Havent checked in here for a while, so I'll update matters. Received letter on 22nd Aug saying they apologised for not responding to my complaint, as they were having trouble retrieving information for the period involved!!! I take it by this they mean they charges they incurred???? Did they not read the schedule I sent them on 3 separate occasions??? The usual response of."we hope to be in a position to respond to you within 4 weeks" Anyway, just the usual delaying tactics they always use, they have 7 days as of the 14th Sept to cough up, or we go to court. Will keep things posted Has anyone had any success with First Trust yet?

I too am pursuing the evil ones at FT. Good luck and keep the faith

Thanks cillit, I already have started my claim for the charges etc, so I have all the relevant statements etc. They said they manual interventions are npt kept on a relevant filing system.....no surprise there then. Ill keep searching and see if it's a worthy cause. Thanks again Robbie

Hi. I too have recently sent the third letter, informing the First Trust they 14days or we go to court. I must say they were very quick in getting all my 237 statements to me 5 days to be precise. But after I sent the second letter asking for the money, I got the bog standard response letter, of which I now have a small collection. So I went straight ahead and sent the 'final I'm going to sue your ass' letter last Friday. Keep up the fight, these b******s can't get away with it, especially the First Trust

My situation is thus. I have been repeatedly refused any kind of overdraft facility by my bank (First Trust Northern Ireland) They have NEVER come up with a satisfactory explanation as to why they refuse, despite numerous letters asking why, the only reason I can think is to impose their ridiculous charges upon me. Having started my claim already against them, it only now becomes apparent the other damage they have caused with the 'knock on' effect with other financial institutions, and the likes of Orange and SKY, all of which had DD's declined, and hence further penalty charges by credit cards etc, not to mention the extra interest. I have worked out, that had I been allowed an overdraft as little as £200, I would NEVER have had ANY penalty charges made against me. As it stands now, the bank has charged me £3600 + interest, and the credit card charges amount to another £2500, with 3 defaults now on my credit record. For 5 years, I never seemd to be able to get my head above water, I was basically working for the bank. My questions are these. 1. Can I sue them for refusing me a direct debit, knowing full well I will be overdrawn without authorisation? 2. If I can sue them is it worth it the hassle? 3. How much will it cost? 4. Am I likely to win? 5. How do I go about it? All answers appreciated. Many thanks for such a great site Robbie

Exactly what they did to me. I havent actually worked out the 'knock on' effect yest, ie, the charges incurred from unpaid credit cards etc, and the time it took to pay those off because of the bank. I will pursue those when I get more time. Issued the 3rd letter this afternoon (29th Jun) to say they have 14 days or else court. Like you said bigaid, its my timetable and my agenda, not theirs. Will keep the thread updated. Robbie

You're quite right bigaid, I am setting the agenda here. I simply refuse to bow down any more to these arcane methods of financial robbery. I will be writing to the bank, ststing they have the rest of the 14 days I allowed from my initail claim, and if I don't get a satisfactory response or my money back, then we all go to court. I'm also thinking about suing the bank for their refusal to give me an overdraft facility, and therefore putting me in such financial hardship and dissarray, not only with the First Trust, but with the other financial institutions they refused my Direct Debits for. If anyone has any advice for this, I would appreciate it. Robbie

Hi bigaid, I actually messaged you asking the same question lol. What with the recent scrutiny the 4 NI banks are under, I feel this is our best time to act and act quickly and forcefully Robbie

Hi, this is my first post, I have started my claim from the First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland (approx £3600 + the associated 8% interest if it gets that far). After my claim letter, I received the stock response that they are investigating my complaint (as they put it) and will get back to me in a maximum of 8 weeks. I have had several of these pre formatted letters, and every time have had an unsatisfactory outcome (the bank has point blankly REFUSED to issue me with any sort of overdraft facility in the last 5 yrs, if I'd have had one, I would have been overdrawn on three occasions to the tune of £140!!!!!!) The bank has also NEVER given me a satisfactory respons as to why the refuse to issue me with an overdraft. My question is, am I to write back saying that the 8 weeks is just not good enough, take more drastic action, (like court) or just wait and sweat it out. I also now understand that the max amount in small claims here may be £2000 and I'm just wondering my best course of action. Many thanks Robbie