This post is a cross between a rant and a tutorial of how to make your claim as stressful as possible, both for you and the people trying to help you
Below is by no means a complete list of mistakes that people make (and more often than you would think possible, given all the help and information available)
Not Reading The FAQs and Step by Step Guide
Anyone who fails to do this should be put up against a wall and shot, well, strung up at least (rope is re-usable whereas bullets cost)
You are taking on a multi-national company with unlimited financial and legal resources. The very least you should do is to have good idea of the overall process and the various steps involved.
Plus it would help cut down on the number of threads with ‘Help, What Happens Next/Now’ in the title
If you haven’t read them yet, go and do it now!!
Posting
If you want everyone to quickly lose
interest in your thread, TYPE EVERYTHING IN CAPITALS, Capitalise Every Single Word or only use lower case throughout, preferably without any punctuation or paragraphing. And, of course, the longer the better. It’s a pain to read and it’s much easier to move onto another thread that is less of a strain on the eyes.
Hi-Jacking A Thread
Simple, don’t do it
Multiple Threads
If you really want to confuse/irritate people who are trying to help you, start a new thread for every question.
That way nobody can see your claim at a glance and either will have to chase all over the forum to piece it together or will give advice based on guesswork as to what you have done so far. Not the best way to be given good advice.
Estimated Claims
Are an accident waiting to happen. The BBC’s website advice is particularly good – shows you how to estimate a claim for 6 years of charges based on just 5 months statements!! I have yet to see an estimated claim that doesn’t have to be amended.
It will cost you money, time, and stress, probably at a time when you’re short of all three.
Claiming s69 Interest Before Court
Not exactly the most heinous crime, but it does show you haven’t read the FAQ’s and Step by Step Guide, and that is a capital offence (see above)
Overdraft Interest
You’ve read something, somewhere, can’t remember what or where, about claiming
overdraft interest so let's just whack it all in.
Contractual Interest
Wow, look at the difference it makes to your claim!!! Ok, you don’t understand the arguments involved or that it has no basis in law. Never mind, just think of all that money….till it all goes pear-shaped.
Sending Statements With Your Claim
This is an excellent idea. It saves all that palaver of filling in a spreadsheet.
You are going to need the statements later for your court bundle. It’s just taken you 40 days to get them and will take you another 40 days to get another set, so don’t throw them away or shred them either.
The same goes for any letters from the bank. Never send your statements. Always send a schedule of charges.
Computer Crashes
They always happen to somebody else, so there’s no need to keep copies of anything, is there?
Always print out a hard copy of letters you send to the bank or the court. Then when your hard disk fails, you’ve still got copies and you don’t need to spend a month trying to reconstruct your claim.
Particulars Of Claim
Don’t bother with the template POC’s, just make up your own. Something short and snappy.
This is where the bank’s solicitors come into their own. So far they haven’t had a leg to stand on, now they’ve got something they can get their teeth into – they’ll rip your claim to shreds faster than you can say pirhana
Not Sending A Schedule of Charges When You File at Court or MCOL
Yes, you may well have sent it to the bank twice previously, but it’s at Customer Services at the other end of the country, whereas your claim is sitting in the bank’s legal section or solicitor’s office who have no idea what charges you’re talking about
Ignoring Court Dates For the AQ, Directions, Court Bundle, Hearings etc
This is asking for trouble – a sure-fire way to have your claim thrown out. By now your dealing with the courts and judges, who are already pi**ed off with the banks and the amount of work that claims are creating. If they can strike out your claim, it’s no skin off their nose - it’s one less case they have to deal with. Make sure it’s not yours.
And Finally………
If, despite your best efforts by doing all or any of the above, you have still managed to win, just take a moment to think back. In the euphoria of a win, it’s easy to forget how close you came to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Would you still have succeeded without the help from this site?
So please, please don’t forget a donation, however small.
MIS-CLAIM TUTORIAL or HOW NOT TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK 
