Have I made a Terrible Mistake with my Natwest claim?

[Desperate Dan76]

I am unsure if I have made a big mistake with my claim against Natwest.

I have issued a claim against Natwest for around £2,700. This covers the charges and the 8% interest that I can add. I have today received an Allocation Questionnaire - all of which happened before I found this site.

My dilemma is this; I now feel that I should also try to claim back the additional interest that I have incurred due to these charges taking me over my overdraft limit, and also being persuaded to change to an Advantage Gold account to get a bigger overdraft. Can I add these charges to my claim or is it too late, and if it is too late can I make a secondary claim using the first case as a precedence to recoup this interest?

Finally in the letter from the court it advises me that I need to pay £100 to Bromley County Court, is this in addition to the £120 paid to Northampton Court for my online application?

Thanks for all help with this matter, regards, Dan.

P.s. if anyone wants to try and have some real fun in the courts with me, I'm currently 7 months into a residential treatment programme for a gambling addiction - which was obviously not helped by my spiralling debt. Natwest were as helpful as ever, when I approached them about my problem in the past they simply offered me a consolidatory loan for my current loan and overdraft and suggest that the extra £1,000 should help me out! I'm not exactly sure where this fits into the banking code and irresponsible lending but there you go!

[Desperate Dan76]

I am unsure if I have made a big mistake with my claim against Natwest.

I have issued a claim against Natwest for around £2,700. This covers the charges and the 8% interest that I can add. I have today received an Allocation Questionnaire - all of which happened before I found this site.

My dilemma is this; I now feel that I should also try to claim back the additional interest that I have incurred due to these charges taking me over my overdraft limit, and also being persuaded to change to an Advantage Gold account to get a bigger overdraft. Can I add these charges to my claim or is it too late, and if it is too late can I make a secondary claim using the first case as a precedence to recoup this interest?

Finally in the letter from the court it advises me that I need to pay £100 to Bromley County Court, is this in addition to the £120 paid to Northampton Court for my online application?

Thanks for all help with this matter, regards, Dan.

P.s. if anyone wants to try and have some real fun in the courts with me, I'm currently 7 months into a residential treatment programme for a gambling addiction - which was obviously not helped by my spiralling debt. Natwest were as helpful as ever, when I approached them about my problem in the past they simply offered me a consolidatory loan for my current loan and overdraft and suggest that the extra £1,000 should help me out! I'm not exactly sure where this fits into the banking code and irresponsible lending but there you go!

[121o121]

Firstly, the £100 fee payable to the court is because your claim is over £1500. All claims over this amount have to pay this with the allocation questionnaire. You will get this back from the defendant.

 

Secondly, you can start another claim after this one, but it must be for other charges. You will not be able to start another claim just for the contractural interest on your first claim (I think I'm correct).

 

You may be able to ammend your amount and POCs with the N244 form. There is a £35 non-refundable fee to pay if you do this though.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/41901-form-n244-application-notice.html

[Desperate Dan76]

Thanks 121, so I could try a secondary claim for the Advantage Gold charges and add the interest to this, although it may be safer to try and amend the claim. Where do I get the N244 form from?

 

I thought the £120 that was paid to Northampton was to cover the court costs? So this is an additional charge then? Thanks.

 

Dan

[Advoc8]

Where do I get the N244 form from?

 

I thought the £120 that was paid to Northampton was to cover the court costs? So this is an additional charge then? Thanks.

 

Dan

 

This is an additional fee to cover the work involved in looking at your claim and the defence to allocate it to the appropriate track. If (when) you win you'll get it back. N244 can be obtained from here.

[Desperate Dan76]

Thanks Advoc, do you think it would be sensible to adjust my claim at this stage?

[121o121]

When you filed your claim you paid the £120 fee to the County Court.

 

When the allocation questionnaires are filed, and the claim is £1500 or over, the £100 needs to be paid. If you don't, you AQ won't be filed and your claim could be struck out. As I say, the £100 fee is recovered in the settlement anyway.

 

You can only claim interest once on the charges you are reclaiming. If you are claiming the statutory 8% under the County Courts Act, you cannot claim the contractural rate (and visa-versa).

[Advoc8]

As stated it's a little late to change the interest claim, especially if you've not expressed an intention to claim contractual interest from the outset. I'm not sure what additional charges you might have incurred changing to an Advantage Gold account?

[121o121]

I'm not sure what additional charges you might have incurred changing to an Advantage Gold account?

 

Account fees aren't reclaimable anyway.

 

Is your main argument regarding the gold account "irresponsible lending"?

[Desperate Dan76]

Ok, so I understand about the fee now thanks for the clarification.

 

As for the interest, I believe there are two types, the 8% under the statutory County Courts Act, which I'm fine with - its my understanding that that makes up for my loss of potential investment. And also the interest that Natwest charged me for being overdrawn. I will also have been penalised for the interest that I have paid Natwest in for "borrowing" the money to pay the charges that I am reclaiming at 14.99% within my overdraft limit and 29.5% for the occasions when these charges took me above my limit. Obviously if the charges had not been applied there would have been no interest to pay?

 

Surely I can therefore claim back the charges and the interest paid to Natwest as a result of these charges, and then apply the 8% as allowed by the court to the total figure?

[Advoc8]

Account fees aren't reclaimable anyway.

 

Is your main argument regarding the gold account "irresponsible lending"?

 

Not knowing what an Advantage Gold account was I was wondering if there were any penalty-type fees specifically associated with it?

[Desperate Dan76]

The Advantage Gold £8 monthly fee was for having an advantage Gold account - the only reason that I took up this type of account was because I was pressured into opening it in order to get a better rate of interest on the consolidatory loan that I would possibly have never needed had these charges not been added to my overdraft in the first place.

[Advoc8]

Ok, so I understand about the fee now thanks for the clarification.

 

As for the interest, I believe there are two types, the 8% under the statutory County Courts Act, which I'm fine with - its my understanding that that makes up for my loss of potential investment. And also the interest that Natwest charged me for being overdrawn. I will also have been penalised for the interest that I have paid Natwest in for "borrowing" the money to pay the charges that I am reclaiming at 14.99% within my overdraft limit and 29.5% for the occasions when these charges took me above my limit. Obviously if the charges had not been applied there would have been no interest to pay?

 

Surely I can therefore claim back the charges and the interest paid to Natwest as a result of these charges, and then apply the 8% as allowed by the court to the total figure?

 

You can't have all the contractual interest AND the 8%, that's recovering more than you're owed. Really you should have claimed the overdraft interest from the outset (in your original letters before court action), it's obviously up to you to decide whether or not you try to amend your claim but it might be too big an amendment for the court to decide is just given all the circumstances.

[zootscoot]

Hi DD,

 

Yes you can claim the proportion of interest they have charged you on your overdraft which relates to charges.

 

If you want to amend your claim to include this you have to make a formal application to the court using N244. There is a link to this form in the bank templates library. The cost for an application is £35 and you are unlikely to get this returned.

 

Best of luck

 

Zoot

[Desperate Dan76]

121 the bit about "irresponsible lending" was kind of said in jest in as much as if someone came to you and told you that they were in financial difficulty due to their gambling addiction, would you offer them an extra grand? Kind of like giving an alcoholic some champagne and saying there there it will be ok! lol Not that sensible if you ask me. But all I have attempted to claim for are the charges that apply to unpaid cheques and direct debits and unauthorised borrowing fees.

[zootscoot]

Also I've moved you to the Natwest forum

[Desperate Dan76]

Advoc, I was just thinking about claiming the interest that was charged due to the actual charges rather than all money owed on the overdraft on that specific day - I appreciate that I borrowed that money and therefore have a responsiblity to pay the relevant interest back.

[Desperate Dan76]

Ok, I'm trying to make a working example of the above to demonstrate it more clearly.

 

My statement reads as follows from 1st July 05 to 1st August 05

 

01/06/05Unpaid

[Advoc8]

Advoc, I was just thinking about claiming the interest that was charged due to the actual charges rather than all money owed on the overdraft on that specific day - I appreciate that I borrowed that money and therefore have a responsiblity to pay the relevant interest back.

 

I understand what interest you are trying to claim and I'm not saying don't try, all I'm saying is that ideally you should have claimed this from the outset and it's at the court's discretion whether or not you are allowed to change the claim to include it at this point or not. You can attempt to amend but be aware that you might not be successful.

[Desperate Dan76]

Arhhhhhhh just took too long amending my post and lost it all LOL.

 

Ok, well I will see how much of a difference it makes and proceed from there.

 

Cheers,

 

Dan

[fire fox]

Hi Dan

The £100 does need paying in additon to the £120 already paid. You will get it back when you win though. You can ammend your particulars of claim but it costs £35 which isnt reclaimable. You cant claim your advantage gold fees back either. I think a lot of us were persuaded to upgrade to this account for a variety of reasons but you cant reclaim it back. Good luck with the case and your current treatment. I am sure you will both of them:)

Tony

[fendyweather]

Good Luck. Been reading ur thread. You need professional help on this one I think. Try Nattie, or Bank Fodder or other Mod on this site. You could always go into the CAG chat room and theres usually a moderater in there to help and ask.

 

Fendy xx

 

Good luck with the gambling thing too. Brave man to try and get it sorted. xx Best of luck.

[bram stoker]

Advoc8 is a little confused. Please read this http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/69877-what-can-you-claim.html for clarity.

 

I have more notes in a guide in my Chambers if it helps. Unfortunately I can't logon much at the moment.

 

Good luck.

[Desperate Dan76]

I have today received a cheque from Natwest for £3542.53, which reflects the £2371 in actual charges, £371.81 in interest that was charged as a result of these charges, £633.72 in interest added at 8% and also £220 in court costs.

 

I had amended my claim to £4585.35 applying the interest rate for unarranged borrowing on the account at 29.5 percent rather that the usual 8% that is applied by the courts.

 

Having got a cheque in my hand I'm tempted to accept this, what does everyone else think about it?

 

Cobbetts have advised me that Natwest will not pay more than 8%, has anyone successfully got back the contractual interest at 29ish percent?

 

Dan

[alf]

Hey Congratulations Mate

 

 

Can I ask how long is it since you sent back your AQ?, and did you receive a court date, My AQ went in 4 wks ago, my court date is 23rd May (4 wks) and still haven't heard anything from Cobbetts.

 

You could always accept this cheque, and then put in a claim for the differance owed, and pursue that one!!!

 

Andrea