Woohoo!!! Woke up this morning to a nice little envelope on my doorstep from the Alliance & Leicester having settled in full!!! I couldn't and wouldn't have had the courage to do this without the help of this site and everyone has my sincere thanks for all their help. Am off to pop cheque in bank now - good luck to all still awaiting settlements, although I am sure you won't need luck! Thanks again, Sarah x

Got the acknowledgement of service this am saying that they intend to fully defend claim...... lol so now counting down days til cheque arrives!! Hope your claim is progressing Tamadus, let me know when you get your cheque, and thx for the advice Nackers, I have now got my new account with the Natwest, is much better than A & L one!!! Thanks, Sarah x

Nah, we shouldn't feel sorry for them, after today and their suspension of my account, I have no pity!!! Just can't wait to get back the money so that I am able to pay some of the bills it was intended for in the first place!! Thanks for the support - is much appreciated, will keep you posted as to progress! Sarah x

Hi all, Just thought I would post another update!! Well, I recieved a letter last week - 3 weeks after my prelim letter was sent telling me that the report only refers to current accounts... blah, blah, blah!! After reading other peoples cases on here, I was completely expecting this and as my second letter had already been sent, I popped the letter into the envelope I am keeping with all the correspondence to do with the case. The 14 day deadline after the second letter ran out today and I happily paid my £80 for the court costs about 2 mins ago in order to file my claim! I have however, had a few issues with my cashcard today. I went to the post office to take out some money, and my card was refused , I rang my local branch, who advised me to try a cash point, which I did and it still wouldn't give me my money!! I then took a trip to the bank only to be told that my account had been temporarily suspended due to the information on their files being incorrect (I changed address in June and despite two notifications having been sent, they have not yet changed their system!). The laughable thing was that although they would not let me use my cash card in a cash machine, I was told if I wanted to take my money out in branch, they would have to levy a £2 charge. As I am sure you can imagine, I was having none of that and after having been quite snotty with the woman behind the counter, I managed to get the 'charge' waived. They said it was nothing to do with my taking them to court but couldn't tell me exactly why my account had been suspended - very suspicious eh? Anyways, the only thing I want to ask now is what should I expect to happen next? How long does it take before moneyclaim hit A&L with the claim pack and how long have others had to wait from this point on?? Thanks in advance, Sarah x

Hi all, Just thought I would post an update! My worries about setting up a parachute account are over!!! Natwest have accepted me and have set me up a step current account - thanks very much for all the advice everyone has offered over the past week or so. Still no news from A&L, but my second letter was sent yesterday so in 13 days - and counting! - my moneyclaim will be filed! Thanks again for the support, Sarah x

Hi all, Not sure if the right place to post this and if it is wrong, I apologise in advance! My issue is with BT, my boyfriend and I moved into our new flat about 2 months ago. Given that the area we have moved to does not seem to be serviced by any other phone provider, we had no choice but to have a BT line connected. I opened the account on the understanding that we would be billed £25.99 per month for an all inclusive package meaning calls were free all the time and on the understanding that we would pay quarterly (as I am a student - it makes life easier with my loan payments). After living here about a month, we recieved a monthly bill for £70.42. As I was unable to pay the full balance immediately, they restricted our calls, still charging us for a full months worth of the call package. I sorted out with the advisor that we would be on quarterly billing from now on and made a payment on the account of £30.00. This was not enough however, and BT then said I needed to pay the balance in order to be reconnected to outgoing calls. I paid the balance today and they are applying two separate charges to my account, £11.75 for reconnection of the outgoing calls and £11.75 for a DD that failed (currently in dispute with A&L, who also charged me £34 for the same failed DD!). So my question is this, is there anything I can do about these charges or do I have to just accept the fact that in addition to having already paid the £70.42 to BT, I also have to pay for the three weeks whilst we couldn't use the phone and their charges for reconnection etc? Any advice would be much appreciated, it just makes me so angry that I am being charged for a service I couldn't even use! Thanks in advance, Sarah x

Thanks very much for the info Tamadus, I am trying to secure an account at the moment and the second I do so will definately be moving everything to the new account! The original 14 days are up as of today so my second letter is going to be winging its way through the post later today They still haven't responded to my first request but from reading the threads on here, I am sending my second letter anyway.. Usually I wouldn't be too worried about opening a new account but with my student loan payment due in 4 weeks, I have to get a move on! Thanks again, Sarah x

Hi, Thanks very much - I will give them a go, it's just so frustrating at the moment as every time any money goes into my A&L account (including CTC and Child Benefit) they take £34 from me. Yesterday I was left with £9 after they took yet another charge. Thanks again, Sarah x

Hi Heidi, Thanks for the info - will check both of these out straight away, I just need to make sure I am covered as my loan payment is due in 5 weeks and I can't have it 'eaten' by A&L! Thanks again, Sarah x

Hi all, I hope this is the right place to post this but if not, I apologise in advance! I have a basic account with A&L and have worked out from previous statements that they owed me £442 in failed DD charges. I sent them a letter (before discovering this site) and they replied, agreeing to refund me - as a good will gesture, a payment of £34. They then proceeded to take this back out of the account a day later. I sent them the prelim letter out of the template gallery on the 3rd of August and I am still awaiting a response. I am due to the next letter on Wednesday, and have this all ready and prepared. Looking at most of the cases people have posted on here, I realise that I am going to have to start court proceedings and that the likelihood is that A&L will probably close my account after I do so. Herein lies my problem. When I split up with my husband, about a year and a half ago, I found out that he had not been paying any of the bills and this left me in a total mess financially - most of them being in my name and having accrued CCJ's etc. I only found out the full extent after he had left and as a result, although payments are being made, my credit rating is shot to pieces. I am a student and therefore have to have my own bank account to enable me to have student loan payments. Does anyone have any advice as to where I will be able to open a bank account which will not require me to have a perfect credit rating? I am not looking for an overdraft etc. (the last thing I need are more debts to have to pay)! Also, currently everytime any money hits my account, despite having now cancelled all my DD's, A&L are 9 times out of 10 taking a £34 charge for failed DD's, is there anything I can do to prevent this happening? Thank you in advance for any advice that anyone has to offer - it is much appreciated. Sarah x

Hi all, I am new to this forum so I apologise in advance for any incorrect postings etc! I have sent my 1st letter to A & L after they took 3 loads of DD charges out on the same day costing me £34 each, I recieved a letter back from them this morning advising me that as a 'good will gesture' they have refunded one of the (15 in total) charges I have claimed. The funniest thing about this is that on checking my online details, they have indeed refunded £34 on the 8th...... only to take another DD charge out on the 9th therefore cancelling my, ahem, refund! Time for another letter methinks! Sarah x