Alliance and Leicester

noodlesdoodles

Hi All

I would really appreciate some advice. I have been trying to reclaim my bank charges from the Alliance and Leicester for years. They come to around £250. I followed all of the steps and in the end took them to the Sheriff Court. I was granted decree and they were told to pay up. This was way back in 2007.

I have written to them many times asking for the money but they point blank refuse to pay.

In their last letter they said they would not pay and if I had a problem then I should go to the Ombudsman. I did this but the Ombudsman came back and said that they couldn't get involved as their was a court case

I really don't know what to do. I know it's not that much money but it's the principal of the thing. If I owed money and was taken to court I don't think I could get away with just not paying!!

Any advice gratefully received.

N

Premier_2

What reason are they giving to refuse to pay?

The ombudsman doesn't get involved in any claim that's gone to court, let alone trying to enforce a judgement (decree) the court made.
You'll need to go back to court to enforce the judgement if they won't cough up.

The court will give you all the relevent details and the costs involved.

Was the judgement granted by default (i.e. after no response by defendant).

noodlesdoodles

The reason they are not paying up is because the Test Case decided charges were fair. After the judgement was made, which was by default, they put my complaint on hold.

I have spoken to the Court who put me in touch with the Sheriff Officer. The cost is £33 but they said that the problem is that if they then don't pay up there really isn't anywhere else to go. It's not like they can arrest their bank account!!! So it's a risk paying out more money as there is no guarantee I will get it back.

I've written to the bank and said that they have 14 days in which to pay otherwise I am going to go to the Sheriff Officer. It's the bloody principal of the matter that bugs me. Why should they be allowed to get away with it???

tifo

noodlesdoodles wrote: »

Why should they be allowed to get away with it???

Exactly. If it were you, there would be a CCJ in your name.

You could always apply to the high court to send bailiffs in to collect goods to the value of your judgment

podperson

If the judgement was already made in your favour when the test case went through then it shouldn't affect it - lots of people successfully reclaimed before this and they weren't expected to return their money because their judgements had already been settled. If the case was settled and they are refusing to pay then you can apply to the court to enforce this - and as mentioned above if they don't respond then baliffs can be sent in on them.

Premier_2

noodlesdoodles wrote: »

The reason they are not paying up is because the Test Case decided charges were fair. After the judgement was made, which was by default, they put my complaint on hold.

I have spoken to the Court who put me in touch with the Sheriff Officer. The cost is £33 but they said that the problem is that if they then don't pay up there really isn't anywhere else to go. It's not like they can arrest their bank account!!! So it's a risk paying out more money as there is no guarantee I will get it back.

I've written to the bank and said that they have 14 days in which to pay otherwise I am going to go to the Sheriff Officer. It's the bloody principal of the matter that bugs me. Why should they be allowed to get away with it???

There are many ways to enforce judgement. Go back to the court and ask again. No one gets arrested for failing to pay a civil claim.

But the bank are playing you.
What will happen is you will waste a load of money trying to enforce judgement, and then if you don't run out of money first, the bank will appeal against the default judgement, which will almost certainly be granted, and then they'll apply and get your claim struck out.

Result? You lose a load of money.
Best advice (imho) is to forget about it, in the knowledge that you have stuck a CCJ on the bank. (which'll be removed if you keep wasting money on this no hope case)

tifo

Premier wrote: »

forget about it, in the knowledge that you have stuck a CCJ on the bank.

which has absolutely no effect on the bank, exactly the opposite of the effect on an individual (by banks).

noodlesdoodles

Yep it's totally unfair! They seem to be able to please themselves!!!