Lloyds Action Now - are they genuine?

blaven

Thanks to all concerned for getting a very pleasing conclusion to this matter. As a pensioner myself I feel a great weight has been lifted this morning and I can now look forward to Christmas again. LAN should now make a commitment to return all monies received from these threatening emails and letters issued 12th december. Many people will not have access to the internet for advice and will have been duped into paying already. Merry Christmas to all.

Pet50

Please get in touch with Watchdog and Moneybox and other media to publicise this story so that more vulnerable people who do not have access to the internet will be reassured. We don't want anyone else being BULLIED into paying money like this especially at this time of the year.
Happy Christmas to all!
:xmassign:

Robisere

Check out the website:

https://lloydsactionnow.com/Forms/News.aspx

It seems that the Beeb journo Alice Beer is lending her name to this. Pressure groups, whether genuine or not, have a habit of doing this (employing a celebrity figure head) to make their case appear ethical. I do not say that this is a scam, but I would never, ever, pay money upfront for such a Class Action suit. Any legal firm taking this on, will have worked out the chances of success. The upfront money is their security. More than that, it is a pointer to their prediction of the chances of success or failure.

I once worked in a Legal Services department and have seen similar events before.

petersteve

I purchased the Sunday Telegraph of 18th December 2011 and read and printed off the article. I think the matter should be on Watchdog and Moneybox and needs a much wider exposure

Hydro64

I had intended to pay my fee but now with all your encouraging comments I am determined not to. Thank you all

Glen_Clark

Sadly Alice Beer is not the only BBC 'journalist' to get involved in something like this.
Gloria Hunniford goes on BBC 'Rip Off Britain' to warn of scams, but not the ones she is paid to advertise - link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/8954019/Warning-on-celebrity-endorsed-over-50s-savings-plans.html

sabretoothtigger

In a writ filed in a New York district court, Eric Daniels, who stepped down as Lloyds chief executive last year, and Sir Victor Blank, the former chairman of Lloyds, are accused of acting “with reckless disregard for the truth” following the disastrous takeover which saw HBOS rescued by Lloyds in 2008.


It was revealed after the completion of the takeover that the Bank of England provided £25.4bn of emergency liquidity to HBOS at the height of the crisis to enable it to continue to trade. The US Federal Reserve provided a further $11bn to keep HBOS afloat, according to the writ.
Eric Daniels defended the deal, which was completed in September 2008 and created a bank with a third of all UK current accounts and mortgages and a fifth of all savings, in front of a panel of MPs in the February 2009 and said he believed the takeover “will be a very good purchase” in time.


The class action is being brought by three sets of solicitors on behalf of Albert Ross of Louisiana who owned Lloyds’ American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), shares that are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and is being used to lead the class suit.
A further 1,400 US residents who held ADRs in Lloyds TSB may qualify to join the action, according to the writ, as well as a large number of US institutional investors who held billions of dollars of equity in the bank.
Lloyds is also facing the possibility of legal action in the UK from private shareholders in the bank. Lloyds Action Now is campaigning for compensation for British shareholders and is in final negotiations with litigation funders for financial support in bringing its case in the UK as class actions lawsuits cannot be brought before a British court.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/57d3084c-34a5-11e1-aed6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1iJjvi9US

kingdunk

The article by James Quinn regarding the demand for payment from Lloyds Action Now (LAN) while welcome, left some questions unanswered. The notice referred to was sent to those who had delayed or had decided not to joint the LAN action, but whom had at some time registered on the LAN website.
The article was headed: ‘WITHOUT PREJUDICE SAVE AS TO COSTS
AN OFFER UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF PART 36 CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES INTENDED TO HAVE THE CONSEQUENCES THEREUNDER’.
The demand was for:
1. Pay your outstanding Membership Fee by 3rd January 2012 in full in order to remain a Member of LANA and be in a position to receive the benefits of the funding and progress referred to below;
Or
2. Pay £240.00 in full and final settlement of capital, interest and costs within 21 days of deemed service of this letter, and LANA will release you from any further contractual obligations in respect of your Membership.
In James Quinn’s article it was reported that ‘A LAN spokesman stressed that no court action would be taken against non-payers’.
However, the demand for payment also included the statement: ‘If you do not pay the sum set out in paragraph 1 above or take up the offer in paragraph 2 you will be rejected as a Member of LAN. You will not be entitled to receive compensation, and you will find yourself in a legal limbo where you will still be liable for the debt, but not be eligible for any compensation we may achieve.
If you do not pay what is set out in paragraph 1 or do not accept the Offer set out in paragraph 2 above, we may legally enforce payment of the outstanding Membership Fee in full.’
So, although LAN have stated that they are not going to take court action, this appears not to exclude the possibility that those who have not acquiesced to these demands, will not face some form of action in the future.
One might also note that there is no reference to this matter on the LAN website.
This situation has arisen, in part, because of the way the website worked. For example, if one wants to take out an insurance policy online, then the policy document, giving details of the items covered and items not covered can be accessed prior to proceeding with an application for a policy and before providing any personal details. In addition there will be a warning regarding the time available to cancel the application without a penalty.
In the case of the LAN site one could not access the rules or the documents required for registering as a member (November 2010), without first registering one’s interest, which was later taken by LAN as having completed the registration process, even though the membership application forms had not been filled out, or printed and returned by post. In addition there was no warning that this was the case.
A warning, ‘Once registered, you will have 7 working days to cancel your Membership with Lloyds Action Now in line with EU Regulations’ was later added to the site.
The outcome was one of ambiguity with the consequences described above.
It can also be noted that when the demands were posted/emailed on the 13th December 2011, there were only ten working days left in which one could contest this matter, as for the remainder were either bank holidays or the LAN office was closed.
It would be interesting to know if anyone who received LAN’s legal notice requesting the fee for membership or a charge for costs and has not paid either, has received a communication from LAN advising them that they are no longer regarded as being liable for costs.

Superchip

Latest info from these scammers, I only enquired as an executor, they were, as usual, from orgs like this completely deaf to common sense.
I would have gladly gone to court as well they know ! same as most other pensioners being hassled in this way.


Letter dated 6.1.12 sorry it's a bit long...........


Superchip........




IMPORTANT UPDATE ON THE LLOYDS ACTION NOW CAMPAIGN

The previous letter addressed to you concerning the payment of outstanding fees is referred to.

LAN will not pursue action for outstanding fees but as the campaign is entering an exciting new phase it is appropriate to point out to you why when you registered with LAN online you became a member of Lloyds Action Now Association (LANA). Full details in this regard are set out below.

The fact that your fees are not paid in full has considerable implications as we move forward. In January 2012 LAN will be changing its structure as we are complete negotiations with outside funders to back our case. We cannot enter into any further correspondence in this regard and if you have not paid your per share subscription by 15th January 2012 you will, as set out in the rules cease to be a member of LANA, payments made thus far will be forfeit, your membership will be deleted and you will not be entitled to any compensation that LAN might achieve for its members of LANA.

After this date LANA’s membership will be closed and a new organization called LAN Funded will be created whose members will have to be surrender up to 40 per cent of compensation received to the funders as their reward for financially backing our case. Membership of LAN Funded will not be open to members of LANA, who are only required to give up 10 per cent of their compensation under its existing rules. If you wish to continue as a member of LANA please pay your fees by 15th January 2012.

We trust that you will consider your position carefully and now we have obtained Queen’s Counsel’s opinion that our prospects of success are between 65% and 70%+ depending on the cause of action we are even more confident of the merits of our case against Lloyds directors. You may also have seen that proceedings have been issued for holders of American Depository Receipt in the courts of New York and the Summons and Complaint will be served on the defendants very shortly. Shareholders who are not USA residents and do not hold ADRs cannot participate in the USA Class Action but LAN offers an affordable alternative to shareholders

Full details of the changes will be made available on the website and in a newsletter that is in course of preparation.

We trust in your continued support and look forward to making further announcements on the progress of the case in January.

In the meantime we wish you all the best for the New Year,

Yours truly,

Lloyds Action Now

Explanation as to why you have joined LAN

This document is solely for the purpose of explaining why by registering online and not terminating membership within 7 days you are a member of LAN. LAN is now moving to a next phase in the case. We ask that you consider your position carefully and now we have obtained Queen’s Counsel’s opinion that our prospects of success are between 65% and 70%+ depending on the cause of action we are even more confident of the merits of our case against Lloyds directors.

The fact that your fees are not paid in full has considerable implications as we move forward. In January 2012 LAN will be changing its structure as we are complete negotiations with outside funders to back our case.

We cannot enter into any further correspondence in this regard and if you have not paid your per share subscription by 15th January 2012 you will, as set out in the rules cease to be a member of LANA, payments made thus far will be forfeit, your membership will be deleted and you will not be entitled to any compensation that LAN might achieve for its members of LANA. After this date LANA’s membership will be closed and a new organization called LAN Funded will be created whose members will have to be surrender up to 40 per cent of compensation received to the funders as their reward for financially backing our case. Membership of LAN Funded will not be open to members of LANA, who are only required to give up 10 per cent of their compensation under its existing rules. If you wish to continue as a member of LANA please pay your fees by 15th January 2012.

Registration Details
You registered on our system as an Internet Member and you agreed to be bound by the Rules and Case Methodology at this point. You were advised that you had 7 days to terminate your membership. The LAN number that was sent to you by email and by SMS/text message was only generated once you had confirmed that you accepted your obligations of becoming a LAN member and the fact that you have a LAN number demonstrates that you agreed to join LAN and be bound by the Rules and Case Methodology. Had you not done so you would not have been issued with a LAN number. You are a Member of LAN albeit an Incomplete Member. We would like to point out that being ‘Incomplete’ is a status of Membership where we have not received all of the requisite documents or payment from you.

Internet Registration Process
Our Membership Fee is set out clearly in 3 different sections of our website, as well in any recruitment letter you may have received from us to lead you to consider our website. On the first page of the registration process on our website is the following text:
“During this registration process you will be asked to:
•Fill in your Personal Details;
•Read our Rules and Case Methodology and confirm your agreement; and
•Print a Document Pack for completion (to return to us) and other documents (for your own records).
Spouses and Civil Partners may join together, and pay a combined Membership Fee.
Please note that once you have completed Step 1 and 2 above, you will be registered as a Member of Lloyds Action Now. You will have entered into a legally binding and enforceable contract with Lloyds Action Now. From the point of registration administrative work will be undertaken in order to process your registration.
Therefore, we ask that you only proceed through our registration process when you are satisfied that you wish to join Lloyds Action Now. Please consider our website regarding any queries or concerns you may have.
Once registered, you will have 7 working days to cancel your Membership with Lloyds Action Now in line with EU Regulations.”

On the third page, you are asked to consider the Rules and then tick the box next to the following text:
“Check this box to confirm that you have read, understood and that you irrevocably accept what is set out in the Rules and Case Methodology Document (subject to your right to cancel this agreement within 7 working days as set out in the document). Please note that you have 7 working days from your date of Registration (i.e. today) to cancel your Membership in line with EU regulations.”

It is only at this point that a LAN number was generated and you became a Member. As you progressed further through the registration process a Certificate of Membership, Invoice and a Document Pack was generated and displayed to be printed.

Correspondence
You were then contacted on a number of occasions by post and electronically regarding your Membership.

In light of the above, you will appreciate that we do not accept any assertion that you did not register and that you merely made an ‘enquiry’ or that a lack of a response from you amounted to an instruction to withdraw. However, the Committee has decided not to pursue any further formal legal action against you. We still urge you to pay your Membership Fee of full by 15 January 2012 in order to preserve your Membership and in order to benefit from the great advances that are being made in the case and campaign.

The Committee is in the process of negotiating with a Litigation Funder to assist us in quickly providing the means and ability to see the case to full maturity. As a result of the expert advice and new sources of funding, the Committee is now in a position to bring the case to court and pursue what we believe is our right to compensation, which has been our goal from the outset – and such a case will be brought during the early part of 2012. Therefore we need to establish which Members intend to pay their outstanding fees and join us in our fight for compensation as Members of LANA.

Please note: All Members are able to log in to their Personal Password Protected Page on our website (at) link removed
using their LAN number as the Username (e.g. ‘LAN123456789’- remember to enter the letters ‘LAN’ and then the numbers without any spaces) and the Password (this was sent to you in your original registration email).

In a further effort to save costs, Lloyds Action Now will not send receipts of documentation received. Members are required to send documentation by Recorded Delivery and must contact the Post Office to confirm delivery. Internet Members will receive an email and text when their Membership is complete and therefore ‘Confirmed and Verified’.

Payments will be processed and banked in line with our and Clydesdale Bank procedures as soon as possible. You will receive notification of any debits or credits to your Lloyds Action Now account by email and text (if you have provided your mobile phone number). Members may consider their Payments section on their Personal Password Protected Page to confirm any outstanding balance. Please note that even payment by Electronic Bank Transfer will take some time to be processed and reflected on your Personal Password Protected Page.

kingdunk

Superchip, thanks for posting the details of the latest info. from LAN.
The comments from LAN were:
‘IMPORTANT UPDATE ON THE LLOYDS ACTION NOW CAMPAIGN

The previous letter addressed to you concerning the payment of outstanding fees is referred to.

LAN will not pursue action for outstanding fees …………….. ‘
There is still uncertainty however as LAN continued: The fact that your fees are not paid in full has considerable implications as we move forward. From this statement it would appear that LAN still considers that it is owed the money.
In addition, there is no statement regarding this matter on the LAN website. One added complication is that, in the ‘IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE - DO NOT IGNORE’ which was posted and emailed by LAN in December 2011, it was stated that they would charge 10% interest above base rate for the sum outstanding. Although LAN have said that they will not use the courts to recover this money - that they consider is due, an opinion which is disputed - they have not stated that they are writing off what they consider to be the outstanding membership fees or the interest.
There have been various suggestions such as referring this matter to Moneybox and Watchdog.
However, one might conclude that this rather nebulous situation is not a very satisfactory state in which to leave matters
In view of this lack of clarity I will be sending my comments on this situation and any information I have on the way LAN operated to:
Unfair Contract Terms Team,
The Financial Services Authority,
25 The North Colonnade,
Canary Wharf,
London, E14 5HS.
This may be on no benefit to those who have paid LAN £240 to escape legal action, but it may help to stop such situations arising in the future. When campaigns such as this are started, it would be preferable if there were firm guide lines to be adhered to so that such misunderstandings as have occurred, cannot arise in the future. Others who have encountered these problems might like to send any comments and info. they have to the same address. The more information the FSA gets the better will it be able to form an opinion and if necessary, provide some rules on the way that such appeals operate.