Suz L v Abbey

[Sue Loftus]

Dear All

A little bit nervous as I have had all the standard fob offs from the Shabbey and had a good will payment etc, etc but the time has come for me to issue Court proceedings and to say I am poohing my pants is an understatement. I am so nervous I have even lost my way to the templates can you believe!!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated on how I should take this next step to getting back my money. I know the Courts will be closing for Christmas soon as I would like to get my form in and grant the Shabbey an extension if I have to.

Sue xxx

[Sue Loftus]

Dear All

Have issued my claim on line and have received an acknowledgment today that the Abbey are going to defend my claim. What do I do next? Is it time for me to start worrying and putting my bundle together? I only wrote to the head office once as I was corresponding with Milton Keynes, is this going to be a problem?? All help gratefully received.

Thanks

Sue

[charleyfarley]

Hi Sue,

 

I've just had a read of your previous thread. Seems to be going fine so far. You seem to be at a very similar stage to lots of us, so I would suggest you read all about Allocation Questionaires, especially with relation to the Fast Track as your claim is over £5K

 

Have a read of my thread as I'm about a week ahead of you

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-bank/55539-charleyfarley-abbey.html

 

PS

 

PM one of the Mods to merge your threads for you

 

[Sue Loftus]

Ta Charley. I forgot to send a schedule off when I issued so I am thinking of sending one to the Abbey and copying in the Court - what do you think? Also, did you claim for interest they charged you while you were overdrawn and Int Debits? If I deduct them it takes a good bit off my claim

[charleyfarley]

Hi Sue,

 

Seems to me to be good practice to copy schedules to Abbey and the Court. It can't hurt can it.

 

In my particular cirumstances I didn't incur many interest charges so to keep my claim simple I've gone down the s.69 route of 8%. If you've been charged lots of unauthorised o/d interest charges then it's definitely claimable but you may need to strip out the difference between the interest caused by the charges and the interest on an authorised o/d.

 

Hope I've explained this properly

[Sue Loftus]

Thanks Charley, I'll send a covering letter to the Abbey and copy it to the Court.

 

Fingers crossed the Shabbey cave in!!

[Sue Loftus]

Hi All

 

Have heard from Northampton that the Shabbey are gonna defend - the swines - and indeed have now received the Defence. However, the claim has been transferred to my local court with a direction from Northampton that no allocation questionnaire be issued unless my local court wish it. What happens if they don't want an allocation questionnaire? I have to amend my claim slightly so may have to put in an amended claim unless I correspond direct with James Arrandale etc at the Abbey. Any advice gratefully received - ta muchly xxxx

[charleyfarley]

Hi Sue,

 

The courts are dispensing with AQ's more and more in the last couple of weeks to try and speed things up, so basically you save yourself laying out £100 for a few weeks, and you get your money back quicker.

 

I'm not too sure about amendments. I know it costs you £35 which you can't claim back, so you need to decide if the change is worth it or whether it's something you could sort out when it comes down to the final negotiations.

 

Lula is the fount of all knowledge when it comes to technical stuff like that.

[Sue Loftus]

Cheers Charley. Lula, any advice my lovely? I was thinking of sending a copy of my schedule (as amended) to the Shabbey even though they I failed to include a schedule with my particulars. What do you think?

 

Thanks for all the help guys, reading the threads has been a real eye opener.

 

Sue xxx

[Sue Loftus]

Hi all

Just a quick query. Since my claim was transferred to my local court I haven't heard anything further. No AQ has been sent to me and according to the clerk at the Court my claim is still before the Judge. Since my last posting I have sent the Court a Schedule of Charges together with a copy for the Shabbey. Is it normal to wait weeks? I'm getting nervous now - can't they Shabbey just role over and gimme me money???

 

Please tell me its all going to be OK lol

 

Sue

[Sue Loftus]

Hi All

 

Have received a flippin AQ from my local court. What do you think I should do? Fill it in and ask for Abbey's claim to be struck out etc? I can't understand why I've received one of these when most people don't seem to be receiving them. Getting a bit worried now in case I end up losing!!

 

Any advice?

 

Sue

[Leecabs]

Hello Sue,

 

if a Abbey have acknowledged and put in a defence against your claim, then the next step is to fill out the allocation questionaire and return it to court.

 

I believe the details on filling it out are in the Step by Step guide.

 

Best of luck keep in touch!

 

Leecabs

[noobrider]

I strongly recommend going down the route of using the application to strike out in your AQ along with draft directions. Its a strong argument and there is nothing to lose and everything to gain by submitting it

[Sue Loftus]

Hi all

 

Just a quickie to bring you all up to date on my case. My local Court are taking ages to process things however the AQ went back and I got a court date for 24 September. Since then I have filed an application to strike out together with draft directions which have only just been put before the Judge. I understand from the Court that the Judge has ordered that my application be heard at the same time as the actual hearing itself - Starting to get worried now. They Abbey don't seem to want to get shot of me and pay me off. Am off on holiday tomorrow without having heard from the Court and will only return 3 weeks before the hearing. Has anyone got any suggestions as to what I should do? I have emailed the "lovely" Inga and suggested they take a commercial view and settle this claim but she just sent me a standard reply to the effect that as the OFT had launched this case I would be hearing from them shortly. If they apply to have the hearing stayed can I argue the point with the Court/Judge and insist it goes ahead? I just want to see an end to this now as its been going on for so long. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

 

Sue

[Sue Loftus]

OOps forgot to say, I responded to Inga's standard reply thanking her for taking the time to consider the contents of my message and that I looked forward to seeing her in Court! Bloody cheek not even considering to settle!

[Leecabs]

Its a pain but I think you can ask for a stay to be removed, not sure what I thread I saw that on. Im still waiting for a court date since 11/07/07. The court seem to think it will be in October!

 

Have a good holiday

[ICY]

STAY REMOVAL

[Leecabs]

Thats a very informative thread and its nice to have some guidance on getting some Stays removed thanks ICY and Zoot.

[Sue Loftus]

Hi All

 

I have my hearing to strike out the Abbey's defence on 24 September. Starting to get a little worried seeing as not used to speaking up for myself in Court and am finalising my bundle so it is with the court no later than 14 days before the hearing. Has anyone been successful in having the Abbey defence struck out thus far? I'm assuming my case hasn't been stayed as yet because I had already filed this application in July.

 

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

Ta

 

Sue

[psm]

Hi Sue

 

Most probably a rep from the Abbey will turn up at court and apply for a stay. It is a racing cert that he/she will not have any papers relating to your case and will be ill prepared to answer direct questions regarding your court bundle. When formulating your arguements against a stay try to relate them to evidence in your bundle/witness statement. From my own experience and from what i have read the judges seem to be unimpressed with a printed off list of objections to a stay, as i imagine they have seen the self same list 100 times before from other CAG subscribing claimants. Try to fit the objections around your bundle, especially if the Abbey used the breach of contract arguement in the defence they sent you. Make the defense solicitor squirm by asking questions regarding the abbey defense and your response in your bundle. If you feel confident enough complain to the judge that the defense solicitor has attended court without any papers which has made it difficult for you to argue a case against the stay by the defense's lack of responses from your direct questions from your bundle. This will highlight how presumptious the Abbey have been in comming to court ill prepared to try the case. Use the lack of preparation on the day as a springboard for any complaint regarding the abbey's conduct throughout the case. At the end of the day you can only hope that the judge has done his/her job and read your bundle and carefully considered the merits of your case vs a stay. If he/she hasn't you can at least leave court knowing that you made the defense work for their stay. Have you used the GaryH court bundle template?

[Sue Loftus]

Hi PSM

 

Thanks for your reply. I have used Gary's witness statement and bundle and am tweaking it at the moment. I am fully expecting the stay but understand the application to strike out will be heard first and quite concerned about this bit really. If the Judge agrees with my order for directions he will order the Abbey to disclose the true cost of manual intervention etc etc within 14 days. I am pretty much certain that the Judge will order a stay in any event regardless of my application

[psm]

Unfortunately I fear you are right. It appears the Lord Justice Moore-Bick wrote to all Designated Civil Judges in relation to the test case and the ongoing handling of live claims expressing the view that it would be appropriate in most cases to stay proceedings pending a decision on the test case. I doubt too many judges will go against this view. However make the "buggers" work for their stay. I had an application to strike out the abbey defence but that was overlooked in view of the stay application.

[Sue Loftus]

No discrimination there on the Judge's part then PSM! Seems most judges are playing follow the leader then rather than being bold! Thanks for responding though and no doubt I'll post the outcome of my hearings here

 

Sue

[RadioJohn]

Hi Suz

 

Have PM'd you but just in case you miss it - I'm also due in Bow County Court on the 24th September to claim gainst Abbey. Just getting my bundle together now as well as preparing to argue against the Stay. Hopefully the judge will listen (wasn't aware they were actually going with this - I thought it was just another idle delaying tactic by Abbey).

 

RadioJohn

[RadioJohn]

Another thing - Bow County Court told me over the phone that I didn't need to submit my bundle within 2 weeks before the hearing - and that I could just bring it along on the day (with copies for everyone). Did they tell you the same?

 

I'm going to send my bundle off in good time anyway just in case.