This is exactly how thye were with me. I just carried on regardless. I followed the step by step guide and timescales on moneysavingexpert.com (the Martin Lewis website). I sent my first letter to Abbey requesting statements on 22nd November 2006, and they sent my statements through on 16th December, at which point I sent them the letter asking for my charges back with interest. They replied on 3rd Jan with the standard "sorry you're not happy....blah blah blah" letter. I then sent the letter stating, I haven't received a satisfactory answer and wanted a full response within 7 days. They didn't respond in time so I started the court process using the online claim service. This is when I started to panic a bit. I filed the claim and Abbey acknowledged the claim 24 hours before the deadline, and said they would be filing a defence. They also stated that they hadn't received copies of the bank charges and I needed to send them to them!!! At this point it was transfered to my local court in Swindon. On 14th Feb I received a letter with an outline of their "defence" and an offer of £2800. I declined this, but said I would accept an offer of £5000, but if I didn't hear from them within 7 days I would return the court allocation quesionnaire and continue with the proceedings. Needless to say I heard nothing. I completed the allocation questionnaire and returned it to the court and then sat back and waited for a court date, which eventually came through as 25th May 2007. I prepared all my court bundles, which can be downloaded from this website (thanks guys!!!!) and was about to post them off when I received a phone call from Abbey on 4th May asking if I would still accept the £5000. I had always said that if they offered £5000 I would take it, so I did. There were times when I became very nervous about the whole thing - "what if my case ends up being the test case", "what if I get it wrong and lose the case through my own stupidity" etc. All I can say is follow the step by step guides, and stick to the timescales, hold your nerve and you should be fine. It is pretty staright forward, especially with all the information you need being on moneyexpert.com as well as this website. It took just under 6 months from my very first letter to the settlement date, so it's not an overnight thing, although I beleive some of the smaller claims have been settled quicker. Good luck and let me know how you get on!

Success - Abbey have settled. They took it almost to the very end but have finally agreed to settle at £5000 (only a couple of hundred less than the claim). Part of me wishes I had held out for the full amount, but I had always said that if the offered £5000 I would take it, which is what I did. Thanks to everyone who has helped, I couldn't have done this without you (or Martin Lewis from moneyexpert.com). THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!

Many thanks, will have a read through:)

Hi again guys I'm sure I've seen on this forum somewhere that you can claim for your time at an hourly rate when putting together the court bundle. Am I just wishfull thinking or did I really see it. I have vague recollections of it saying claim for 40 hours at £9.50 per hour, but I have just spent the last 2 hours trawling the site and can't find it again. I am finalising my court bundle and hoping to send it off at the end of the week (court date 25th May) - you never know Shabbey might realise I'm not going to back down and settle (It's that wishfull thinking again!!!!!) Hope someone can help - I just don't want too appear greedy Michelle

Very many thanks for such a quick response. It looks like I'm going to be a very busy girl over the next couple of weeks!!!!! - As you said it will keep me out of mischief!!

:? :-? Help. I have finally been given a court date to claim back my bank charges (nearly £6,000 inc interest!!) The date is 25th May, but the letter from the court says "each party shall deliver to every other party and to the court copies of all document (including any experts' report) on which he intends to rely at the hearing no later that 7 days befoe the hearing. Can anyone tell me what I should submit, I guess its going to be the list of charges and how I worked out the interest, but is there any other paperwork or reports that I need, or would be benificial, to submit? Very many thanks