Thanks for that. Of course the obvious next question I should perhaps be asking is has there been any cases for refund of mortgage arrears fees that have actually come to court and if so are there a number of successful outcomes that could be potentially quoted? Is that sort of information available?

Many thanks for your reply Lea_HTH. Assuming I can get the limitatation issues resolved, do you think the FSA rulings would stand up to scrutiny in a Court? Regards, Tony.

Barry, Is it just a letter or actual proceedings?

Hello, A brief background: Between April 1994 and July 1999 I had a mortgage with Birmingham Midshires (subsequently acquired by HBOS). I ran into financial difficulties and incurred huge swathes of arrears charges etc. The mortgage was redeemed in 1999. Following the recent publicity regarding arrears charges now being regarded as unfair, I did a SAR request. This showed arrears charges amounting to almost £4000.00. I wrote to BM in June 2011. They ignored the letter and I wrote again in August. As they were unable to deal with the matter in sensible timeframes I issued proceedings in September. Their Defence: Their in-house solicitors have written to me to suggest that I cannot rely on the recent FSA v Redstone and DB Mortgages rulings as these are "not legal authorities". They also contend that this case is statute barred being over six years old as defined in the 1980 Limitation Act. Opinions Sought please: So I have two questions. Firstly, can I rely on the FSA rulings if this does come to court or is there alternative case law? Secondly, can the statute barred rules be applied here as my assumption was that I had six years from the date that I could have reasonably discovered that I have grounds to make a claim. They've offered me £725.00 to in effect "go away". I want to decline this offer but I will only be able to do that with any confidence if I'm sure of my legal position. So can anyone assist me with answers to my two questions please? Many thanks. Removalman.

Hello, I'm into some "Without Prejudice" correspondence with inhouse counsel acting on behalf of HBOS (Birm Midshires) following a claim I've made for a refund of arrears. They are contending that this is statute barred as the claim relates to a mortgage taken out in 1990 and redeemed in 1996 therefore the whole thing finished more than six years ago. Can anyone give me (urgently) an appropriate form of words pointing out that I was not aware that arrears charges were unfair until recent case law brought this whole thing to the fore? Therefore how can it possibly be statute barred if I didn't discover the possibility of being able to make a refund claim until about six months ago? Can anyone help me please? Many thanks.

Wow! Many congratulations. I bet you're delighted. Your success will certainly spur me on! Just one other question, did any part of the sum you claimed include any legal expenses incurred by BM when you when in arrears? Regards, Tony.

Hello Claire, Good luck with this. I also have a potential claim against BM for arrears charges. How did you decide what is a reasonable charge or what was fair? Or have you just gone for the lot? Regards, Tony.

Hello, I was wondering if anyone on the forurms can point me in the right direction to where I can find some information about what constitutes a fair charge by a mortgage provider and what doesn't? In specific terms, I had some arrears with Birmingham Midshires a few years ago and I had a whole raft of charges debited to the mortgage account. For example: "Arrears Fee": £40.00 "Unpaid DD fee": £40.00 "Account in Litigation Fee": £40.00 "Admin Fee pre-Litigation": £25.00 There are numerous other charges too. My question is what constitutes a fair charge and what is unreasonable? Regards Removalman.

Brilliant! Hopefully they'll pay attention to an ICO document. Many thanks!

Hello Yozdagger, I have a similar situation myself (in fact almost identical). Was just wondering if there's been any further developments? Did you go legal yet? Regards, Tony.

You may be right, but as its the DCA that has applied the second default I believe they have a duty of care to ensure that information is processed in a correct and appropriate manner. I don't care which of the two defaults are removed, but the DCA needs to take responsibility for ensuring one of them is removed. If that means that they talk to Egg, then so be it. The dates for both defaults are the same - so at least there is some consistency. I'm hoping the CRA's will ensure the right thing is done as well. We shall see...

Thanks to everyone for their views/comments. I have today written to Apex (the DCA) putting them on 14 days notice that as they applied the second default it is their responsibility to remove it or have the original default notice from Egg removed. I don't care which is removed as long as one of them goes! A copy of my letter to Apex will also be sent today to all of the CRA's. Ironically, its not really going to make any real difference to my credit rating which is already shot to pieces but I believe there is a principle here that needs to be addressed and I'm ready for a battle.

If you were up for it then I would suggest that you begin a Data Protection Act action against the DCA and also against the credit reference agency. Don't expect an easy ride though. Thanks for your views on this. Can you enlighten me as to what a Data Protection Act action would entail?

Hello, I could really use some help/advice here please... Some difficult personal financial circumstances resulted in Egg registering a default against me at the end of 2009 for unpaid unsecured loan of £8700. The debt appears to have now been acquired/assigned to a DCA called APEX Credit Management who have defaulted me again for the same debt! I have no contractual arrangement with them, nor did they send me any notices that they were about to take the action that they have. So my credit file now shows two defaults for the same debt. Surely there must be some rules against this as it hardly seems fair. I know I could in theory post a notice of correction but they tend to be generally ineffective. I would like to get this remedied and I need an effective stick to beat Apex around the head with. I suspect me just writing to them to ask them nicely will have little effect. Help please?

The tale continues... Some nine months after the DCA accepted my offer of payment (Clarity on behalf of CitiCard) and banked the cheque, I've had a letter from Cabot who have acquired the debt and are chasing me for the full sum due. They've also entered a default on my credit record. I've sent them copies of the correspondence showing that the DCA accepted my offer. Is there anything else I should be doing?

I suspect they'll return the money via bank transfer rather then cheque. Then what shall I do?

The cheque was pretty much presented for payent immediately. Obviously an inexperienced employee saw the money and banked it.

Many thanks to you both for your input. Of course, I didn't force them to bank the cheque. Anyway, I also need a view as to what I should do if they return the money to me?

My letter made it clear that it was a "Full and Final Settlement". I didn't mention the word "consideration". What should I do if the money finds its way back into my account? It could just end up going backwards and forwards between us. Should I just hang onto it?

This will amuse and at the same time may infuriate... In an attempt to settle a large and long outstanding credit card debt, I recently sent a full and final settlement cheque/letter to the DCA of 10p in the £. (A mob called Clarity working for CitiCard). It was slightly a tongue in cheek attempt as I didn't really expect it to work. I also notated the cheque as well as making it clear in my letter that this was a full and final settlement payment. Obviously I retained copies. Anyway, to my surprise and delight, they banked the cheque and it cleared my account last week. Now this is the great bit... They phoned me two days ago to say they made a mistake and shouldn't have banked the cheque and they're going send me back the money (direct into my account) and continue chasing me for the debt in full. Am I going mad? Anyone (especially those on here with some legal training) care to comment? Tony.

Hello, Can anyone give me some advice please? I had a Credit Card Default on my credit record relating to Citi Card. I recently agreed (and paid) through agents appointed by Citi a full and final settlement figure of 10p in the £ which was pleasing. Anyway, I'd now like to make sure that this settlement is reflected on my credit report. Is it a reasonable expectation on my part part that Citi will automatically update my record to show the debt as "settled" or "satisfied" or whatever the terminology is, or do I need to force the issue myself and if so, what is the best way of ensuring that my credit record is amended. Obviously I could apply a Notice of Correction, but my perception is they're pretty much worthless so I'd welcome any guidance about how I get either Citi and/or the Credit Reference Agencies to change their records. Many thanks.

Hiya, there are loads of breaches in both of them

Many thanks Blueda. Are these as effective for unenforceable credit agreements as they are for unfair bank charges? What would be the first letter to send to the credit card company? Tony.

Hello, I've discovered some breaches in a couple of old credit card agreements with MBNA and Citi. I've now stopped paying them. However, it would suit me to avoid having my credit file registered with defaults etc, which could perhaps be acheived by use of a template letter outlining the breaches and getting the debts written off before the DCA's etc get involved. Is this wishful thinkiing on my part? If not are there any example letters avaialble on the forums for us please? Thanks.

Thanks Craigers. I just re-read the Default Notice and you're quite right! I just need to pay off the arrears within 28 days. Thanks for the insight. Regards, Tony.