RATIOMONEY - claiming justice for consumers

Judge believes floodgates to claims could open

A Wetherby man has had over £15,000 of credit card debt written off after Bank of Scotland backed down from a showdown with claims management company Ratio Money hours before the case was due to be heard in a Leeds court.

Judge Langan at Leeds County Court believes that the lender didn’t fight the case because it feared highlighting failings and opening the floodgates to further claims.

Self-employed Mr Mitchell, 60, had a judgement against him after delaying payments to his credit card while he waited for the bank to supply specific information that he had requested on a number of occasions.

He successfully appealed that this judgement should be set aside and turned to support from claims management leader Ratio Money.

Ratio Money confirmed that his credit card application didn’t contain the prescribed terms and conditions – and therefore didn’t comply with the Consumer Credit Act.

Bank of Scotland argued that the terms and conditions had been given as a separate document when Mr Mitchell applied for the card at the Wetherby branch of Halifax, but he denies ever receiving them.

However, under the law, a credit agreement is only binding if it is a single document that has been signed by both parties and contains all the prescribed terms.

“This is another victory for the consumer,” said Ratio Money director Michael Le Vell, who also plays Kevin Webster in the TV soap Coronation Street.

“Although the Bank of Scotland gave up its fight and agreed to write off Mr Mitchell’s debt, amazingly they refused to pay his costs.

“However, as a final blow to the lender Judge Langan ruled that the bank needed to pay all the costs in full and said that the company was trying to shy away from highlighting this issue.

“We believe hundreds of thousands of people in this country who have loans and credit card agreements over more than one document can look to have their debt written off and any adverse credit rating removed from their records.”

Mr Mitchell, while delighted with the outcome, is disappointed that the issue needed to go to court.

“I hit problems because the bank kept increasing my credit limit and in the end I was struggling to simply pay the interest,” he said.

“The bank didn’t seem to listen to me. I had made the same arguments as Ratio Money and its QC, but it took them make these points in court before the Bank of Scotland finally agreed that it was in the wrong.”

Ratio Money claims justice for consumers against mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), excessive bank charges, unfair credit agreements and flawed mortgage offers.

The company is the only financial claims management specialist to provide comprehensive manual audits of client credit agreements.

When the audit shows the agreement is unfair or unenforceable, Ratio Money works with a panel of specialist solicitors to fight for recompense.

Ratio Money’s fees to support consumers with unfair credit agreements are low-cost, transparent and fixed. It costs just £295 for each credit agreement but this is fully refundable if the audit shows that lender has complied with the law.

Competitors’ upfront fees are generally much higher and many also charge a percentage of any settlement that is recovered. Ratio Money seeks to write off all outstanding debt and consumers receive 100 per cent of any settlement.