Thanks DT, will let you all know as soon as. Got my letter confirming the offer today and it says should be within 14 days. (do you think thats working days, weekends or a day with a y in it lol).

you'll probably be able to hear the party too dusary lol.

hmmm stevo, only been in "whats the point" once and the name says it all lol. you'll probably hear the party at my house lol. thanks dusary. will let you know when the cash is in my hand so to speak. (not that it'll be there long, got to catch up with all the bills now that I'm getting MY money back lol)

Thanks Stevo. Can't quite believe it yet. ( I will when the money is in my account lol). Goes to show, don't give up and don't let them try and palm you off with ridiculous offers. I've won my small battle, good luck to everyone still fighting.

Hi Dusary, sorry haven't heard anything like that, although that doesn't mean it isn't true lol. Having received a letter offering £702 (see above) I called my bank yesterday. I advised on the phone I wanted the full amount asked for and wouldn't take less than 7.5 k. Nice man on the phone asked if I accept that charges need to be applied from time to time to cover costs. I told him that I understand the reasoning behind them and would be happy to pay a charge that is proportional to the extra work caused. He caught me off guard with the question and couldn't think of anything better to say lol. He said you accept the charges are necessary, do you still want the full amount back. I said of course I do. (silly man). Advised him if I didn't get the full amount back I was going to the fos and would be demanding interest as well, taking my total claim to around 10k. (bear in mind they also exceeded the 8 weeks deadline for complaint handling, which i reminded him of). He asked if I could hold to see if he could authorise anything, came back on and said I would get refunded £7500 if that was acceptable. Told him I would settle for that and now just waiting for the letter to confirm. I can't believe how quickly they caved on the phone, after all the letters and phone calls it was done in about 2 minutes lol. WOO-HOO. I know what you're saying Stevo, I did give them a long time but I don't think it would have been dealt with any quicker with the fos and fortunately I now don't have to go through them.

no probs lauren, their website is Financial Ombudsman Service and their phone number is 0845 080 1800. All their forms are online or you can call them to get them sent out. Again best of luck. We'll get there in the end . Jacky

Hi Lauren, My claim is well over as well, in the region of 7500, so I too can't claim through small claims. If you read my post you'll see I decided to give them their time in order to avoid an ordinary court case. An option for the larger claims would have to be the fos (omsbudsman) although I know they are inundated at the moment with similar and the time scale is over 3 months. It's really your decision whether you let the bank take its time or go straight to the fos. I have kept in regular contact with them over the phone and repeatedly reminded them about the omsbudsman. If you decide to go the court route it involves you needing a lawyer. I did look at this option but found that there are very few who will even consider taking it on. I also had a few who advised to go through the fos. Hope this is of some help, and good luck.

Haven't posted for ages, getting nowhere and was getting fed up to be honest. I decided to give the banks their 8 weeks to reply. My claim being for such an amount that the only other option I have is the fso, court case would have to be raised by a lawyer etc. They had until the 14th May to reply. When I had heard nothing by then I called them to say that they had missed the deadline. Girlie on the phone sounded a bit panicky saying that something had gone wrong with my complaint. In other words it was sitting in limbo and no-one had looked at it. Received a letter the next day with the usual nonsense about charges being applied within t&c's etc. Bottom line was, getting nowt. Called them to say was unhappy with the complaint and I wanted someone else to look at it. Was told it could take a further 8 weeks. I explained to the nice lady on the phone that they had already exceeded their initial 8 weeks to reply and that if I wasn't given a satisfactory answer within a reasonable time scale I would be taking it to the omsbudsman. I have since called a further 3 times to remind them that I am not going away . Last phone call was on Tuesday 28th May and I was told they have a response date of the 15th June on my complaint. Low and behold a letter arrived this morning offering me £702, less than 10% of the amount I have asked for. As far as I can tell this is standard procedure. So I will be calling them first thing monday morning to advise them that I expect full payment or I will be going to omsbudsman. I think they'll be desperately trying to avoid that due to the time taken to reply to me. Will post on monday and let you all know how I got on. I feel as if I have been fighting this for ever but the end is in sight now. Fingers crossed. And good luck to everyone else still in the process.

Hey Dt, Have just finished downloading the complaint forms via the link further up the thread. Looking at all the options I think I'll be going through the omsbudsman. Too risky to do otherwise. Can't find anything else saying about the £12 minimum thing, but like yourself I tend not to take that as gospel. I think the 1 disadvantage going through the FOS will be the timescale, but hey, if I had split into 5 or more claims, imagine how long that would have taken. Meant to say , well done to Ms Tramp. It's nice to read so many success stories. I've had 3 people approach me this week to say they've had charges back of over 2500 each. And I was the one that started them claiming. Lol, very happy for them really. They have till Tuesday to reply back to LBA, then I'll maybe give them a wee phone and if getting nowhere will send away complaint form to FOS. Will update if anything happens. Cheers Jacky

Just a quick note to say that I have claimed my account maintenance charges of £28 a time as these were only applied to my account when I was charged a penalty charge. I have questioned these previously and was told they were to cover administration costs when I was charged. If I were being charged a maintenance charge every month then I wouldn't have claimed this as this would obviously have been an acceptable charge and to do with perks as stevo stated. As it is the acct maint is a cost incurred directly from charges, which I think would be claimable. Hope this helps ( and makes sense )

So what to do now? I haven't even mentioned contractual interest. (can you imagine their faces if I started asking for £20k lol). I'm not really wanting to go that far and would be happy just to get my charges back. I think I'll give them a wee phone on Tuesday (14 days after LBA) and see if anyone is dealing with my complaint. As for using an english address, I don't know anyone who stays down south. Am I right in saying that if you go through the FSO that they'll only give you the difference between £12 and the charge, ie if my charge was £30 then they would award me £18??? I seem to remember reading something about this in one of the many threads I've trudged through. Thanks for everyones help.

Good luck with that. At least you got the majority of your money back so far. Will keep you all posted with how I get on. Not too keen on raising an OA but feel there isn't really any other option with the amount of money I'm claiming back. Hopefully the bank will be put off as well as they would be more out of pocket than if they just settle now. Jacky

Hi DT, Sssshhhh, not found a lawyer yet, but I'm going to try the citizens advice. They helped me a couple of years ago with legal representation for an employment tribunal. Hoping they can help me out, but will update my thread when I get anything concrete sorted. Maybe they'll just pay me before then. Did you get your small claim through yet or have you just let it go DT?? Jacky

Right, time to send my LBA. Before I send it I'd like to get some feedback on what I've written, it's basically just the letter template with a couple of tweeks. "I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the 04/03/2007. I now understand that the regime of 'fees' which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations. I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law. I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary. I calculate that you have taken £7387 plus £1481.55 in interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £8868.55 I am enclosing a copy of the schedule of the charges which I am claiming. I have already sent you a copy of all charges on my statements in my original letter of the 04/03/2007. I require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I intend to raise an Ordinary Action in Hamilton Sheriff Court via my legal representative to recover the full amount plus interest plus my costs and without further notice." Do you think that's okay?? Am nervous about an ordinary action but the amount of money they have taken off me means I would need to do 5 seperate claims and I feel its a bit risky. Jacky

LBA stands for letter before action quidsinn. its the last chance for them to settle before court proceedings are raised. Hope this helps. Jacky

Thanks DT. Have read your latest on your own thread. Well done!!! My claim is now roughly 7300. If they wait til court then it will be at least double that with all the interest, (wouldn't that be nice) so am hoping that'll put them off taking this one too far. Big congrats on your win though. Another one for the little guys, and by no means the last. Jacky

OMG!. They've taken 120 off me yesterday in charges, which has taken all my money, and my 4 dd's have came off yesterday, so they're charging me another 120 quid next week. Am at my wits end. I think I'll just take my 3 kids into the bank for them to feed and clothe, seeing as they have all my money, tax credits and child benefit. I am soooooo angry. All the worse for the bank now. I am going to take them for every last penny. Watch out BOS, you've cheesed off a hormonal mother which is probably the biggest mistake you've made so far. I see there's more and more people looking to start OA's. Thinking of starting a new thread to see if we could all chip in and get 1 legal rep. Hmmmm. 1 week now before I send my LBA, (with 40 million new charges on it).

Excellent DT. Congrats. Let us know how long they take to get it all sorted for you. Well done again!!! Jacky

Hi SR, As you know I am looking at an OA. I too am very interested in finding out how this hearing went. Hopefully someone knows about it and can let us know what happened. Good luck to you. Jacky

Hi there, I am looking to claim over 7000 from bos. I'm not going to split the claim and will have to go for an OA. If we end up in court as far as I can understand the bank will have to prove the costs of their charges are just. ie they will have to reveal how much each charge actually costs them. They are not about to do that in open court as this leaves them wide open for everyone to claim. (even more so than now). If i keep telling myself all this over and over it might make me a bit less freaked out at the thought of ending up in court myself. Wish you luck. Jacky

All the best, I am in the same boat as you in that my charges were over 7k. I have just sent first letter, as per prev posts. I am not splitting and will take it all the way if necessary. How long before the banks realise we are all deadly serious. Will watch and see how you get on. Jacky

Hi there, There's a section under the main consumer action group page with faq's. this will give you step by step instructions on how to start your claim, and excellent letter templates. The basic jist of it is you send first letter asking for your charges, giving 14 days to reply, they'll probably ignore your first letter. After deadline you send your second letter LBA(letter before action). After the 14 days are up on that if no reply or not willing to settle, you can raise your court claim. There are a couple of ways to do this which are listed on various threads. My advice would be for you to have a thorough read of as many different cases as possible and you'll probably have a fair idea of what you should do next. Don't rush into anything until you have got all the info you'll need. Might be an idea too to find the thread for your particular bank, that way you can see how they're dealing with all other complaints. Hope this helped. Jacky

Thanks pict. Hopefully will settle before hand, but speaking to a solicitor just in case . Will keep an eye on your thread to make sure they pay you quickly . Jacky

Well done pict. Have been watching your thread with interest. Have just sent first letter for refund, as per my thread. One question, did they offer any kind of defence or turn up at court?? I am in the position where I am going to need to raise an ordinary action. My claim is over 7K and don't want to risk splitting it, so am keen to see how they handle court. Here's hoping the money in your hand before you know it. Jacky

Hi Robert, I think you should call the phone banking and see if they can tell you if your statements request has been actioned. Like I say mine took less than 2 weeks. I too have been internet banking only for over a year but they still were able to send out all statements up to date. I personally would get an exact figure on charges, believe you me I never imagined it would be this amount. I had figured 2-3k and it turned out to be over 7.3k, so in my case it was definately worth taking a bit extra time over. I got a letter this morning with all the statements I had sent them. I was really cheeky and sent all my statements, with charges highlighted, in to them with my first letter. Just to make it easy for them to go through. Letter said that they had copied all statements and had the "pleasure" of sending my originals back to me. Also stated that my query had been passed to customer relations and someone would be in touch shortly. We'll see!