hardship claim - have already been to court

[NOODLES1959]

i attempted to claim back between 7-8,000 from abbey nat. got a court date, paid court, solicitor and barrister fees upfront.

on the day of hearing, bank did not turn up - i 'won' my case. BUT the judge on the day did not make a settlement as he was awaiting the result of the test case. So technically i have a court order but dont know what to do next.

Please someone advise me as to where do i go from here, i feel as if i am going round in circles - i have read the hardship criteria and i meet every point listed but i need help in which direction to proceed in. thank you.

[Tools]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

If possible, it would be helpful if you could post up a copy of the order.

[NOODLES1959]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

hi there tools, thanks for replying to me - here it is


Default decree in proceedings for unliquidated damages order 12 rule 2

in the recorders court for the division of belfast by the chief clerk

[My name and address] PLAINTIFF

&

Abbey National PLc DEFENDANT

No notice of intention to defend having been served by the defendant herein, it is this day ordered and decreed that the defendant do pay the plaintiff damages, to be assessed by the District Judge.

Dated this 9 February 2008



xxxxxxxx
Chief Clerk



Document stamped with court seal

[Tools]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

And the district Judge stayed it pending the outcome of the test case? If so then I am afraid that, depending on what your original particulars of claim were, the bank would simply use the test case decision in their favour.

[NOODLES1959]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

so am i sailing down the river then without a paddle??? and all that was in vain

is there anything i can do, in terms of hardship - my initial claim was for the bank charges which was not based on the back of hardship but from then and up to this present day i am spiralling out of control in terms of debt. any help or advice would be appreciated. thank you.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

Noodles, can I ask what servicing address you used for the claim?

Was it the branch where the account was opened or their head office address?

On hardship, do you still bank with Abbey?
Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?
Do you have credit card charges/store card charges/catalogue account charges to reclaim?

[NOODLES1959]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

hi there

service address was in belfast, high street, though my account was held in london ie head office.
i ceased banking with abbey from around 2007. my story began when they gave me an overdraft to match my salary,then took it off me with one fell swoop, despite my letters not to do this as i had nothing to live on or pay bills - their response was 'tough' i have copies of all letters.
my mortgage has been defaulted on throughout the years had to get advice and have had mortgage payments reduced from 750 to 250, mortgage is accummulating not decreasing. in arrears with rates, in arrears with everything. would have cr card, store cards etc yet to reclaim. on occasions unable to get to work [no petrol] continue to borrow from family and pay day loans. would on occasions have no food or electric in house, able to make payments but have a file full of debt collectors letters and threats of court.

abbey national recently sent me a bank statement referring to a further 420 of charges they now want back. I am refusing to pay. folk i work with successfully got back their bank charges, my sol wanted all fees paid in advance and i had to wait until i was able to gather the money, therefore delay delay delay. thanks for reading this

[natweststaffmember]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

hi there

service address was in belfast, high street, though my account was held in london ie head office.
That would give Abbey grounds to get any verdict set aside unfortunately.
i ceased banking with abbey from around 2007. my story began when they gave me an overdraft to match my salary,then took it off me with one fell swoop, despite my letters not to do this as i had nothing to live on or pay bills - their response was 'tough' i have copies of all letters.
Did they respond? When did you change banks and how far did you go with financial hardship? Did you go to the FOS at the time you originally complained?
my mortgage has been defaulted on throughout the years had to get advice and have had mortgage payments reduced from 750 to 250, mortgage is accummulating not decreasing. in arrears with rates, in arrears with everything. would have cr card, store cards etc yet to reclaim. on occasions unable to get to work [no petrol] continue to borrow from family and pay day loans. would on occasions have no food or electric in house, able to make payments but have a file full of debt collectors letters and threats of court.
Family loans and payday loans would not factor into financial hardship claims.
abbey national recently sent me a bank statement referring to a further 420 of charges they now want back. I am refusing to pay. folk i work with successfully got back their bank charges, my sol wanted all fees paid in advance and i had to wait until i was able to gather the money, therefore delay delay delay. thanks for reading this

This may sound a strange question but why did you pay a solicitor? One question would be why not put the money for the solicitor onto the mortgage arrears?(sounds harsh but hopefully the clarification will help).

[Amethyst]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

Is your claim still with the solicitor ?

The judgment will be set aside - it pretty much was when the Judge that it went to to assess the damages put the case on hold pending the outcome of the test case, so you will need to do the same as others who wish to continue - enter an appication to lift the stay and amend the POC - at which point you can add the new charges to the claim.

If it is still with the solicitor, who you paid upfront, then check with them where the fee covers up to - if it was up to successful completion or just for each specific stage of the claim.

[NOODLES1959]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

FAO NATWEST MEMBER

Thanks for your reply

Point 2 - abbey responded by referring me to a debt collector and subsequent debt collectors thereafter, i had applied to the courts to get penalty charges returned to me and not for hardship as i didnt know until recently about hardship - i did not approach FOS - gathered all statements, all correspondence and brought it into court.

i paid a solicitor because he asked for his fees upfront - solicitor is known to me via my work

i guess i have handled this wrongly. In belfast i couldnt bring the matter into the small claims court as the money which i was requested back was between 7 & 8 grand. the matter at the time was dealt with in chambers by a judge i was not present but in hallway waiting, solicitor came out said i won my case but no settlement could be reached until result of test case. i have a copy of the order and have never heard from solicitor from that time. thank u

[natweststaffmember]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

FAO NATWEST MEMBER

Thanks for your reply

Point 2 - abbey responded by referring me to a debt collector and subsequent debt collectors thereafter, i had applied to the courts to get penalty charges returned to me and not for hardship as i didnt know until recently about hardship - i did not approach FOS - gathered all statements, all correspondence and brought it into court.

i paid a solicitor because he asked for his fees upfront - solicitor is known to me via my work

i guess i have handled this wrongly. In belfast i couldnt bring the matter into the small claims court as the money which i was requested back was between 7 & 8 grand. the matter at the time was dealt with in chambers by a judge i was not present but in hallway waiting, solicitor came out said i won my case but no settlement could be reached until result of test case. i have a copy of the order and have never heard from solicitor from that time. thank u

I want to go one step back further. When you were struggling with bills and charges, did you approach the bank with regards to getting help and what did they do at the time?

[NOODLES1959]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

FAO Amethyst

thanks for your reply.

As far as i am aware, which is confusing, following hearing in court, i was according to my sol to return to court after the test case regarding a settlement figure. That of course never happened due to the supreme court throwing test case out the window. I was just left and have had no correspondence/further advice from solicitor from that time. the fees i paid which were requested from sol, including £300+ for court case, solicitors and barrister fees, i think i paid in drips a total of around 700quid. the fees i paid i believe were for specific stages of the claim. Solicitor did say at the time i would get those fees reimbursed following successful completion.

if there is a chance i can continue with this, i will, but with different solicitor and add on 420+ bank charges dating back from 200607 which abbey are now looking for. thank you hope this all makes sence.
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I want to go one step back further. When you were struggling with bills and charges, did you approach the bank with regards to getting help and what did they do at the time?

at the time they took the overdraft of me, i wrote and also contacted them by phone pleading for them not to take the overdraft from me, it matched my complete salary. i did receive a written response and in short their response was unhelpful and no help was offered. then they forwarded my case to a debt collector and i have did the rounds with varies debt collectors to whom my solicitor replied to. I was left with no money at all and i began to default on mortgage and bills from that time.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

What precisely was their response when you asked them not to take your overdraft away?

[Amethyst]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

Okay if it was a per stage basis with the solicitor then I would sit tight until; you are forced to make a decision as to your next steps while it isnt costing you anything.

your claim should still be sat there in the courts system so it may be worth checking with the court that it hasnt been set aside/struckout etc. (just give them a call with your claim number and ask) then if nothing has occured I'd just wait until things become clearer, if something has then we can think about next steps towards reclaiming those charges (although it will basically be from scratch).

[NOODLES1959]

Re: hardship claim - have already been to court

FAO Natwest staff member

all my abbey correspondence is with sol, so if my memory is right, i got a long letter outlining that there charges were fair etc etc and they could not extend my overdraft due to how i handled my account over that year. hope that makes sense.
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hi there Amethyst

thanks for your reply. i will ring the court on mon\tues as i am on leave at the moment. i have a very strange feeling that my sol does not intend taking any further action. i havent heard from him since february 2008, talking to my colleagues at work they are of the view that since the test case was thrown out that is the end of the matter. Ill ring the county court anyway then ill know for sure. thank u