Hi mollycat03 Click on 'Site Map' at the top of the page. Under the section 'Bank Action Group', locate the 4th subheading 'Online Interest Calculator'. Good luck! PeterG

I had a go at HSBC Credit Card section yesterday for the sheer devilment of it really. Although we already hold a joint Visa card, they were trying to persuade my wife to take out another card - not for the first time - and I couldn't help but point out to the chap I spoke to that in their 'Key Information', their Default charges should include wording to the effect that one could be charged up to a maximum of £12 and this figure itself was not a norm. I said I would expect a separate invoice detailing the extra work that the Bank had been obliged to do, specifically related to the default charge in question, so incurring the Bank in costs over and above the norm that they were now seeking to recover. 'Oh no' he said, 'There is a straightforward charge of £12 - there's no invoice or anything like that'!!! I then acquainted him with what the OFT had actually said. He seemed quite perplexed, said he had made notes on what I had said and would pass it on for consideration by the 'relevant department' so that HSBC could offer an even better service. Meanwhile, he suggested that I go into my local branch and discuss my concerns with them - and he was serious! PeterG

Dave I have found the OFT website Who to contact in the OFT very informative as to what the OFT can and cannot do. The linked Consumer Direct advice service is also a useful ally. One significant point they stressed to me last week was that I (and anyone else fo that matter), am quite within my rights to ask for a detailed breakdown of how a default charge has been calculated (in the same way you would receive an invoice) and that it is the Financial Ombudsman Service that is then empowered to take this further, not the OFT. What was fully not ascertained was what action one could actually take if the Bank did not comply with the request but I presume the answer would be as above, to complain to the FOS - which is what I've just told the Halifax. I suppose the other tedious option would be to take Court Action again. PeterG

Hello again Folks, especially jonni2bad and Michael B, and indeed all of you who have given help and advice in our pursuit of justice. Well, first the good news….Eventually….. ***HALIFAX SETTLED IN FULL*** BUTit was not straightforward and I can now prove that the Halifax really do persist in unlawful charges …and are looking for that little bit ‘Xtra’! In short, battle has re-commenced as today’s letter sent to their Customer Relations Manager, below explains: ‘You will, I trust, have been in receipt of my previous letter, dated 29th August, which was sent in reply to your letter dated 23rd August. However, I find I must now write you again regarding further ‘Overlimit’ and ‘Late Payment’ default charges that have been applied to my latest September statement. Although I have noted from your letter of the 23rd August, your reiteration that future valid charges would stand, I would respectfully question the ‘validity’ of these latest charges which I consider are unwarranted penalties, having been triggered automatically, as a matter of course, with little or no regard given to the ongoing litigation process which I instigated through Stockport County Court on 9th August. In your letter, you made me an offer of £500, which I said I was prepared to accept but only in partial settlement of the £1160 I was claiming through litigation. If I had accepted that offer outright, I would have been under my credit limit. As it was, Ms Rachel Hinchcliffe, Litigation Solicitor, Legal Services-Retail Division HBOS plc wrote to me on 2nd September saying that the Halifax were prepared to reimburse £1109 in respect of bank charges incurred plus interest and would also reimburse my Court fee. I telephoned Ms Hinchcliffe to query the actual figures quoted in the text of her letter. It transpired that there was not only a minor clerical error in her figures but more importantly and more significantly, my claim had not taken account of a £25 refund which had been recorded on my February 2005 statement. When I checked as to why I had overlooked this, the reason was straightforward in that the February statement in question was one of two that had not been sent by the Halifax, in response to my initial request for copies of my last six years statements. We resolved this issue and I verbally accepted Ms Hinchcliffe’s amended offer, made without admission of liability. Regarding the £12 Late Payment fee so applied, you will see from your records that I made a payment of £50.00 received by you on 18th August. I understand this charge was applied nevertheless because what I had paid fell short of the full minimum payment of £74.15 required on my August statement. I have been in contact with the Consumer Direct advice service who reiterated that the figure of £12 is not a norm but a maximum amount Banks are allowed to charge for the sole purpose of recovering any extra costs incurred directly as a result of being overlimit or making a late payment. I was further informed that I am quite entitled to request an itemised breakdown of how you have incurred those extra costs. Therefore, I would be grateful if you would either provide me with such a breakdown or alternatively, simply rescind the charges forthwith. If however, you insist that these charges should stand and do so without explanation, then, as a matter of principle, I will feel obliged firstly to inform the Office of Fair Trading and secondly to then refer this issue to the Financial Ombudsman Service’ So, we await their response! I would also like to pass on a tip: If you phone up, it is just as important, if not more so, not just to get the name of the person you are talking to but also the location - Leeds, Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Halifax, Timbucktoo, Outer Mongolia, Outer Space, It seems they all have the same phone number and nobody knows who anyone else is. We spent 40 minutes on the phone and were transferred to five different call centres. Eventually, one gentleman said he would phone us back. He never did. Watch this space for that little bit ‘Xtra’ PeterG

CONGRATULATIONS - EXCELLENT SUPERB RESULT The wording of your offer letter was virtually identical to mine so it must be a stereotyped letter!. The only difference was the amounts involved. They knocked £51 off my claim so I phoned up their solicitor who I have to say was helpful, co-operative and realistic. I got the £51 reinstated but they've now applied £12 overlimit fee because the refund wasn't credited to the account by the statement date and they've also applied a £12 Late payment fee because the £50 paid on the 18th August fell short of the £74 minimum payment on the August statement. So having checked with the OFT Consumer Direct advice service, battle has recommenced today. I've demanded either a fully itemised breakdown of how they've arrived at these charges or that they rescind them forthwith. Failure to do so will result in me informing the OFT and referral to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I'll post my letter on my 'Halifax persist with unlawful charges' thread (because they really do!!!!) if you want to follow the action. I'm now taking on Barclays - who did you say you'd changed to? but I'm really pleased for you !!!!!!! PeterG

Thanks jonni2bad! Will follow that up so all parties receive the appropriate letters hopefully by Tuesday. Will keep you posted Thanks again PeterG

Are we actually going to Court? Is History in the making? Claim update: Halifax deliberately have probably not surprisingly set out to complicate the issue - and I would value opinions on the best course of action, especially as the Halifax Solicitors have on 22nd August, filed an Acknowledgement of Service indicating an intention to defend all of the claim. Following the Notice of Issue, the Halifax had until today (the 25/08) to respond which they have done not without a fight it would seem. They appear to have launched a three-pronged attack - First, a letter from Retail Bank Collections, Halifax, headed ‘Urgent Notice’ and dated 19th August - a Saturday! arrived on Wednesday 23rd. stating that the account was seriously overlimit (£306.66 over a £1100 Credit Limit) and to avoid this account being referred to a recovery agent, FULL payment must be made immediately. Credit facilities had been withdrawn and no attempt should be made to use the card. Second, a letter was received today, 25th, from the County Court notifying us that an Acknowledgement of Service had been received and the defendant now had until 8th September to file a defence. Third, also in today’s post was a more conciliatory letter dated 23rd August, from Customer Relations Manager in Leeds. Referring to our ‘’ongoing complaint regarding charges’, she offered her ‘sincere apologies for the inconvenience this issue had caused’ us. She was ‘sorry’ that we were ‘unhappy’ to refund £250. and re-emphasised that they were to recover costs so she could not agree to refund them all -(i.e. £1160 - no mention anywhere in the letter of the Small Claims Court Notice of Issue, the Court fee or Interest being claimed !!!) However, ‘in an attempt to reach an amicable solution’, she was prepared to increase the offer to £500 ‘in full and final settlement’. ‘Future valid charges will stand’ and they reserved the right to close the account if it was not managed correctly. An acceptance form and pre-paid envelope were enclosed. She was ‘keen to resolve’ our concerns and if we were unable to do so, she would provide details of how we could contact the Financial Ombudsman Service. If no reply was forthcoming from us in the next eight weeks, she would assume that our concerns were resolved. So does the Left Hand know what the Right Hand is doing? Do the fingers on one hand know what they are doing? Having spoken to the Court administrative staff today, they require copies of all the above correspondence and our reply! PeterG

Hi Damian Have been out all day so just catching up! Michael makes a very astute and when you think about it obvious point. They would have to go to Court to challenge / dispute your claim and unless they have a sudden change of policy, they won't do that. I'm no legal expert but I would think that under the terms of Data Protection, if push came to shove, you could insist on full clarification of the charges applied. If the scenario was such that it did go to court, then you can bet your bottom dollar or your last £ sterling that they would know exactly what the charges were for and say so. However, follow Michael's advice and submit your claim. Don't worry about your claim being later than what you stated. I gave them July 24thJuly, then 31st and eventually filed on Aug 9th! Like I said, getting it right is the key, time is not of the essence! Best of luck PeterG

Damian RIght. first of all, the OFT ruling applies specifically to unfair Credit card charges although I think? that they've now been asked to officially investigate Bank Current account charges. Nevertheless, that doesn't help you at the moment. Therefore can I suggest 2 possible ways to follow now. 1 Check up again on similar threads in the Halifax Forum but in particular, access the posts of Dave (Administrator), jonni2bad and Michael Browne to name but three who have given much pertinent helpful and very specific advice throughout all forums. 2 Read the articles by Neil Faulkner on the Motley Fool (UK) website. Don't get me wrong, Neil is a strong advocate of CAG but if you go to The Ultimate Guide To Reclaiming Bank And Card Charges - 30/06/2006 - The Motley Fool UK, you will find his several articles which I think you will find helpful and informative - and give you another 'informed' perspective. I have had personal contact with Neil and he is very approachable, inundated with requests for help but still comes up smiling! You may need to retrace your steps in requesting details of the charges. Under the Data Protection Act, you are entitled to request not only the dates when charges were applied and the amounts involved, but you also want to know precisely what the charges were for? It is insufficient and a cop-out for the Bank to say 'as previously notified'. So if you've paid your £10 and they cannot produce the info you have requested, which they of course must admit in writing, then this will by default, I think, strengthen your case. Remember, the one with the best paperwork wins! So you might need to write again to 'seek further clarification'. Anyway. take your time. Get it right and don't leave the Bank any room for excuse. PeterG

Damian I didn’t use the Moneyclaim online form and although I appreciate that many people have used this facility most successfully, to me, it seemed at an overall glance to be quite involved and meant to cover a multitude of scenarios. By contrast, Form N1 in my opinion is far more straightforward. Having said that, may I make some observations and suggestions that you might consider to be helpful before submitting your claim. 1 Be concise and precise. 2 You have quoted various Regulations in support of your claim but omit to mention the most important one of all, the April 5th OFT ruling which has precipitated all this action by hundreds of people. 3.Penalty charges have been deemed to be irrecoverable at law - full stop. Only a judge can and will decide if charges applied to your account are unfair. 4 You should itemise each charge giving the date, the amount and what it was for - eg:- overlimit; late payment; returned payment fee. 5 Standard ‘Interest’ applied to your account is not reclaimable. Are you sure that Halifax has levied interest specifically on your charges? 6 I’m not clear how you’ve calculated the interest in arriving at £566.65. You can claim 8% interest on each charge from the day it was applied to the present. Use the CAG ready calculator to tabulate this if you have not already done so. 7 It is a good idea to show that you have tried to resolve this ‘dispute’ with the Halifax but having failed to do so, are therefore compelled to resort to the Courts to press your case. It is not so much a matter of the Halifax failing to justify their charges to you, it is more a matter that you consider these particular charges unfair and unlawful and are now seeking to reclaim them in full. 8 In general, you can only claim for the last six years so to my mind, when you opened your account is of no relevance. So - Keep it simple; State the total amount you are reclaiming in penalty charges over the last six years. State the total amount you are reclaiming at 8% interest Supply itemised lists of the above. Remember to add in your Court fee As has been already said by others in CAG, you are taking on a big organisation who are extremely reluctant to accept the OFT ruling but even more reluctant to go to Court. It is not a race, there is no time-limit. As in all legal matters, the one with the best paperwork wins. Make sure your claim is clear, easily understood and watertight. Once the dye is cast, it’s not good to be troubled with afterthought! PeterG PS In reply to your last post, if you are reclaiming Credit Card charges, I used the Dunfermline address. Otherwise use the Leeds one - NOT you local branch!

You go to your local County Court. You can post your form or take it in personally. Your fee depends on the amount you are claiming. Pay by cheque made out to 'HMCS'. Refer to the following website for more info: Making a Claim Look at Stage 3 - Small Claims Track PeterG

I was asked to supply three copies of the N1 form by HMCS - which could be photocopies; one to be sent to the defendant, one for HMCS USE and one to be returned to you bearing the Court's 'Seal'. Also send copies of all correspondence so that the Court can see what steps you have taken to try and resolve this prior to this legal stage. Best of luck PeterG

Hi Damian I didn't use that as I purchased the Lawpack kit on the left of your screen. Nowhere on FORM N1 was it suggested that I needed to enter when the account was opened. What is of relevance is that you are able to show the Court evidence of what penalty/unfair charges were levied on your account and when. PeterG

Hi Damian You can only reclaim unfair/unlawful charges over the last six years so I would think that when you opened your account is of no relevance? PeterG

Hello Mike As Michael says, it is up to you. However, you might find it of further interest to read through my thread ‘Halifax persist with unlawful charges’ where I was kindly given advice by both Michael and jonni2bad. You can read the letter I finally sent in the thread ‘DeviousDame Vs Halifax (Need Advice Please) #16 As I said in a previous reply, HMCS will give them 14 days to reply irrespective. PeterG