I suppose there's nothing to stop them withdrawing your overdraft facility - didn't actually think about that one when submitting my claim and because of the charges, I am regularly into my overdraft and for the last couple of months have been out the other side too. I am at court stage and no time have I been told I will lose my overdraft. Now that's invoked the Law of Mr. Sodde...

You can add all the big charges (usually only listed on statements as 'charges as notified') and the little bits of 'interest debited - as notified' that appear. For your prelim letter and LBA, you do not print out your schedule of charges with the interest columns - just the charges. Read the http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/31460-step-step-instructions.html page, then read it again and again and again - it will help you understand what to do and when to do it:)

Nope - doesn't seem to be a pattern at all. I received only a 'statements in the post' letter and one offer after my prelim. No response to my LBA or response to settlement letter, so filed at court on the 2nd. That was deemed served on the 6th, and they have until the 22nd to respond. Will start checking my account from the end of this week, just in case... Then there's others who have had letters every step of the way, and two or three offers of settlement. Think there's even a case on here of someone getting a 100% offer just after the prelim. So, get back on track with your timetable - time for the next step. Good Luck!

You should've seen me walking down to the court - shaking like the proverbial leaf! After the deed was done, couldn't eat a thing at lunch - felt sick! Almost went back and said 'I've changed my mind!' Almost...

It should be 14 calendar days, allowing 2 days for the bank to have received the letter. If they can give me a bank charge on Boxing Day, why should I not count it? My deadline was 31st Dec, a Sunday, so obviously I could not go to court until the 2nd, but I could have received a phonecall offering me everything. I didn't so did not give them any extra time.

Good Luck And just to be picky - not illegal charges - unlawful charges:rolleyes:

You've had more correspondence than I - never got the acknowledgement letter from them - with my timeline I sent my SAR on the 31st October, noted that my cheque had been cashed on the 8th Nov, received a 'your statements are in the post' letter the 24th and the statements arrived the 29th (ish - from memory). Didn't need to do any chasing, but thought I would have if I hadn't had a letter by about a week/10 days before the 40 days were up.

Lucy, welcome to the site and good luck in your fight:) You really cannot read the FAQs and Step-by-step Instructions http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/31460-step-step-instructions.html enough times - just keep dipping into them and then read the threads for the relevant bank. Good idea to bookmark this thread of yours and when you want to ask a question, use the 'post reply' button in this thread - keeps it a lot tidier than creating a new thread, and everyone can note your progress more easily. (click on 'favorites' at the top of the screen, 'add to favorites') The first letter you should have sent is your Preliminary Request for return of charges - is this what you have sent? You should wait 14 days (after allowing 2 days for the bank to receive it) and if you have not had a positive response (an offer for all your money returned), then you send off your Letter Before Action - you can add on any charges incurred in between letters - just add them to your schedule of charges and attach them to your letter. But just read, read, read - if you follow the guidelines on this site, then you will not fail. Go get 'em!

Melrose, looks like you received practically the same letter as I did - my offer was for half of what I am claiming, so sent off the 'thanks but no' letter on the 27th Dec and filed at court on 2nd Jan (Happy New Year, Halifax!) If the offer's not what you want, then wait the 14 days after your LBA then file your court claim. BTW, on recorded delivery - found it's not worth the extra charge - my prelim letter is 'lost' according to Royal Mail, but Halifax magically sent me a reply to it. The Royal Mail says that you're paying the extra for recorded delivery, not for it to be actually delivered, but that when it is delivered you get a signature for it. But now, if a bunch of recorded delivery letters are delivered to one address, postie only gets one signature for the whole bundle, not one for each letter. So the chances of you getting what you're paying for now is slim. So just ask for Proof of Posting at the post office - it's free and all the courts require - they don't need proof of receipt, just proof of posting. Keep Fighting!

Hello Happy Eric:) Welcome to the forum - well done on the first step of reclaiming your money. Just keep reading through all the FAQs, templates and threads and you'll know just what to expect. Happy Hunting!

Well Done You! From what I've been reading, people have been successfully making second claims with their accounts intact. Do hope so, as I know I'm going to be getting a load more charges after my court claim I filed this week. Any paperwork you sign for accepting this goodwill is for the charges you incurred up to the date of your letter, so any future charges are not covered. And while they are still charging an excessive penalty charge, it's still unlawful therefore still reclaimable;) So I think it's a case of don't panic, but be prepared with a parachute account just in case.

Just received my Notice of Issue document Court posted today 4th Jan 2007 Deemed served 6th Jan 2007 Reply must be by 22nd Jan 2007 Going to go over the FAQs for this stage again... might stop me biting more of my nails;)

Well, been and gone and done it. Filed my N1 at lunchtime today. Butterflies in pit of stomach as walking down street - never had to go near the court! Very nice lady behind the counter, seem impressed at my printed out form. So just got to wait for their letter informing me when they've served the Halifax... Was half-expecting a letter on my doormat when I got home tonight, with a juicy offer inside, then I'd have thought 'oh no - what do I do?' - but that didn't materialise, so they can't ignore me any longer - I am not going to back down Oh well, I'd been doing so well not biting my nails for weeks...

Have you tried: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/182-6-interest-calculation-spreadsheets.html ? Works it all out for you and you can add any charges that get added between now and when you go to court. Up until that court claim, you can hide the 8% interest columns before printing out to send to the bank.

Way to Go Guapa! Good Luck with the next fight

When I was offered about 50% of my claim, I sent the rejection of settlement letter off to them - felt that it might spur them on to offering more before the 14 days were up and court time. It didn't - will be filing my N1 tomorrow (as long as there's no huge queue of other claimants in my lunch hour!) but I just thought that I should respond to show I am entering into a correspondence with them and not just charging into the court without giving them the chance to up the ante.

Thank you Michael Will amend and print out ready for Tuesday.

Just filling in my N1 form to take down to the court on Tuesday - just want to make sure it looks OK to you lot: Claimant Miss Didge Address Defendant Halifax plc Trinity Road Halifax HX1 2RG Brief details of claim: Money claim for return of penalty charges applied to the Claimants bank account by the Defendant (do I need to elaborate? It does say 'brief') Value Charges £2784.00 (Figure just of basic charges) Overdraft Interest £71.83 (the little bits) Interest under s.69 County Courts Act 1984 £632.12 (what the spreadsheet worked out) Court Fee £120.00 Subject Access Request Fee £10.00 TOTAL £3617.95 (all of the above) Plus interest pursuant to S.69 County Courts Act 1984 from date of issue to date of judgement/settlement at £00.63 OR at such rate and for such periods as the court deems just Ticked 'NO' for Human Rights Particulars of claim 1. The Claimant has an account ******** ("the Account") with the Defendant which was opened on or around September 1984 2. Since January 31st 2000 the Defendant debited numerous charges to the Account in respect of purported breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant and also charged interest on the charges once applied. The Claimant understands that the Defendant contends that the charges were debited in accordance with the terms of the contract between itself and the Claimant. 3. A list of the charges applied is attached to these particulars of claim. 4. The Claimant contends that: a) The charges debited to the Account are punitive in nature; are not a genuine pre-estimate of cost incurred by the Defendant; exceed any alleged actual loss to the Defendant in respect of any breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant; and are not intended to represent or related to any alleged actual loss, but instead unduly enrich the Defendant which exercises the contractual term in respect of such charges with a view to profit. b) The contractual provision that permits the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable by virtue of the Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999), the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the common law. 5. Accordingly the Claimant claims: a) the return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £2855.83 and any interest charged thereon; b) Court costs; c) Interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts Act as set out on the attached list of charges or at such rate and for such periods as the court deems just. d) Subject Access Request Fee of £10.00 6. Alternatively, if the charges are a fee for a service, then they must be reasonable under S.15 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act (1982). Full Name 'No solicitor' in space for solicitor's details My neatest 'X' in the signature space I have filled in the boxes at the bottom of page 1 (defendant's address and the amount claimed boxes) - is that what I should be doing? And I've left the Claimant's Address Box at the bottom of page 2 blank as my details are already at the top of the form - again is that OK? Once I'm certain it's OK, will be printing out three copies of N1 and my Schedule of Charges (including interest this time) - one for me and two for the court. Please forgive the strawberry-blonde questions, but just want everything to be right Ta:)

Sally I was sent the same amount of statements - back to January 2000 and I thought 'what the Hell - they've sent them to me, why not claim to back then?' Was/am quite willing to give up anything between January and October (when my SAR went off) if the Halifax got snotty about it (it was only about £45 extra), but so far nothing has been said about the extra few months, so if they don't mention it, I won't;) And as not a sausage has come from Halifax, Leeds or any of the other places they have offices, will be popping into court with an N1 next week:)

No luck required Just a touch of patience and a bit more nerve:)

Happy New Year:D

Well Done Definitely a Happy New Year for you!

For your preliminary letter and Letter Before Action, you just ask for the return of your charges (without interest). Should the bank not refund you 100% of your charges by the time limit on your LBA, then you file a court claim and then you can add the 8% interest that is calculated for you on the spreadsheets.

re: the 'Interest Debited' bits - I have claimed for those as well, and not had any comment about them not being part of it - over the 6 years it added up to another £70 for me.

The way I've read it on here is that it's the figure before interest added that needs to be under 5k for small claims. But as I haven't got that far myself, and won't need to worry about this because I'm not anywhere near the 5k limit, I'll shut up now and let someone who knows what they're talking about answer... And I believe the daily interest is calculated by the amount you're claiming (before interest) x 0.00022, but again let someone who knows definitely answer