WE HAVE A WINNER!! I finally got a cheque through the post from our favourite Solicitors for the full amount of the claim. It took me since September 2006 but i got there in the end. I was beginning to lose all hope to be honest so for anyone who is in that boat, stick to your guns!!!! I got this cheque roughly 3 weeks before my court date. A big thanks to Martin for all your help, a great guy and very helpful. What can i say, thanks! Donation to follow!

Anyone been in this situation before?? Any help appreciated.

UPDATE Right i sent those letters off above and about a week later received my FIRST formal offer of 1000 via Cobblers. Now as my claim is about double that amount i wrote the standard response letter stating that i would only accept this as part payment. Now today i get home and receive a copy of Cobblers Allocation Questionnaire that they have sent to the court. In the other information bit it states this... Case Management directions cannot be proposed until the claimant serves a reply to the request for further information which was due on 29th November 2006. In light of this, the defendant may amend its first defence or apply a strike out. Now i did everything by the book, i sent them the letters above with ANOTHER copy of my charges attached and now they send me this? What more do they want from me. Any help appreciated..

Well right on que a letter from Cobbetts turned up asking for a CPR part 18 etc etc a fairly standard response now i think. I was quite worried when i saw the letter but now ive had time to digest it all i think ive got my head round it *thanks Martin!!* Right anyway heres my reponses and i just wanted to check they sounded ok and contained no schoolboy errors before sending... Ive also filled in a AQ for the court as per the instructions on this site. ______________________________________________________________ Letter one to RBS solicitors... Dear Sir or Madam, Claim No: ******** I Acknowledge the receipt of the defence posted on behalf of Royal Bank Of Scotland plc. I am not prepared at this stage to answer the CPR Part 18 Request. I anticipate that the claim will be allocated to the small claims track and would not then expect to have to deal with a Part 18 request since these are specifically excluded under Part 27 unless the court specifically orders me to do so of its own initiative. Furthermore I consider that the CPR part 18 request is a delaying and intimidatory tactic and I intend to bring the intimidation to the notice of the court. However, for clarity, I confirm the charges I am claiming were applied to the following account: Account Name: Account number: Sort Code: Please also find enclosed, again for clarification, a breakdown of all charges I am claiming for. I am prepared to furnish any additional information to the court should the Judge request it later. Yours Faithfully ____________________________________________________________ Letter 2 to the court.... To the court manager, Claim No: ******** v Royal Bank Scotland plc I am extremely concerned to receive the request from the defence in this case. I believe I have already submitted the information they request. In addition they are demanding that I fill in a CPR part 18 when, as I am aware, this is not a needed pre-allocation. I consider this to be intimidation and wish to bring to the courts attention. Yours Faithfully, _____________________________________________________________ I hope this also helps anyone else who was like myself and very unsure of the next step. Any feedback much appreciated.

UPDATE Well i filed my court claim and received back an aknowledgement that they are going to contest this and they have 28 days to file a defence. The 28 days is up next Tuesday 21st Nov. Im sticking with it but ive not even had 1 offer or anything. Reading everyone elses they seem to have had at least an offer of some sort. Im a bit concerned. Marty

Still waiting for any kind of response. 14 days is up on Tuesday, tick tock RBS.

Im claiming from the st helens branch and ive had one letter from Tommy Mclean saying "no refund for you" Im just about to file a claim but they seem to asking for loads of info from you. What exactly did to include in your claim? CRT part 18, strike outs, jesus what? I wouldnt have a clue. Be interested to find out how it goes.. Good luck pal. Saints grand final winners an all, no worries!

Thanks very much for your replies. Il start proceedings tomorrow. Il keep this thread updated. Has anyone actually been to court by the way?

Right i thought id start a thread with my story... STAGE 1 Well i asked for my statements which arrived via a £5 bank deduction and the total they owed me was £1476. STAGE 2 So i send a preliminary letter asking for refund of said monies to my local branch in St Helens. Tommy McLean replied 2 days over the 14 and said basically "we differ with your views expressed.... we will not be refunding any charges applied to you account" STAGE 3 Then i used the spreadsheet template and inputted all my data onto that and sent the second letter threatening legal action. Its been 14 days today and i have heard nothing at all. STAGE 4 So the next step is the court claim. I have just got my letter together and the address of who to send it to. Ive listed it below so if i have done anything wrong please let me know. Also before i proceed with my court claim, my 8% interest comes to an additonal £512, i did this on the spreadsheet template so i hope its correct. Heres what ive put together with the help of a few threads on here... stay with me... KAY STANBRIDGE RBS LITIGATION 1 PRINCESS STREET LONDON EC2R 8PB Claimant has account 10026509 with Defendant from September 1996 conducted on their standard terms and conditions. Claimant is claiming the return of money taken by Defendant in charges over 6 years. The Defendant's charges are a disproportionate penalty and therefore unenforceable as they are contrary to common law. They are also invalid under the Unfair Contracts Terms Act 1977 s.4 and under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.Para.8 and sch.2.1.e. In the event that the charges are not a penalty they are unreasonable within the meaning of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.15. Defendant has declined justification of charges despite repeated requests. Claimant claims a return in full of the amounts debited of £1476.98; Claimant claims interest under Sec.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate of 8% a year on the claim total which currently amounts to (£512.63). So im just after a bit of confidence really, does this sound ok and should i definitely go ahead with the claim. Has anyone ever lost? Thanks for any input or advice in advance. Marty

Im trying to claim £1400 from the royal bank of scotland, its been 12 days and still no news!! Im thinking the same way as yourself, are the banks just going to stop all the refunds before i get chance to try and claim mine back. Keep me posted and il let you know how i get on. Marty