I couldn't believe it either! The only thing I could think was that maybe they were trying to use a psychological trick to make it seem they weren't at all worried by my request... anyway, onto the next stage for me too

Thank you very much for your excellent advice, pinkdutchess and lateralus I'll proceed with Mindzai's spreadsheet I think, and have posted my questions about it on his thread here. The reason I want to use that one is because I'm using my claim of a few hundred pounds as a 'dry-run' to test out everything for my sister's claim, which is likely to be many thousands. HSBC have really scre*** us both over in the past with these charges, and caused a lot of trouble for my whole family in the process, so i'm determined to get every penny I think is owed to us. It's just a shame for me that, unlike my sis, the thousands they took from me is in the period beyond six years ago that I don't have statements for... The issue of interest certainly hasn't been cleared up much for me by my extra few days reading! I do understand the argument behind listing the interest and the balance on the day the overdraft interest was applied (simple and consistent) but with HSBC they calculate the interest on the 8th of every month, and apply it on the 30th, so I think i'd be more confident of arguing with them that the most relevant balance is the one on the actual day the interest was calculated (the 8th). I do agree that taking the last previous overdrawn balance might be a very thorny one to argue! I've also read suggestions that you could calculate the average daily overdrawn balance over the whol month, and apply that, or even work out the interest daily, but that's far too complicated. Hmmm... If anyone can comment on any of this further, i'd be really grateful to hear from you, once again My main question right now is if the AER on our HSBC (authorised) overdrafts is currently 18.3%? (That's how it looks from the website) Cheers!

Firstly may I say a very big 'thank you' indeed to Mindzai and Lucid, for their fantastic efforts on behalf of us all, really exceptional stuff I'm new to all this, and have a couple of questions about Mindzai's contractual interest spreadsheet. I do apologise if these have already been posed before. I have read all through this thread and quite a few others, and haven't seen the answers (but my head has been spinning from all of the info i've tried to take in). Anyway, i'd be very grateful if anyone who knows about this spreadsheet could give me their opinions on these: 1) Is the APR box on the Notes page where you enter the contractual interest rate you wish to claim? If so, I would like to charge HSBC what they would charge me, so is that equivalent to the AER? 2) I don't understand the bit about the 'Estimate of Previous Charges' on the Notes page. Is this a sum of charges to wish to claim that you don't have the paperwork for? I have all my statements from the last six years, so this is what i'll be claiming for initially. If in the future it becomes possible to request statements and make a claim beyond this date, then I don't want to have jeopardised anything by leaving the 'Estimate' total as £0 on this claim, but I really have no idea at this point what that total might have been. So many thanks in advance! (Btw I have also posted some general questions about interest on my thread takoyaki vs HSBC in case anyone can help:))

Very many thanks again for your answer Your theory about the 'estimate' part makes perfect sense, it's just the part in the notes on the spreadsheet that confuses me: 'Enter the estimated amount you were charged before the period you were claiming into the box labelled "Estimate of Previous Charges" (If anyone can help here and wonders, I'm using Mindzai's spreadsheet because when I fill in for my sis's claim I want to be using the contractual interest feature). Another hitch on the interest front i've hit upon - sometimes a credit into the account by the interest calculation deadline day puts me into credit at that point, so the spreadsheet doesn't calculate any of that interest as being 'interest on charges'. In that case, should I put the balance in of the last date prior to the credit that I was overdrawn? :?

Thanks for that jowalshy - i'm so unsure about all this i'm doubting myself now at every turn. I still have no idea about the 'estimate of previous charges' box at the top. I'm also not sure if I have the right idea about interest. I didn't go overdrawn until quite a while after the first penalty charge, but i'm assuming that the penalty charge is still relevant WHENEVER you subsequently go overdrawn. As for the dates for the interest calculation, although the interest was applied on 30th Jan 2004, it's for interest 'to 08 Jan 2004' (i.e. it's applied quite a few days later) So on the spreadsheet i'm entering 08 Jan as the 'interest date', and the account balance at that same date, right? Sorry you guys have such a confused idiot here

I'm now starting to use Mindzai's Excel spreadsheet for my own claim. Is the full name of the bank 'HSBC Bank PLC'? The very first box already has me confused 'Estimate of previous charges'.

Another little update - having gone through my statements now it seems I only have about £200 in charges since 2001. The thousands I remember losing must have been the years before that (esp '94-97 when I was at uni). Sigh, i'll just have to keep my eye on developments here about people trying to get statements from previous years, and keep my fingers crossed... Most of those charges came in the last six months, so I doubt the contractual interest (if it IS compounded) will add up to much. I want to get started asap, so I guess i'll just use the standard template and claim the charges + the overdraft interest, and add the 8% at the court stage. My sister is another case completely - about a grand, stretching back the full six years. I'm handling her claim for her, and just keeping her abreast of what's what, so i'd still really appreciate all your advice and comments. The way I see it is that I can proceed now with the simpler application (mine) and what I learn from that/the more I learn here, will stand me in good stead to get as much as possible back for my sis.

Thank you so much for the replies and once again the warm welcome guys! The first thing is that my sis also has the complete set of statements going back the six years (from the bank) so we can proceed at the same time which is great. nettyg - alas, we both only have statements going back six years, otherwise i'd be claiming as far back as I could - I reckon I lost thousands more between 1994 and 1997 especially Castlebest - many thanks for your clear explanation. I have two questions about what you wrote, i'd really appreciate you good people's advice on these: 1) With the overdraft interest, is it fairly simple to calculate using the spreadsheets? Of the six years i'm looking at, only six clear months saw me charged overdraft interest solely for amounts that were caused by their charges - these should be very simple to calculate, then, and include in my claim. Every other instance sees a great mix of an overdrawn amount being caused by my over-spending on top of any charges. I don't think I have the maths ability to try to separate and calculate what's what for every single month. On the other hand I know i've been fleeced for years, so am rather determined to get as much as I can! 2) I don't like the sound of the Statutory interest if it's not compounded. Am I right in assuming, then, that Contractual Interest IS compounded? And Castlebest, you said 'this should form part of your claim from the start' so just to double-check, you mean at the stage i'm at now (preparing my preliminary request)? Once again, i'm very keen to claim as much as possible that is realistic. It's just the complexity of things that scares me a bit. I've never used spreadsheets before, and arguing matters with actual lawyers on this just doesn't seem in the realms of what's possible for me at the moment, alas By the way, i've tried reading quite a few threads about the contractual, how to calculate it, and different spreadsheets that people have used, but am utterly flummoxed. Can anyone recommend a specific spreadsheet please?

Many thanks for the warm welcome, Rayne and givememymoney - we all really are in this together eh! With that in mind, I shall just describe the situation so far, in the hope that my thread will eventually help others as other threads have already helped/are helping me so much! My sister and I both have HSBC accounts stretching back 10+ years, and we decided to reclaim what is rightfully ours by supporting each other through the process. We both sent letters from the same template (very similar to the one on this site) at the end of Feb, requesting a list of all charges under the DPA. We enclosed cheques for £10 (the maximum we could be charged for this information). I did think about sending the letters recorded delivery, but didn't in the end. I read today on this site that you should, and that HSBC has told some people it didn't receive their letters, so i think it's a very good idea indeed (please correct me if i'm wrong here.) After i'd sent them, I did think about phoning to confirm that they'd been received, but I realised that that would show an element of doubt in my mind, and also present the perfect opportunity for HSBC to deny receiving them, so I thought i'd just watch and wait... About five days before the 40 days were up we both received a big stack of duplicate statements, stretching back six years. They arrived over two days, in many separate envelopes, and our cheques were returned to us. Today i've been through the stack of statements and every one is there for the last six years. My sister seems to think one or two of hers might be missing, but she needs to go through thoroughly to confirm that. I hope she hurries up! The next stage as I understand it is to go through them all, highlight all the charges that can be claimed back (from the list on this website) and enter the figures on the spreadsheet (again found here on the forum). My only confusion at this point is what to do about the interest. So far the 'stickies' here say to total just the actual interest on that part of an overdraft caused by the illegal charges, and to leave the contractual interest (the 8%) off until the court stage (at which point it would become obligatory for the bank if they ever let it go that far, I believe.) On the other hand, some other sites, and even posts here, seem to suggest including the 8% from the start, as a kind of aggressive bargaining tactic with the bank. This is really a priority for me to look at more closely (and seems to be confusing for many, as givememymoney says.) Thanks for reading, and i'd be very grateful if you could point out anything i've written that is wrong - cheers

Dear fellow CAG members it's very nice to meet you all here, and absolutely fantastic that so many are coming together to claim back what is rightfully ours! I've had quite a good read of the site over the last few days, and am still a little bit confused about things (especially conflicting advice on contractual interest), and navigating my way around here, but here goes! I have all the bank statements that HSBC has chosen to furnish me with so far in front of me. First step - open them all up, and check what i've got. Looking forward to sharing our future successes here