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MarkyMarkD

iwantmymoneyback wrote: »

Quick question for martin!!!! If the banks have stopped paying out untill the result of the court then surely they shouldn't be taking any money for charges either. how comes it works one way and not another!!!!

It works one way and not the other because 99% of the payments to date have been discretionary goodwill payments and not court awarded. There is no case of legal precedent which is binding on anyone - hence the test case. Until that case is heard, there is no declaration regarding the unlawfulness of charges and hence no reason why banks should stop debiting charges to anyone's account.

confuseddotcom_3

Hi Everyone!

First post so bear with me:o !

I submitted my claim at the beginning of June. I had a letter dated 10/07/07
saying the following:

As you know, we are currently investigating your complaint that you raised with Abbey four weeks ago. I am sorry for the delay you are experiencing and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued patience.

Our research is taking longer than expected because we want to make sure a full investigation is done. If we are unable to complete our investigation beforehand, we will write to you again in four weeks time to let you know how we are gettting on.

I am sorry that it is taking longer than originally thought and we would like to reassure you that your complaint is important to us.:rotfl:

Now call me cynical but it smacks of delay tactics to me and if they are delaying, what were they anticipating? Perhaps a stop to all claims because they knew something was afoot? Is this then not akin to insider trading which is illegal? Is there a point of law here somewhere (or at least a comparison)? How many others have had similar letters? And also can we not get some petition e-mail going which would tell the FSA that we are not happy with how they have handled things especially as they are supposed to be there for the man in the street's benefit. I'm fed up of these instititutions messing with my life without me having any say. And if we can't get a petition going, then how about a rock concert? It seems to be the best way to pressure ruling bodies nowadays and get their attention. It certainly works for others. (I THINK I'm only joking about that one).

Anyway, I have now written to them saying that I don't buy their delay tactics, am now applying interest and I will be going to the small claims court and the letter serves as notice of intent. Unless they settle out of court.:p

I hope this is the right way to do it.

So can we get a petition or something going?

With kind regards but

Still

confuseddotcom

mandyminx

Hi,
Can someone help me please, i was just waiting for the banks reply to the letter to take them to court for my charges but with the new test case come up it is going to be put on hold. I have read Martyns emergency guide and it says as follows:
Q: I am currently having financial difficulties, is there any way to reclaim?
A: The waiver that allows banks to suspend claims does not apply to people who are having financial difficulties, also known as a hardship case. Banks will have to conduct a filtering process to ensure that cases of genuine hardship are still dealt with during the waiver period.

The reason i have quoted this is i was really hoping to get the money back as we are due to lose our house and have a a long list of bills behind. My husband unexpectically lost his job and it really put us in a bad finacial situation.
Should we just go ahead with court or wait for the bank to answer i'm really confused and upset to what to do next.
Mandy

GarethR

Hi all, I wonder if anyone can advise me on my situation.

I got a rejection from Halifax some time ago, i then rang & said I wanted the case re evaluating, the lad said no problem but they had until 30th August, I have basically left them too it.

Obviously given the new ruling that things are on hold do I ring them & see what they say, as I suppose I will get the reply of 'Things are on hold mate'

If this is the answer am I able to pursue through the courts as someone suggested in this thread, think it was edinburghlass? In all honesty I would accept the £864 in charges but if I have to go via the courts it's £1300+ my MCOL.

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks guys n gals

G

:beer:

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Edinburghlass_2

I would certainly try phoning them but it could be they will say that offer is no longer on the table unless you have a letter that you can return accepting the offer. If that is the case then you need to start court proceedings, please read Martin's update here...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges-alert

jase301

Hiya moneysavers,

Just a quickie to give a bit of hope to anyone who already has a court date for their claim, and is wondering whether the bank will still pay. My claim with HSBC was due in court tomorrow (1st August), after a telephone offer £600 short last week which i declined, i have today £2602 in my bank account, accompanied by a letter in the post this morning. The full settlement!
If you already have your court date, hopefully you will still get your money.
Hope this has been of some help to some of you.
Jase.

techspec

mandyminx wrote: »

Hi,
Can someone help me please, i was just waiting for the banks reply to the letter to take them to court for my charges but with the new test case come up it is going to be put on hold. I have read Martyns emergency guide and it says as follows:
Q: I am currently having financial difficulties, is there any way to reclaim?
A: The waiver that allows banks to suspend claims does not apply to people who are having financial difficulties, also known as a hardship case. Banks will have to conduct a filtering process to ensure that cases of genuine hardship are still dealt with during the waiver period.

The reason i have quoted this is i was really hoping to get the money back as we are due to lose our house and have a a long list of bills behind. My husband unexpectically lost his job and it really put us in a bad finacial situation.
Should we just go ahead with court or wait for the bank to answer i'm really confused and upset to what to do next.
Mandy

Martin has released further advice today:-


Q: What else can I do if I am living on benefits?
A: If you rely on benefits for your main income, such as Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance, there is still possibly a way you can claim; though it relies on slightly different law. All past claims have been based on contract laws but there is another law called the Social Security Administration Act 1992, which says that banks must not take charges from benefits as this money is needed for a person to live on.
If you are in this situation, contact your bank to tell them that you are living on benefits and it should process your compliant. If it still does not help, contact the Financial Ombudsman, but make sure you tell it that you are receiving benefits and your case will be dealt with. For details on contacting the Ombudsman see the main Bank Charges Reclaiming article.

Q: I am currently having financial difficulties, is there any way to reclaim?
A: The waiver that allows banks to suspend claims does not apply to people who are having financial difficulties, also known as a hardship case. Banks will have to conduct a filtering process to ensure that cases of genuine hardship are still dealt with during the waiver period.
Although there is no firm definition of what genuine hardship is, it generally applies if you are not able to deal with your debts, for example you have mortgage arrears and lots of credit card debt that you cannot afford to pay back.
If your bank is not able to help you can also send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman who will decide if your case can be dealt with before the test case is resolved. For details on contacting the Ombudsman see the main Bank Charges reclaiming article.


Make sure you write to the bank, informing them that you are claiming under the 'hardship' rules. Enclose a copy of your claim.

If you get no joy, then go to the ombudsman. Only after the ombudsman has finished with the case, should you consider court. But from what you have said, the Ombudsman should be able to help you.

If you goto court now, you risk the case being stayed (delayed until after the test case), or losing, and you will NOT be able to then go to the Ombudsman.

Hope this helps.

Leaf

MSE_Martin wrote: »

PLEASE NOTE. THIS IS NOT A THREAD FOR DISCUSSING THE RIGHTS AND WRONG OF RECLAIMING. THERE ARE PLENTY OF OTHER THREADS FOR THAT.

PLEASE KEEP THIS THREAD TO SUGGESTED QUESTIONS THAT WE NEED TO KNOW THE ANSWER.

E.g. (more for my own notes than any other)

i. Will court fees be refunded via MCOL if cases won't be heard.
ii. Will cases currently scheduled still be heard
iii. Will cases that haven't been acknolodges via MCOL still go through
iv. What will happen to cases that have already been put to the FOS.

martin

There are many more questions. The main one being what will be the outcome of any ruling as regards exact monetry cost of charges. There are interim questoins. as you have stated. I understand these are important to you Martin in establishing the case for those in the process of reclaiming charges. I would suggest they continue with the process regardless. For many reasons, one of which is to continue putting them through the heartache we have all suffered in this process.
Right now emotions are high. We must take stock, gather information and make change.
Guess that sounds like crap, but NarWest has made me jump through so many hoops I have a right to be be paranoid!

Leaf

annalisa

blodwyn wrote: »

Phew! Did you contact moneyclaim online, or the court that the case was allocated to?

Thanks

Kate

I contacted my local court which is dealing with my claim m8, if you havn't heard from your court yet then moneyclaim would be the route to take i would guess.

Re:

Annalisa

Elise1309

MarkyMark - I read your comments with interest. Particularly 'there is no declaration regarding the unlawfulness of charges and hence no reason why banks should stop debiting charges to anyone's account.'

I think it's very important to remember that for the terms of any contract to be enforceable they have to be reasonable. The banks terms clearly aren't as we all know it doesn't cost £40 to send a computer generated letter by second class mail. Critically, they won't give a breakdown of account related costs to attempt to justify them, because they know they are overcharging. Thus the assumption that there needs to be a 'declaration of unlawfullness' re the charges is incorrect. They are not reasonable - hence they are not enforceable, whether there is a 'test case' or not.