marksteps v Halifax - SETTLED IN FULL

[marksteps]

14 Days expires on Monday...

[marksteps]

Ok so i go to court this morning to file a small claims. Just printing everything out that i will be needing...

 

[marksteps]

Got to the court and was told you dont live in Edinburgh, although i work there. Im suing a company in Dunfermline so i gotta send everything to thrm. This morning i rang dunfermline who said, bullsh..... so i am to raise it in either Falkirk or Edinburgh.

 

On the phone o go to Falkirk who say....its Dunfermline i use. Rang em back who after 5 mins on hold say they will call me back - they need to look into it!

 

Now I received a statement from my Halifax credit card today which had a £87.50 credit on it. Im not expecring it so i ring them up - I am expecting it as part payment on my BOS card. It turns out they credit was put in the wrong account and will be in my bank account in 5 days. I said its no use in my credit card account - i want it - so thats why its in the bank account....Anyways i dont physically have the money but im posting the small claims case today. Do i leave what im claiming as £175 plus interest making £203.58 or change it to represent the other £87.50 they will be due...ie now claiming only £87.50. follow??

[marksteps]

I received a letter saying we offer part of the money so i wrote and explained that i accept as part payment and that i would pursue to court if necessary.

 

They put the money in the wrong account but its sorted now and it should be in my account by Tuesday.

 

On Friday there was no reply to my LBA which ran out on MONDAY, so they had 4 days grace. However, there was a letter on my doormat on Saturday morning asking me to accept a further £87.50 (Which together with original refund is what im after)....

 

Now i have posted the Court letters n stuff with a postal order for £39 to the court,recorded delivery (not yet online so maybe delivered on Monday) now what do i do...Should i accept and call court or let the court serve the papers so i get my £39 back for court costs?

 

Im so ....arghhhh

[marksteps]

Wrote of his LBA letter after the prelim was answered saying no refund.

They replied to the LBA offering the partial sum of £119 instead of the £715.

 

I intend to send a letter tomorrow/tonight saying we accept as part payment on this but we will be pursuing this. Do is say im now going through the small claims court or do i let them get a nasty surprise lol... Could someone prepare me a draft letter, as im unsure how to word it...

 

 

Mnay thanks

[mechs]

just say thank you for your kind offer of $119 which I accept as partial payment but will be persuing for the remainder if I need to

[marksteps]

The letter will be sent tomorrow but here it is in rough :

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I thank you for your recent letter dated 20th July 2006.

 

Whilst you offered £119.00 as a refund to the charges on the account as a full and final settlement, i am happy to accept this as partial payment. I will continue to pursue for the full amount in my Letter Before Action which was dated 13 July 2006.

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

 

Mr xxxx

 

Like i said, its very short and straight to the point. Anything that should be added/removed?

[Michael Browne]

Perfect, don't wait for their reply, since they'll probably withdraw the offer, just file at moneyclaim for the full amount ( and any charges they add in the meantime) on the 27th.

[marksteps]

Will do.

 

yay

[marksteps]

Sent letter AND filled out court papers and handed into Edinbirgh Sherriff Court on Thursday....let the games begin!!

[marksteps]

Okay got a reply from the court.

 

Return date is 12/09/06 and the Calling date is 19/09/06.

 

Hope they pay up soon...

[marksteps]

Still not had statements from 2 companies, so i intend to send a reminder.

 

Any wording advice would be greatly appreciated guys.

 

Thanks

[morgan054]

Hi

 

You could check out the templates http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/6986-data-protection-act-non.html

 

and change/modify to suit your needs

 

Best of luck

[marksteps]

Many thanks and scenario 3 it is...Oh what happens there ???

[marksteps]

Ok so an update:

 

My Dad has sent the letter saying still no statments and it has been over 40 days and if within 7 days (we changed to 14 as he is away on Saturday for a weeks holiday) we dont get them we will get the courts involved. But what i want to know is what exactly happens there...

My mum sent her letter asking for over £700 pounds to Capital One today, so she is hopeful of claiming it back.

[morgan054]

hi Mike before you issue N1 for County Court try

 

mailto:rachelhinchliffe@HBOSplc.com

 

R Hinchliffe

Litigation Lawyer

Legal Services - Retail Division

 

01422 391096

 

After my recent email to her i have just received my statements by registered mail the day after my email, now thats got to be a record:rolleyes:

[marksteps]

The court served papers on them last Friday. I just had the following letter:

 

Thank you for your recent letters, the contents of which i have noted.

 

I would like to advise that following receipt of a county court judgement in made a payment of £831 to you in August 2006by way of full and final settlement.

 

I therefore regret that we are unable to consider a refund of teh charges that you have recently incurred on your account.

 

Ultimately it is your responsibility to manage your account. We stated in our letter dates Aug 2006 that if you were to incur any future charges the halifax reserves the right to withdraw your banking facilities.

 

Anyways, these new charges were for the start of 2006 to the end of 2006. The successful refund i got last year was from 2001 to end of 2005 (just under £750 + interest + court costs)

 

I dont know what to do. Have i lost the case then??

 

PS Its due up in court in April ( i think need to double check)

[hagenuk]

No, you have not lost and you should continue with your claim. This is just another scare tactic and means nothing. Halifax are in no position to deny you this claim, only a court can decide that.

 

Furthermore, for any agreement to be binding in English law each party to the agreement must provide what is termed 'consideration'. This simply means something of value in the eyes of the law. With these offers in full and final settlement your consideration consists of a promise not to sue for the remainder. However, the bank does not provide any consideration because they are only giving back what in law belongs to you. The law does not enforce onesided promises. In order to establish that they have provided consideration they would have to prove that the charges were lawful.

 

However, do be aware that they may close your account, they can do this and in some instances, they have.

 

Although, if they do you may report them to the OFT, look here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=56

[marksteps]

So do i just let it carry on until the day im supposed to call and see what happens?

Do they expect me to call the court and cancel after this letter?

[hagenuk]

If this were my claim I would totally ignore this letter, it is utterly worthless. Having said that, I would keep it as if they do close your account as a result of this claim, I would send a copy of that letter to the Ombudsman, I am sure he would be interested to see it.

 

What day are you supposed to call?

 

I would not call them, I would simply continue with your claim.

[marksteps]

Return date is 8 May 2007 with the calling date being the 15 May 2007.

 

So if they do not refund the money by the 8 May. on the 9th im to call the court right?

Just say they dont pay but they put in a defence, saying, they have paid once already and that the "new" charges are down to me, will i have to go before a judge?

[hagenuk]

I must be missing something here, who are you supposed to call and why?

 

If the court served them with the claim last week, how can you have got a date of May 8th 07 already?

 

Bank charges are not legally enforceable if they are penalties. Penalty clauses in contracts in English (and Scottish) law for breach of contract are not legal if the penalty exceeds the actual cost of the breach of either party. The law relating to penalties has been established through case law. The cases date back to the nineteenth century and the courts have been consistent in the way that they have ruled on penalty clauses.

 

It does not matter if you have claimed them once, twice or a thousand times, they are still unlawful.

 

None of their petty posturing or ridiculous antics make the charges any more legally enforceable and you should continue with your claim.

[marksteps]

Sorry i wasnt clear. It was a week past Friday that i handed my papers into court. On the Monday they served the papers, i then got a letter from the court but it says that i must call the court the day after the return date to see what the bank have done.

[marksteps]

Has this happened to anyone else yet?

[dpick]

Sorry i wasnt clear. It was a week past Friday that i handed my papers into court. On the Monday they served the papers, i then got a letter from the court but it says that i must call the court the day after the return date to see what the bank have done.

 

I far as my understanding you call the court to see if the bank has responded to the court not to you so you should be ok to ignore the bans letter to you which I think is stalling tactic.

 

This is just my interpretation dpick:eek: