Thanks guys a really big thankyou tp you all. We are hoping now to complete the IVA sooner and try and get back some kind of life again. This site has been amazing and all you guys need a medal!!!!! Thanks again this really would not have been possible without you all. xxx:D

hiya, i know it's been a while but didn't want tojeopardise anything. Anyway all seems ok now. HSBC paid up in full. In total we settled in the end for 21,498UKP!!!!!!! :-D However this has all been off set against their debt in the IVA as we knew from the beginnning. The good news though is our creditors have agreed to reduce the term in light of our success to three years instead of five years and the modification to this effect has now been agreed which is fantastic:) . I am really glad we have gone through all this worry and stress and I could not have done this without all the great support from everyone. This means so much to me and my family. The amount of 21K is being sent to the DCA who bought the debt from HSBC and in effect HSBC will be wiped out of the IVA. I would encourage any business account holder to get on and claim. No bank wants to go to court. Even for the amount we went after. It would be lovely to have had this money in our hands but then to us we knew this was extremely unlikely in our given situation and it was not about the money so much more about saying no to the banks who had a massive impact on getting us into our current financial stresses. I now know we are not by any means the only people effected and banks are not too big to be fought and just because of their size it shouldn't mean we all nod our heads and agree with what they say. For us this has been a real journey good and bad and the achievement of actually recouping this money even though not in a tangable form to us has been massive to us. There was lots of letter back and forth but I think if you all are prepared to take it as far as the courts with that preparation and time put in you will be succesful. This is not a get rich quick [problem]. Again a massive thankyou to all of you. This website and all you guys massive massive thanks is owed to you all THANKYOU xxxx If I can give advice or help please feel free to PM me.

Thanks guys for all your continued supprt. Things have been happening and I do have some news I hope to officially share with you guys soon. Please be patient with me I am still here! Anyone going after business bank charges do not back down. If you are strong enough to lock horns and you do not run before you can walk you can get some of that hard earned cash flow back.. I wish we had done this and knew how wrong the banks were while my husbands business still had a chance, then maybe we would have not been in our current situation but then I guess alot of things would have been difffrent and how often do we wish we had alitle hindsight. Anyway just wanted to say I'm still here and hopefully will be able to share more soon. Thanks again for all your support guys. Some interesting TV on Watchdog tonight didn't you thnk???

Don't panic all is well. Don't worry about partial claims get it all. It just means it may take a little longer thats all but now you will get your 8% interest on top and your court costs back. They will probably wait you out and hope you cave but there is no need you are completley in the right to get your charges which in my opinion have been unlawfully taken. DG just hope they can scare you off. The end result if you hang in will be the return of your money i am sure just take it easy kick back and relax a little don't let them scare you. It is worth sending them a copy of your spreadsheet as they may ask for it anyway to waste yet more time. So send it anyway it won't do any harm. Goodluck and keep your thread updated and you will get support when you need it hang in there

Sorry but re reading realised you are at LBA stage. If you are confident the charges are all reclaimable ie for returned DD's, cheques and overdraft excess then go ahead with the court claim. Also when you write to financial ombudsman tell them the bank have ignored your letters and not had the courtesey to respond leaving you with no other option but to proceed with court proceedings. This is what we had to do in order to invoke any response. The fact they are saying you can not reclaim unlawful charges is frankly a load of bull and they know it. With the amount that your friend is claiming they are probably not thinking you will seriously take this all the way but you must. Also you would over 15K go into multi track which is in your favour as it means full disclosure is mandatory and the bank would be forced to disclose their true costs. In my opinion none of them want to open this flood gate as they know they are unlawful charges. It may even be worth mentioning that you are aware of the multi track system however be prewarned if it did go to court and it is a BIG IF if your friend lost they would be liable for costs. Thebank may play on this factor but in my opinion the chances of you losing if you have done everything correctly are minimal.

Hi Lizzy, I can deffinately say in our case we certainly could claim HSBC did not tell us we couldn't although I have heard others say they have to them. The diffrence is though you are relying on the unfair contracts law under common law where by charges can not be penal in nature and the charges must be only the true cost to cover the banks costs of returning a DD standing order etc. We all know it does not cost 30 quid to return a DD etc and infact the charges make lots of profit for the banks. They certainly spare no victims in small business accounts. I would also recommend putting in a complaint with the financial ombudsman to try and push them into some more stronger action however do not rely on them doing much it will be down to you to do lots of letter writing and emailing etc. You have a really strong case the only word of warning would be the fact they may close your business account so be prepared for that. If I can help I will try PM if you lant anytime. there are lots of fantastic people on this site with lots of knowledge and advice. If your willing to dp the work it is all achieveable and you are really not alone. I earge any small business to go after their charges. GO FOR IT!!!

Hi mel, Well done on starting your claim. You can add on all charges you get upto filing the money claim. Just add on amount to your LBA letter and stick to your timeframe and your be fine. Goodluck x

EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think any other bank will want this same free advsertisment in the news. The people are deffinately winning! :D :D

sounds ok to me and more than fair. I know there are templates in the libary but I can't see anything wrong with your letter and agree all money including your court fee should be refunded. If they don't agree carry on with your claim. Don't stop your claim until they agree to settle full amount. Goodluck! (Not that you will need it I think it's more the bank that are wishing they had some luck instead.)

Thanks for all support guys as always you are all fantastic and keep things going many a time believe me I have sat with my husband and we have thought what's the point but then I read other peoples stories on here and I get some wondersfil advice and support and I know we are going to see this through just like i hope everyone else see's their claims through too. The article from daily mail was much appreciated on my local news last night and tonight(spotlight) they have been discussing the bank charges issue and it is really being driven home to everyone what the banks are doing and have been doing is wrong. It's about time the goverment did get involved. The article painted a clear picture of what is happening regarding bank charges being a large factor in debt spiralling. I also saw the CAGgot mentioned on spotlight tonight which is fantastic. No news from Mr Cuff regarding decline of 13K for full and final settlement but will keep posted. Claim will be filed next Friday regardless of weather I hear from him or not. I think we have been more than patient and any judge would see that incourt.

We sent letters starting in September they ignored everything until i filed a complaint with the financial ombudsman and then they have been writing lots of 'without predjudice lettters' It's bad they aren't even following their own complaints procedure in practice with these kind of complaints

Mr C is funny the way it appears he plucks his figures out of thin air and expects you to say it is fair. What is fair is to return the whole lot rather than push people to file MCOL(well done for that by the way. We will be filing ours next week) He also said the same to us about the interest that he felt it was inappropriate etc I imagine our letters were worded the same.

ok letter recieved back today fromMr cuff again without predjudice of course. New offer now of just under 13000UKP for full and final settlement. Again same sort of response they believe they will win in court etc and that they are mindful of the management time and irrecoverable legal costs it my incur etc. This is now their final response. We shall write back and accept this as part settlment but will proceed to court if neccessary to get the rest refunded as no breakdown of how charges are made up has been explained in this letter so this has still not be tackled As this is their final response still looks like court action is going to be forced by them

Hi Annie, We have spoken to the IP and it may not be in our interest for the money to go in the pot if we want to eave the door open to any possible early resettlement of the IVA later. I have explained more in my previous post. The banks know full well what they are doing and in our case they don't really lose either way. If they off set the money they are technically owed nothing. if they put the money in the pot they can cause us aggo if at any time we want to setlle earlier and just say NO.

I do agree with you. One point which has been pointed out to me by our IP is that in some ways if HSBC do offset it may infact be to our benefit. HSBC are the largest creditor. If the money goes in the pot and they all get a fair share as they would then HSBC would still be the largest creditor. If we wanted to try and make an early settlement offer to our creditors HSBC would being more than 30% of the overall debt would have the deciding hand and on principle of what we are doing they would refuse any deals offered. If we reduce HSBC's claim or eliminate it all together making them not the largest creditor by them off setting any reclaimed monies we will have more chance of if possible settling our IVA earlier. Although no such offer is in the pipeline we are still only in the first year of the IVA and do not want to close the option of early resettlement if the chance were to arise. This is why although in principle yes we should fight to ensure all creditors get their fair share it may not help us any. Even if HSBC do offset it means the creditors left are still going to get approx an extra 10p in the pound if not more than what they agreed to in the first place. I hope you understand my reasoning for not fighting HSBC if they do offset any monies.