to be honest i'm astonished that the figure of £14 was even thought of. i worked in banks many years ago, when this sort of thing was genuinely done manually. we used to take the ledger to a manager and he would give the yay or nay on the spot. no more than 5 minutes max. as i have worked with computers for a number of years, i always assumed that the act of bouncing, paying or whatever each item was automatic. In which case, £2 seems rather an overestimate, unless they are paying their computers way too much!

no expert, me. but be guided by most of the people on here. only thing i'm expert in is getting ridiculous amounts of charges from the banks... but i will add my welcome to Seafina and Hippychic2007 (a girl after me own heart from the sounds of it, ;} )

love to, but how?

I sent the first letter, and i have had today (the day i was to send the second letter) a letter saying: "We are currently looking into the issue and will let you have our response as soon as possible..." and giving a phone number I guess this is just delaying tactics. Do i send the second letter now? And where is it (I can't find it, sorry )

Go for it, hun! Nicest ones for applying are Clydesdale if you have one nearby. They don't require a credit check (they will ask for permission, you just say no), and they fill all the forms in for you. par for the course, if my experience is anything to go by. Once they get like this, it's best to cut your losses, imvho, or they eat all your money and you end up with other bills unpaid... Once the dragon has awoken, you can't satisfy it, no matter what you do.

i'm not stressed at the moment, i just push this stuff to the back of my mind. If i didn't do that, i would probably go mad. i think it would be easier to deal with one claim at a time, though, so will leave the credit card claim for another day. Yes, i want a default notice removed. I have put in the paragraphs concerning this from the standard letter. And i have sent off the first claim letter today! wish me luck. and THANKS for all your help. tigs

my credit report was fairly reasonable until all this happened, and it has made it impossible for me to pay other bills, because all the money that was coming in was being eaten by the bank. so things just get worse... it took me months to get an alternative account sorted out, as well, which did not help at all. can i ask for an amendment to the credit report when the claim has not yet been processed? i also have a credit card debt which has been growing because of all this (and shows up on the credit report), and i haven't even started thinking about pressing a claim with them yet do you think i should do the credit card claim with mbna at the same time as the alliance and leicester bank account claim? i originally thought it would be better to handle one at a time, less confusing. Re the cheques, i am writing to ask for copies of all the cheques. What i will do when i get them (or if), since i believe the police are usually not interested, i have no idea. But it's a step in the right direction. I will go and see CAB when i have them, or in the event the copies are refused. Since they closed the account, i think expecting cooperation is a longshot, so i'm also going to press ahead with the claim, as the longer i leave it, the less i can claim (since charges will drop off the top, and none are now being incurred).

Thanks to both of you for this. Worth pointing out, though, that the account has already been closed by a&l, due to it being overdrawn by 3 times the overdraft limit (some 1,000 less than the charges over the past 6 years, though).

Hi i have just received the data from the bank, and the last 2 statements (which i have not seen before) contain large numbers of bounced cheques - and some paid, seemingly in the face of all logic and at random. The problem is, i almost never issue cheques, preferring to use either debit card or cash. i am fairly sure that these cheques are fraudulent. i have moved several times over the past year, and it is not impossible that the cheque book was lifted at some point on the way. Anyway, i need to try and find out who issued the cheques, so i would like copies of them. i thought the best idea was to issue the claim for the period up to the end of the last statement before they start appearing, and say that the period following is subject to separate correspondence, then to claim on that part in a second claim. i'm also claiming return of the funds they paid out, as not being authorised by me. Presumably they will look into their records and dig out copies to back up their counterclaim that i issued the cheques. Is this the right way to go about this?

Just to say Hi. I have received the Data Protection stuff, following your instructions. Will make detailed questions on A&L board. But, i have found a large number of bounced cheques on the last couple of statements, which i never received, and as i almost never issue cheques, i believe there is the likelihood that someone has obtained one of my cheque books, probably during a house move. I thought best to claim up to the end of the month before, and pursue the matter of the unauthorised cheques (some of which have been paid - even after the account had been "closed") separately. Advice please!!!

i have 2 parachute accounts, because i originally applied to HBOS and was refused, so i applied to Clydesdale, then HBOS changed their mind. But as a point to note, both of them do provide debit cards, Maestro from Clydesdale and Switch from HBOS.