Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges article discussion Part II

BasilSeal_2

Please do tell more when you're able to Val, particularly on what grounds you asked the stay to be removed on, and why the court though these grounds insufficient for removal of the stay.

agnes_2

OK Basil, I will post it here in full, apologies if you think its a bit long!!


Well we survived the hearing, but no luck with the stay, no surprise there then met up with
Jenny, which was great, we both felt so nervous, it really helped being in it together, jenny did brilliantly, only 3 of us turned up out of 5, the third was a chap from the sites called butterbean his case was against HSBC, and behind us in court were 4 legal trainees from the university, and a man with Bs solicitor who she referred to as ' a mini clerk' ! ( if I got that right) HSBCs solicitor was there and ours both female (young girls) we arrived at 10am, the judge was late due to another case took longer than expected, and our case finished at 1 oclock! Not the 10mins they told us then. there was a tremendous amount of legal jargon, the judge explained the impending OFT case to us in full! we each had our turn to speak and to be fair the judge seemed to be symathetic, the banks solicitors had their turn, and this time (just our luck) made a meal of it, finally the judge summed up and made his decision, we already knew that because he told us at the start! we had all asked for the conditions in the alternative to be adhered to, but he refused that as well.

The judge told us that even if we got the stay lifted and eventually got a hearing, we wouln’t get a date until next year and probably after the OFT case, even then if we won that case, we would not get our money, because nothing is being paid out until the ultimate decision is made. The case in January will only be the beginning, as which ever side wins will appeal so it probably goes to the House of Lords and it may even go as far as Europe so it could take 1-2 years before it finishes.
Judge Hickenbottom was very considerate of the fact that we are nervous, when he finished his address, he asked each one in turn to speak, it isn’t as bad as you think, just speak out, he seemd understanding. He asked if we wanted to withdraw the application since there was no advantage one way or the other now that they will not pay out anyway, and gave us 10 minutes to decide he left the room so we could discuss it amongst ourselves. I decided to withdraw my application but asked if the conditions could be applied mainly for me to have the penalty charges stopped until the outcome of test case, he asked barclays solicitor and she she went on and on about the cost to Barclays would be far too much as they would have to check accounts manually, (surely this was confirmation of the main point she more or less admitted automated penalties cost very little? The Judge was not impressed by this, but in the end he did not agree to apply the conditions.
When the Bs solicitor was giving her boring long speal, she referred to my personal status of my overdraft, that I had £1000 in my overdraft account, I am not incurring penalties ! my hand went up (so did my hackles) , the judge said I would have my chance to respond later. When I did I said Your honour ever since I began this claim in January this year I have constantly been moving money into this account from 0% credit cards, in an effort to prevent these penatly charges and that means that my debt now stands at £8000. With the current account £4000 (overdraft limit £5000) Nat west A& L and MBNA credit cards and if I hadn’t done this the account would be over the limit by £4000.+ thousands of charges!!! This was her sad attempt to make the judge think I am not suffering hardship. Oh jolly good I can go out and spend £1000 hahaha I know that by the end of next week the payments due out will mean that I will be up to or over the limit once again. I will be lucky to pay off the cards in time before the promotion date is up ! this is how it snowballs.
We achieved nothing other than the invaluable experience of a court hearing, the judge understood that we had missed out getting our money as he agreed that before the announcement Bs were paying out, he would be writing to us with reasons for turning us down after he had heard a few more cases by next week. He did say something about the letter being a benefit to us.

This means that as much as I don’t want to say it, I think all this work to uplift the stays is now pointless. I suggest you just sit back and wait and watch the OFT case.

inmypocketnottheirs

Agnes wrote: »

inmypocketnottheirs,thankyou for that info I for one was completely ignorant to that fact, MANY THANKS to DAVE SMITH he must be as brilliant as Martin, we must all stand together on this because the lies cheating and stealing is spiraling out of control. val

do you want me to post my story of events at court on Friday??

We would all love to know how you get on. Good luck - not that you need it!

spanielsmum

Bank: Halifax
Amount Reclaimed:£4501 + £582.55 interest
Amount they paid: Nothing so far
The story: Request for warrant execution has been sent to Halifax County Court but they inform me that the Bailiffs wait to batch claims together before applying to the Halifax for settlement and this could take 12 months. Also told that the Halifax is applying to the court for a stay on the judgement - can they do this even though they did not contest the original claim?

Anoter claim is pending for £4923.94 which their solicitors told the court had already been paid into my account. Two months later the money has still not been paid.

Have received £1843.39 for a third claim (settlement in full) even though the Halifax told the court that they were contesting the whole amount - methinks that at the Halifax the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. I urge every body to do a Northern Rock and put your money elsewhere!!!

fullingdale

spanielsmum wrote: »

Also told that the Halifax is applying to the court for a stay on the judgement - can they do this even though they did not contest the original claim?

Apparently, and unfortunately it seems that they can ... as the HSBC are doing with me.

Palerie-head

Agnes wrote: »

OK Basil, I will post it here in full, apologies if you think its a bit long!!


Well we survived the hearing, but no luck with the stay, no surprise there then met up with
Jenny, which was great, we both felt so nervous, it really helped being in it together, jenny did brilliantly, only 3 of us turned up out of 5, the third was a chap from the sites called butterbean his case was against HSBC, and behind us in court were 4 legal trainees from the university, and a man with Bs solicitor who she referred to as ' a mini clerk' ! ( if I got that right) HSBCs solicitor was there and ours both female (young girls) we arrived at 10am, the judge was late due to another case took longer than expected, and our case finished at 1 oclock! Not the 10mins they told us then. there was a tremendous amount of legal jargon, the judge explained the impending OFT case to us in full! we each had our turn to speak and to be fair the judge seemed to be symathetic, the banks solicitors had their turn, and this time (just our luck) made a meal of it, finally the judge summed up and made his decision, we already knew that because he told us at the start! we had all asked for the conditions in the alternative to be adhered to, but he refused that as well.

The judge told us that even if we got the stay lifted and eventually got a hearing, we wouln’t get a date until next year and probably after the OFT case, even then if we won that case, we would not get our money, because nothing is being paid out until the ultimate decision is made. The case in January will only be the beginning, as which ever side wins will appeal so it probably goes to the House of Lords and it may even go as far as Europe so it could take 1-2 years before it finishes.
Judge Hickenbottom was very considerate of the fact that we are nervous, when he finished his address, he asked each one in turn to speak, it isn’t as bad as you think, just speak out, he seemd understanding. He asked if we wanted to withdraw the application since there was no advantage one way or the other now that they will not pay out anyway, and gave us 10 minutes to decide he left the room so we could discuss it amongst ourselves. I decided to withdraw my application but asked if the conditions could be applied mainly for me to have the penalty charges stopped until the outcome of test case, he asked barclays solicitor and she she went on and on about the cost to Barclays would be far too much as they would have to check accounts manually, (surely this was confirmation of the main point she more or less admitted automated penalties cost very little? The Judge was not impressed by this, but in the end he did not agree to apply the conditions.
When the Bs solicitor was giving her boring long speal, she referred to my personal status of my overdraft, that I had £1000 in my overdraft account, I am not incurring penalties ! my hand went up (so did my hackles) , the judge said I would have my chance to respond later. When I did I said Your honour ever since I began this claim in January this year I have constantly been moving money into this account from 0% credit cards, in an effort to prevent these penatly charges and that means that my debt now stands at £8000. With the current account £4000 (overdraft limit £5000) Nat west A& L and MBNA credit cards and if I hadn’t done this the account would be over the limit by £4000.+ thousands of charges!!! This was her sad attempt to make the judge think I am not suffering hardship. Oh jolly good I can go out and spend £1000 hahaha I know that by the end of next week the payments due out will mean that I will be up to or over the limit once again. I will be lucky to pay off the cards in time before the promotion date is up ! this is how it snowballs.
We achieved nothing other than the invaluable experience of a court hearing, the judge understood that we had missed out getting our money as he agreed that before the announcement Bs were paying out, he would be writing to us with reasons for turning us down after he had heard a few more cases by next week. He did say something about the letter being a benefit to us.

This means that as much as I don’t want to say it, I think all this work to uplift the stays is now pointless. I suggest you just sit back and wait and watch the OFT case.

I totally feel for you. I was in court yesterday, just me, the judge and a HSBC barrister. Mine was a foregone conclusion as well, I had my say but the judge said he didn't have any choice and was setting aside my judgement which was given by default on 25/7 (before the test case was announced!) and putting a stay on my claim.

I felt angry, upset and totally cheated. :mad:

agnes_2

Hi yes I feel like that, because I had the directions hearing date August 14th which was blanket stayed, and I was in contact with the litigation team in London( Sharon Daboul) was handling my claim, she was about to look into its merits the week the announcement was made, and on the 10th I was informed the case was stayed, if only it had been a bit earlier I think they would have settled, its only £1091, which isn't much to them!

Becki-Boo_2

Oh dear - I have just read the notes posted regarding attempting to lift a period of stay. I have just received an application from portsmouth court to have the stay lifted (a further £75.00 and if i loose court case there are costs to pay!). I originally made a claim for £8,100 (£6,000 plus interest) in January 2007. Like many others I was in touching distance of having my case heard when the test case was announced.

I have written letters to Portsmouth courts on the basis of hardship as I have debts of around £4,000 (including council tax and mortgagae arrears) and I have been liaising with the C.A.B to resolve my debts. I have paid £240 with MCOL, I have also spent £100 allocation fee and a to spend a further £75.00 for the application to lift the period of stay, is beginning to sound futile and a waste of money if my chances are very slim.


I have always remained very positive about holding in there, but reading the last few posts have kind of taken my feet from under me.....

Any advice would be greatly received PLEASE

agnes_2

You seem to have been somewhat unfairly treated, I know things vary with different courts in different parts of the country, but in Cardiff court I was told not to submit the allocation, and then when it came to the applicatoin to uplift the stay, they waived the fee. Perhaps you should ask for the fee to be waived. Also the judge basically would not allow the banks to ask for costs when we lost the case. good luck

katie1

WELL DONE to you all ,
its only cos i read these success stories i carry on. I started in july wrote to all bank,credit cards etc.... only a few have sent subject access requests to me its like banging my head on a brick wall they just dont send them or if they do its not a complete copy.

Im gonna keep going though thanks to reading all your stories !!!