Hi This is the second time i have attempted to claim bank charges back from HBOS (first time was a sucess) and i just want to check if anything has changed as the last time i did it was a couple of years ago approx. I have read through a few threads and the some of the FAQ's and have found a number of template letters. Please could someone recap me on the process and let me know if these letters are up to date considering the latest Appeals from the banks. Is the following link still good to follow? Guide to reclaiming bank charges - Consumer Wiki I just want to make sure there isn't anything that now has to be done differently. Thanks

Rooster, think i was writing my last post at the same time as you, no worries with the HR friend, i know it's pretty late now, almost time to call it a night, it's been a stressful day, thanks again

Rooster, i would still appreciate hearing what your friend in HR has to say if possible The more info, the better. I will also update everyone on the whole story the next time i write, thanks so much.

Hi again Thanks so much for your replies, they have really put her mind at ease and i'm happy that we can just hand her notice in tomorrow so he can no longer talk to her and treat her the way he does. We really do appreciate you advice and look out for us in the future because we probably will be back here!! Thanks again

Hi I really need to get some advice on this before tomorrow morning because my partner is so stressed i'm afraid she might lose our baby. Her boss is destroying her and making her so stressed. She is a Hairdresser and her boss has two Salons and he works at my partners Salon half the time. I won't waste time or bore you too much at the moment with what the whole story is as i really need to get my question answered asap. We are going to take this guy to court about this becasue in short he is discriminating against her for being pregnant and he is bullying her. She is now too stressed and scared to go back to work and face this guy. I believe we have legitamate reasons to take him court over this. What i need to know for the moment is.... Will our case be worse if she hands her notice in tomorrow or should she wait for her boss to sack her. He will sack her probably tomorrow when she calls in sick as people at her work have seen situations like this before. Please can you help

Hi I have just got back from my hols but a couple of weeks before we left we got a letter saying that our flight time had changed. It moved the flight from a nice time that would of got us back to the UK at 11.50pm to a flight that got us back at 3am. We paid extra money to get the flight times we wanted so i don't think it is right that they should just be able to change the flight without some kind of a refund. I would not of booked the flight if i'd of known is was at that time. The holiday was booked through 'Holiday Discount Centre' but the flight was with Thompson and the letter informing us about the change came from Thompson. 'Holiday Discount Centre' didn't even change our shuttle times to reflect the flight changes. That was a bit of a worrk and a pain in the arse to get sorted out on our last day there. Who do i need to complain to? 'Holiday Discount Centre' or Thompson or both? It's not really that big an issue, it just gets me mad that they charge higher prices for flights are convenient times but then they just change them when ever they like!! Is there a template letter anywhere for this type of complaint? Has anyone else been affected by this and complained? What was the outcome? Thanks

Sorry, the above did not show up as i expected, if someone is willing to give me a hand with this though, please let me know and i can e-mail you a copy. Getting worried!! Thanks

Please would somebody be good enough to check my schedule of charges, i want to ensure Barclays can't beat me on anything. I have used the complicated spreadsheet to work out all the interest (which i regret doing now). I have also put in what the charges were, i went through the statements and put in anything i thought was some kind of a charge but when asking about these things on the forum nobody had heard of any of them. As this was a while ago, hopefully some more people can verify if they are legitimate to claim back. Thanks DATE PENALTY APPLIED DETAIL OF PENALTY PENALTY CHARGED 8% ON PENALTIES INTEREST DATE INTEREST ON PENALTIES 8% ON INTEREST ON PENALTIES TOTALS: 1,561.08 83.82 262.17 9.79 28/06/2005 COMMISSION 60.00 7.77 06/03/2005 0.00 0.00 27/09/2005 COMMISSION 40.00 4.38 05/06/2005 0.00 0.00 17/11/2005 UNPAIDS OUT 30.00 2.95 04/09/2005 10.28 1.18 14/12/2005 UNPAIDS OUT 30.00 2.77 04/12/2005 6.94 0.66 29/12/2005 COMMISSION 80.00 7.14 05/03/2006 15.52 1.16 17/03/2006 UNPAIDS OUT 70.00 5.05 04/06/2006 56.96 3.12 22/03/2006 UNPAIDS OUT 70.00 4.97 03/09/2006 58.42 2.04 28/03/2006 COMMISSION 60.00 4.18 03/12/2006 95.81 1.43 15/05/2006 BUS ESSENTIALS 21.73 1.29 19/12/2006 18.24 0.21 18/05/2006 COMMISSION 300.00 17.56 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 06/06/2006 UNPAIDS OUT 35.00 1.90 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 15/06/2006 BUS ESSENTIALS 21.73 1.14 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 27/06/2006 COMMISSION 3.31 0.16 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 28/06/2006 UNPAIDS OUT 35.00 1.73 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 17/07/2006 BUS ESSENTIALS 21.73 0.99 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 25/07/2006 UNPAIDS OUT 35.00 1.53 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 27/06/2006 UNPAIDS OUT 35.00 1.74 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 01/07/2006 UNPAIDS OUT 35.00 1.71 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 15/08/2006 BUS ESSENTIALS 21.73 0.85 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 15/09/2006 BUS ESSENTIALS 21.73 0.70 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 26/09/2006 COMMISSION 330.58 9.85 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 26/09/2006 COMMISSION 35.00 1.04 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 16/10/2006 BUS ESSENTIALS 21.73 0.55 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 15/11/2006 BUS ESSENTIALS 21.73 0.41 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 15/12/2006 BUS ESSENTIALS 21.73 0.27 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00 19/12/2006 COMMISSION 103.35 1.18 00/01/1900 0.00 0.00

Hi Yes, they have entered a defense but i don't have it with me. I will get it out when i get home tonight and post it on here. I have just been browsing through the site and i read a very helpful thread about MCOL http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/site-questions-suggestions/71369-getting-mcol-right.html#post614610 I'm afraid i didn't send off the Schedule Of Charges to the court. Should i do this immediately? I don't remember doing this in my prevous case with the current account. Regards

Hi I am getting quite worried now re my court case as i have heard about somebody losing their case recently. Please can somebody reasure me or let me know if i need to do something else in regards to my case. The case is for a Business Account and i have heard nothing back from Barclays since i raised a case with MCOL. The last time i did this with a current account they got back to me to try and reach a settlement. Is it normal procedure now to not contact people to do this, i would of thought they would of contacted me by now as the court case is on July 18th! I regret this now but i used the advanced spreadsheet and i'm now worried that they may be contesting my case becasue i made a mistake. Is it possible for anyone to verify my calculations? Here is a copy of the claim i placed online, does this look OK? **************************************** The claimant has held a current account with the defendant, conducted on their Standard terms and conditions since November, 2004, The defendant from 28/6/2005 to present day has applied charges to the claimant account, totalling £1,561.08. The bank's charges are a disproportionate penalty and therefore unenforceable. Penalty charges are irrecoverable at common law. The precedent for this was Dunlop Pneumatic v New Garage [1915] AC 79.along with Murray v. Leisure play [2005] EWCA Civ 963. The claimant has repeatedly asked the bank to refund their charges or offer proof that they are true pre-estimate. They have declined to do so. The claimant claims £1,561.08, being the sum unlawfully debited. The claimant claims interest pursuant to S69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum, being the sum of £84.16. Interest on the Penalties received to 10/2/07 = £262.178% and 8% on interest on penalties = £9.85 Total = £1917.26 **************************************** Any help on this is most appreciated, thanks in advance

Hi I have recieved a letter from HMCS regarding my claim. I think i made a mistake when i lodged my claim with MCOL because i forgot to add my account number. Is this a big problem and how can i sort this out. Here is a copyof the letter i was sent from HMCS: ******************************************************* The claim has been transferred to Huddersfield County Court and has been listed for a hearing to take place on 'day...' 'date...' at 'time...' (please see attached notice). As your claim is for recovery of more than £1500.00, an allocation fee of £100.00 is now payable. Please make the cheque/postal order payable to H.M.C.S. and send it to Huddersfield County Court at the above address as soon as possible. Yours Faithfully ******************************************************* Is this another one of their scare tactics, keeping things dragging out like this? I'm not sure if i've made any mistakes, hopefully i have not but there scare tactics are starting to work on me!! I used the complex interest charges calc spreadsheet to work out what they owed me so i'm thinking they might be challenging a mistake i may of made. I don't think i did but i would of expected them to of made another offer by now. The only offer i have recieved is after my first letter and they only offered £400. I am claiming for £2000! They didn't respond to my second letter and i have not heard anything from them. The problem with this case is that the business is now closed and Barclays closed the account and transferred the debt to their internal debt recovery team. The internal debt team definately have my address and so do Barclays because they responded to my first letter. Should i contact them to see what they are willing to offer to settle this case or just hold out? Any advice is very much appreciated.

Hi Can somebody advise me if it is usual for the bank to file a defence? On 'Money Claim Online' under 'Status of this Claim' it says 'defence' and that we are 'unable to take any further action online on this claim'. Is this normal? I have done this before on a personal account and i seem to remember getting confirmation of full and final payment earlier than this. Barclays have only come back once to us with a very low offer after the first letter. Since then we have not heard anything. Do you think it is worth us calling them to see what there status is or will that look like we're getting scared and they will hold out longer? Any advice will be great, thanks.

Hi I have successfully claimed back everything i went for with a personal account with the Halifax and now i am wanting to do the same with a business account for Barclays. Are their any major differences or is the procedure basically the same. I sent my initial letter stating some complaints and also what i will be claiming back. I used the complex calculator spreadsheet which claims back the charges, 8% on penalties, interest on the penalties and 8% on interest on the penalties. The last time i just used the basic spreadsheet, are they more likely to cause a fuss because of this? The charges that i am claiming back are commision, business essentials and unpaids out, have you heard of all these and do you think this will be OK. I did do a search for these in the forum but didn't find out much about them. I sent my second letter 14 days ago stating that i will be filing a claim after 14 days and they sent me back a worthless offer of £400, i am claiming £1917.26. I am not accepting this, i have not phoned them or sent them a response, i thought i would just file the Money Claim becuase they have not done as i requested. Will this be OK or does anyone see a way out of this for them. I'm pretty sure i've followed the standard procedures. The main thing that may complicate this and hopefully you're still reading and haven't got bored is that Barclays closed the account and passed it to their internal debt collectors. I told the debt collectors that the account was in dispute so they have put a hold on claiming anything back yet. What will happen though when i (hopefully) win my court claim? Will they then just take it off the total debt amount with their internal debt collectors? I really need to filethe money claim tomorrow so please let me know asap if their is anything i need to do extra. Thanks

Hi, can somebody please tell me what the following is 'Bus Essentials' In my statements under the Type field it says it is a CHG which I presume stands for charge. I am completing the 'Complex Bank Charges Calc' spreadsheet and i am going to claim for the following, please let me know if i can not claim for any of them (the following are all included on the statements): Bus Essentials Commission Unpaids Out Interest Charged Thanks

Hi, can somebody please tell me what the following is 'Bus Essentials' under the Type field for Barclays it says it is a CHG which I presume stands for charge. I am completing the 'Complex Bank Charges Calc' spreadsheet and i am going to claim for the following, please let me know if i can not claim for any of them: Bus Essentials Commission Unpaids Out Interest Charged Thanks

Hi, got the statements yesterday. Are we allowed to claim for what they call 'commission for period (date range)' which i think are general charges for being over drawn and also for 'Unpaids Out (what looks like a sort code)' which i believe are charges for bounced cheques? Another thing, i paid in over £500 to their account in December to clear the loan as advised by the business manager, transfered via internet banking from my personal account. The other partner in the businees paid in cash in the bank on the same day in December. This should of cleared the loan but they have not sent out statements for december, the statements end in October. I think this maybe because they put a freeze on the account. However, they have still got this money somewhere because it was transfered yet they want us to pay it again because they have added it onto the debt to their Debt Collection people!! I need to chase them up about this because i don't see how they think they can get away with it!!

Just had a thought, i could send them a similar letter to the one in this link wibbler.com: An Open Letter to NTL I got this ages ago and the problems with Barclays reminded me of it! Have a break and have a read, it's pretty amusing

Thanks Nevos, i should have all that stuff ready tonight plus the complaint letter about the Business Manager (quoting the Banking Code). I had not started trying to claim the charges back until now which is after they have closed the account and sent the debt to their 'in house' debt recovery people. Will this give me any problems or should i still be able to tell them that i am in the middle of a claim against the bank for charges. The thing i am a little concerned about is that i will be starting trying to get back the charges after the account has closed and any recorded delivery letter i now send will show a later date than the account closure date. Does any of that matter anyway, can you still claim on closed accounts? The Business Manager told us after we paid off the loan (or at least thought we paid off the loan, they are claiming we didn't) that she would then freeze the account becuase we had closed the business and then she would get back to us after Christmas 2006 to discuss a way to pay off the overdraft. She said the account would be frozen and no further interest or charges would be put on it. She lied!!! I am still waiting to get the statements so i can see exactly what has gone on since the closure of the business but i'm sure all sorts will have been added to the account. The biggest problem with this part will be that she only told us everything verbally in our so called helpful businees meetings with the Business Manager. I wish we had everything in B&W on A1 size paper!! It will be interesting to see what they send us about correspondance they have attempted with us becuase we have not recieved a thing since the business closed. We are pretty certain nothing went to the Businees Address because anything that the landlord gave us after was nothing of any importance. They definately had our personal addresses to send us any sort of letters to ask us to start paying back the overdraft because when they really wanted the money their Debt Collection Service knew exactly where to send the letter!!! Anyway, i'll stop waffling on, don't want to bore you tears Aaron

Hi I have got a copy of the Business Banking Code and i will go through that and see where thay have failed then add this all into the SAR letter (unless you think it would be best as two seperate letters). I found out yesterday that 'Central Debt Collection Services' are a part of Barclays so maybe they haven't sold it on yet. I think the first letter they have sent is just a scare tactic. It's a good thing there are places like this where you can find out how to fight back!! I also called them last night to sort a few things out and let them know that i would be sending a letter requesting a copy of our Credit Agreement. To be fair, the guy i spoke to was very helpful and is arranging to have that sent out. I am still going to send the letter, just so it can be put on record. CrispDust - I was going to send a copy of the SAR and any issues with the Business Manager to the following address: BARCLAYS BANK PLC ONE CHURCHILL PLACE LONDON E14 5HP This is the address which our bank has registered with the Data Protection Commissioner as the address of the Data Controller:- Information Commissioners - Data Protection Public Register Are you saying that i should also send a copy of the SAR and any issues with the Business Manager to the Business Manager at her Branch, or even address it to her Manager? Just want to confirm before i send it to both. Thanks very much for your advice everyone, it's been a real help

Hi, i have just read through the SAR, should i still send this even though they are already sending us all the statements since the business started (requested yesterday, should arrive tomorrow). Is it worth sending it just so there is a paper copy as the request was done over the phone and they are just sending the statements and nothing else. Thanks again Aaron

Please can you give me the link to the S.A.R Thanks Aaron

I have just done a bit of research on them and they apparently are a Barclays In House Service. All the details i have are as follows: Central Debt Collection Services PO Box 49 Manchester M60 3EG Tel - 0870 154 6091

Thanks for all the advice, i will try and sort out the letters tonight. The Debt Collectors are 'Central Debt Collection Services' in Manchester. Thanks again Aaron

This is the best part....... We have called the business manager and she has said there is nothing she can do now, the account is closed and the debt has been passed, nothing to do with her now! Can you believe that? I have been thinking that after all this is sorted out I might go and hand out leaflets outside their branch telling people about this site and what they can do to get their charges back. I'm sure there would be plenty of interest and they would wish that they co operated!!

Thanks for the response and sorry to hear about your business. I believe it was a business loan but as far as i know they have put all the debt together and sent it to the Debt Collection Company. I asked the same thing but they told me that there was no post sent to the business address relating to their account. Their business manager knew they had closed the business so i can only assume she would of asked for a forwarding address (but now knowing how much they like to rob you, that may be doubtful!!). The thing with the business loan is that it was paid off. From what i have been told, their account manager told them to put enough money into their BUSINESS ACCOUNT to clear the loan and she would then take care of it. I'm guessing this never happened and it is why the debt has been passed to the debt collection company. I know at least half the money was paid to the account to clear the loan because i paid it from my personal account! Can they actually do anything though if they have not been sending correspondance. Surely Barclays or the Debt CollectionCompany have to show some sort of evidence, how can they expect us to pay all that money without seeing what it is all for. Today, she has ordered all her statements since the business started and they should arrive in a couple of days to the Branch in Halifax. I can then take a look through and i will hopefully have a better idea of what has been going on. Thanks again for the advice Aaron