Nat West County Court Claim

[Dev1003]

Nat West have made a county court claim agaist me for the sum of about £3200 for default in respect of overdraft i had. I have about £3800 in bank charges over the last six year to claim. So I need advice how to proceed. If i put a counterclaim for the charges the matter will end up in a court hearing what will the judge direct? The unfair charges at this stage are still a matter not resolved by the current test case. Any advice would be very useful.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Nat West have made a county court claim agaist me for the sum of about £3200 for default in respect of overdraft i had. I have about £3800 in bank charges over the last six year to claim. So I need advice how to proceed. If i put a counterclaim for the charges the matter will end up in a court hearing what will the judge direct? The unfair charges at this stage are still a matter not resolved by the current test case. Any advice would be very useful.

Have you acknowledged the claim yet?

[Budgie]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Your idea is Basically correct.

The best way to counteract their claim against you for the overdraft is to defend and counterclaim in the basis of their charges against you ( plus interest of course which would no doubt mean that they owe you more than you owe them ).

Probably the best way to handle matters is to request that the claim and counterclaim are stayed pending resolution of the test case ( Use their usual tactic against them !!!! ).

Please let us know ( as Nattie has requested ) whether you have acknowldeged the claim yet and what timescales are involved ( What is the latest date for you to submit your defence ).

Also, let us know a little bit more about the circumstances and we can then try to assist you further. For example, what prompted then to issue the claim against you and have you previously started a claim against them for return of charges? Do you consider yourself to be in severe financial hardship?

Rgds Budgie

[Dev1003]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Thanks for that - Got the claim form only today - Dated 15th Sept - So I have not acknowledged yet - I have letters from thier solicitors Irwin Mitchell back in April with seven day notice. I had also wrote to Nat West in March saying that the amount of £3646.43 had been taken as unfair charges and against the £3239.81 they are seeking from me i will accept a contra payment from them of £406.62.
Nat West wrote to me in March saying that until the OFT test case has been resolved i should pay them what is owed.
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
Also - Nat West have also recently sent me forms re: Hardship. Which i have not yet replied to - Yes i am in hardship

[Budgie]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Thanks for the quick update.

OK, first step, you need to acknowledge the claim against you.

Can you scan and post up the claim they have raised against you ( make sure you remove your personal details from the form inc the court case number ).

I will try and find a suitable counter claim POC for you to use when submitting your defence. Assuming that this is the way you wish to proceed ?

Another way to go would be to argue your hardship situation with NatWest and attempt to get them to drop the claim against you etc etc. However, the fact that they have gone ahead and issued their claim, knowing your possible hardship situation is perhaps an adequate demonstration of how much they really care and is also possibly in contravention of the FSA waiver.

Personally I would go the counterclaim route and force the Court to resolve the matter either by staying proceedings or by forcing NatWest into resolving your claim for charges in order that you can settle the outstanding overdraft.

Let us know how you wish to proceed.

Budgie

[Dev1003]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Yes i agree with you about the counterclaim route - i will post the acknowlegement online - in about a week
Many thanks

[Dev1003]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Please see attached the County Court Claim Form Received - I alos enclose letter from Irwin Mitchell dated 30th April - Note the figure of £2977.16 against the claim made of£3471.41
Should i now file the acknowledgement to countercalim or defend ? any advice would be greatly appreciated

[calamity jane]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Bumping for advice.



CJ

[Amethyst]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Yes file the acknowledgement to defend in full/counterclaim.

Then you need to prepare a spreadsheet of your charges and calculate the 8% pa. You can find one in the library.


this is a defence counterclaim Tools entered in a similar case a while ago - its still sitting on hold in the courts pending the outcome of the test case
am just amending a bit to remove penalty arguments.(yes it was that long ago)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Amethyst

case/claim No: [cLAim number]

In the Northampton County Court

YORKSHIRE BANK PLC

CLAIMANT

-AND-

TOOLS

DEFENDANT

DEFENCE

All allegations made in the particulars of claim are denied unless specifically admitted in this defence.

1: The Defendant had a personal bank account, account number xxxxxxxxxx hereinafter referred to as “the Account”, maintained at the Claimant's xxxxxxxxxx Branch sort code xx-xx-xx

2: The Account, at the time of the claim, is in debit by £3xx.xx.

3: The Defendant disputes the amount of £3xx.xx in full, it being made up of unauthorised transaction charges and debit interest and subsequent charges on the same. The Defendant avers that the charges are not intended to represent and are disproportionate to any alleged actual loss, in respect of any breaches of contract on the part of the Defendant, but instead unduly enrich the Claimant and therefore are not owed to the Claimant as claimed. It is the defendant's contention that these charges are unfair under The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulation 1999 SCHEDULE 2 Indicative and Non-Exhaustive List of terms which may be regarded as unfair (e) Requiring any consumer who fails to fulfill his obligation to pay a dis-proportionately high sum in compensation .

4: If the Claimant avers that these charges are reasonable, fair and proportionate, then the Claimant should reasonably be able to disclose evidence of their actual losses in relation to contractual breaches by the Defendant.
5: The Defendant has been in communication with the Claimant regarding the disputed amount. See Appendix 1a and 1b for copies of letters sent to the Claimant between DATE and DATE, acknowledged by the Claimant on DATE and DATE, Appendix 2a.6: The Defendant enters a counter claim for the full balance of the account and additional amounts as detailed on his schedule of charges in Appendix 3a.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

case/claim No: [cLAim number]

In the Northampton County Court

YORKSHIRE BANK PLC

CLAIMANT

-AND-

TOOLS

DEFENDANT

COUNTERCLAIM

1. The Claimant operated the account number(s) xxxxxxx ("the Account(s)") with the Defendant which was operated between approximately xx/xx/xxxx and xx/xx/xxxx(present day if still open)

2. During the period in which the Account (s)operated the Defendant levied disproportionate charges to the Account(s) The Claimant understands that the Defendant contends that the charges were debited in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract between itself and the Claimant. There was no negotiation on these terms.

3. A detailed schedule of charges levied is enclosed with this claim.

4: It is the claimants contention that these charges are unfair under The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulation 1999 SCHEDULE 2 Indicative and Non-Exhaustive List of terms which may be regarded as unfair (e) Requiring any consumer who fails to fulfill his obligation to pay a dis-proportionately high sum in compensation .

5: Insofar as they purport to be services provided by the Defendant, the High Court on the 24th April 2008 rejected the notion that the blocking of cheques, direct debits and so forth were services in the sense commonly understood. Furthermore the High Court held that the Defendant's charges were subject to tests of unfairness under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulation 1999. The Court of Appeal upheld this view on 26th February 2009.

6: The terms imposing the charges are unfair within the meaning of Regulation 5 (1) and thus not binding on the Claimant under Regulation 8.

7. Additionally, the Defendant makes reference to the following Office of Fair Trading cases, as reported in their Unfair Contract Terms Bulletin (21 July to September 2002). as persuasive authorities:
a. Case 4 - Dampcure-Woodcure/30Ltd
b. Case 15 - Kids of Wilmslow Ltd t/a kidsunlimited
c. Case 18 - Legal & General Franchising Ltd t/a Parkers Estate Agents


8. Accordingly the Claimant claims:

a) the return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £ xxx.xxx(charges total) and any interest charged thereon;

b) Any Court costs incurred by the claimant;

c) The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum, from the date of each charge as detailed on the attached schedule of charges to (the date you are issuing the claim) of £xxx.xx and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or settlement at a daily rate of £xx.xx per day

10. The Defendant reserves the right to further plead these particulars.

Statement of Truth


The Defendant believes that the contents of these particulars of claim are true

__________________

edited

[Dev1003]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Just another matter before i send the defence - The matter has been in dispute since March - Do i need to state that this matter should not have been raised in the county court whilst still in dispute. The dispute being unfair charges & interest.

[Sapphire]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

I would do it exactly as Amethyst has put it hun, you can always add to it later if needed.

[Dev1003]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Received Allocation Questionairre which needs to be filed by 5th Nov - Any suggestions??

[Dev1003]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Any Advice how to deal with this??!!

[Amethyst]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Do you want to pop up your defence you entered Dev ? Did you do a counterclaim or just defend the claim based oin unfair charges ?

See if you need any directions asking for.

[Dev1003]

Re: Nat West County Court Claim

Sent in Defence and Counterclaim as advised