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Pretty poor, I've been turned down by my bank for a card and I don't want to make too many applications for fear of making it worse. Tempted to try someone like Capital one or the basic Barclay card and seeing if I can at least slow the rate a bit.

I'm not sure that I explained it very well. It's not balance free at the moment, but that is the ultimate aim. I have an 1800 balance at the moment and I am paying 100 a month but with 80-95 quid interest a month, it is going down slowly. What I am trying to do is reduce my interest payments each month by spending money on the card and then immediately paying it off for things like the monthly shop. The idea is that each time I spend, the purchase is interest free for the 56 day grace period, but the repayment should be repaying the part of the balance that accrues interest, meaning my balance stays the same overall, but less of that balance will accrue interest.

I'm on the road to getting debt free. I have a Vanquis (yes, I know) credit card with a balance that is slowly getting paid off, but the interest rate is horrendous so even overpaying is taking a long period of time. I had a thought though. As they now have a positive payment heirachy (ie most expensive debt paid off first) if I do all my spending on the credit card, followed by an immediate debit card payment for the amount spent, would this get the card paid off quicker? My theory is that as it's a positive heirachy, if I spend 50 quid on the card and then make a 50 quid payment, the 50 quid payment comes from old, interest accruing debt but the new spend will have a 56 day grace period before interest is charged, therefore my balance is the same, I'm no worse off as I would have been spending that money directly from the debit card anyway, but less interest will be charged when the bill comes in. I realise I'd have to be disciplined, but after some time getting to grips with managing my money better, I think I actually am disciplined enough to keep up with doing this. Would this work? Or is my maths out here?

No, the same applies, they are also penalty charges and the law applies to all penalty charges

Ooh, quick question before I do file a claim. Which address do I use? Should it be the customer contact address they list everywhere or should I use the address registered with the FSA?

Well, I've gone way over my time limit. I gave them 14 days and they've had a couple of months. I think I'm going to just start court proceedings right away then.

Okay, so they've finally been in contact and claim that they believe their charges are fair and they gave me advance notice of them. They rather cheekily also inclided a paragraph stating that they will consider the matter closed if they do not hear from me within 8 weeks. Good for the, I consider it open until I receive my refund however. As the letter I sent them initally contained all the information in the letter before action in the library and also pointed out that I reserve the right to commece legal action with no further notice should I just file a claim right away or should I write to them again and see if they just accept that I am prepared to go to court and settle before it gets that far? I've opened an account with another bank and already transferred my direct debits and salary so if they close my account out of spite then it's no loss, just wondering what to do next.

I've been doing some research into banking charges and found this forum so I thought detailing my experience with a claim may help others. I have just called Alliance and Leicester who offered me a 50% refund of the last charge incurred but nothing else. I am only making a small claim of £195 but it is the principle I am chadsing and not necessarily the cash. I used a pre filled soliciter-written letter from here: http://www.bankcharges.info/ and have just sent it including my own details. I will let you all know how this pans out. Good luck to everyone else trying to chase Alliance and Leicester.