Do Banks Have the Best Lawyers?

In the current financial and economic climate many people have suffered at the hands of their bank. Many feel aggrieved at the way their bank has treated them. There are many groups which are a focus of concern at the way banks behave and there is no shortage of forums which allow bank customers to voice their dissatisfaction at bad bank behavior.

Despite all the bluster, all the focus groups and all the blogs, ultimately the answer to your problem on the day will boil down to who is right and who is wrong according to the law. And there is the beginning of a problem.

Despite the fact that we have centuries of law which generally favours our institutions and banks in particular, the law and Judges are increasingly prepared to accept that banks behave badly and there is now more likelihood that a court will find in favour of the customer than ever before. This is a not a wholesale change in the legal landscape but it is at least a moderate change in prevailing climate.

In order to make the most of your chances you need a lawyer who can best exploit the law, the procedural rules and the prevailing ‘climate’.

Large law firms together will account for most of the legal expertise in the banking field. Those same law firms will always derive significant income from acting for banks. Often it is expressly agreed between an individual bank and a law firm that if the law firm agrees to act for the bank then it will decline to act against not only that bank but clearing banks as a whole.

This does make sense from the bank’s perspective but severely limits the pool of expertise that you can draw on in fighting the bank.

I deal with banking disputes for clients who are not banks. Often banks have behaved badly towards a business and push it over the edge because they know that they have the comfort of a personal guarantee. So it becomes your problem and not theirs. We cannot always waive a magic wand and sometimes the bank does in fact have the upper hand according to the law. However this is certainly not always the case, far from it, and I have selected a team of people that can assist you, based to the following criteria :

1.     Established expertise

2.     Knowledge of the inside workings of banks

3.     Knowledge of banking documentation

4.     No conflicts of interest. In other words, no-one acts regularly for banks in general or any particular bank and is not therefore conflicted in acting against banks.

Therefore we like to think that we can offer the same expertise when acting against banks that they have routinely available in making claims against you.

Email me: Patrick.selley@keystonelaw.co.uk

Www.patrickselley.com

Bank conduct overriding Standard Bank Documentation

We have just obtained leave to Defend proceedings brought by a Bank on the basis that there is an arguable case that the Bank owed its customer a fiduciary duty. The customer had signed a personal guarantee over the debts of a company and had been persuaded to execute a mortgage over the family home as security for the personal guarantee.

Email me for advice: Patrick.selley@keystonelaw.co.uk

Www.patrickselley.com

Vince Cable Defends Independence of Tomlinson Report in The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/05/vince-cable-defend-independence-tomlinson-report-rbs-bank


Email: patrick.selley@keystonelaw.co.uk

www.patrickselley.com

RBS in the Press

Much will depend upon RBS having acted illegally. This will usually be judhed against the terns of any lending facility. Just because RBS states that the business is in default it does not follow that they are right. If RBS has treated an account as if it were in breach of the terms of its borrowing facility with RBS when on a close analysis this is not true then RBS itself is the party in breach. Close attention will need to be paid to the terms of financial covenants and what is meant by ‘valuation’. Key bank correspondence will centre around the commissioning of so called ‘valuations’ and any internal calculations of financial default.

 

Those who have given personal guarantees should not necessarily roll over and certainly should consider applying to have any statutory demand set aside.

 

The introduction of another organization in the RBS loop, West Register, may allow borrowers to consider whether there has been an illegal means conspiracy between RBS and West Register.

 

The strength of an individual case is likely to turn on the documents. Lawrence Tomlinson’s report states that the Sunday Times ‘has uncovered’ evidence including internal RBS memos.

email: Patrick.selley@keystonelaw.co.uk

My Bank Has Called in my Loan...

Two years ago I took out a business loan. My business has been repaying it since then, but I made underpayments for three months due to cash-flow difficulties. When I spoke to my bank about these, I was told that there was no problem and it even increased our overdraft limit. The bank has now said it is calling in the loan and using a personal guarantee that would place me in a lot of difficulty. 

Where do I stand?
  
This is sadly typical of cases I see where banks, having the security of a personal guarantee, act in a way that is contrary to the interests of the business, knowing that you, the owner, will ultimately pay. In these situations the wording of the facility documentation and guarantee is crucial. 
In this case, the bank appears to have represented to you that it would waive the underpayments and even increased your overdraft facility. 
Undoubtedly, the written loan agreement will have a "no waiver" clause. It could be argued, however, that the verbal waiver by the bank manager induced the company to extend its liabilities by an increased overdraft. 
This arrangement could amount to a new agreement, one of the terms being that earlier underpayments would not be relied upon to call in the loans. As guarantor, you could argue that the bank has breached the agreement and that the granting of any waiver or further advances to the business discharges your guarantee in its entirety. 
However, most bank guarantees are worded in the bank's favour. Cases such as this depend on the particular facts and early advice should be taken. Patrick Selley is a consultant solicitor at Keystone Law 

email: patrick.selley@keystonelaw.co.uk

www.patrickselley.com 


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/784df3d4-12e9-11e2-aa9c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2XVVbwrUc

Два года назад я достал визитную кредита. Мой бизнес был платить его с тех пор, но я сделал недоплаты в течение трех месяцев из-за денежных потоков трудности. Dva goda nazad ya dostal vizitnuyu kredita. Moy biznes byl platit' yego s tekh por, no ya sdelal nedoplaty v techeniye trekh mesyatsev iz-za denezhnykh potokov trudnosti.Мой Банк Звонил в моей Ссуде Два года назад я вынул деловую ссуду. Мой бизнес возместил это с тех пор, но я сделал недоплаты в течение трех месяцев из-за трудностей потока наличности. Когда я говорил с моим банком о них, мне говорили, что не было никакой проблемы, и это даже увеличило наш предел кредита по текущему счету. Банк теперь сказал, что это звонит в ссуде и использует личную гарантию, которая разместила бы меня в большую трудность. Где я стою? Это печально типично для случаев, которые я вижу, где банки, имея безопасность личной гарантии, действуют в пути, который противоречит интересам бизнеса, зная, что Вы, владелец, в конечном счете заплатите. В этих ситуациях формулировка документации помещения и гарантии важна. В этом случае, банк, кажется, представляет к Вам, что это отказалось бы от недоплат и даже увеличило ваше помещение кредита по текущему счету. Несомненно, письменное соглашение ссуды не будет иметь 'никакого отказа' пунктом. Это могло утверждаться, однако, что

Это печально типично для случаев, которые я вижу, где банки, имея безопасность личной гарантии, действуют в пути, который противоречит интересам бизнеса, зная, что Вы, владелец, в конечном счете заплатите. В этих ситуациях формулировка документации помещения и гарантии важна.

В этом случае, банк, кажется, представляет к Вам, что это отказалось бы от недоплат и даже увеличило ваше помещение кредита по текущему счету.

Несомненно, письменное соглашение ссуды не будет иметь 'никакого отказа' пунктом. Это могло утверждаться, однако, что устный отказ управляющим банком побудил компанию расширять ее долги увеличенным кредитом по текущему счету.

Эта договоренность могла составить новое соглашение, один из сроков, являющихся этим, на более ранние недоплаты не будут полагаться, чтобы звонить в ссудах. Как гарант, Вы могли утверждать, что банк нарушил соглашение и что предоставление любого отказа или далее продвигает к увольнениям бизнеса вашу гарантию полностью.

Однако, большинство банковских гарантий сформулировано в пользе банка. Случаи, типа этого зависят от отдельных фактов, и ранний совет должен быть взят. Патрик Селлей - поверенный консультанта по Закону Краеугольного камня

patrick.selley@keystonelaw.co.uk

My Bank Has Called in my Loan

Two years ago I took out a business loan. My business has been repaying it since then, but I made underpayments for three months due to cash-flow difficulties. When I spoke to my bank about these, I was told that there was no problem and it even increased our overdraft limit. The bank has now said it is calling in the loan and using a personal guarantee that would place me in a lot of difficulty.
Where do I stand?
This is sadly typical of cases I see where banks, having the security of a personal guarantee, act in a way that is contrary to the interests of the business, knowing that you, the owner, will ultimately pay. In these situations the wording of the facility documentation and guarantee is crucial.
In this case, the bank appears to have represented to you that it would waive the underpayments and even increased your overdraft facility.
Undoubtedly, the written loan agreement will have a "no waiver" clause. It could be argued, however, that the verbal waiver by the bank manager induced the company to extend its liabilities by an increased overdraft.
This arrangement could amount to a new agreement, one of the terms being that earlier underpayments would not be relied upon to call in the loans. As guarantor, you could argue that the bank has breached the agreement and that the granting of any waiver or further advances to the business discharges your guarantee in its entirety.
However, most bank guarantees are worded in the bank's favour. Cases such as this depend on the particular facts and early advice should be taken. Patrick Selley is a consultant solicitor at Keystone Law

www.patrickselley.com 

patrick.selley@keystonelaw.co.uk

07976 911936