Thanks - that's a huge help. I'll go away and do some reading and come back to you with questions when I'm a bit more clued-up

Thanks, bookworm. At the risk of sounding totally clueless, I've never used threads or stickies before. What is it that you're advising me to look at?

I'm sure that you've covered this in great depth in the past, so apologies for making you go over old & v basic ground. But I've just received a letter telling me that my small claim for £4971.00 in bank charges against HSBC has been referred to the Mercantile Court. I know this is some sort of business court that deals with contracts and can thus infer that their lawyers are going to attempt to argue that their terms and conditions mean their charges are acceptable etc. But what happens now? Do I have to appear in court or hire expensive lawyers of my own?