I wonder how easy it would be to start your own bank? call it the consumer action bank. This bank would specialise in basic accounts with no monthly fees, no overdrafts, and if people were to get D/D's returned or go into the red etc. charge a nominal fee of £5 or so. Obviously it would need to be funded in some way, so there would have to be an element of a charge somewhere, but this could be much lower than the greedy banks need.

Ok from what I understand this to be: my original ML from HSBC was for £10k. Of this loan, £785, or more to the point 7.85% of it, was made up of the bank charges. I have been paying roughly £90 a month in interest since Jan 2006. This week I have received my unlawful charges back, 16 months after I took the loan out. So the calculation I need to do is: ((90 x 16) / 100) * 7.85??? I.e the amount of interest I've been paying times the amount of months I've been paying, divide by 100 to give 1% of that, then * 7.85 to give the amount of interest I have been paying for the unlawful charges? That figure comes out at £113.04.. Whilst it may be good to have that back, I don't think its worth the rigamarole in persuing it, time is money after all and would they accept me lumping an extra £200 on the top for my time? probably not! And going through another 3 months or wrangling + probably p***ing HSBC in the process doesn't appeal to me. I should have done it along with my original claim (I haven't told the court yet that we've settled, I was going to today but I should write to DG and say cheers for the money but I've thought of something else...but unfortunatly that wasn't on my particualrs..oh well ) I might look into the asking for a copy of the agreement, would they not accept a cheque instead of a postal order? When I took the ML, I knew my O/D and credit card would be taken away, and they told me the interest rate at the time. What they didn't tell me of course is that it would ruin my credit rating beyond belief! Even though I have NEVER missed a payment on the loan, I can't get a credit card anywhere, the best I could do is vanquis @ 49.9% apr (which infact I took, and again I've never missed a payment). I'm not aware of any defaults on my credit record, and for at least 12+ months now I have made the full payments on all credit agreements I have. Yet I still have massive trouble obtaining credit, I put it down to this damn ML. If I'd thought about it I would have gone elsewhere and said stuff you HSBC, but I was in such a state and was only 19 so inexperienced I did get accepted for littlewoods recently, 0% interest for a year woohoo :grin: but they didn't seem to do much checking ML's are crap..thats all I can say EDIT: Just another thought, the ML was taken out as a consolidation of O/D, credit card, and existing 'normal' loan. That normal loan had PPI, I'm not sure if they included that PPI into the ML or not but is that something worth looking into? EDIT: I have just looked into my acc, at the date I received my ML (05 Jan 2006), there are 4 transactions: TRANSFER £9540.00 (in) - this is the ML sum LOAN REPAYMENT A/C £7644.41 (out) - pay back the normal loan LOAN PROTECTION £1335.08 (in) - I'm assuming this is payment back for PPI for the remainder of the loan GOLD CARD £2097.08 I think they didn't lump the PPI in aswell due to the loan protection (in). I've just spent the last half hour calculating it and it all appears to be in order So looks like my only chance is if they haven't got a credit agreement

I just got a call from Niaomi at DG, apparently they will request payment on monday and it will take 7-10 days to process - eh? it takes 7 days for a bank to put money into one of their bank accounts? I'm surprised I'm not going to get charged an administration fee for the 'service'

can anyone please tell me how long DG take to get their bottoms in gear and pay up? I know I only got the letter 2 days ago, but I just don't want it to be ages. I faxed the letter back and also sent it recorded delivery in the post, with a cover letter saying I won't stop the claim until I receive the full payment. I have tried telephoning Rachel but always get voicemail. Can people please with their experiences tell me how long theirs took? thanks guys

DIVERMOOSE, I have just been reading through your thread, good luck! Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if they are going to close your account it will be after the settlement? I have just been through and got my offer letter from DG a couple of days ago, whilst my claim was for less I do have quite a substantial outstanding 'managed' loan with HSBC. At no point during the claim did they threaten anything, and compared to what I have heard from other banks (future mother in law went to claim with A&L and they flat out said no - at least HSBC made me an offer of about 3/4 of my claim (which I didn't accept)), HSBC aren't too bad. Like mentioned in a previous post they will get shirty after a second claim but you will be fine with a first. EDIT: oh I just read your last post fully..bit of advice..DO NOT(!!) accept a managed loan, if they offer it to you and try and make out its your last resort, say no - its the biggest rip off ever! I pay £90 interest a month on a £130 repayment! tell them you will be claiming for the unfair charges you have received, which will 'restructure' your account and put you well in credit, thank you mr bank manager.

I've won. I got a letter yesterday without predujice (as always) for the full amount interest and costs and all. Apparently I'm not supposed to tell anyone hence I have edited all the figures and dates in this thread, perhaps thats me being paranoid but hey, better to be safe than sorry. Can someone please tell me who the best person to PM is about this so it can be added to the total charges reclaimed bit. For the record if there is anyone in the claiming stage, it took me a total of three months to get back the charges. Oh, and a bit of advice..be patient and stick with it, you will get there and its a good feeling when you read that letter with the offer

excellent thankyou ever so much. Just one last point, I am ok to print out bank statements from HSBC's online banking?

ok, is the Ts&Cs This document? So basically print off the whole thing and include that? or just the section about current accounts? (its a good thing I can do duplex printing!)

Michael, thankyou so much..the witness statement bit will help no end. So the contract is my summary of charges?

I'm really sorry to keep replying to my own thread I have done a bit of reading around on this site and from what I understand now, I need to submit to the court and DG: 1) My Schedule of charges (the contract) 2) Bank statements showing charges printed from HSBC online banking (Bank Statements for the relevant period) 3) Basic court bundle (Witness statements) Is this right? sorry to keep hassling, I just need a straight yes or no many thanks in advance all

ok so I am going to send the letter in this thread to DG. But please can someone help me with what I have to send them before the xxth I'm worried...

Ok I have received my Notice Of Allocation (they dispensed with the AQ). My court date is xxxth July at 14:00. The NOA looks ok apart from this: "2. Each party must deliver to every other copy and to the court office copies of all documents on which they intend to rely at the hearing. These must include: - The contract - Bank Statements for the relevant period - Witness statements The documents must be delivered by 4pm on the 30th May 2007. The original documents to be brought to the hearing" whats all this? point 5 goes onto say about a skeleton argument to be delivered 7 days before court but I assume thats the court bundle etc. So basically, what do I need to send before xxth and who to? Also my bank statements are all online..is it a problem just to print these out? As a side note, would a letter to DG saying something like it would be easier to settle this out of court blah blah and here are my contact details if you wish to discuss be a good idea or does it sound too desperate? I am just dying for an offer..

I telephoned xxxx court today and the woman told me it had been transferred through on the xxth April. Whilst the county Judge, Judge xxxx, isn't requesting AQ's, the xxxx judge might. I was thinking maybe a quick phonecall to DG? I haven't contacted them before so its not as if I'm hassling. I wouldn't know what to say to them..I would be like "uuhh..umm..I believe you owe me some money" Any tips on what to say?

many thanks for this Michael, I will do the AQ and get it sent off asap. I get it so I send off the draft order attached with my AQ, wait for the court to reply and say you have 14 days to send these docs. and then if/when I get that I will probably need to post on here again to get help on what docs to send. Many thanks again

Ok so they have now submitted their defence..HELP!! I shall be expecting my AQ, I have read about how to fill it in and that seems pretty straight forward. But I need to ask a few things: 1) On the AQ, the section which says "Have you attached the fee for filing this allocation questionnaire?" well the answer is no because my claim is under £1500. It may seem a silly question but do I tick yes or no here? because I don't want them to take one look at the 'no' tick and throw the claim out 2) When do I send the AQ back to the court, bearing in mind I have to post it. Should I get it in ASAP or give it a few days to see if HSBC come up with an offer? 3) Please someone tell me..how close am I to winning its been dragging on for so long now and I need the money for carpet (currently have bare concrete in the house!) 4)I'm having a bit of trouble with this: New Strategy for allocation questionnaires I need an idiots guide of what I send to the court and when. The way I understand it now is firstly I complete the AQ, plus I attach this document (filled in with my details obviously). After that, I give it a few days and I send the court and HSBC/DG these: a) Another summary of my charges b) Copies of my bank statements showing these charges (I have taken them all from internet banking so presumably I can print out each statement?) c) & d) two other things which I'm not too sure about - is it the document located here tailored to suit my own needs? Someone please help as I am getting very nervous now

help! Its been 3 weeks since I filed the claim, but I'm confused. HSBC have 28 days to file a defense, which they haven't yet. As per previous posts, I filed the claim on xxth March. They acknowledged the claim on xxth. But, on the notice of issue letter I recieved, this is written: "You claim was issued on the xxth March 2007. The court sent it to the defendant by first class post on the xxth March 2007 and it will be deemed to be served on the xxth March 2007" So my claim was issued on the xxth they acknowledged it on xxth it is 'deemed to be served' on xxth so what date do I take to be the 28days from to file a default judgement/give them more time?? 13th 15th or 18th?

ok so this isn't me claiming any charges back but this is the story. My gf's mother ordered us a tumble drier from Kays in december 2006. The tumble drier finally arrived on 28th February 2007. We were told 5 times that the drier would be delivered, and each time it didn't turn up, once was due to Kays messing up my gf's mum's credit, others were due to it not being in stock. On one occasion they telephoned to say it wasn't in stock, but the other times they didn't give any notification. Now, as you can imagine, I don't mind taking the time off work once to wait for delivery, but having to take 5 days off! ok so I get paid holiday, but I am now minus 5 days of that, could I argue with them something like lost earnings? (since if I wanted to to have them 5 days off now for something important, it would be unpaid leave). Also do you think they would offer to credit my gf's mum's account? since that would be no use to me. And if someone has a spare minute they could always write me a killer letter to put a rocket up kays backside..

nettyg please don't scare me - I have received the notice off issue (on thursday) and the notice of acknowledgement today! :-| The letter says: "An Acknowledgement of Service of your claim has been filed today, a copy of which is attached. The defendant now has 28 days from the date of service of the claim form to file a defence" The letter of ack is dated xxth March, which is the day I received the letter of issue. I'm really worried now since, as you say, they have done it so quickly.. please reassure...

Ok well claim was filed on Monday, and now its Saturday and I have received a letter of acknowledgement today (saturday). Now what do I do :confused:

When you say the full amount..is this including the interest and court fee? because I sure could do with the £80 I spent of court fees + the extra interest

so basically saying I will accept this as a partial refund but I still want the rest and the court claim still stands?

but surely since you have already sent of your claim..your proceedings would stand?

I had a £28 charged lumped on me for going overdrawn by £15 for one day. This is the first charge I have had from Natwest (and the last I hope! - caused by an error on t-mobile's part). Anyway, I called natwest to see what they had to say to themselves, and after getting nowhere with one fool, I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was trying to get him to tell me what that £28 actually covers, but he kept telling me its a 'charge' which is set out in my personal banking handbook and I agreed to the charge when I signed up for the account, he didn't seem to understand that I wanted to know what this £28 pays for! I got the same old, this is a standard charge..so I said its a fine then? no sir its a charge, I said basically a fine! you are fining me! he wouldn't have it. The guy was an ar*ehole. Anyway, he agreed to halve the charge to £14, which I had to accept because he was getting to the stage where I could tell he was thinking, if you don't like it 'fork off' and after an ongoing battle with HSBC, I'm not up to fighting natwest for £28. I might follow it up with a letter of disgust though..any ideas?

well I filed my claim on Monday, and today I got a letter of issue, and apparently the official issue date to HSBC is xxth March, and they have until April xx to acknowledge. Anyhoo, I received a letter from my beloved bank today aswell, saying yada yada yada we believe if this claim went to court we could successfully resist and legal challege, however due to irrecoverable legal costs we are going to offer you £xxx, which in no way is an admission of our liability. too late mate, I filed my claim on Monday and I'm sticking too it, plus if I accepted it would be £xx less than my actual charges + interest (and thats not including the £80 court fee!). This is the right thing to do yes?

I know I should have read the info once, twice and three times over anyway I have got the money together now so I shall be proceeding as usual today