Hi All, I have been putting this off for far too long now. I have put myself under a debt management company to try and sort my life out, so far so good! However, on looking at the procedure for reclaiming bank charge I honestly think that its beyond me.

1. I live in Scotland where its particularly difficult to reclaim charges.

2. Because of my debt management problem I already owe the bank a serious amount of money.

3. If I make a claim against the bank (estimated £10000+) would they keep the money as part payment of my debt. to be honest I would be relieved that at least some of it got payed off.

4. If I used one of these companys that claim for you it would make it a lot easier but if the bank kept all charges as part payment of my debt could they also withhold payment from chosen reclaim company.

I have been a fool for getting in so much debt but the bank has to take some of the blame. it has been building up over the years from overdraft consolidation loans etc. Oh, and about £3000 charges in the last year alone.

All advice very welcome as I,m desparate..

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself....it is very easy to fall into this situation yes the banks are partly to blame but they are geared towards making a profit and a customer in credit is not profitable so they are always going to steer you towards more debt! I can imagine as with most people (including myself) you've spent a fair amount of time with your head in the sand but your situation is probably no worse than mosts...

Right, rub of the shoulders over, in response.......

I disagree it is beyond you, there are plenty of people succeeding with this from all walks of life and it isn't beyond them - head over to the successes section for any of the bank forums and you will see how many people are successful. I have friends who are carrying this process out for themselves who wouldn't class themselves as the sharpest tool in the box!!

1) I wouldn't say it is difficult to reclaim charges, just that your options are a little more complicated. The actual process would be no different just the route you can take if it goes to court. Do you have any friends or relatives who live in England and would be willing to allow you to use their address to send mail to? You could use their address as your registered address in order to use the English courts, just an option?

2) That's neither here nor there. In fact, I'd imagine the amount you owed would include a vast amount of bank charges so even more reason to look into it. The amount you has no bearing on whether you should or shouldn't make a claim.

3) They will try to and as you say, it's a success whatever happens because you could essentially write off that £10k. BUT, you will find that as part of this process you are entitled to receive your claim back in whatever shape or form you request it in. The banks will contest it but as long as you put the correct argument across, they must comply. I'm sure you will understand the benefit of receiving this in cheque form in order to use it to counter the most pressing debts first.

4) I think you will find you will get very little help out of this forum on No Win No Fee (NWNF) companies here because this is a self-help site that openely encourages you to do it for yourself because IT IS THAT EASY. Why should you go to a NWNF company who can take anywhere between 20-30% of YOUR money off you, when you can get all the information you would ever require from this site for free? Half the time these companies are not regulated and there are some real horror stories coming out about them. Personally, I would encourage you not to consider one of these because they will do no better job than you. You make reference to taking responsibility now for your debt, but going to one of these is hardly taking responsibility?!?!? Just my opinion.

There is enough info on this site to give you the knowledge you need to take the banks on yourself and if you can't find what you're looking for, enough people who are willing to help. Take your time looking round, and ask as many questions as you can. Remember, you have every right to your money back.

I've sent a link to this thread to a guy who is claiming in scotland for somewhere in the region of £30k (If I remember rightly) and he can hopefully give you some more encouragement and (better) advice as he is in a similar position to you.

Have faith and best of luck!!

I concur with Taff's post. The Scottish system does leave us a bit disadvantaged, but as long as you accept that the most you are likely to get back is your charges going back 5 years, you'll be fine. Ditto if your amount keeps you out of Ordinary Cause. (Although it sounds to me like you may well be over that limit.)

I'm the guy Taff mentions, but the chances of the 30K are now hopelessly lost, so I'm happy to take the chages as mentioned. (Just had an offer of £2.2K on one account). Reason being, I'd added on contractual interest going back nearly 10 years, and can't find a solicitor who is prepared to argue the merits of this in court. I've moved this up to the Financial ombudsman, but barring a miracle, I think they will also agree that I was chancing my arm too much.

Having said that, I still have one more account to be settled as part of my claim, so I am still waiting to see what the FOS say.

I'd recommend approaching the FOS 8 weeks after your prelim, and before taking court action if your claim IS over £1500. However, at the 4 week point, I'd start badgering whoever is dealing with your claim by email. I think you'll be surprised. RBS appear to be making offers to Scottish claimants at, or fairly close to the 5 year charges amount as a matter of course now. It might take them a while, but it is happening. Encouraging news perhaps if like me, you were dreading having to get a solicitor to fight your corner in court.

Thanks for your advice Seahorse, I have just sent off my SAR yesterday. Previously I posted on this forum around about january saying the same thing but I chickened out at the last minute but this time its in the post.

I,m just so angry about the amount of money that has been taken from me over the years and if I can get back even five years worth it will make a fair dent in my debts.

I will just take the whole process one step at a time before deciding on my next move.

Thanks for the advice and good luck with your claims!!

That's encouraging news. I know it seems very daunting to take the first step, but as I'm sure you've realised as you've read more about the way everyone else has been tackling their claims, there really isn't anything too hard about it. And I'm sure your feelings of guilt that cropped up as you thought you shouldn't really be doing it because it was all your fault, have rapidly given way to thoughts of How Dare They!!!

Not everyone likes to keep a thread going on their progress, but I think that the whole purpose of this forum is to let everyone know your experiences, so that they are better armed for the fight, and it also gives folks opportunity to offer their own advice and encouragement when things seem a little bit like you're on your own.

So we'd love for you to keep us all up to date on your progress. Taff especially seems to have become a bit of an RBS agony aunt, so I'd encourage you to check out his threads and posts where you can, and certainly listen to his sage advice.

Whilst you are waiting for some progress, the important thing now is to start building up a picture of the process, what do I do next, how might RBS respond, what sort of timescales am I looking at, what happens if RBS refuse to pay out. All things that are essential to know in advance. If something happens you're not expecting, it could easily put you off but reading up on people who are in the same boat, can help you spot things delaying tactics by the banks and common things that happen.

An example, is RBS often send out a letter that says thanks for your response, as per the rules of the FSA, we shall respond in 8 weeks.....whenever anyone gets this they say "what do I do now? I said two weeks, but they said they have eight! do I wait 8 weeks?" Well no you don't, it's a delaying tactic to see how much you really know about what you are doing. Hopefully (for them) you read the letter and wait 8 weeks but what you should be doing is sticking to your timescales.

Good luck with your claim, now me and him are subscribed to it we shall keep on eye on it, so any questions, fire them away. I shall try to help with the non-Scottish related ones