Is that 8 weeks since my initial refund request, or 8 weeks since my DPA request letter?

Tomorrow is the day I will be taking my next step after sending a LBA, but I've read on moneysaingexpert.com that going to the ombodsman is now a viable alternative to going to court. Since I am at the stage now where I must make that decision, any advice as to what I should do?

I think everyone must know someone who has been charged but is too scared to do anything about it. Introducing them to this site is a good starting point to help more and more people reclaim what is rightfully theirs. The more pressure there is on the banks to stop these unlawful charges, the better. They are driving people into debt and depression and it must stop as soon as possible. TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS !!!!!!!!

I have already referred one of my friends, but I don't know if he has registered yet. The other doesn't have the internet, and I'm taking care of all my partner's stuff. All he's getting out of me is "sign here", lol. maybe they'll all cut me in when they win!! (yeah, right!)

I have started the process with my own bank to reclaim the unlawful charges levied against me, and now I am recruiting my family and friends. So far I have my partner reclaiming his charges, and have set two of my friends on the path as well. Any time it comes up in conversation I am trying to get as many people as possible to "reclaim the right", and hopefully there will be more to follow. Hopefully everyone else is doing the same, and even if people who have never had a charge before know about it, should they get one at some point then at least they will know to ring their bank up and say "hey, that's unlawful; GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK!" And that makes me feel good!!! :D BCB

Well, I've given it some thought, and since they managed to respond to my request within the 14 days I set I think today is probably the best day to send my LBA by registered post and then give them two day's grace either way. If I start not sticking to my own deadlines (especially at this point), how can I expect them to do so? l forgot to mention before that they hadn't sent my bank statements within 40 days as per my initial DPA request (although I had them soon after one phonecall) and they are now putting me through their complaints proceedure. Had I not recieved my statements already, their letter requests me to wait a further 28 days - like I would have done that! If anyone contacts me about my complaint (which I think they have already tried to do) any idea about what I might say?Thanks guys - happy Friday everybody

Ok, so today I've had a letter from Barclays. They say that they are "sorry that you are unhappy with the charges you have incurred", and go on to say that a member of their team will contact me asap. Following this I quote the letter as it is easier for me: "May I take this opportunity to explain that whilst we will endeavour to respond to you within the timescale outlined in your letter, we cannot guarantee that we will do so....However we do aim to find a solution within four weeks...A full report or an update on our progress will be sent to you within eight weeks." Somehow I get the feeling that they are trying to stall me.... Now, they state that they have recieved my letter on 26/6/07 - so would I issue my LBA 14 days from this date, which would be tue 10/7/07, or 14 days from when I sent the letter, which would be tomorrow:?: In any event I don't believe that I should wait eight weeks, because as far as I'm concerned I'm the person who is dictating the timetable here, and I said 14 days, not 56! Also, if I'm using the template letters from this site (which I fully intend to do) do I have to include the copyright part at the bottom?

Usually banks hold statements for significantly longer than 6 years. When RBS sent me 5 years worth ('cos I live in Scotland) I wrote back to them telling them I wanted all statements they held. They quickly produced another 7 years worth of statements. Thought you could only claim back 6 years worth? If I could go further back than that I WOULD be one very happy bunny!!!! I would use the money towards paying the debt collector back some of the money I owe them. At the mo I will be paying them back until 2011, if could get the money back for all the charges they applied then I could cut that time down by a SIGNIFICANT amount.

Not wanting to go off topic or anything - but NatWest's fees are horrific, and they just keep snowballing. My partner has had trouble with them. They are a total nightmare. Will be taking action against them soon now no doubt, cos it all started with a £50 overdraft, which he went over once, but couldn't afford to repay their charges, and cos account was not brought back into credit he was charged again, etc etc. They now claim his account is over £400 in the red, and are trying to get it passed to a debt collector. Will hav 2 go have a chat about it on the NatWest board I think.

Thanks for the advice everybody. I have an additional problem. I can't remember what my account number was and I'm not sure if I have any old bank statements left from it. Is there anything I can do about that? Also, am I right in thinking that I will only be able to claim from, say, June 2001, which is 6 years ago, to April 2002 - which is when I closed the account? I don't want ALL the statements I ever had from them. I was with HSBC from the Midland days, WAAAY back when I was a lil kid

When I was younger and more foolish, HSBC threw money my way in the form of an overdraft, a loan and a credit card, which I accepted. Naievly I thought that this all seemed like a good idea at the time. Of course it wasn't. I ended up owing them a whole lot of money that I couldn't afford to repay. Cue bounced DD's, missed/late credit card payments...all of which I was charged for - of course. Then HSBC's solution, a consolidation loan, which again I accepted but couldn't afford to repay. Cue more charges. EVentually the account was passed to debt collectors MCS and to cut a long story short I ended up with a CCJ. Unfortunately I don't think there's much I can do about it, but I suspect a large portion of the debt was made up of and caused by charges against me. However this all started in 2000 and I closed my account in 2002. Is there anything I can do about this? Any advice would be appriciated. Thanks.

Already ready!! There should definately be a law against them charging people the way they do. It is so rediculous. It wasn't until I had actually gone through all my statements that I realised how them charging me had snowballed and was one of the major causes of me being in financial hot water. So now it's payback time.

Well, I totted up how much they'd taken from me - £1250, then calculated interest taking the total to £1385. Last Friday I wrote them asking politely for my money back, giving them 14 days to respond. Now we wait and see! I'm so glad I looked into doing this. I'm prepared to take it all the way, because them charging me and the snowballing of charges caused me so much trouble and financial and emotional stress. I will be glad when it's done and I will NOT be getting charged again.

Hi everybody, just wanted to introduce myself. I'm a mum and a P/T worker, and in the past my partner and I have had lots of worries with money. I have made lots of very foolish decisions, mainly because I didn't know about sites like this or moneysavingexpert. But I'm trying to do better now. Thing no 1 on my "to do" list at the moment is to reclaim the bank charges of £1250 that I've had from Barclays. I only found out it was this much last week and I was VERY shocked. No wonder I've had money problems! I've written and asked them nicely for my money back, plus interest - now I'm just waiting to hear back from them. They have 9 days left to respond! Hopefully they will!