Motivation

[nickyc]

I normally come on here to look at the bank charges stuff but saw this thread and thought i'd have a quick look.

Congrats to all those who've decided to give up this year! After 20 a day for 20 years (I started young ) I packed in 15 months ago.

I'm not a 'reformed smoker', i'd still love one and remember how hard those early days were. I still struggle when friends are smoking - it would be so easy to take one, but I've vowed no turning back.

My reason for posting is not to say how great i am for succeeding but to share how i did it. I didn't get on well with the nicotine replacement stuff but chewing gum and mints remain my friend! I did do all the mantra stuff 'smoking smells, it'll kill me, la la la' but most importantly, i worked out how much money i'd save in a year - it added up to a trip to see my best friend in australia. i could have used that money so many ways, but instead i booked the tickets as my reward. it's what kept me going through the hard times.

Hope you all succeed! Happy New Year to you all

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.