Welcome to our guide to using Money Claim Online. In this guide you will be taken step by step through the process of filing a claim online, with each step described in detail to help you successfully file your claim against the bank.

What is Money Claim Online?

Money Claim Online is run by the UK Court Service, and allows you to file a claim in the Small Claims Court over the internet. In the past you had to fill out paper forms and take your claim to your local court for submission, and you can still do this if you wish, but Money Claim Online allows you to file a claim from the comfort of your own home, and is a faster and more efficient way to file your claim against the bank. Payment can be made by Credit or Debit Card, and you can track the progress of your case over the internet.

Please note that Money Claim Online can only be used if your are living in England or Wales. If you live in Scotland you need to file a claim through the Scottish Courts. If you live in Northern Ireland, you need to apply through the Northern Ireland Court System.

Using Money Claim Online

In this guide we explain how to use Money Claim Online, as it can be a bit daunting filing a claim if you've never done it before! It will also guide you as to what information you need to give, and where to fill it in. I`ve read about a number of people on the internet who have got a bit confused, and ended up filing a claim against themselves from the bank! This guide will help you to file your claim correctly.

How much does it cost to file a claim online?

To file a claim you need to pay a court fee, and the amount of the fee varies depending on how much you are claiming for. The costs at the time of writing this guide are shown below (but may be subject to change in future).

• Up to £300 - £20 Court Fee
• Up to £500 - £50 Court Fee
• Up to £1000 - £80 Court Fee
• Up to £5000 - £110 Court Fee

The Court Fee can be paid by credit or debit card, and will be added on to the amount you are claiming for, so you will get it back from the bank when you win your case.

If you are on benefits, or will suffer financial hardship as a result of paying the fee, you may get the fee waived, but you will need to contact the court yourself to discuss this.

Creating a Money Claim Online User Account

Step 1 - Go to the Money Claim Online Website

The Money Claim Online website can be found at:

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp

On the front page, you have two choices, "I am a Claimant" or "I am a Defendant". As you want to file a claim against the bank, you are the claimant so click the "I am a Claimant" button.

Step 2 - Create a New Account

You'll next be asked to set up a new account, or log in with an existing account.

As you're using this guide, it's assumed that you haven't used Money Claim Online before, so click "I am a new Customer", to create a new account.

Step 3 - Online Guides

Before you start entering your information, you are shown a number of links to guides about the Money Claim process. It's well worth reading these to learn more about the process, and to get the latest information.

Click "Continue" to go to the next step.

Step 4 - Checking Money Claim Online is suitable for your claim

On the next screen, you are shown more information so that you can check that your claim is suitable to file through Money Claim Online.

The conditions are:

• Your claim is for a fixed amount of money (no more than £99,999.99)
• Your claim is against no more than 2 defendants
• You have an address in England or Wales where documents can be delivered
• All defendants have an address in England or Wales where documents can be delivered
• You have an email address

Your claim to get your bank charges back should meet all these criteria, so click "Continue" to go to the next step.

Step 5 - Register your Details

Now you have been shown all the relevant information, you can register to create a new account.

The details are standard, so you shouldn't have any problems. You will need to enter:

• Customer ID - This is a unique id that you create as your username. You need a mix of letters and numbers, and between 8 - 12 characters eg cbcbguide123
• Password - This is the password for your account, and again should be 8 - 12 characters and a mixture of letters and numbers.
• Password Reminder - In case you forget your password, you are asked to choose a security question and enter your answer, so you can get back into your account in future.
• Type of Customer - As you are claiming for yourself, select "Individual"
• Email Address - Enter the email address that you can be contacted at

Click "Continue" to proceed to the next step.

Step 6 - Complete Registration

The last step to creating your account is to enter your name and address details.

Leave the Company name blank, unless you are claiming back bank charges from a business account.

Double check your details are correct and then click "Submit" to continue.

Step 7 - Account Confirmation

You will now see a screen confirming that the account was created successfully, if there are any problems you can go back and change the information from the previous two steps.

You should also receive an email confirmation at this stage giving your account details.

Click "Continue" to carry on.

Step 8 - Log in to your New Account

You are now presented with a form to enter your Customer ID and Password from the previous screen to log in to your new account.

Click "Log in" to continue.

Once you are logged in to your new account, you can start the process of filing your claim against the bank.

Filing your Claim using Money Claim Online

The Claim Menu

Once you have logged in, you will see the screen below asking you whether you want to start a new claim, or continue with an existing claim. Money Claim Online allows you to save your details at any stage of the process, so you can leave a claim half finished and complete it at a later stage.

Because you are starting a new claim, select "Start a new Claim"

Step 1 - Claim Notes

The first step in the process of submitting your claim is to read the Claim Notes, which explain how the site works and the process of submitting your claim.

At any stage you can click the "Save" button to save your claim, and you can go back and edit or add to it any time in the next 28 days, until the claim is submitted.

Once you have submitted your claim and have paid the court fee with your debit or credit card, a unique claim number will be allocated to you, which identifies your claim. You will need to include this number on any future correspondance with the court regarding the claim.

Step 2 - Claim Description

The second step is to enter a description of the claim, so you can identify the claim in your account.

This reference is purely for your own use, so you can enter what ever text you like, but a good idea is something like "Claim against XXX Bank", where XXX is the name of your bank.

Step 3 - Claimant Details

The next step involves entering your own details. As you are the one making the claim, you are the Claimant.

The first option allows you to select the Type of Claimant, you need to select Individual.

Next, you need to enter your Surname and then your First Name.

Finally, enter your Address. If you are away from your normal address for some reason, you can enter another address which all the court documents will be sent to, which is called the "Service Address". You need to tick the box to confirm that your service address is within England and Wales.

Click "Next" to continue.

Step 4 - Defendant Details

The next step is to enter the details of the Defendant, which is the Bank.

For the Type of Defendant, select "Organisation". Leave the first section for "Individual" blank, as shown above. Enter the full name of the Bank in the "Organisation's Name" field, for example XXXX Bank plc. You can get the full name of the Bank from the Banks web site.

Next, you need to enter the Banks address. Its important that you give the address of the Banks Registered Office, which you can find in our list of Banks addresses, or from the Banks web site. Once you have entered the address, you need to press the "Lookup" button to verify the address is recognised.

Leave the "Second Defendant" check box empty, as you are only filing the claim against the bank only.

Step 5 - Entering the Claim Details

This is the most important section, as you are entering the details of your claim against the bank.

Particulars of Claim

The first section is for the Particulars of claim. In the text box you need to enter the full claim against the Bank. This has a lot of restrictions, as you can only enter a maximum of 1080 characters, and a maximum of 24 lines in the text box. Even though your claim may be only 10 lines or so in a word processor or text editor, when you enter it in the text box, because it's not very wide it spans many more lines. Don't worry about trying to format your claim nicely, as if you do it won't fit within the parameters imposed on the text box.

An example claim is shown below:

The Claimant has an account 12345678 with the Defendant, opened June 2000 2. Since 23/04/03 the Defendant debited charges and interest in respect of purported breaches of contract. 3. Defendant is aware of all details as a list of charges has already been supplied. Another copy will be sent. 4. Claimant contends: (a) The charges exceed the Defendant's losses caused by the breaches; (b) 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. 5. Claimant claims: (a) return of the amounts debited of £600; (b) Interest per S.69 County Courts Act 1984 of 8% - £100 continuing at 8% until judgment or settlement at a daily rate of £0.15; 6. Alternatively, if the charges are a fee for a service, then they must be reasonable under S.15 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. 7. Costs allowed by the Court.

Full details of the above can be found in our guide Making a Claim in the Small Claims Court. You need to change the highlighted sections to include your own details.

Select "No" for the question "Does or will your claim include any issues under the Human Rights Act 1988?"

Select "Yes" for the question "Do you want to reserve the right to claim interest?" as you want statutory interest to be added on to your bank charges at a rate of 8%. A new window will open advising you of example wording to use, but if you are using the claim above this is already covered.

Claim Amounts

The next section deals with the Claim Amounts. For the "Amount Claimed", enter the total amount of your claim ie the amount of bank charges you are claiming back plus the interest at 8%. This needs to match exactly the amount in your claim in the first section.

Click the "Calculate" button to automatically enter the correct Court fee for the amount you are claiming.

Leave the "Solictor's costs" field at £0.00 as you are not using a Solicitor.

Finally, click the bottom "Calculate" button to automatically work out the total amount of your claim, which is:

Amount of Bank Charges + Interest at 8% + Court Fee = Total Amount of Claim

Statement of Truth

The final step is so electronically "sign" the statement, stating that all the facts in the claim are true.

Select "I am the claimant - I believe that the facts state in this claim form are true" and enter your initials and surname eg J Simmons.

Obviously this is legally binding, so make sure that all the facts are correct and the information is true.

Submit your Claim

Before you submit your claim, DOUBLE CHECK that all the details are correct. If you make a mistake it's not easy to get it rectified.

You can then click "SUBMIT" to submit your claim!

Step 6 - Pay the Court Fees

Once you have submitted the claim, you will be asked to pay the Court fee detailed in step 5 above, which you can do by credit or debit card.

Once the payment has gone through, the claim will be filed on the next working day. Should you wish to cancel the claim for any reason, you need to contact the court by 9am using the contact details on the Money Claim Website.

What happens once your Claim is Filed

After the claim is filed, you will get a paper copy of your claim sent to your address by First Class post. The bank will also be sent a copy of the claim by First Class post, and it will be deemed to be "served" on the bank 5 days after the claim was filed, to give the bank time to receive it.

All the deadlines start from the date the claim was served on the bank.

You can log in to Money Claim Online at any time to see the current status of your claim. You can also download a copy of your claim as a PDF file for your records.

Its a good idea to send a letter to the court after you have filed your claim, to the address on the claim form you receive through the post, enclosing your "Schedule of Charges" and asking them to attach this to your claim, so they have a copy on record. You need to give them your claim number as well, and a print out of your claim will also help.

Once the claim is served, the bank have 14 days to acknowledge the claim. If they don't do this you can log in to your account and in your claim details you will see a "Start" link in the "Judgement" column, click the link and you then have two options:

	The defendant has not filed an admission or defence to my claim (Judgment by Default) You will need to decide, how and when you want the defendant to pay. You can ask for the Judgment to be paid by instalment or in one payment.
	The defendant admits that all the money is owed (Judgment by Admission) If the defendant has given a new address on the form of admission to which correspondence should be sent, update the defendant's details within the following Judgment request.

You need to select the first option "Judgement by Default"

If however, the bank acknowledge the claim, then in the "Claim" column you will see "Acknowledged" and the date that the bank acknowledged it. If this is the case, the bank have another 14 days to submit a defence, giving them a total of 28 days from the date the claim was served on them. You will receive in the post confirmation from the court that the bank have acknowleged and intend to defend the claim.

If after 28 days of the claim being served, no defence has been entered by the bank, then you can again go to the "Start" link in the "Judgement" column and select "Judgement by Default".

If they do file a defence, then you will be sent an "Allocation Questionnaire" to fill in by the court, so that the court can allocate a hearing. It your claim is for over £1500 you will need to pay another free of £100, which again will be added on to the total amount of your claim. It's not often that you get to this stage, as usually the bank make an offer before then. However, don't worry if you do get a hearing allocated as the bank will back out soon before the hearing date, or won't turn up the hearing, and the Judge will rule in your favour.

Once you have had a ruling in your favour, then the bank should pay you. If they don't you can apply to the court for a "Judgement of Enforcement", which you have to pay for, but again it's added on to the amount of money the bank now owe you. This forces the bank to pay and enables bailiffs to enter the bank and seize property to the value of your claim!

What happens if the bank settle after you have filed a claim?

It's extremely likely that the bank will settle your claim in full before a hearing date is allocated. If this happens you MUST inform the court so that the proceedings can be stopped. If the bank offer you the full amount of the claim you also MUST accept it.

The court expect you to act reasonably, and make your best effort to settle the claim before the hearing. If you don't and refuse to settle just to have your day in court, it will be frowned upon by the judge as you are effectively wasting the courts time, and this won't be looked on favourably!

Related Links

Below are a selection of related links from the UK Court Service, which can help with filing your claim:

N1 Claim Form for the Small Claims Court
HM Court Service - Guidance Notes
HM Court Service - How to make a Claim