Hi
Thanks for your reply. Sorry for the delay, I'm not the fastest typer.
Ok,
11.01.07 - Letter requesting statements sent
15.01.07 - Reply from Barclays, cheque returned
05.02.07 - Statements received
12.02.07 - 1st request for charges letter sent
24.02.07 - Reply from barclays saying looking into it etc
05.03.07 - 2nd request for charges
11.03.07 - Reply from Barclays and offer of £1000
10.04.07 - Letter declining offer sent
25.04.07 - Filed claim online
09.05.07 - Barclays acknowledged claim
06.06.07 - Received 'Notice of Transfer of Proceedings'
26.06.07 - Received 'General Form of Judgement or Order'
The hearing is at Derby
county court
. The directions I have are:
1) The claimant shall within 21 days of service of this order send to the defendant and to the court:
a) A schedule setting out each charge repayment of which is sought, showing the account number, date, amount, and reason (if any) for that charge being made;
b) A statement of evidence, if such is to be relied upon, in support of the claim together with copy statements or other relevant documents.
2) The defendant shall within 21 days thereafter file and serve a witness statement in response to the claimants schedule, stating in respect of each item claimed:
a) Pursuant to what contractual provision such charge was made , producing a copy of the contractual document relied upon;
b) Wheter such charge is accepted to be a penalty and if not why not;
c) If such charge is alleged to be a pre-estimate of the defendants loss incurred by the claimants actions (whether or not such action is to be treated as a breach of the contract between the parties), all facts and matters intended to be relied upon as showing that such is a proper estimate of such loss and all evidence to be adduced at trial as to what the true cost of dealing with the matter was.
My original particulars of claim were:
The Claimant has an account with the Defendant. Since 06/03/01 the Defendant debited charges and interest in respect of purported breaches of contract. The Defendant is aware of all details as a list of charges has already been supplied. The Claimant contends: The charges exceed the Defendant's losses caused by the breaches; The Term permitting the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and at Common Law. The Claimant claims return of the amounts debited of £2960.00. The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 06/03/01 to 24/04/07 of £741.00 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of 0.021%. Costs allowed by the Court.
Barclays defence:
1. The particulars of claim do not provide details or particulars of the account in question and/or the precise charges alleged to have been unlawful, or the date thereof. To the extent it is alleged that the claimant incurred bank charges on the claimants account for unauthorised borrowing (wheter unpaid fees for returned cheques, paid referral fees or any other such fees), the defendant puts the claimant to strict proof of each charge anf the date thereof.
2. The particulars of claim are summary in nature. Accordingly, this defence is summary in nature and the defendant reserves the right to ammend this statement of case in due course.
3. The defendant is entitled to charge the claimant for unauthorised borrowings by reason of its standard terms and conditions. The claimant accepted the same when the account was opened, including (in particular but without limitation) the following terms and conditions (which are summarised):
a) The defendants right to charge a paid referral fee where the defendant pays a amount (either by compulsion or election) which causes an account to become overdrawn - £30 per item (previously £25).
b) The defendants right to charge an administrative fee if any cheque , standing order or direct debit cannot be paid - £35 per item (previously £30).
c) The defendants entitlement, if the claimant becomes overdrawn without an overdraft limit, to charge interest at the unauthorised borrowing rate on the excess balance.
4. The defendants standard terms and conditions give the claimant a fair and transparent view of those terms and the charges applicable for unautorised borrowing .
5. If and to the extent it is the claimants case that the failure to make necessary payments and/or failure to remain within authorised overdraft limits and/or failure to arrange an overdraft constitutesd a breach of the terms applying to the account and that the contractual entitlement to debit charges from the claimants account constitutes a liquidated damages clause, the same is denied. The charges constitute payments the claimant agreed to make by reason of the terms and conditions of the account and were consideration for the defendant advancing credit to the claimant, which the defendant was under no obligation to advance. the defendant was entitled to impose such charges and interest when the claimant incurred the overdraft.
6. Accordingly, it is denied that the legal principles relating to liquidated damages clauses and penalty charges are relevent or applicable to facts set out above. Further ot alternatively it is denied that any such charges constitute unlawful penalty charges or are in breach of the unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations 1999, or are in breach of the unfair (contarcts) terms act 1977.
7. Therefore, it is denied that the charges were unlawfully debited from the account .
8. If and to the extent the claimant incurred charges on the account, this was caused by the claimant having gone into overdraft without having agreed with the defendant an authorised overdraft facility and/or the failure to make payments to bring the account back into credit.
9. It is averred that the said charhes and interst are and remain lawful and enforceable and that the defedant was entitled to debit the same.
10. The defendant denies that it is liable to the claimant for the sums claimed and interest as pleaded or at all. In the alternative if (which is denied) the said charges are unenforceable and constituted a breach of contract by the defendant , those charges which applied to the account prior to 25th April 2001 are not recoverable because they were time-barred under the trems of the limitation act 1980 in that more than 6 years have elapsed since the accrual of the cause of action.
11. In the alternative, and without prejudice to matters stated above, if(which is denied) the said charges and interest or any part thereof are unlawful or unenforceable as alleged by the claimant or at all , and the charges were a consequence of the breach of contarct by the claimant , the defendant has nonetheless suffered loss and damage as a consequence of such breach of contract in allowing the account to go into unauthorised overfdraft. accordingly, in the event that the defendant is unable to rely on its express entitlement to enforce the charges as set out above, it will seek to recover to the extent necessary such loss and damage as it actually suffered, which will not necessarily be limited to the value of the said charges, and the defendant seeks to set off such sums against any liability owed hereunder to the claimant.
So any help and advice you could give me on what I should be doing now to prepare for the hearing would be very greatfully received.
Thanks in advance.
BB v BARCLAYS - help still needed please 
Re: I need some advice 
Court Case Today - **WON IN COURT POST OFT** 
