Thanks GaryH. I received an identical defence for my credit card claim, which is ongoing. The interest they are defending amounts to about £70. I'm not quite sure how they square this with their claim that they will refund £350 charges on a purely financial basis as it cost too much to defend. I filled in the allocation questionnaire over a month ago and am waiting for a response. There is a slight difference in my current account claim in that judgement has already been entered against the Halifax by default. I have no idea what the procedural differences are or if the fact they failed to submit a defence to the initial claim will have any bearing on the judges decision - only time will tell I suppose. There is no denying that there is an express interest rate stated in the contract and the Halifax do not appear to have submitted any argument at all against the payment of the contractual rate, it looks like they are simply to be asking for it to be struck out because they don’t like it! - The playground bully seems to be having a tantrum! Good luck with your claim GaryH. "What's sauce for the goose........"

I don't have the exact figures to hand. The full claim was for about £3k. I have received about £1600. The remainder is the contractual interest element which is being disputed.

Hi everyone. I entered a claim through MCOL, which the Halifax acknowledged but did not defend. They credited my account with the bank charges plus 8%, however the claim was for bank charges plus 29.8% compounded. This being what they charge me when I take their money without authorisation. Judgement was entered by default for the full amount. The Halifax have asked for the judgement to be set aside, so it's been referred to a district judge to decide whether or not I am entitled to claim the contractual rate. Of course the Halifax haven't had the courtesy to return my phone calls or reply to my letters, and I only found out what was going on by calling the MCOL help desk! I haven't seen the detail of the Halifax's defence but the decision could have quite an impact. Has anyone else experienced this, or know any contractual interest cases put before a judge?

If you read and follow the procedure outlined in the FAQ's and stick to your guns then you will get your money back. The Halifax do not want to go to court but they will do everything they can to try and scare you off. They will send you an offer of settlement without admission of liability (this wil probably be about half what they owe you). When you rejet it and accept it only as partial settlement they will write back saying they will not refund all charges. When you issue a County Court claim they will acknowledge it saying that they will defend. - They wont. This is to try and scare you into accepting a reduced offer or giving up. They will then pay up in Full because "it will cost them too much to go to court". Of course the real reason is that they know they have no chance of sucessfully defending a your claim. Good luck and don't let them scare you off. They have no intention of going to court. I had all of your concerns and the Halifax tried every trick they could think off. Guess what - they couldn't scare me off and I have now received all my penalties back + interest.

Hi all I'm currently reclaiming my charges plus contractual interest from Halifax PLC. I'm at an advanced stage and have found this site to be very helpful indeed. I have issued a claim through MCOL which has now been passed to my local court. I'd now be grateful for a bit of help. The Halifax have offered to refund all my charges plus 8% interest plus court fees withoiut liability - which I have rejected. They have subitted a defence purely against the contractual interest element of the claim requesting that this element be struck out under Rule 3.1 (2) (m) of the civil procedure rules. Their defence states that they have refunded the costs plus 8% interest plus costs. I have not accepted this offer and have instructed them to withdraw any cash they have put into my account in respect of this partial settlement. As they have not made either an admission or submitted a defence in respect of the proportionality of their charges I am a little stuck as to how to proceed. My understanding is that as I have not accepted their offer they cannot inform the court that this has been settled and treat the contractual interest as a seperate issue. I was hoping someone may be able to shed some light on this. I have contacted the court and spoke to a very helpful chap who told me that as I have not accepted thei Halifaxs offer the judge will look at the entire claim rather than the specific aspect of contractual interest. I have contacted the Halifax and stated that they must either submit a full defence or admit partial liability in respect of the charges and a defence in respect of the contractual interest or pay up in full. Has anyone been in this position before. I really appreciate a bit of Help!

Could someone give me some advice please? I've written to Halifax Card Services requesting repayment of charges applied to my creditd card and am awaiting a response. With regard to my cuurent account. Although I made a Data protection disclosure request I have only recieved info from 2000-2003. I am going to send a letter asking for statements from 2003 to present. I am also considering requesting repayment of the charges I have calculated from the statements I am already in possesion of, simply to get the ball rolling. Has anyone got any advice about this? Should I wait for the rest of the info and send in just one claim or am I ok to send two reqests in? Are the Halifax enticing me to submit a request for three years only for some reason? Have they found a loophole to exploit?

Hi everyone After being told by a friend of their success, following the advice on this site, I decided to have a look myself. I requested past statements from the Halifax and so far they've sent me 3 years worth. I was horrified at how much I had been charged over this period. As a student I was granted a £1000 overdraft. During my time at University and during a short period of unemployment after leaving I was charged (including interest) .....yes you guessed it - over £1000 in charges!! I am unable at present to clear this amount, (well I do on payday, but it's soon full up again!) So the whole of my overdraft is made up of charges, which are in turn attracting overdraft interest. This is absolutely ludicrous. I am also issuing a claim for repayment of charges on my Halifax credit card which were applied over the same period. The fees here are more than I currently owe on the card! So in short, all my debt with Halifax PLC can be said to be as a result of banking charges, from which they are still making a tidy sum in interest I fully intent to take this all the way to court if necessary, in fact after examining my banking history and waking up to the way in which charges issued when I was stuggling financially, are still effecting my life today, I am actually quite keen to have my day in court and expose the way in which I was 'allowed' to plunge into debt and then stung for it! (and am still being stung for it). I hope to be back with tales of success very shortly, and hopefully will pick up some useful tips to share on this forum on my journey.

Hi After being told by a work colleague of their success, following the advice on this site, I decided to have a look myself. I requested past statements from the Halifax and so far they've sent me 3 years worth. I was horrified at how much I had been charged over this period. As a student I was granted a £1000 overdraft. During my time at University and during a short period of unemployment after leaving I was charged (including interest) .....yes you guessed it - over £1000 in charges!! I am unable at present to clear this amount, (well I do on payday, but it's soon full up again!) So the whole of my overdraft is made up of charges, which are in turn attracting overdraft interest. This is absolutely ludicrous. I am also issuing a claim for repayment of charges on my Halifax credit card which were applied over the same period. The fees here are more than I currently owe on the card! So in short, all my debt with Halifax PLC can be said to be as a result of banking charges, which they issued and from which they are still making a tidy sum in interest I fully intent to take this all the way to court if necessary, in fact after examining my banking history and waking up to the way in which charges issued when I was stuggling financially, are still effecting my life today, I am actually quite keen to have my day in court and expose the way in which I was 'allowed' to plunge into debt and then stung for it! (and am still being stung for it). I hope to be back with tales of success very shortly, and hopefully will pick up some useful tips to share on this forum on my journey.