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Today marks the 8th birthday of the LegalBeagles consumer law website & help forum and we would like to thank all our members for making the last 12 months the most successful ever. We’d particularly like to thank those contributors who regularly and unselfishly give their time and knowledge to help others across the forums. We are very proud of how the forum has developed into one where consumers can feel comfortable asking for guidance without fear of being judged.
The last year has certainly been a busy one! We’ve seen a massive 40% rise in our membership and we’re currently welcoming nearly 50 new registered members a day as well as over 2 million visitors per year. Our site now has a global traffic ranking in the top 1%.
We’ve seen significant successes in the courts including Foster-Burnell v Lloyds which was the first bank charges case to be won since the Supreme Court judgment in 2009 and Grace v Black Horse in the Court of Appeal which established new case law on the registration of defaults on credit files where the agreement is deemed unenforceable. In each case both the claimants and their legal representatives & counsel were Beagles’ members and we’d particularly like to thank barrister Tom Brennan for his dogged determination in securing both victories.
There have been numerous other successes, too many to mention, in other areas across the forum including claims from lenders, debt collectors and parking companies.
We are committed to helping consumers understand the court system and legal processes and not feeling intimidated, enabling them to stand up for their rights to get the fairest outcome. We are fighting against detrimental changes in the legal world and campaigning for improvement, particularly in accessibility and transparency.
Since the beginning of the year we’ve been particularly busy in assisting a large number of members defend spurious court claims from the ‘copycat’ website British Passport Services of which we’ve won all 3 of the cases heard so far. The issue has attracted prominent media coverage and we are working closely with the relevant authorities to put an end to the consumer detriment it is causing.
Whilst scams & fraud have always been around in one form or another, over the last 2 years LegalBeagles have seen a dramatic increase in reports of online sales fraud, phishing emails and other various cyber enabled fraud.
LegalBeagles now play an active role in the prevention, disruption and detection of scams against the consumer, using the website, forum and social media channels to raise awareness about the latest issues.
Working together with anti-fraud agencies, banks, law enforcement agencies and other organisations across the UK & Europe, on average we help close around 10-15 “mule” accounts per week. Removing the enablers of fraud and financial crime has become a major part of our work to help the consumer although much of this work is carried out in the background with the results generally unseen by the public.
In support of, and in addition to, Scams Awareness Month in July of this year we plan to launch a national campaign. Look out for the hashtags #scamaware & #fraudaware in the coming months and share where you can.
We’re looking forward to the next year with confidence and we’ll be concentrating our efforts on ensuring consumers are treated fairly in all areas of their lives.
We have quite an exciting year ahead and we look forward to sharing the coming months, and years, with you all.
Kate, Sharon & the LegalBeagles Team
Read more at: http://legalbeagles.info/legalbeagle...#ixzz3aOTW7BiN
Here's hoping LB goes from strength to strength!
Happy Birthday to us and huge thanks to all you guys that spend hours and hours reading and posting on here to help others. You are all wonderful xxx
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