cAHOOT FILES DEFENCE - WHAT NEXT?

[poppynurse]

My hubbie is useless with money and frequently forgets we are broke. Most months for the past three years he has exceeded the OD limit and we have been charged £25 for the priveledge. He's now been made redundant so we could do with them stopping this. I issued the SAR weeks ago and am counting the days but can we stop them adding another £25 every month?

[orfoster]

I had the same problem, i moved banks and this stopped them doing this. I did write to them asking them to freeze the interest and charges but they refused. I would personally move banks and continue with your claim from there.

[poppynurse]

Took the plunge today and issued MCOL against Cahoot - why is it so scary????

[121o121]

hi poppynurse

 

are you claiming against a credit card or current account?

[poppynurse]

A current account.

[poppynurse]

Question in the title! What are hte chances of actually having to go into court?

[davehaley]

I am on the virge of settling at the allocation questionaire stage. I don't think cahoot have ever actually turned up at court to defend, normally they settle a few days before court.

[121o121]

thanks. i'm about to start with a cahoot credit card.

 

i sent my prelimary letter to cahoot, and they wrote back this was their final response. i sent the lba to abbey (as instructed by cahoot) but i have not received a reply yet?

 

is this what happened too?

[poppynurse]

cahoot told me to use the friars house addy so I put that on my LBA and MCOL, they asked me to make a 2nd stage complaint to abbey but I'm not bothering going down their complaints route that's just wasting time, I'm sticking to my deadlines!

[121o121]

Thanks Poppynurse

[caro]

Threads merged

[poppynurse]

Cahoot have acknowledged reciept and are intending to defend....at what point do I need to put my court bundle in???

[Michael Browne]

Not till 14 days before your court date. So you've some way to go before that happens.

[poppynurse]

Cahoot have filed a standard defence, what shall I do next???

[caro]

You will get an allocation questionnaire and copy of the defence from the court.

 

BTW I have your court claim number and the date you claimed for the Litigation in Progress section, but need the amount too if you could let me know please.

 

Thanks

 

Could you also keep all your progress in this thread now as it makes it easier to follow your progress and help out if you need it.

[poppynurse]

Thanks, I have now submitted my AQ with draft order for directions......

the claim is for £1517 including contractual interest so I had to pay the fee

[poppynurse]

I have now received a 'standard order for stay for settlement with consent of all the parties' giving a stay until 16th April - what do I do next??? There doesn't seem to be much point in trying to settle further as Abbey have ignored me so far (I've not consented??)

I've not received a copy of Abbeys AQ either so don't know if they requested a stay or if it was the judge's idea

[caro]

I suggest that you phone the court and ask for a copy of the AQ, and write to the bank offering to settle. You could suggest that you are willing to reduce your claim by the actual cost to the bank of each item on your schedule, although you will require a breakdown showing their actual costs, before doing so.

 

I'm fairly sure they won't take you up on your offer, but you will have complied with the court order by trying to settle which will look good should you ever have to go to court. You never know the bank may even decide to just pay up sooner rather than later when they see you are serious, if they didn't think taking out a court claim proved that anyway.

[poppynurse]

does the stay mean I have to file a further allocation questionaire if they don't settle? And another £100 fee

[caro]

If you have to submit a second AQ you shouldn't need to submit a second fee. I certainly didn't have to.

[poppynurse]

Following the stay I wrote to Abbey as Caro suggested offering to settle for the full amount or reduce it to reflect the true cost to the bank.

As below:

 

I am prepared to make this final attempt to reach a settlement with you in accordance with the judge’s wishes. At today’s date the balance of my claim for charges and interest stands at £1720.57, although interest is accruing daily. A further £220 is sought in respect of the costs of issuing the claim and submitting the allocation questionnaire. I would therefore be prepared to accept £1940.57 in full and final settlement of this claim. Alternatively I may be prepared to reduce my claim to reflect the actual cost to the bank of each of the items on my schedule, although I would obviously require a breakdown of how these costs had been calculated.

I have today (day before judge's deadline) received their response as follows.

 

On review, it is apparent that you are not in fact willing to enter into meaningful settlement negotiations. The offer put by you represents 100% of your claim and is not indicative of any compromise on your part.

In the interests of commerciality, Abbey...will make one final offer of £1300 in full and final settlement of your claim...without admission of liability...

 

What next - will the judge take the same view?? HELP!!!!!

[caro]

On review, it is apparent that you are not in fact willing to enter into meaningful settlement negotiations. The offer put by you represents 100% of your claim and is not indicative of any compromise on your part.

In the interests of commerciality, Abbey...will make one final offer of £1300 in full and final settlement of your claim...without admission of liability...

You have offered compromise here.

 

Alternatively I may be prepared to reduce my claim to reflect the actual cost to the bank of each of the items on my schedule, although I would obviously require a breakdown of how these costs had been calculated.

All you are asking in return for this reduction in your claim is that they provide you with the information to show how they have calculated their charges.

 

I think that is a meaningful discussion and don't see why a judge wouldn't take that view too. Don't let them get to you.

[poppynurse]

I've just noticed that the put the wrong claim number on the letter to me!!! So I'm going to email and ask them to review their settlement figure as they appear to have been looking at the wrong claim so must have made a mistake in calculating their offer.

[caro]

It's worth a try. Maybe they were looking at a different letter too. LOL

[poppynurse]

About to send this - any thoughts??

Thank you for your letter dated 11.04.07, however I note that you quote an incorrect claim number (7QZ22064). The correct claim number is as above. I am wondering if this is why your settlement offer of £1300 is so much lower than the sum claimed for? The sum claimed is £1940.57 as at 29.03.07 although this will increase daily in terms of interest and costs in respect of compiling my court bundle.

Further you state that I have not entered into meaningful settlement negotiations whereas I have been trying to resolve this matter for months, on the 29.03.07 I actually offered to settle either for the full amount (thus preventing either side incurring further costs) or alternatively a reduction in my claim to reflect the actual cost to the bank of each of the items on my schedule, although I would obviously require a breakdown of how these costs had been calculated. I maintain that this is a reasonable attempt at settlement. I could suggest that by offering such a derisory amount that you have not entered into meaningful settlement negotiations, not to mention the fact that you have ignored my previous attempts to resolve this matter thus forcing me into legal action. I might even suggest that you only applied for a stay to delay matters further.

As you are aware the stay expires on 16.04.07 and if I do not receive a reasonable settlement offer I will have no alternative but to write to the court and ask for allocation of a court date forthwith.