no further charges to be made? You'll only incur interest then which may be reclaimable. Obviously if you have the funds you could pay it off and reclaim all the charges and pay no further interest.

 

There's nothing to stop you making a second claim once the first is refunded and you're in a better financial position. They may backdown with a simple phonecall on the second.

 

Good luck.

[Dav3y]

DPA wasn't needed as i am a hoarder and have all my old statements,and yes have already been through the Request for Repayment and LBA letters. I have had about 3 letters saying i will get a response by x/y/z followed by another one and the same again. Finally gave in and rung them up and they told me i would have a letter by Wednesday of last week. Needless to say it didn't turn up and I'm fed up with their lies and stalling tactics, and the deadlines i gave them have now passed so I'm moving on.

 

They haven't frozen the accounts either, they continue to add £25/month charges to both accounts and I'm surprised they would even do that as they know full well they are in dispute.

 

 

Not going through the aggro of seperate claims and all that business, I just want this settled now as they are in the third month of threatening with defaults if i don't pay what i don't owe them.

 

Have balances of £317 and £165 on the two open acounts, and the total charges (paid and unpaid) excluding interest is £777.

[Dav3y]

Had another look at the charges this morning, and have decided I'll probably go for paid charges plus interest, and then add on the two current balances as i don't owe them. This will add up to £350 + £100 interest at 8% and then additional £480 on the balances. Once the £80 costs is added as well this brings the total claim to just over £1000.

 

I heard that if i get an offer i should accept this if it's the full amount less the interest.

 

Wish me luck......

[bram stoker]

Had another look at the charges this morning, and have decided I'll probably go for paid charges plus interest, and then add on the two current balances as i don't owe them. This will add up to £350 + £100 interest at 8% and then additional £480 on the balances. Once the £80 costs is added as well this brings the total claim to just over £1000.

 

I heard that if i get an offer i should accept this if it's the full amount less the interest.

 

Wish me luck......

If your balances are made up of charges you shouldn't add the balances to the charges as you are effectively claiming twice.

 

The interest they charged you, or a part of it may be reclaimable. The 8% on top of it all is only claimable when you go to court.

 

Good luck.

[Dav3y]

I'm not adding the balances to the charges. The balances are unpaid charges added since they refused my request to close accounts some 12 months ago and only consist of charges added since May 05. The charges are charges paid prior to May 05 of which I am claiming the 8% on the moneyclaim site.

 

Effectively any settlement paid out will pay off the balances unless they offer to clear the balances and close the accounts and repay just the paid charges plus court costs.

[bram stoker]

Sorry, maybe I'm not making myself clear. I would have thought a list of all charges would include the ones that make up the overdrawn balance.

 

I think a complete list of charges, rather than half a list of charges and the balance of the claim made up of overdrawn balances would be better, as it doesn't matter wether you've paid them or not. The complete list of charges is what they've charged you and that's what you claim should be made up of.

 

I hope this helps.

[Dav3y]

They could do, but the unpaid charges have a higher rate of interest applied than i can claim back via court so thought it would be more beneficial to me if i did it that way especially as the bank themselves are responsible for the interest being added in the first place. Grouping it all as charges and then claiming 8% makes me around £40 worse off, and i don't see why i should pay interest on money i never owed.

 

I'm so enraged at the way that they have behaved and blatently ignored all of my recent communications that i don't see why i should let them get away with anything if i don't have to.

[bram stoker]

You should claim for all charges (paid or unpaid) and any interest that have been applied to those charges if you can calculate that. It seems you may be able to do this. The 8% is on top of all of this.

 

Claiming for the interest back that they charged you has been highly debated on this site and very much relates to personal circumstances. If your only debt is charges then clearly the interest is on those charges and you can claim for the interest they charged you.

 

Let me know if we're getting any clearer. I'd really like to help sort this with you.

 

My concern is the statement that you are requesting a refund of your overdraft, when you should be asking for a refund of what that overdraft is made up of.

 

Am I helping?

[Dav3y]

Lol, i think you just confused me furthur

 

The bottom line is I am claiming back all charges paid and unpaid + interest on the paid charges + costs and any additional interest they have added on top of the unpaid charges. I guess i made it sound more complicated than it is.

 

Having now looked at the limited space on the web based form, i made the claim much simpler using that form anyway as that's all it allows.

 

Ill go post the details now with my claim number if i can find the section, and thanks for your help

[Dav3y]

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