Marbles calling me - what to do?

digitalphase

I've been sending all letters to the above companies using Martin's templates. I have sent all recorded delivery and the time has now past 14 days after I sent the last letter, so my next step is to either go to the FOS or go to court. MBNA have only replied to one of my letters saying they are investigating my claim and a copy of the charges. Nothing else has been received from them. Marbles sent me a letter to my old address originally (despite me putting my new address on all letters) so there was a delay while it was redirected, but that was just a fob off letter anyway saying their charges were fair. I haven't had any further correspondance with them either.

I don't know whether to go down the FOS or the court route.
I reclaimed bank charges off Nationwide a couple of years ago and filed a claim with the MoneyClaim website and a few days later got a full refund, so have had a good experience with them. But because I am claiming from two companies, I will have to pay two fees which adds up as I am a skint student. I would like to get the money a.s.a.p for the same reason, as I know it's a quicker process than going to the FOS. But the benefit of the FOS is it's free, although it takes a lot longer.

What have been your personal experiences and what would you recommend I do? Also do you know how much I'd have to pay MoneyClaim to file each claim as they are both for around £500 including interest.

Thanks

Orford

Court fees for both N1 and MCOL are here:
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex50.pdf

Claims for credit card charges are unaffected byb the OFT test case.
If you have a choice, it is always preferable to file using N1 at your local court. The two main disadvantages with MCOL are that your Particulars of Claim are limited to just 1080 characters with a maximum of 24 lines and you cannot attach the schedule of charges to your claim.
Both these drawbacks can create problems later on. The banks use these limitations of MCOL to assert, with some justification, that the claim has not been fully particularised.
Therefore I would strongly advise you to file at your local court as MCOL sometimes, mistakenly, stay credit card claims

digitalphase

Thanks Orford

Should I just contact my local court and ask for two N1 forms then? I then send a cheque with them to the courts and they do the rest?

Orford

You can download N1 here:
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n1_0102.pdf

3 copies N1 and Schedule of Charges + fee.

digitalphase

I received a letter today from Marbles offering me a 'goodwill gesture' of £201 (my claim is for £461.90 inc. interest) today. I'm not sure what the next step is as I have read people have sent a letter accepting this as a partial offer, but Marbles have also enclosed a form which I would need to sign, agreeing that it would be final settlement and I would make no further claims.
This offer isn't good enough, so I would like to push for the full amount.

I am at the stage where I need to file a case with the courts as I have sent all the other letters, but need to wait until January to do this as I have no available funds now.

Any ideas what sort of letter I should send them? Or not bother replying and just carry on with my claim via the courts in January?

It's not like I'd get a cheque, this 'goodwill gesture' would be applied to my account and I'd still owe around £490, but if they gave me the full amount of charges back I'd owe £228.07, which is much better.

natweststaffmember

Simply re write to them and state that as it is the festive period you will give them a further 14 days to pay in full the amount that they owe and if they do not then they will be lumbered with the expense of formal court action for the full recovery of the charges owed to you. That may be helpful for you to do so that you can formally start legal proceedings against them when you have the funds.

debtfreehopefull

Tell them to shove it, I did this with halifax a couple of years ago, conversation went something like this

"I've been offered £100+ and I don't want to agree"
"Right okay, one moment (literally was 2 minutes!"
"Right okay, I can offer you £650"

so don't accept that offer!

digitalphase

Thanks, I'll send them a letter saying I won't be accepting their offer and will give them 14 days to send me the full amount, if not I will start court proceedings at their expense.

£201 is such a random amount!

digitalphase

I am in the process of claiming charges of around £500 from Virgin CC/MBNA. I have sent all of the template letters and the only response I have had is a list of all my charges. I am at the stage where the next step is to take them to court.

Today I received a (poorly) hand written envelope containing a cheque for £78. On the cheque it says MBNA Bank of America and The Co-operative Bank. It is one of those official large cheques.
There is no letter with the cheque and no explanation of what this £78 is for... Anyone else had any experience of this? What should I do?

Extant

Uh... ask them?