Court Summons - LLoyds HELP!!!

Spongebob64

I have received a letter from Knipe Woodhouse-Smith solicitors giving formal notification that they will take me to court if I do not pay £1968 in the next 7 days.

The money owed was due to me becoming overdrawn due to excessive bank charges which totalled some £3000.

This is a bit of a saga so, please bear with me.

I have 4 young children ages 2,4,7,and 9, one of which is severely disabled and I have had financial difficulties.

Initially, I complained to Lloyds and asked them to look at my case under the hardship rules. I was regularly getting charges of between £100 and £200 per month which was making it extremely difficult to make ends meet and I already had an agreement in place to make reduced payment on my Lloyds mastercard due to financial difficulties. So basically, I found myself in a situation of monthly charges which was pushing me more and more into debt.

The final straw with Lloyds came when my daughter was admitted into hospital with a severe infection which also led to meningitis. The infection was actually more serious than the meningitis and she came within hours of loosing her life. During the first few days when she was in hospital, Lloyds took charges from my account which left me in a situation where I had no money whatsoever and I had to borrow money from friends and family just to be able to get to the hospital and try as best I could. Again I spoke to Lloyds, but I was told that they could not see any reason that I was suffering any sort of hardship.

I tried hanging on in the hope that the bank charges reclaiming case would go in our favour and now I am stuck feeling extremely angry with Lloyds and an impending court summons.

Please, please can someone tell me what I should do.

Thank you

penniesonly

Hiya.
Sorry to hear about your situation. Sadly, i think youre not alone. Best thing i can advise is to speak to the job centre about a crisis loan. You can get these if you receive benefits either for yourself or as your daughters full time carer.

If you dont, they may be able to give you a budgeting loan. Either of these are interest free, and could help you sort out your money. I think they go to a maximum of 1500, but it would at least give you a lump sum to start clearing your debt.

orc_2

Spongebob64

It is not over yet and the comment from Premier is inaccurate re


"Now the banks have spent a lot of time and money proving they were in the right all along regarding making the charges...............".


The Judges did not say that- and Premier knows that.

Please ignore his comments and accept apologies from other users of MSE who are not so unsympathetic.

The banks have not been proved conclusively right and all is not over.

I suggest a visit to Consumer action group or one of the other forums where you can get more in depth help, advice, support and some sympathy.

Sympathy is not entirely missing from MSE, its just incredibly well hidden.

Have you got some form of confirmation of your complaint to Lloyds re hardship?

Have you received a letter from them saying that in view of Supreme Court decision, they will no longer etc, etc?

66andrew99

Though I would never personally advocate not making any payments, if you were to hypothetically make no effort to pay there is very little I believe Lloyds can do.
They nor any collection agencies acting on their behalf can come to your home and start removing possessions unless you let them in. You could also open a different bank account so they can't take the money from you as it's paid in, though I believe their ability to do this is mediated by the DWP as to what you need to live on.

As for claiming for hardship, I'd keep banging them on the head with it and if needs be threaten to complain to the ombudsman, can't hurt.

On the plus side the worst they can do is file a CCJ with the County Court, but any Magistrate would be very understanding given the circumstances.

The CAB are great in helping in this situation too, you could do a lot worse than making an appointment to see one of their advisors.

All my advice is opinion only, so please do your research before following and listen to the other wise persons on this forum. I've always found them to be both insightful and sympathetic.

Premier_2

66andrew99 wrote: »

...On the plus side the worst they can do is file a CCJ with the County Court, ....

If the bank secures a CCJ against someone, there's more than one way to enforce payment
(all of which are legal)

Even if it were to be a bailiff to attempt to visit and take goods (and as I said, that is only one method to enforce payment), don't confuse actively allowing them to enter and them entering without force. You may not even be there when they manage to enter without force.

Once they have gained entry, they can also force entry into any other part of the premises or indeed force re-entry into the property at a later date if required.

Tozer

Premier wrote: »

If the bank secures a CCJ against someone, there's more than one way to enforce payment
(all of which are legal)

Even if it were to be a bailiff to attempt to visit and take goods (and as I said, that is only one method to enforce payment), don't confuse actively allowing them to enter and them entering without force. You may not even be there when they manage to enter without force.

Once they have gained entry, they can also force entry into any other part of the premises or indeed force re-entry into the property at a later date if required.

And, given the amount, the debt can be transferred to the High Court for an Enforcement Officer to take enforcement action. Their powers are wider than County Court bailiffs.

The advice about deliberately not paying is shockingly bad.

esmerellda

orc wrote: »

It is not over yet and the comment from Premier is inaccurate re


"Now the banks have spent a lot of time and money proving they were in the right all along regarding making the charges...............".


The Judges did not say that- and Premier knows that.

Please ignore his comments and accept apologies from other users of MSE who are not so unsympathetic.

The banks have not been proved conclusively right and all is not over.

I suggest a visit to Consumer action group or one of the other forums where you can get more in depth help, advice, support and some sympathy.

Sympathy is not entirely missing from MSE, its just incredibly well hidden.

Have you got some form of confirmation of your complaint to Lloyds re hardship?

Have you received a letter from them saying that in view of Supreme Court decision, they will no longer etc, etc?

I second Orc's post.

You can defend, or at the very least admit and make an offer to pay of affordable monthly installments.

Premier_2

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the banks on 25 November 2009?

How silly of me to get that so wrong! :rolleyes:

orc_2

Facts.


From the Supreme Court Decision Summary doc

http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/docs/uksc_2009_0070_ps.pdf


"This appeal involved a relatively narrow issue."

"However, the charges might still be open to assessment by the OFT on other grounds under Regulation 5."

The OFT decided that claimants would have a wider scope for pusuing reclaims for charges, hence why it pulled out.

New arguments have been developed and templates will be available on this site shortly.

Premier, you had been relatively well behaved for a while and then you decided to have a go at someone who has a range of horrendous problems to cope with. A little humanity would not go amiss. People come here looking for help, support and advice. Not the hangmans noose!

Again, its Jekyll and Hyde with you, as always.

I am glad to see that MSE Wendy has deleted Premier's offending post!

Former_MSE_Wendy

I have deleted a few posts in this thread that were off topic from the OP's question. Thanks to those who've made practical suggestions.

Please remember moneysavers come to the forum looking for help and support, not for judgement.

esmerellda

hi Spongebob

Okay now we're back on track.

The solicitors havent actually issued court papers to you as yet, and as they are a Debt collector they may not for some time. First you need to decide if you want to fight the debt on grounds of unlawful charges and hardship (which could be a difficult and time consuming battle) (also as it is currently in dispute with regards your hardship complaint it shouldnt really have been passed to solicitors, however if lloyds have formally declined your complaint then they would consider it no longer in dispute)

OR if you want to accept the debt and make an offer to pay of an affordable amount each month. If you do this before court you should avoid a CCJ however having the CCJ can offer a bit of protection in that monthly amounts would likely be at a set amount and if the DCA wanted to take further action they would need to apply to the court. The downside, and the importance of getting the payments set properly at an affordable rate, is that if you do miss a payment, they are entitled to take enforcement action (after going back to court)

MSE should be publishing a bit more guidance on bank charges claims next week.

In both cases a letter to Knipe Woodhouse-Smith would be in order to hopefully get the debt passed back to Lloyds. You can also make a complaint to the financial ombudsman, if you havent already with regards your hardship and the way the bank have treated you.
Personally I think I would contact the solicitor with a letter saying the account is in dispute, and hopefully they will pass it back to Lloyds. Then write to Lloyds with an income/expenditure sheet, make an offer to pay at an affordable rate and continue with/start your complaint through the financial ombudsman.