Bank Charges OFT Test Case Discussion

impoverished_2

Anyone else in a bizarre situation likemyself? Waiting for the QA to come through, HSBC has until 8 August. However, reading the Q&A that Martin has posted all may not be lost and a protracted period of time not involved. Not having heard from the bank I went down the Daily Mail 4th stage (this was before I found this site) and made application to the court using moneyclaim, done on a Sunday. The following day I had a letter from HSBC asking me to respond to their correspondence, I wrote back to them advising that I had received no correspondence from them and could they copy it to me. I have had no further written communication from them. During the course of a telephone call they stated that they had posted out an offer letter, £3500, I believe £1k short of my unlawful charges, they have still failed to furnish me with the copy correspondence so I have no documentary evidence of the offer. Martin has posted that claimants have 2 months to accept the offer, I am getting jittery and would rather secure £3500 than loose £4500. Can I go down the Freedom of Information Act route to secure the evidence that they have made me an offer? Should I cut my losses? Could I enter into negotiations with HSBC to up the offer? Advice please need to make a decision before 8 August.

cobrien

I have submitted my claim to the fos on the fos form i had to say i had not taken or started court action but if the ombudsman is likely to halt cases until the test case is resolved can i start court action now or should i wait until the outcome of the test case.

I'm confused

gillyj_4

After 7 months of going through the reclaim process, I attended court today. After the OFT announcement last week I was pretty confused about the whole sittuation. However my case still went ahead today. Barclays did not turn up much to the judges annoyance. She did award me the full amount claimed, plus my court costs of £120 plus a days pay from work that I had lost. In total I was awarded £1,749.00. The Judge was aware of the OFT test case but decided to go ahead and deal with my case. From what I could make out it is up to the individual judge or circuit judge to decide if they want to continue to hear cases or not. Today I was luck in that she decided to go ahead with my case (possibly because she was annoyed that the bank had not turned up).
Please dont give up with your claims. If you get to the court stage make sure you have prepared your case thoroughly if you are representing yourself as I did. The judge today literally checked my list of charges against my actual bank statements, not all of them but randomly checked about 20 of them. I was so glad that I had been meticulous in my preparation.
A big thank you to Martin and this web site because without it I would never have had the courage to take on the might of Barclays. Thank you!

ASHRG

hi i was given judgement against my bank last thursday as they didnt reply in 14 days.will mine still hold or will they ask for it to be put on hold??

slm14767

What happens in situations like mine, the Halifax were due to send me an offer by July 25th, I rang on 26th saying I hadn't received it, they were apologetic and said I would receive in next few days. Now I have been told all cases suspended until court decision. The Halifax agree that they promised me my offer by July 25th, but despite me arguing my case, they say there is nothing they can do. Is this the case?

Rayvey

What happens to the banks' record destruction policies while the court decision is pending. If records after 6 years are destroyed the banks will save a huge amount of money; it will be a great advantage to delay a final legal decsion as long as possible.
I submitted a claim just before the 27th July and have now written to my bank asking them not to destroy any of my records prior to the final court ruling.

Stokey125

Rayvey wrote: »

What happens to the banks' record destruction policies while the court decision is pending. If records after 6 years are destroyed the banks will save a huge amount of money; it will be a great advantage to delay a final legal decsion as long as possible.
I submitted a claim just before the 27th July and have now written to my bank asking them not to destroy any of my records prior to the final court ruling.

You are not supposed to destroy any records relevant to ongoing litigation until after it has been concluded.

ihatenatwest

After reading the bulletin on the test case and the FSA's slightly biased decision to give the banks a rest from repaying our cash (ah bless they are down to their last few quid!) i quote the following from your text:

"Sadly arguing against a stay won’t necessarily be easy, and probably shouldn’t be attempted without detailed research, preparation and an understanding of the Court process. It’s the type of thing we’ll be doing deliberately with lawyers in a select number of cases to try and establish some precedent."

I have just got my court date allocated - early Oct in York. Want to use mine as a test bed?

get in touch if you do....

Cheers

piggyBankMan

The Halifax hasnt sent me my bank charges or my mortgage charges...they responded with a delaying tactic letter....am i reduced to waiting for the test case to be completed before i can deal with this then ???

Help...

Lotta_Littlies

Well done gillyj! :T

Lotta