Failed claim = Formal Demand For Payment = Urgent advice needed!!!

Tom_B_2

Hi, I quite urgently need advice -

I submitted a claim for return of £1400 worth of bank charges in May 2009 after they referred me to a debt recovery agency for £700 odd of overdraft. The overdraft itself was supposed to only be £500 and due to the amount being taken in charges on a monthly basis we moved our banking to a different bank. We were just scraping

Today I recieved a "Formal Demand For Payment" from a debt collection agency acting on behalf of HBOS demanding immediate payment within 10 days.

So I figure I've a few options -

1 - Pay back in full - This is possible (not within 10 days... but come payday I could *just about manage it) but my absolute last resort as I feel they have no right to that money. Hbos really screwed us over with thier bank charges...

2 - Pay them as little as possible over a long period of time - So I speak to the debt coll agency and aggree as little as possible in repayment and over a period of time... I will have to speak to them anyway and let them know there is no way they can have anything till the end of the month... I could plead poverty and try and get a low monthly repayment set up - I figure they're going to want a no hassle solution and an agreement like that will be better for them than taking me to court. I currently reckon this is the most sensible option... but the prospect of hbos getting the money off us grates... perhaps best to cut the losses though!

2 - Sit tight and do nothing, make them take me to court over it and try and defend myself there - I can't afford a good lawyer which I think would be necessary to win... also I'm pretty sure that the scope of the legal hearings would be simply about the debt itself, and not an issue of the charges the bank has levied on me. My partner & I's credit rating has been shot because of this anyway so any threats of not being able to obtain credit in the future don't worry me, we already have a mortguage and don't use credit cards after working really hard to get rid of our debt.

3 - Use one of the online debt management ppl who are still saying they can get charges back - Not my ideal option as not sure if these organizations are trustworthy - Can't find any testimonials on here that are positive! - Still could tie the issue up for a few more months... could consider it a last ditch attempt and save up the money to pay them back if it fails.

4 - Stall them - Hbos still haven't written to me offically closing my "on hold" claim, I could certainly write the debt collection agency saying that as far as I'm concerned the debt is still in dispute - Could buy me some time to see if MSE comes up with anything new...

I'm basically pis$ed off with hbos enough to be arsed to try and fight this & make it as difficult for them as possible, but I don't want to flog a dead horse either... what are people's thoughts - Any ways to fight this not yet mentioned? Should I just give up & pay up?

Thanks, Tom.