Accepting for the sake of the argument, that we're 'aw doomed' for our fecklessness, in the meantime here's a real situation for everybody to get their teeth into. The story so far: I have retrieved records of charges totalling almost £1500 on a Bank of Scotland account which I held from 1997 to 2003. Having reached final LBA stage the Bank has now written offering to refund £270, being the amount that falls within the last six (sic) years "as a gesture of goodwill." What is interesting is that from talking to them they seem to be offering no defence to the £270 and would happily accept paying the full £1500 if it had been within the last six (sic) years. No mention of interest mind you. However, I am now on the horns of a dilemma whether to pursue this over the slightly more dodgy ground outwith the five years or take the money and run whilst signing over my right to ever bothering them again. It seems a shame to wave goodbye to all that lovely cash but then £270 in the hand is worth quite a lot in the proverbial shrubbery, especially when I'd previously written it off to the greedy so and so's anyway. I remember writing to the Bank years ago in protest over say, £90 in charges incurred because a cheque had taken four days to clear rather than the expected three and tipped my account a couple of quid into the red, triggering a string of returned £10-£15 DD's. I made the point on more than one occasion that surely this was an excessive amount for the work involved and the bank simply said it wasn't. I presume that the fact that they asserted this and I didn't take it further at the time counts as me not taking reasonable steps to ascertain that the charges were unreasonable. If only I'd known then what I know now!

I have just relocated the 20 year limit thread (obscurely placed at the top of the box above-Doh!!) which has grown since I set out on this escapade.

The story so far: I have retrieved records of charges totalling almost £1500 on a Bank of Scotland account which I held from 1997 to 2003. Having reached final LBA stage the Bank has now written offering to refund £270, being the amount that falls within the last five years "as a gesture of goodwill." What is interesting is that from talking to them they seem to be offering no defence to the £270 and would happily accept paying the full £1500 if it had been within the last five years. No mention of interest mind you. However, I am now on the horns of a dilemma whether to pursue this over the slightly more dodgy ground outwith the five years or take the money and run whilst signing over my right to the claim. I am aware that there are various threads on this issue, although I'm having the devil's own job finding them again, but I thought I'd like to share the above and invite any thoughts.

Can anybody clarify whether the five year limitation referred to applies to the length of time for which you can claim, or just to the period for which you can request statement information. I am going through the process to obtain details of charges from the Bank of Scotland, but I have just uncovered older bank details pre 2001 which include about £1000 in charges. I'd hate to miss out on this. Also: is it more effective to ask the bank for the whole lot in the first instance and then divide into £750 blocks or to go for £750 at a time in the first instance?