Without Prejudice

Yourself -v- The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland

Claim No SE4/07

Dear Mr MacDonald

I have received and have been dealing with the proceedings which you have issued against The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland ("Bank of Scotland") in the Sheriff Court.

Your claim relates to bank charges debited to your credit card account. These charges were debited to your account in accordance with the account terms and conditions, which you agreed to accept, and by which you are bound.

I have returned the form of Acknowledgment of Service to the Sheriff Court indicating that the Bank of Scotland intends to defend your claim. However, on a purely commercial basis, it will cost the Bank of Scotland money to defend your claim in terms of the legal costs that will be incurred. It is unlikely that the Bank of Scotland will be able to recover these costs (even if the bank wins) because your claim will probably be allocated to the small claims track, in which costs are not generally awarded. [this bit is not true - it is NOT a small claims action so they are bullshitting. Also "small claims track" refers to the English Court system]

For this reason, but without admission of liability, the Bank of Scotland is willing to reimburse £400.00 in respect of the bank charges incurred, £10.00 in respect of your Data Protection Subject Access fee, £10 in respect of your own administrative costs, together with £371.56 in respect of approximate interest that you have calculated. The Bank of Scotland will also reimburse £39.00 in respect of the Court fee plus £13.59 in respect of the Sheriff's cost of serving the summons. This amounts to £844.15. As discussed, I will arrange for £52.59 (the expense in bring the claim) to be refunded to your bank account and the remainder will be refunded to the credit card.

This settlement agreement is on conditions that you drop the non-monetary part of your claim ("the removal of derogatory information passed to credit reference agencies") and will not pursue that element of the claim.

Could you please confirm you are willing to accept this settlement as full and final settlement of the above claim on the terms proposed in this letter.

We are keen to help you avoid any unnecessary charges in the future by providing various ways to keep track of your account. You can do this via telephone banking on, online banking or by obtaining a mini statement at our cash machines. You can also contact one of our banking advisers at any of our branches.

We have recently reduced our fees to a level deemed acceptable by the Office of Fair Trading, therefore, future valid charges will stand and we reserve the right to terminate our agreement with you and close your account if you do not manage your account correctly in line with the terms and conditions. If you would like to discuss this, please contact our Customer Relations department on 08457 25 35 19.

Yours sincerely

Rachel Hinchliffe
Litigation Solicitor
Legal Services - Retail Division

I've decided to accept. I was only over my credit card limit for a few months anyway because of the charges, so my credit rating isn't that bad. In any case, if I lost I'd have to pay the Banks expenses in full since I'm out the small claims, which would probably bankrupt me.

I got this little gem in the post today:

                                                                                                                                 Rule 6.2(2)

                                                                    FORM 6

                                       Form of certificate of execution of service


I, FRANK ALEXANDER, 49 Meadowside, Dundee, do hereby certify that upon the Nineteenth day of March Two Thousand and Seven years, I duly cited The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland, Defender to answer the foregoing summons.

This I did by posting on Nineteenth day of March Two Thousand and Seven years at The Post Office, Crichton Street, Dundee, a service copy Summons in Form 1B with citation attached in a First Class Recorded Delivery envelope addressed as follows:-
"The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH1 1YZ"
per postal receipt attached hereto.

F ALEXANDER (signed)
Sheriff Officer
49 Meadowside
Dundee

It amuses me greatly I had to go through all this hassle with Sheriff Officers (and a £15 bill - reclaimable) for some guy just to put my court papers in an envelope and walk down to the local post office.

Anyway, the case will now call in the Sheriff Court on the 2nd day of May 2007. BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!