Hi James, We know how you feel,we had £800 taken in one month from our account in charges as my partner had just changed from weekly pay to monthly pay and its taken us about 8 months to get straight.Then to top it all my partner had to do jury service for 3 weeks and they don`t pay you until you`re finished so he had to dip into the bills money to pay for petrol and car parking,so again we are in dire straits.It will probably take us another 8 months or longer to sort ourselves out but we are taking ShAbbey to court now.Just waiting for the court date now.Keep at it and don`t give up. On Martins Money Tips he says "JUST BECAUSE THEY SAY THEY ARE GOING TO DO IT DOESN`T MEAN THAT ITS RIGHT !!!"

They said it was a "gesture of goodwill" and were hoping it would end there and that we could settle it with this 50% offer.Obviuosly not going to accept it and will stand firm on claiming it all back.Thanx for all your help.XX

Yes have already received a GOGW before taking them to court and that was for £385 which is how much we are overdrawn in the bank.They said they will pay us this money so then we don`t owe them anything more.WHAT A CHEEK!!!!!!!

Yes this happened to us too.Abbey were unhelpful when my partner changed from weekly to monthly pay and it was over xmas which made it worse .They took out £760 in ONE hit at the end of January in bank charges which then left us in BIG difficulties with paying our mortgage.It has probably taken until last month to get up to date with it all and then we have been charged by the bank for late payment of mortgage its very worrying and very upsetting!!!

Issued my claim to take SHabbey to court and we had a letter from the solicitors today DLA PIPER (sat 23rd sept) and they have offered 50% of the full claim.Total claim is £1590.37p Their offer is £795.18p plus the court fees of £120 so bringing to a total of £915.18.Obviously we are not going to accept this offer but how do I put it in writing that this is not acceptable and I will be claiming ALL of the money taken from us.? Their defence is that, and I quote, "We ask you to consider that it cannot be correct that Abbey cannot charge anything at all if you become overdrawn or do not meet direct debits.Even if it were correct (which is not accepted) that the charges are greater than Abbey`s actual loss in dealing with the overdrawn account.Abbey would be entitled to charge something to remedy the issues with your account.This is in line with the Terms and Conditions under which you opened the account." I accept that Abbey could charge something but obviously not the extortionate charges they are charging now. PLEASE HELP!!

You`re supposed to use the spread sheets but I downloaded one and still can`t figure it out, Help too please!

Well done!!!.Glad to hear you beat the SHABBEY.My partner and I are just about to start the court case so sounds promising.Enjoy it!!!

Have received 2nd letter from Abbey today and they state that "As a one-off gesture of goodwill.I would be willing to waive the last amount of charges that debited your account on 27th March 2006, totalling £385.00,in full and final settlement of your complaint. This will bring your account back into credit. Any future charges will therefore have to stand and no further refunds will be offered. This is my final resolution letter. If you are happy to accept this offer in full and final settlement of your complaint, then please sign the form I have sent you and return it." Goes onto give address of Financial Ombudsman so I can refer my complaint. I am claiming £1784 from them. Questions for this are 1) As per the step-by-step instructions it says 2 different things a) you will be offered a partial refund accept this but sign nothing , you will probably receive a letter offering a full refund and b) Don`t accept anything less than the full amount If I have received this letter does that mean I have got no hope in court or should I now take it to court for the rest of money while accepting this offer (but not signing)? I am totally confused!!!