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Update: RBS customer care team now tell me a cheque book was despatched so very confused. They have ordered me another one incase the first one decides not to turn up!

I went in on the 3rd of January to open a royalties account with a £500 OD which went all fine, they asked me questions, I answered etc. I have reached the OD limit but haven't gone over it and I have been told that on the 4th January when my highline card and cheque book were requested. The cheque book wasn't authorised. They said they are going to investigate and might be be because no money has been put in the account yet, but I don't want to start paying in my salary until I have my card pin number and my cheque book. Can anyone offer some advice as to why my cheque book may have been declined if it has. When I signed the agreement papers it said nothing about their being any problem with chequebooks and paying in. P.S ONe thing to note is that I have a £1300 debt with BofS which is beacuse of using my cheque book too much, but surely they can't see that with a credit cheque and I answered all the questions RBS asked me truthfully

It's been two weeks since I sent to Halifax my acceptance form stating I am happy to refunded x-amount and signing on the dotted line, but still nothing Bank of Scotland paid up my credit card charges within a week, they also had notes on the system of when my forms were received by them and a further note when the finance department received the claim and the date the cheque was issued. Halifax on the other-hand for some stupid reason say they can't even tell me if the form has been received or when it will be delt with. Is there a legal time a bank can take to pay me back before I can get nasty and write them a letter?? My point-of-view is that if the bank start writing letters to me when I fail to make a payment then surely I have the right to do the same. The Woman from HBOS which I always seem to be landed with when I phone was actually getting annoyed that I was phoning, I mean common it's my money

Well had a really successful day with my claims - HBOS CC - Said they are going to make me an offer and to wait two weeks. HBOS CC 2 - Have made an offer for the full amount and have set agreement papers Barclaycard - Made offer and are crediting my account when enxt statement printed I have however been rejected by Bank Of Scotland for my Student Bank Account which is 550 GBP over the credit limit. So I complained and have sent a form the Financial Ombudsman and Bank Of Scotland said they have 'escalated' my complaint to someone more senior. Any suggestions about the Student Bank Account ? Thanks

Yeah they said they would get a manager to 're-open' and 'reinvestigate' my complaint. I've decided to get the Obudsman involved, its all free and they write to the the bank asking to justify the charges etc...

Thanks robbo66, I'm just on hold to them now (0845 124 1330) going to see if I can make anything of it over the phone. you should try the same

Well I sent off my letters to the following for bank/credit card charges Bank of Scotland One Card Barclaycard Halifax Credit Card Bank of Scotland Student Account Received my first letter from Bank of Scotland today from a guy called Dominic Slipenkyi, customer relations officer saying - "I am sorry you are unhappy about the charges which have been applied to your account"...."I am sorry to advise you I am declining your complaint. I hope I have explained the reasons for my decision. It just goes on about the terms and conditions and I received a wonderfuly useless blue leaflet too. Anyone else received this letter. Is it worth phoning them up and threatening legal action or just wizzing the letter over to them? Any comments welcomed

From what has been said and by hints in the article, this guy didn't really prepare properly. I guess what we can all learn from this situation is that, don't go to court unles you prepaired to prepare a statement explaining the charges etc

Any comments, is this the beginning of the end of the revolution?

Bad news... http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/90294-lloyds-tsb-read-now.html#post824364

Look at link and read below Link - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6657025.stm Lloyds TSB has become the first bank to win a charges case Lloyds TSB has become the first bank to win a court case after being sued by a customer for imposing supposedly unfair overdraft penalty charges. District Judge Cook, at Birmingham County Court, dismissed a claim for £2,545 from Kevin Berwick. Mr Berwick argued Lloyds TSB's charges for having an unauthorised overdraft were illegal contractual penalties. But Judge Cook decided the bank's charges were in fact legitimate fees for servicing an overdrawn account. As such, the judge said they were legal. "Having held that the charges complained of are not charges for breach of contract but part of the price of the services provided by the bank....he has not satisfied me that he has any ground in law for recovering from the bank the amount of any charges which he has paid to it," he said. Mr Berwick said he was annoyed by the outcome. "I was expecting to win as I made a good job of arguing my case," he said. He is now considering an appeal after the judge gave him leave to do so. Blow to claimants? As this judgement has come from a district judge, it is not binding on any other court, in the way that a High Court judgement might be. However, as the first judgement of any kind in this sort of case, it could be a blow to the hundreds of thousands of people who are still trying to claim that they have been overcharged by their banks for running unauthorised overdrafts. So far, many claimants have been successful because their banks have settled their cases before the issue came before a judge, precisely in order to avoid an adverse legal decision. Now, the first decision in which a judge has given an opinion on the law has gone in a bank's favour. Marc Gander, of the Consumer Action Group, a leading bank charges campaign, said he was very disappointed. "We feel the judge has not considered the fact that disguising penalties as a fee for a service is a very common device for circumventing established law. "The judge appears not to have looked behind the words on the contractual document," he said. Although Mr Berwick turned up at the original hearing in Birmingham to argue his case and was questioned by the judge, Lloyds TSB chose not to attend and relied simply on a written defence which it had submitted in advance. Neither did the bank have any lawyers present in court when the judgement was handed down. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6657025.stm

Did the courts mean the banks are putting in a defence or actually turning up to court to defend? You've got me worried now

Wow well that is certainly alot better than your first offer which was a bit of an insult. As everyone will tell you, it really just depends on your fincial situation. If this is going to make a huge difference and would be happy with £769.26 then go for it and be done with the hassle. But I know alot of people are going all the way as proving a point with the bank. I would personally take the offer but that's just me and I'm sure that most people will post on this thread and say go all the way. Avoiding court is always a good thing, also remember that when you agree of partial payment its not the end of the line because I've read that some banks do need some 'encouragement' to pay up what they have offered.

Sounds like they are either resorting to lieing or genuinly haven't got a good enough mail department.Either way works in your favour, just pray the period to responds expires and you win by default. Although I understand why you would want an answer sooner. Keep us all posted Will

pwdin, the letter follows the same principle of your situation either - 1. they have declined or 2. they haven't responded. Either way you should tailor the letter depending on your situation. In your case just remove that paragraph and say something like 'despite my letter, you have refused to justify your charges and repay me. I therefore write to give you 14 days to refund my charges before I make a claim against you including interest'

Because they have responded the 14 Days becomes irrelevent. Your now are now ready for the LBA. The LBA letter can also be when you write saying something like this and giving them 7-14 days for responce before filing your claim in court - YOUR NAME YOUR ADDRESS YOUR POST TOWN YOUR POSTCODE BANK NAME BANK ADDRESS BANK POST TOWN BANK POSTCODE TODAY’S DATE Dear sir/madam, Please see enclosed copies of our recent correspondence. As you will see form my first letter, I was not writing to you to make a complaint, I was writing to request the repayment of unlawful penalty charges from my account. I have still not received a refund of these charges that your company had levied from my account from xx/xx/xx to xx/xx/xx amounting to £XXXX as requested. I hereby give you a further 7 days from the date of this letter in which to comply with my request. If I do not receive a full refund of these penalty charges within this time, I will have no alternative but to begin legal proceedings to recover this money. Please do not waste my time by offering a part payment, as such offers will be ignored. I will only accept a full and unconditional refund. Yours sincerely YOUR NAME Hope this helps I know there are loads of templates on this forum which are perfect but you do need o fish around for them, check out this site - Reclaim Unfair Charges from banks & credit card companies!

Thanks for taking the time to share your story. I am at the beginning of process and already getting worried. The most relief I have got is tremembering that the banks (although have filed a defence) they have never actually turned up at court and defended, no one has ever lost by going down the court route, never!

I don't quite understand if your saying you have written several letters or not. Either way one thing to remember - No-one has ever actually faced a bank in court. Your likely to get a phone call or letter from Halifax or Halifax solicitors/representatives days before the allocated court date offering the full amount. They might offer a 'good-will gesture' to which I would decline and demand the full amount. It does costs them more than you'd think to go to court and they really don't have any intentions on going to court. They simply bull-s*it and say they will defend in court to try and make you withdrawm but don't. Incase my situation gets to yours I have made sure to put a contact no. at the top of each letter I send so they have every oppertunity to phone and 'negociate' You will not end up in court I gurantee it!

Well I sent my statements and template letters to HBOS for my student BOS bank account, BOS One Credit Card (now closed) my Halifax Cancer Research Credit Card and Barclaycard. One Card - I sent original bank statements because my account is closed and today I received a letter from Bank of Scotland with no covering letter, just simply all my statements paperclipped together. I phoned the BOS and was told this was 'probably' because they didn't need the statements or had finished checking my charges. I don't beleive that the day after my statements were received they had already looked through them so a bit worried on that front No news from the other accounts/credit cards yet

I just lucky that I have internet banking, dont have to wait for bank statements, thanks for all your help

Thanks sea-sidelady, I have used a template and asked for all charges, just have to wait now. I noticed you have been successful with Barclays and Halifax (samem banks I'm claiming from) How long did it take for you to get your charges refunded? I've just been made redundant and I'm over my limit and hoping to get it cleared a.s.a.p, am I best just forgetting about it till I receive a letter? Hope you can help

Hey all, well today I typed out my letters, highlighted my charges on my statements and sent out my claim letters to Barclaycard, HBOS for two credit cards and my student Bank of Scotland account. I have just been made redundant and wasn't paid a months worth of wages making me 400 over my overdraft limit. Will the bank use this as annunition against my claim of around 800 pounds for charges? These are a break down of my claims Bank of Scotland Student Account Claim for 684 GBP Bank of Scotland One Credit Card Claim for 175 Halifax Cancer Research Credit Card Claim for 225 Barclay Card Student Credit Card Claim for 140 I typed my own letter and added that I had decided not claim against the 12 GBP charges but all the others seeing as the banks did reduce the charges. These are my questions - Are Bank of Scotland more likely to say no to my claim because of the state of my account, or does the same principle of them ripping me off apply (I have an arrangement with bank retail collections with payment) - My two credit card accounts are now paid off and closed at my request, will this affect my chances of claiming. Thanks in advance for all your help William