Bank-Smart - Court Claim

[jabill]

I received a recorded letter today 16th December from Bank-Smart It was dated the 9th December. It states I have 10 days to contact them or they will issue court proceedings on the 19th December for money I supposed to owe them, its not a large amount think its £34. I emailed them stating that I only just received the letter and that it is impossible for me to arrange anything before Monday the 19th December as this is now the weekend. I intend to file the subject access request because to be honest I cannot remember doing business with them and if I did it was a very long time ago. They said because the subject access request would not reach them before the 19th that I should just pay them in order to avoid further costs as they will go ahead and issue proceedings. The wording in the letter was quite harsh as quoted "This is not a threat, do not ignore us if you do not contact us within 10 days we will issue proceedings against you on the 19th December 2016"
I have told them that I am officially putting this supposed debt into dispute until I have all the documentation so that I may make arrangements for my next intentions.
I think they are being very unreasonable. I have made a formal complaint and I have contacted the credit Management Regulator.
What should I do if they go ahead and issue court proceedings?

[EXC]

Re: Bank-Smart

What should I do if they go ahead and issue court proceedings?

If the amount is just £34 I think it's unlikely that even Bank Smart would be stupid enough to commence litigation for such a paltry amount but if they did issue a claim you would have 28 days to enter a defence. If your SAR hasn't materialised by then you can enter an 'embarrased' defence which means that the claimant hasn't provided you with sufficient information in order to properly consider your position.

[jabill]

Re: Bank-Smart

If the amount is just £34 I think it's unlikely that even Bank Smart would be stupid enough to commence litigation for such a paltry amount but if they did issue a claim you would have 28 days to enter a defence. If your SAR hasn't materialised by then you can enter an 'embarrased' defence which means that the claimant hasn't provided you with sufficient information in order to properly consider your position.

I have been looking over my history with this company, luckily I have saved every email from them. I can see I was cold called, or emailed in this case in 2011and then I heard nothing from them until 2014. I can see that they actually never did anything because they told me that they didnt have authorisation to discuss anything with my bank. I did everything myself including getting bank statements, everything I did was direct to the bank I was claiming ppi from. Then in 2015 I started getting invoices every week to pay them, this has been going on now for 2 years

Below is a copy and paste from an email they sent me, they had absolutely no idea what was going on and didnt have any type of authorisation. We refer to your claim for the refund of PPI and default charges on your accounts/services with Barclays Bank plc. Barclays Bank plc has recently written to a number of our clients agreeing settlement terms. Please can you confirm the amount of settlement received (if any) in a reply to this email so that we can close the claim and update our system.

[sloane82]

Re: Bank-Smart

Best thing to do is write them a letter asking what, is it for as it is only £34 ask them as a goodwill gesture to write the debt off.

[Dina]

Re: Bank-Smart

I've recieved the same letter on the same date but the amount they want to take me to court for is £2,600. I'm panicking...

[EXC]

Re: Bank-Smart

I've recieved the same letter on the same date but the amount they want to take me to court for is £2,600. I'm panicking...

Can you tell us a bit more?

In your other post you said that you signed up with them 7 years ago. It might be that any claim thy make could be statute barred. When is the last time that you wrote to them?

[jabill]

Re: Bank-Smart

Can you tell us a bit more?

In your other post you said that you signed up with them 7 years ago. It might be that any claim thy make could be statute barred. When is the last time that you wrote to them?

OMG, I am so sorry I did not see this reply at all or get an alert. I am in the latest battle with them. I had a letter from them yesterday saying I had requested my credit files, I emailed them they just said disregard it and proceeded to make their threats. Someone name Amy Piper is now going ahead with a court case I said go ahead the urge needs to hear everything thats happened.

Always guys the reason I popped in was to tell you all that at last Symmetric Systems Limited, Alias Bank-Smart are now under investigation with the CMR and have been since January 2017

https://www.claimsregulation.gov.uk/details.aspx/4036

- - - Updated - - -

I've recieved the same letter on the same date but the amount they want to take me to court for is £2,600. I'm panicking...

Dina do not panic, gather all your information you have collected since your interaction with them. At last this company is under investigation with the CMR

[Amethyst]

Re: Bank-Smart

I had a letter from them yesterday saying I had requested my credit files,

Well that's a bit weird. Had you written to them requesting info at all? Wonder if it was just a phishing letter to shock you into contact them?

Is it still £34 ?

[jabill]

Re: Bank-Smart

Well that's a bit weird. Had you written to them requesting info at all? Wonder if it was just a phishing letter to shock you into contact them?

Is it still £34 ?

None at all, I do feel it was to get me to contact them

[jabill]

Re: Bank-Smart

Ok everyone one the saga continues. It seems Amy Piper got a little mad at me because I didn't succumb to her threats so she filed legal proceedings and banged on another £225 in court costs. I am not worried, I am counter claiming for discrimination. My defence lists 12 points of where they have breached the CMR regulations 2 of which were discriminative.
I thought I would do a little digging and I can see why Bank-Smart are being aggressive in trying to collect money or make money. The company is severely in the red, which has been in decline since 2015, their net worth is in the minus -£23,000,I actually don't see them continuing trading at least under this name for much longer.
To be quite honest I have no idea how a company that is under investigation with CMR under regulation 35 can take someone to court, specially when I am one of the people who complained and helped warrant a cause to investigate this company.

I intend to file my defence and counter claim within the next 2 weeks so I will keep you informed.

[jabill]

Re: Bank-Smart

Hellloooo everyone,

A little update, at last I got my SARs by the way an incomplete SARs but I have the information I was looking for. I signed documents in 2011 with Bank-Smart to which they did nothing and did not write or pursue anything with Barclay Card. In October 2012 Barclay Card terminated all correspondence and dealings with Bank-Smart due to not supplying a valid up to date letter of authority which is when Barclay Card directly wrote to me and paid me out the following year in 2013. I cannot believe that they are in possession of this letter and still filed a court case , however I do feel it was. knee jerk reaction as Amy Piper did get mad.
Its up to Bank-Smart if they want to pursue me through the courts however the countless breaches they they have done including their new one of not sending a complete SARs request is just going to be bad for them.

I will keep you all posted of the outcome, I just want to say anyone who is being intimidated or harassed by Bank-Smart please do not stress about it, I suggest you immediately start a SARs request gather your information and go from there.

[sloane82]

Re: Bank-Smart

So did you have a credit card with Barclays and they have bought the debt off if so check to see if you have any ppi on it this does not really make any sense as they cannot just put £225 on you this is unfair and illegal can you put some, documents up please.

[EXC]

Re: Bank-Smart

Hellloooo everyone,

A little update, at last I got my SARs by the way an incomplete SARs but I have the information I was looking for. I signed documents in 2011 with Bank-Smart to which they did nothing and did not write or pursue anything with Barclay Card. In October 2012 Barclay Card terminated all correspondence and dealings with Bank-Smart due to not supplying a valid up to date letter of authority which is when Barclay Card directly wrote to me and paid me out the following year in 2013. I cannot believe that they are in possession of this letter and still filed a court case , however I do feel it was. knee jerk reaction as Amy Piper did get mad.
Its up to Bank-Smart if they want to pursue me through the courts however the countless breaches they they have done including their new one of not sending a complete SARs request is just going to be bad for them.

I will keep you all posted of the outcome, I just want to say anyone who is being intimidated or harassed by Bank-Smart please do not stress about it, I suggest you immediately start a SARs request gather your information and go from there.

Hiya

What is the status of the court claim at the moment?

[jabill]

Re: Bank-Smart

OK everyone apologies for my late replies. I have been doing a lot of searching as well getting my SARs documents looked at by a solicitor just to confirm what I already know really. Bank-Smart had no authority at all with my claims and Barclay Card stopped dealing with them when they did not comply with Letter Of Authority requests.Also my signed contract/engagement authorisation was way over a year old before they even contacted Barclays. I can't post any documents right now as I have a pending court case which I am completely ready for.
I found out on what basis they are taking me to court and to be honest it quite laughable. I had a letter with my SAR request which stated they had highlighted evidence that they will be relying to the judge....errr yep it was 2 sentences which was me agreeing to pay. It was when I found out that they had been acting illegally that I refused to pay. I even have a letter from Barclays that tells Bank-Smart straight, they had 10 days to comply with the letter of authority request or they would assume they didn't want to continue that was August 2012 and in October 2012 they terminated correspondence with them. In November 2012 Barclay paid me directly . Bank-Smart claimed they secured a successful claim , I told them that was impossible when you wasn't even authorised to do so.
The court case was knee jerk reaction one they will regret ,the evidence they have put forward is just incredible. I have a page full of evidence to their 2 sentences as well as proof from Barclays.

I also have bit of other news. I think I did tell you in earlier post that they are now under investigation under section 35 with the CMR, these thing can actually take Years to investigate, however I have since found they no longer hold a credit consumer licence it lapsed 17/1/2017 and they have the nerve to file a court claim in March .

I will keep you all posted

[EXC]

Re: Bank-Smart

Hiya

Thanks forthe update.

Bank-Smart had no authority at all with my claims and Barclay Card stopped dealing with them when they did not comply with Letter Of Authority requests.Also my signed contract/engagement authorisation was way over a year old before they even contacted Barclays.

Letters of Authority expire (and have to be renewed) after 6 months.

See under 'Validity' https://www.bba.org.uk/policy/retail...pi-complaints/

So it sounds like yours had expired and Barclays were asking Bank Smart for an up-to-date one. Bank Smart might claim that they asked you to sign a new LoA but and you didn't return it. They rely on clause 17 of their T&Cs to charge people who don't return LoA requests a lot.

After engaging our services (by signing these Terms and Conditions and each individual LOA) you agree to cooperate with the claims process in its entirety. Failure to complete & return documents required for your claim may result in a breach of this agreement and we may seek to recover our reasonable costs subject to a maximum of £400 plus VAT per claim if we are unable to complete our services as a result.

https://www.bank-smart.co.uk/terms_and_conditions.pdf

However from what you say it appears that they're attempting to charge you a success fee rather than seeking to recover their costs for breach of contract.