Forget Abbey Business - they're hopeless. We have a factoring company who make payments to us via CHAPS - at least once a month one of these payments went missing and when we rang Abbey they always told us that it was not their fault when every single time it was. The payment usually appeared 24 hours later then it should have. We have now changed to HSBC and the CHAPS appears 2 hours after it was sent! I also "switched" accounts from NatWest (who were REALLY bad) to Abbey and it also took over 3 months to get direct debits changed. I complained and stupidly, accepted a measly 75 quid compensation when it cost me much more in charges. Don't give up like me, and demand all charges back plus compensation because a switch really should take no more then 7 days - and Abbey will blame the other bank, funny that! Incidentally when I changed DDs from Abbey Business to HSBC I did it myself and it took half a morning.

Phew ! Thanks for that, I was getting a bit despondent. I am going to send my first letter in the next couple of days after I've explored your extensive website a bit more. If (though, I should say "when") I get my money back I will DEFINITELY send you a donation to help others in their fights with the banks. Thank you soooo much for this website.

I'm new to the site. I got stung with a whopping £120 worth of charges for going £16 over my overdraft for a couple of hours. I tend to check my account most days when I know DDs are going through and when I saw that I was over my limit I transferred some money immediately - didn't work though! My husband said try and get your money back but I said, "no, it's in their terms and conditions blah blah". Then I saw Tonight with Trevor MacDonald last night and voila, here I am. A quick calculation and over the last 6 years Abbey have taken a colossal £3,950. (I'm a bit anal and keep personal accounts and bank statements - luckily, it would now seem because I don't have to wait 40 days for the DPA stage). I have read through loads of threads and it would seem that Abbey will stall, delay, and actually go to court for judgment set asides etc. They will do anything but repay anyone their money. HAS anyone actually got their money back from Abbey? Is it worth the hassle? (errr, I think £3,950 just answered my own question). I would REALLY like to hear from anyone who has got one over on Abbey, probably the worst bank in the world. (We used them for our Business - BIG mistake - and are now in the final stages of closing that account).