Does anyone know the law on this please?

wednesday2212

I have sent about 20 letters asking for clarification on a bill prior to paying it. Each time I get a response it is simply a standard request for payment, it does not answer my questions. The bank is now threatening to take me to court. If it goes to court, I intend to produce the letters as proof that I have tried to sort it out but have not had any answers or proper communication.

Does anyone know what obligations companies have to supply the proper info and reply to letters prior to going to court? Surely they must be bound by some duty of care or something?

Thanks as always

Dan

withnell

Can you give a few more details? Is the bill for bank charges, or an unauthorised payment taken from your credit card?

wednesday2212

It was some charges on a business account (sole trader). The account was brand new and I'd not even started trading. HSBC took a dd for a credit card payment without informing me that they had set a dd up. I have sent letter after letter asking for some proof that I agreed to a dd coming out of that account, but they have not provided this info.

The point is that to take money out of the account, they need my express agreement, whether this is in the form of a dd mandate or cc agreement - they have refused to provide any info.

wednesday2212

I have used this as the basis of my argument. They can't just demand money with no proof as to the legitimacy of their claim.

You have stated in correspondence your intention to commence proceedings in the county court against me. The commencement of legal proceedings under such circumstances could be counter to the Overriding Objectives of the Civil Procedure Rules. You will be aware that the Overriding Objectives underpin everything the court does. Moreover, paragraph 4 of the Protocols Practice Direction states that in the cases not covered by an approved pre-action protocols the court will expect the parties to act reasonably … in trying to avoid the necessity for the start of proceedings.

I would suggest that your refusal to respond adequately to my 12 letters (attached) could be viewed as unreasonable and I would ask the court to consider this matter with reference to the ‘Overriding Objectives’.

krisskross

wednesday2212 wrote: »

It was some charges on a business account (sole trader). The account was brand new and I'd not even started trading. HSBC took a dd for a credit card payment without informing me that they had set a dd up. I have sent letter after letter asking for some proof that I agreed to a dd coming out of that account, but they have not provided this info.

The point is that to take money out of the account, they need my express agreement, whether this is in the form of a dd mandate or cc agreement - they have refused to provide any info.

Did you not ask for the money back under the direct debit guarantee if you had not authorised a direct debit.

In my innocence I thought only the owner of an account could set up a direct debit mandate.

wednesday2212

No I never thought of that krisskross, do you know how to go about it?

natweststaffmember

Was the payment made or was it returned unpaid?
And Direct Debit Guarantee Scheme is the one krisskross is talking about

wednesday2212

the payment was made from a hsbc acc to pay a hsbc credit card. As the business had not started trading there were no funds so it accrued charges.

How do I make a claim under this scheme?

natweststaffmember

http://www.bacs.co.uk/BACS/Consumers/Direct+Debit/Your+rights/
That bit is for the actual Direct Debit Guarantee scheme but that only covers that amount going out of the account and not the charges. Unless the CC provider is willing to admit to them that you have to start the reclaiming process.

wednesday2212

thanks for that Natwest, much appreciated!!

ILW

Im a bit at a loss here.
You have set up a new business account with an attached chargecard.
I would guess the charge is for the card.
If it is only 20 or 30 quid I would forget the matter.
If you plan to run a business I think your time would be better spent in building it up rather than mucking around with the bank for a piddling amount.