Stop Press - View On Oft/bank Announcement

spacey2930

hi there,

i had already got a letter from my court in Medway stating that HSBC had until 31/08/07 to either log a proper defence stating how they come to their charging figures or pay up the disputed amount. this was a judge looking at the cases and it was his decision that got me this letter.

could anyone verify that this means the court will honour their ruling as this may actually affect the whole outcome of the OFT/FSA/Banks case if they do actually lodge a 'proper defence'. this could mean that i get my money anyway if they don't lodge said defence.

has anyone else had such a letter?

Stokey125

spacey2930 wrote: »

hi there,

i had already got a letter from my court in Medway stating that HSBC had until 31/08/07 to either log a proper defence stating how they come to their charging figures or pay up the disputed amount. this was a judge looking at the cases and it was his decision that got me this letter.

could anyone verify that this means the court will honour their ruling as this may actually affect the whole outcome of the OFT/FSA/Banks case if they do actually lodge a 'proper defence'. this could mean that i get my money anyway if they don't lodge said defence.

has anyone else had such a letter?

If the Judge ordered that they must file a proper defence then they have no alternative but to file. The only alternative is to apply to have the order set aside and on such an application you can object as teh order does not have any bearing on the High Court case and it would be unfair for you to be made to wait indefinitely for information that can be provided now.

Lexis200

Here's a couple of thoughts...

1. The banks stand to lose around £10 billion if this case goes against them. What's to stop them from making an out of court agreement to the OFT that if they stop the case, the banks will start up a "help a poor person" type scheme for, say, £500 million. Cuts their losses, allows them to continue fleecing the poor person, and the OFT tells us then banks are really "nice people" for thinking of us like that.

2. Someone above mentioned that Martin should start a petition on the Downing Street website, and someone else pointed to one already running. Doing a search for Bank Charges brings up 45 different petitions, most with just a few sigs, and just one with a reasonable amount (9500 ish). If Martin were to start one and publish it in the weekly newsletter, just think how many sigs it could get! The PM would have to respond to that one!

3. Will we get a fair test case outcome, what with the banks having so much to lose? They must have one hell of a big fighting fund, and I'm sure that if they can do deals like this test case behind closed doors, I wouldn't put it past them to "influence" people to see their side of the problem (just think of all the shareholders getting cross at not having such a big dividend next year... they'll be furious at not being able to buy that new speedboat or racehorse they wanted).

Call me cynical, but I reckon the deal has already been done and the court case is just a show to make it look like the OFT is still on the side of the "little people".

Dave

Stokey125

Lexis200 wrote: »

3. Will we get a fair test case outcome, what with the banks having so much to lose? They must have one hell of a big fighting fund, and I'm sure that if they can do deals like this test case behind closed doors, I wouldn't put it past them to "influence" people to see their side of the problem (just think of all the shareholders getting cross at not having such a big dividend next year... they'll be furious at not being able to buy that new speedboat or racehorse they wanted).

Call me cynical, but I reckon the deal has already been done and the court case is just a show to make it look like the OFT is still on the side of the "little people".

Dave

Actually from what I know about the OFT's lawyers there is no chance of a stitch up . The case will be handled properly. In fact most of them are likely to have had to face these charges themselves so are more likely to do thier best to make sure they win. I suspect despite what the banks have been saying they did not voluntarily agree to this test case it was probably the best of some unpalatable choices.

Newstart_4

i realy dont understand why some people on this thread are professing all this doom & gloom, THE COURTS HAVE NOT SAID ANYTHING IS ON HOLD.

the banks have said COMPLAINTS are on hold, so has the FO but thats it,

natwest (and no doubt others) claim they will ask for county court cases to be suspended but that doesnt mean the courts will take any notice, and you have a right to request the motion be denied if they do.

so why the hell try and pre-judge what the county court will do, why make the assumption the bank will even win the test case in the high court??

the OFT have been investigating the banks charging practices and are now proceeding to sue the banks, there investigation has obviously led them to believe that the banks are in the WRONG.

otherwise they could have just as easily made an anoucements saying the investigation is complete and we are satisfied the banks are doing nothing wrong.

theres loads of good info on this topic and a lot to be posative about a lot of wich seems to be coming from people with some insight on how things work in the legal system.

so stop ignoring it, stop worying, stop doom mongering and get a posative head on,

have you just not got enough drama in your life already?

all you doom mongerers and worriers take note of this please, your just beating your selves up for no reason at this stage.

your just digging your own hole now, with all this doom.

if you must beat your self up, atleast do it for ever believing that banks are fair and honest, and letting them walk all over you.

DONT GIVE UP ON THIS ITS WAY TO IMPORTANT, KEEP THE PRESSURE ON, DONT LET THE BANKS THINK WE WILL GO AWAY, AND NO MATTER WHAT DONT EVER LET THEM THINK ITS BUSINESS AS USUAL.

any bank that refuses to let a £2.50 DD go thru cos it will over draw me, yet is happy to then immediaty over draw me for their 38 quid penalty needs a damn site more than i b1**ch slap in the high court. IMHO

credit check?? yeah alright then, i am i realy that bad a risk? £2.50 :rotfl: it was for charity you misserable money grabbers.:mad:

seem im worth the risk and the credit check can be ignored when they want to over draw me nearly 200 quid for their penalty charges in 1 day tho.:rolleyes:

metalmuttversion2

As my case has now been passed to the local court i think all we can do now is see what develops, hopefully we can continue as normal while this OFT case is in progress.
The one problem i see with the case against the banks is that if the OFT wins then the banks could very easily appeal against the ruling which could tie this issue up for months!

I hope martin has some news for us all soon!

natweststaffmember

They will appeal and it will go on for years, which is good for cases stayed as s.69 8% daily interest will add up over those years.

pragmatista

Just stumbled across this article in today's timesonline site

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/consumer_affairs/article2155514.ece

Could it be that things are starting to move, and in our direction??

natweststaffmember

This statement was released about 19 hours after the OFT announcement of a court case. Pity it took so long for the obvious to become aware. It is an interesting article to read.

Slippylizard

The BIG question is timescales. The fact is that the FSA should not have allowed the banks to stop investigating the current complaints. It will save the banks a fortune and people are going to have to wait now until/if they get any money back.

By allowing the banks to stall complaint investigation the FSA has vitually taken the banks side. The FSA is a toothless tiger anyway and really does nothing to really hurt those at fault. :mad:

The whole system of complaints should continue immediately or the banks and OFT should be prioritised so that a holding decision is made with in 6 months and no longer.