Beneficial Claims

AppleMac_3

Money Claim on line is HM Courts Service, I.e. It's the Government..., if they accept your claim BC will receive a notice to either pay you or defend the claim in court. If they don't pay and don't defend you can get a CCJ against them and send in the Balif to get your money. Look up the web site, don't take my word for it.

TheRealDeal_2

AppleMac wrote: »

Money Claim on line is HM Courts Service, I.e. It's the Government..., if they accept your claim BC will receive a notice to either pay you or defend the claim in court. If they don't pay and don't defend you can get a CCJ against them and send in the Balif to get your money. Look up the web site, don't take my word for it.

Ok I had a look, thanks for that.

Its crap that you have to pay anything at all to the Government for help (don't we pay Taxes for services like Courts and Legal Aid !?)

But £80 for them to send a letter is a bit extreme, anyways if I had £80 spare right now I would use it because it would be good to be able to threaten Beneficial Claims with court action.

Can you tell me did you get the full amount back that Beneficial Claims owed you ?

minimadtrix

TheRealDeal wrote: »

But £80 for them to send a letter is a bit extreme, anyways if I had £80 spare right now I would use it because it would be good to be able to threaten Beneficial Claims with court action.

Check the website, you might not have to pay ... subject to being on certain benefits

AppleMac_3

Hi, yes I did, less the original set up cost which was the non refundable bit, but I'd written that off anyway. To me the main thing is to get back the cash, forget damaging BCL because they will always come back with another scam. I just wanted to tell people how I got back my money and hopefully others will do the same. If it's any consolation, we lost our business last year and were on the receiving end of a number of claims made this way and I'll tell you, when you get one you do sit up and take notice because if you don't, the Court system just keeps on going until it gets the money.

TheRealDeal_2

AppleMac wrote: »

Hi, yes I did, less the original set up cost which was the non refundable bit, but I'd written that off anyway. To me the main thing is to get back the cash, forget damaging BCL because they will always come back with another scam. I just wanted to tell people how I got back my money and hopefully others will do the same. If it's any consolation, we lost our business last year and were on the receiving end of a number of claims made this way and I'll tell you, when you get one you do sit up and take notice because if you don't, the Court system just keeps on going until it gets the money.

Your right BCL will keep on coming back, they already have two other names but it can't hurt to stay on top of them !

I will certainly try to use the same system as you but for now I am shy of a spare £80.

P.S. Can you tell me which contact you used to tell Beneficial about your proceedings ? Did you have a person you specifically told and contact number ?

And what was it you sent to them ?

I opened a Money Claim account but don't want to make any mistakes when it comes to processing it, could you please tell me how to do it exactly as you did ?

Thanks

AppleMac_3

Hi, I took the following course...
First I sent a letter asking for the refund and saying that it had to be paid by a certain date. When they did not pay I sent a letter giving them 5 days to pay and threatening legal action. Then I drew up the claim at Moneyclaim online and faxed a copy to them. (You can print off the claim form for your records but the Court sends it directly.) All these were sent to Stephen Michael Francis who's the company secretary.

The claim was against 2 defendants, Beneficial and We Fight Any Claim, just so they could not wriggle off the hook. The claim wording was based on the following... I gave the date I first made contact with them and simply said they offered to write off unenforceable debts for me under a no win no fee agreement. I gave short details of each account they offered to deal with. (Card issuer name but not balance nor account number). Then I said what I'd paid to them. Next I said that Eastleys (did they put you in contact with Eastleys Solicitors?) had said the agreements were enforceable, giving a date I was told this and said this meant I should get a refund. Finally I gave dates of the 2 letters I sent (see above) and said I had not been paid. Keep it simple and short.

Don't forget to claim interest, it's not a lot but, as they say, every little counts. Remember, if you do win you'll get your fee back but if Beneficial pay before the papers are served you might not.

The only thing I perhaps would have done differently was not to fax a copy of the claim, just advise them it was being made, that way you can claim your fee because they probably won't pay you until the Court papers arrive.

Hope this helps,

TheRealDeal_2

AppleMac wrote: »

Hi, I took the following course...
First I sent a letter asking for the refund and saying that it had to be paid by a certain date. When they did not pay I sent a letter giving them 5 days to pay and threatening legal action. Then I drew up the claim at Moneyclaim online and faxed a copy to them. (You can print off the claim form for your records but the Court sends it directly.) All these were sent to Stephen Michael Francis who's the company secretary.

The claim was against 2 defendants, Beneficial and We Fight Any Claim, just so they could not wriggle off the hook. The claim wording was based on the following... I gave the date I first made contact with them and simply said they offered to write off unenforceable debts for me under a no win no fee agreement. I gave short details of each account they offered to deal with. (Card issuer name but not balance nor account number). Then I said what I'd paid to them. Next I said that Eastleys (did they put you in contact with Eastleys Solicitors?) had said the agreements were enforceable, giving a date I was told this and said this meant I should get a refund. Finally I gave dates of the 2 letters I sent (see above) and said I had not been paid. Keep it simple and short.

Don't forget to claim interest, it's not a lot but, as they say, every little counts. Remember, if you do win you'll get your fee back but if Beneficial pay before the papers are served you might not.

The only thing I perhaps would have done differently was not to fax a copy of the claim, just advise them it was being made, that way you can claim your fee because they probably won't pay you until the Court papers arrive.

Hope this helps,

Thanks for your reply, its made things more clearer for me.

I have bombarded their Email so far with about 30 copies of the same letter detailing my dealings with them and the money I expect back, I told them to reply to me by 12.00pm today (Monday) or they will be facing court action from me next.

I also sent 2 faxes and no response as of 12:15pm.

TheRealDeal_2

I did get a response on that day I made my above post (Monday 16th August)

They emailed me and said that the refund would be processed after 30 days from when I requested it in writing on the 27th July.
They said with OFT guidelines and their policy I need to wait until after the 27th of August before I can claim the money is overdue
and issue legal proceedings against them.

So we will see if they pay up by the deadline.

MOCB

Applemac, you are in theory virtually entitled to your £80 court fee back too, as it is a cost you incurred in litigating the matter. Put it this way, had you taken it to court and had you won, the judge would ordinarily have awarded you your costs as well e.g. the £80. I say ‘ordinarily’ as costs are at the discretion of the judge – normally, if you win, the judge will award you the £80 court fee but you cannot be certain of it.

I must point out that you did not actually win your case (annoying but true) – a judge never heard the case and gave a ruling on it, so you cannot be certain that you would have won. Therefore you cannot use Beneficial Claim’s refund as proof that you would have won and therefore that you should (subject to the judge’s discretion) be awarded your costs.

Did you warn Beneficial Claims before starting your claim i.e. before incurring the £80 fee, and did you do so with sufficient notice? A Defendant can have a strong argument that he/she/it should not be liable for your costs if it paid the claim promptly and if it you did not send a 'letter before action' or 'letter before claim', i.e. warned Beneficial Claims that you were going to file a claim unless they paid you within a reasonable time (I would allow at least 7 days) and setting out the basis of your claim (sufficient for them to determine whether or not they are liable). The rationale is that a Defendant can for example say to the judge 'I paid up very shortly after I heard about the litigation - had the Claimant warned me before starting his claim, I would have paid up, so he would never have started his action, so he would never have incurred the court fee – that is his fault so I should not have to pay the court fee'.

You could, subject to what I say above and below, contact Beneficial Claims and say that you are not withdrawing your claim as they have not paid your costs and interest (if you pleaded interest on your claim). You could calculate the interest, and ask them to reimburse that and the court fee. However, if they refuse/ignore you, you may think it too risky to litigate over £80 + interest, especially as you cannot be certain that you would have won your case and, even if you had, you might not have been awarded costs (though statistically you probably would have).

If you accepted the refund from Beneficial Claims in full and final settlement then it is unlikely in the extreme that you can reopen matters and demand your £80 & interest back – hence the words ‘full & final’.

If you have settled your claim, don’t forget to tell the court in writing and ensure they have received your letter.

This is not legal advice – I am not qualified to give legal advice. It is a suggestion of things to discuss with a solicitor before taking any action based solely on that solicitor’s advice and not what I have written.

MOCB

When I said 'it is unlikely in the extreme that you can reopen matters and demand your £80 & interest back', I meant that, for example, if the settlement agreement happened to be legally void. But then Beneficial Claims might not agree even to settle on the original terms.

You should check your household insurance policy and any other insurance policies that you have as they may include legal expenses insurance which may also cover this claim (many household policies include legal expenses insurance, and they can be very broad in what they cover. Many policyholders do not realise - they mistakenly think that household policies are limited in scope, covering just the physical house and land and nothing more. But household policies can also cover you for breach of contract, personal injury, employment tribunals etc.).

A solicitor may identify other areas of claim and other losses that you can include in your claim.