You're a diamond. I shall keep you informed as to how I get on.

Hi Saintly1, and thanks . The issue date is the 17th July. Add 5 days for it to be issued and then two weeks from there was last Sunday 5th August. Just logged in to check that, and it says that the status of my claim is acknowledged and that the bank have 28 days from which they were served with the claim to reply, so I assume I can claim by default should there be no response on the 19th August, despite Barclays letter?

Hello all, Prior to this whole test case thing, I submitted a claim for £500 to mcol, paid the £50 and off I went, thinking, if they don't answer in the next 14 days, bingo! Got a letter from the court saying that they planned on defending the whole lot, and was told the bank have 28 days to submit a defence. Not heard anything since from the courts but got a letter from Barclays today from a chap called Thomas Hickley saying essentially that the bank will immediately apply to the court for an order of stay for my action. My queries are: 1) As I went to court prior to the test case being announced, do I just carry on as normal? 2) If they don't respond within 28 days (I'm assuming from the date I originally submitted the claim????) shall I just file judgement if I hear nothing? 3) What is the likelihood of the court allowing a stay for the bank? Anyone else in/been in the same boat? I assume before the test case, the letter from Barclays might have been an offer for some or all of the claim, but now they are trying to scare people off with this letter about waiting until the test case is resolved - I'm not sure that applies to me since I've already set the ball rolling court wise? I am assuming it's just scare tactics? Final question; if Barclays do put in a defence within the next 14 (28?) days, I assume it'll be alloted a court date at some point? It was all going so swimmingly until this test case and now everyone seems confused! I apologise in advance if these points have been covered elsewhere - I have read through many many posts, but not quite getting anywhere! Thanks in advance....

Apologies if this is in the wrong place; usual disclaimer - I'm not altogether au fait with every nook and cranny of this message board and this seems the best place to put it. I got a Burton's card, promised 20% off every time I bought stuff from there etc so went for it. No problem, paid it off, forgot about it. Then I bought a suit, put it on the card (they're very insistent you put it on cards etc as opposed to paying by cash!) and forgot about it. The plan was to pay it off as soon as possible and just benefit from the discount. And then I moved address! I did have mail redirection for three months but never received a letter from them and forgot I had the account. When i recently applied for a loan, I was told that I was behind on this account and that was why I was turned down for credit. I just rang Burtons who have advised that the account has been passed on to "another company" (so a debt collection agency - hurrah!) to collect the money and gave me the number. I haven't rung them yet, but it would seem I am four months behind on this account and will obviously need to pay it shortly. I am going to ring them shortly, advise them of my new address and will tell them i will pay on payday, which is the 28th of this month. So far, quite straightforward. I know I was silly to forget about the account and not update them on the address, but hey - I'll sort it as soon as i can and no doubt have to pay an extra charge on top. I need some advice, however on how this will affect my credit rating - I imgine it's kncoked it for six anyway, so far, but do I now have a default on my account? Will it take longer than the usual 6 months to sort out? Very confused and pretty worried, especially as in about 18 months time, I'm hoping to look into buying my first house...! Any help would be appreciated, and mods, by all means pop this somewhere more suitable/appropriate if need be. Many thanks in advance.

They actually used the expression "breach of trust"! I didn't realise banks were such sensitive souls!

Thanks ever so much for the advice, Jo. I smentioned it to my Mother, who has an account with A&L and she recommended them too, so Martin is in good company! I have applied online but can't access my hotmail at work, so have an agonising wait to check on my home PC! I'm pretty disappointed with fd, as i have always liked them, and the charges were due to sickness and me not receiving a pay packet this month. For the first time in 3 years with fd, I felt like they were of no help whatsoever. They have always gone to great lengths to help me before.

I successfully claimed £685 from first direct a while ago, but due to some recent financial difficulty, I wasn't paid because I'd been of work poorly for about 6 weeks. A couple of direct debits bounced and I was hit with charges for £105 all in all. I sent them a new letter claiming them back, and they have refunded me but told me that they are closing my account due to "breach of trust" and saying it's "untenable" etc etc. I don't want to stop banking with them. They are the best bank out there in my opinion and there's also the small matter that they would want my £700 overdraft back in one go. They have said that my account will close on 7th December. Can they do this legally and what can I do to make them change their minds?! Any help would be much appreciated. Phil

Thank you ever so much for al your help here - I hav written to fd now and said that whilst I accept their offer, if they do not pay the extra £100 I will take them on in court! Still waiting on a response, but thanks ever so much to all that helped.

Dear all, First of all, I am very new, so please be nice! I have been looking to claim bank charges from first direct for a total of £665. I sent of the letter requesting statements for the last 6 years and they sent me all of these free of charge - posted the cheque back for £10 whihc was nice of them! I then wrote and claimed the full amount back and they have offered me £555. Tempting to accept that, bearing in mind it'll cost me £80 to claim through moneyclaim, but I have a couple of questions: - if I make a claim through moneyclaim, will I get the £80 back? - is there a template letter to say "thanks but no thanks to your offer" - i can't find one on here at all, but maybe that's me being dim! Good luck to all of you claiming charges back - I have found this website an absolute godsend and have passed details on to many friends and family members, so keep doing what you're doing!

Dear all, First of all, I am very new, so please be nice! I have been looking to claim bank charges from first direct for a total of £665. I sent of the letter requesting statements for the last 6 years and they sent me all of these free of charge - posted the cheque back for £10 whihc was nice of them! I then wrote and claimed the full amount back and they have offered me £555. Tempting to accept that, bearing in mind it'll cost me £80 to claim through moneyclaim, but I have a couple of questions: - if I make a claim through moneyclaim, will I get the £80 back? - is there a template letter to say "thanks but no thanks to your offer" - i can't find one on here at all, but maybe that's me being dim! Good luck to all of you claiming charges back - I have found this website an absolute godsend and have passed details on to many friends and family members, so keep doing what you're doing!

Hi everyone, my first post but am currently claiming £665 from first direct. They sent me an offer letter for £555 of it. Can anyone help me in terms of what I should do next? Should I go straight to the moneyclaim website or write to fd again? Been watching this thread with interest, as all the advice pretty much applies to where I'm at. Good luck with the court claim...let us all knw how it goes.