Hi Em I've just completed my claim against HSBC as well, so if I can be of any help to you, feel free to ask. HSBC do take a long time to reply unfortunately, so it's just a case of waiting. I hope you hear from them soon!!

RESULT!!! I actually had a letter yesterday from HSBC offering £625 of the £700 bank charges being claimed. They gave the usual response that if it went to court they think they would successfully defend the claim, etc, and that the offer is a gesture of good will because it would cost them more in management time, etc. Although it is not the full amount, I have chosen to accept the offer, having read other threads where people have declined and then HSBC have removed the entire offer altogether. As it is so close to what I was claiming for, I have chosen to accept. My thanks go out to everyone who has helped me with this, and to the Consumer Action Group for helping me stick up for my consumer rights. Incidentally, I also received a letter from Hoover on the same day with a pleasing result. I bought a Hoover vacuum cleaner 6 months ago which turned out to be faulty. To cut a long story short, the Hoover engineer confirmed it was a design fault and he had dealt with over 100 similar cases. Clearly Hoover had not carried out sufficient tests, etc, before selling this machine. Therefore, I registered an official complaint with them, threatening further action and stating that I was backed by the Consumer Action Group. After several letters and turning down their initial offers, they have finally offered me a full refund for the Hoover at £99, plus £150 in compensation! The CAG is obviously a powerful name, so thank you! (Not sure if the Hoover case is of any use to anyone, as I've not registered it as a thread anywhere else?) Thanks again to everyone! Merry Christmas! Paul

Thanks. I guess I'll now need to consider whether it is worth gambling £80 that I don't have, on possibly getting my £700 back from them. Hmm... time for a long think!

Will that cost me any money?

Right, well despite having sent 2 letter before actions (1 to their Head Office and 1 to the Customer Service Centre), I still have not had a response. That was almost 2 weeks ago. What should I do now? I've not had a response to any letters I've sent since I started this in October!! Has anyone else had this problem??

Update: Well, the letter was sent, with schedule, but no response has been received. It has now been 16 days since it arrived at their Head Office. Would you suggest I wait a bit longer, or send another letter?

Update: The letter asking for my charges to be refunded has been sent today, recorded delivery, along with the schedule, and Consumer Action Group sticker firmly fixed to the front of the envelope so they cannot miss it!! I'll let you all know if/when I get a reply.

Thanks Lateralus and Bong!! Your help is much appreciated. Ok, I'll take your advice and use the spreadsheet to calculate the interest and get every penny I can out of them!!! I'll do as Bong says and leave out my added bit about the interest. And I'll definitely be sending it recorded delivery! I'm getting so fed up with these big organisations ripping off their customers and providing such appalling service! I've recently had dealings with both the water and energy suppliers, due to their incompetence and lies, and won my case in both instances, having significant amounts of money refunded. Now it's HSBC's turn!!!! I'll keep you posted!!

Before I send the request for payment, I was thinking of altering the "What I require" paragraph to the following, to reinforce my claim: "I calculate that you have taken £700 in charges over the last six years, which I am asking you to refund to me. You have also taken a further £75.07 in interest, which I believe more than covers the costs to which you have been put during this time. I am therefore only asking for the £700 in charges to be refunded. I enclose a schedule of the charges which I am claiming with this letter." I am not planning to claim for interest incurred on my charges, as it won't be that much and it is far too complicated!! Do you think the above paragraph would be OK to send, or is it confusing the matter? Also, could someone explain when/why this 8% thing kicks in??! Thanks!

Ok, I have now worked out how to view the past 6 years via my internet banking, so have calculated that HSBC have taken £700 in charges during that time. All of which appear to be for simply going over the overdraft. One month, I was only £33 overdrawn, but got charged £75 for doing so! The preliminary approach letter has now been written and one of your stickers put on the envelope! Just one question though - would it be best to send it to the general HSBC head office address, or directly to Mr David Lewis, Head of Customer Relations?

Hi!! Thanks for the message!! How did you work out your charges so easily without sending them the letter? I do online banking, but can only view my transactions back until August this year?! Good luck with your claim too!!

Hi, I've just come across this website thanks to Google, after a friend told me how he had managed to reclaim his bank charges. I didn't even know this was possible until now and have paid hundreds of pounds in the last 6 years. Some months I was charged £150 in charges - just for going over my overdraft!! I queried this at the time, but basically got told that they were allowed to make these charges and I had to pay them! Now I know differently!! I'm now going to use the templates from this site to see what I can claim back. I've just bought the envelope labels to show the bank I'm serious!! First thing will be to send them the Subject Access Request letter this week. I'll let you know what happens from there!! Wish me luck!!

Hi, I've just come across this website thanks to Google, after a friend told me how he had managed to reclaim his bank charges. I didn't even know this was possible until now and have paid hundreds of pounds in the last 6 years. Some months I was charged £150 in charges - just for going over my overdraft!! I queried this at the time, but basically got told that they were allowed to make these charges and I had to pay them! Now I know differently!! I'm now going to use the templates from this site to see what I can claim back. I've just bought the envelope labels to show the bank I'm serious!! Wish me luck!!