Court Summons - LLoyds HELP!!!

[spongebob64]

I have received a letter from Knipe Woodhouse-Smith solicitors giving formal notification that they will take me to court if I do not pay £1968 in the next 7 days.

The money owed was due to me becoming overdrawn due to excessive bank charges which totalled some £3000.

This is a bit of a saga so, please bear with me.

I have 4 young children ages 2,4,7,and 9, one of which is severely disabled and I have had financial difficulties.

Initially, I complained to Lloyds and asked them to look at my case under the hardship rules. I was regularly getting charges of between £100 and £200 per month which was making it extremely difficult to make ends meet and I already had an agreement in place to make reduced payment on my Lloyds mastercard due to financial difficulties. So basically, I found myself in a situation of monthly charges which was pushing me more and more into debt.

The final straw with Lloyds came when my daughter was admitted into hospital with a severe infection which also led to meningitis. The infection was actually more serious than the meningitis and she came within hours of loosing her life. During the first few days when she was in hospital, Lloyds took charges from my account which left me in a situation where I had no money whatsoever and I had to borrow money from friends and family just to be able to get to the hospital and try as best I could. Again I spoke to Lloyds, but I was told that they could not see any reason that I was suffering any sort of hardship.

I tried hanging on in the hope that the bank charges reclaiming case would go in our favour and now I am stuck feeling extremely angry with Lloyds and an impending court summons.

Please, please can someone tell me what I should do.

Thank you

[Guest]

Re: Court Summons - LLoyds HELP!!!

First of all, try not to worry. The letter from the solicitors is mostly bluster and even if they do take you to court, it will take several more months before this reaches a hearing, if it even gets that far.

Have you looked here OFT drop case - What are the options for consumers with charges claims ? - Legal Beagles for information on what to do next?

[Amethyst]

Re: Court Summons - LLoyds HELP!!!

ooo i just replied on mse, nice to see you over here will get my post and paste it here lol.

hi Spongebob

Okay now we're back on track.

The solicitors havent actually issued court papers to you as yet, and as they are a Debt collector they may not for some time. First you need to decide if you want to fight the debt on grounds of unlawful charges and hardship (which could be a difficult and time consuming battle) (also as it is currently in dispute with regards your hardship complaint it shouldnt really have been passed to solicitors, however if lloyds have formally declined your complaint then they would consider it no longer in dispute)

OR if you want to accept the debt and make an offer to pay of an affordable amount each month. If you do this before court you should avoid a CCJ however having the CCJ can offer a bit of protection in that monthly amounts would likely be at a set amount and if the DCA wanted to take further action they would need to apply to the court. The downside, and the importance of getting the payments set properly at an affordable rate, is that if you do miss a payment, they are entitled to take enforcement action (after going back to court)

MSE should be publishing a bit more guidance on bank charges claims next week.

In both cases a letter to Knipe Woodhouse-Smith would be in order to hopefully get the debt passed back to Lloyds. You can also make a complaint to the financial ombudsman, if you havent already with regards your hardship and the way the bank have treated you.

Personally I think I would contact the solicitor with a letter saying the account is in dispute, and hopefully they will pass it back to Lloyds. Then write to Lloyds with an income/expenditure sheet, make an offer to pay at an affordable rate and continue with/start your complaint through the financial ombudsman.

ignore the mse bit now tho lol, we'll help you as much as we can, have a read of the thread Cetelco has linked to and that should give you a good overview of the situation, then you can decide what you want to do.

Lots of banks are now picking up their disputed overdraft debts and chasing people so you aren't alone (((((((((((((((hug))))))))))))))))))

[WendyB]

Re: Court Summons - LLoyds HELP!!!

Also, presumably you have charges on your credit card account too? You will be able to claim those back, which will help to reduce that balance, even if it doesn't actually puit any money into your pocket.

[spongebob64]

Re: Court Summons - LLoyds HELP!!!

Thank you for your advice.

My initial complaint to Lloyds received the standard letter stating that they could see no grounds for hardship and the standard comments regarding the test case in the high court. I still consider the account to be in dispute as I have not received anything from Lloyds formally rejecting my complaint.

I will write to the solicitors and lodge my complaint with the ombudsman regarding the way Lloyds have treated me