"Gesture of goodwill" settlement offer after court allocation - what next?

[mazza71]

Hi All,

 

I didn't know where best to post this (I have a thread in the RBS forum but comments/advice seem to have dried up a little).

 

In brief, sent LBA to my bank in March for refund of estimated charges on 2 accounts (used letter from BBC web page rather than, with hindsight, looking on here 1st). Rec'd standard reply that it was being considered then heard nothing more. After 3 weeks had expired, initiated court action via MCOL for the said estimated amount.

 

At the end of the 14 days, Cobbetts sent out a fairly standard defence and a CPR S.18 request. (I realised by this time - looking through the forums and advice from people here - that I had messed up on the POC a bit and had problems with the amount being estimated. Worried it was going to go down Fast Track due to estimated amount (c. £9,500 inc court fees). Responded to Cobbetts - heard nothing since sent to them on May 26th.

 

Anyway, cutting story short. Sent S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to bank in the meantime so could revise POC with actual amount. While waiting for this, got letter from Liverpool County Court saying that it had been allocated to Small Claims Track - rec'd no AQ. Paid the fee before due date of June 8th. Told that court date will be sometime in August.

 

Wed 13th - got full copies of statements back from RBS. Added up total charges for both accounts - £4,191 (plus £350 court fees). Following day, received fairly standard letter from Sandy Watt offering a goodwill gesture (without liability, blah, blah) of £3,092.

 

THE QUANDRY.......

 

Can/do I accept this as a part settlement?

 

I would like to be able to accept this amount as part refund by the bank for charges on the joint account and (if necessary - unless a further offer is made) amend my claim from the estimated amount on both accounts to an actual amount on my own account. I know I can do this by paying the £35 fee and amending the Particulars of Claim.

 

If I try to do this, how do I best go about it? Don't my own conditions effectively make it a rejection of their offer in essence?

 

What are my chances (insofar as anyone can best guess) of the bank refunding this offer while I claim the balance?

 

I am wary that they may just rescind the offer if I try attaching conditions of my own.

 

I don't want to risk losing this offer as I know I have made mistakes in the past with this claim - the POC of the claim is still based on an estimated amount - but feel the offer should at least be higher. If they offered around £3,800 - £4,000 I'd be happy to accept rather than have this hanging over me all Summer and facing court.

 

Most threads I have looked at appear to be concerned with people rejecting settlement offers AFTER their LBA and before court - my claim is already in the courts!!

 

Any help/advice would be MORE than welcome.

 

Will be making a donation to the site when this is all over as everyone here has been more than helpful so far.

[saintly_1]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/25716-rejecting-offers.html letter 5 & 6 deal with offers after court action has been initiated

[mazza71]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the link. I have already looked at these. While adequate in their intention and purpose, I don't feel they go beyond the scope of an offer rejection. As stated, I don't wish to go for an out-and-out rejection but hope to achieve - by the bank's acceptance - a part payment as offered and pursue the balance of the claim through the courts (if necessary).

 

Thanks for the reply, though. Any advice is always welcomed and appreciated.

[saintly_1]

What you do is amend the template that best suits your needs ... as you should with all the template letters

[mazza71]

OK. Thanks.

 

If I go down the route of rejecting the offer with a view to settlement of the full amount plus court fees, would I be best amending the POC to the ACTUAL claim amount rather than the ESTIMATED amount as it currently stands before declining the offer with the bank?

[mazza71]

Hi,

 

I was all ready accept a victory in part today an accept a settlement offer by the bank of just over £3k on a claim worth £4.1k (plus costs) to end the worry and stress and get everything back to normal esp. as there are no conditions to the offer.....then I got home and found a letter from the Court with directions from the Judge and now I'm not so sure. It could sound promising to continue with the claim but worried it may mean the judge is fed up hearing such claims and is merely following protocol and allowing a moment of glory before voting in favour of the bank.....HELP!!!

 

District Judge J****** has considered the statements of case and allocation questionnaires filed and allocated the claim to the small claims track.

No AQ was ever sent to me. The case was allocated to Small Claims Track without one. Should I be concerned no AQ was ever used? Could the bank's solicitors have sent something to the court in defence without me knowing which is why (POINT 2 below) the case is expected to only be heard for approx. 10 mins?

 

1. The Claimant do within 21 days of the date of this Order, serve a schedule setting out the amount of the individual charges, the dates they were applied to the account and the reasons given for such charges.

The POC needed amending with a breakdown of charges and an actual claim amount, do I now need NOT worry about amending the POC or should I do this as well as conform with the Judge's directions? Do I send a copy to the bank and their solicitor? I'm concerned about the POC as I didn't stick faithfully to the template in the forums and it states I am claiming "illegal bank penalty charges" - could this wording be enough to get the bank's solicitors to have the case struck off???

 

2. The hearing of the claim will take place at 14:00 on the 7 August 2007 at Liverpool County Court [court address] and should take no longer than 10 minutes.

Any feelings/ideas on this? No longer than 10 mins??? Does this sound like a good aspect to the case (i.e. surely the bank can not adequately defend itself in this short a time?)? OR could this be an indication the courts are getting fed up with claims like this and end up throwing it out in favour of the bank? Such a short anticipated hearing time both elates and worries me.

 

In order to utilise judicial time more effectively this matter has been listed with a number of similar cases.

Er, hello! Is this good or bad? Could it be a sign the Judge is likely to judge in favour of the claimants or the banks? They seem to be rushing them through now which does give me some cause for concern.

ANY THOUGHTS?!???!!