Bank charges county court case about to close. advise please.

sensei_aki

Hello fellow MSE forum users.

I have a question about claiming bank charges. My case was put on hold at the county court a couple of years back. This was while the banks were doing their appeal cases. The banks won their case and I thought this meant that my claim would be dismissed and I couldnt continue with it.

I received a letter the other day which reads along the lines of: If I dont apply to the court to amend my claim or otherwise proceed, the claim will be dismissed with no orders as to costs.

I wondered if, before the claim does finally close, whether there was anything further I could do? Is it still possible to continue with my claim?

Thankyou for reading and I hope you can help.

Brian

Premier_2

Yes you can attempt to continue the claim.

Read the MSE guide to reclaiming in court. Note it will cost you even more money, and no one has posted here to say they have won in court since the Supreme Court decision back in November 2009.

I suggest you don't waste your money, and just let the claim old die. If you do decide to pursue it, take note of the possible huge financial risk the MSE article hints at by claiming.

sensei_aki

Hello Premier

Thankyou for replying so swiftly to my post. I was just wondering if the same costs and risk applies as I am currently unemployed at this moment? Should I still let the claim end/close?

Thanks for your help

Premier_2

How would you think your personal employment status would affect the court costs or your likelihood of success of any legal claim? :huh:

If you are suggesting you are in genuine financial hardship, read the main MSE guide to reclaiming bank charges. That has nothing to do with a legal challenge and so has no basis of a legal claim in court.

Read the sticky on financial hardship online resources to understand better what financial hardship is deemed to be in this respect and how it may affect you with regards to reclaiming bank charges.

Evidence from posts here suggests you have no chance of recovering any bank charges from years ago (which presumably is what your old court claim is about) using the argument of financial hardship - typically only charges in the last 6 months may be refunded on that basis and that is no guarantee as there is no requirement for the banks to refund you anything.

sensei_aki

Hello premier

Many thanks for the quick and indepth response as always, but is it me or do I get the feeling that your response is slightly talking down at me? Are you puzzled by me asking this question at all? I am just a genuine forum user asking a question, I'm not trying to waste anyones time, honestly. I genuinely do not know how to proceed next, if at all. I just asked, instead of reading through the huge MSE guide, to get a quick and up to date response from someone who knew.

Thanks anyway for letting me know.

Brian

Premier_2

I am not having a go at you, I am just genuinely puzzled at your questions.

If you go to tesco, do you get a discount on your bill because you are unemployed?
If you buy your energy fom EDF, do you get a discount becuase you are unemployed?
If you need a plumber, do you get a discount because you are unemployed?

That is why I am puzzled as to why you think the court costs will vary because you are unemployed.

The advice given to you about possibly claiming on the basis of financial hardship (yes a bit of a generalisation, but I was trying to think what else you could be thinking of) is good advice based on the experiences of others who have posted here - you won't get the charges from years ago refunded by claiming financial hardship now.
Claiming based on financial hardship is not even a matter for the courts to consider.

Sorry if it's not what you want to hear, but I don't want to mislead you.

As regards the court case, let it drop. No one has won in court over bank fees since the Supreme Court decision in November 2009 ... and attempting to do so now is not without financial risk.

podperson

As you are unemployed you would be able to claim for help on your court fees if that's what you mean? However you would still have the risk of being made liable for the other sides costs and as Premier points out no one has had any success in court with the new legal argument yet.