Offer letter came this morning! They offered the full amount. Fantastic. I crossed out the offered amount and added an extra £100 for the AQ. (The nice lady at DG said to do this yesterday when I spoke to them.)

Just had a call from DG (I called them earlier today to chase them up) confirming that an offer letter is going out today for the full amount! I'm not celebrating yet, but It looks like I'm nearly there...

I've completed my AQ and it has been filed with the local County court and the fee paid. I now intend to fax a letter to DG along the lines of:- "my court costs are now £100 more and that I intend to request full disclosure of HSBC’s costs." Interestingly point 5 of their defence says:- "The charges applied to the claimants account are reasonable and are properly and fully disclosed in the Defendant's terms and conditions and published price list. The charges represent the contractually agreed price for the services provided and the UTCCR's are not applicable to them; alternatively, they are not unfair contrary to the UTCCR. Further, the charges are not default charges and, accordingly, cannot amount to a penalty." Are they really arguing that they are proving me with a Service by sending me a letter and charging £35 for a defaulted DD?

Tomorrow is the last day before I have to file the Allocation Q at my local court. Still no word from DG (apart from a polite phone call to confirm receipt of my fax). Are they trying to test my reslove?

Your advice makes good sense, I have toned down the letter and kept it simple as you said. Faxed it over this morning, and have followed it up with a phone call (voice mail) and email to try and get them to confirm reciept. by the way lateralus thanks for all your help so far, it is very much appreciated.

Got letter from MCOL today with the HSBC defence and solicitor details which are exactly as you said they would be :- Debbie D from DG! Also received Allocation Q which which gives me to 28th Jan to file at my local court. I have drafted the following covering letter and intend to fax it tomorrow (followed up by a phone call of course). "I am writing to respectfully request that my claim against HSBC is paid in full, I am aware that you have entered a defence against my claim and it is my intention to enter a full counter defence for which I believe the court will uphold. Furthermore this will add a further £100 to my claim against your company, I am not prepared to acknowledge your defence as having any creditability. I have seen this standard response on the consumer action group website on numerous occasions and feel it is an extremely weak defence that any judge will refuse to entertain, given the OFT’s recent ruling. Moreover it is my intention to request a full disclosure of HSBC’s costs within my Allocation Questionnaire. I have included a full breakdown of banking charges levied to my account which is inclusive of interest charged up to 22nd March 2006, I will also require any additional interest to be added to this claim, which has accrued since the 13th December 2006 and the date of the refund. It is my intention to file my Allocation Questionnaire prior to close of business on the 24th January 2007 if I have not received an offer of a full settlement from your company." Sound OK?

I have only sent copies to the court. I have never received any details of their solicitors, it was not on any paper work from MCOL. Do I just assume that DG is acting for HSBC in this case and send them the breakdown?

I checked with MCOL today and HSBC have entered a last minute defence! So I guess I'll just have to wait for their defence and the Allocation Questionaire to arrive in the post. I have printed off a copy of the AQ form149 which doesn't seems to difficult to fill out.

I have sent 3 copies of breakdown to court (Northampton) today. I rang the HMCourts on 0845 6015935 they were very helpful. They explained that the bank have thus far only acknowledged the claim and that no defence has been submitted, therefore they have no details of the solicitors at present. So just counting the days now!!

Received a letter from Colin Langdale (Senior Service Quality Officer) today. It thanked me for my letter dated 6th November 2006 and apologised "for not yet fully completed my investigation". He says he will contact me by the 24 January 2007 and expects to be able to provide me with a full response at that time. Is this a standard letter? In any case the 28 days run out mid Jan so no good responding after a judgement has been made. But I guess they know that. There is one thing that bothers me, although I don't use my HSBC accounts any more I still have a loan with them. Is it likely that they will try to use any settlement to pay off some of the loan?

They acknowledged the claim on the 13/12/06 so I guess they now have 28 days to defend!

Thanks to steve_n, Clare1981, and lateralus for your support and advice i'll keep you posted.

Its getting exciting now. I've just submitted my MCOL! Still not heard a peep from HSBC. I'm a little confused about when and how I send a schedule, (I have already sent this with the Prelim letter and LBA), do I need to forward another paper copy now or wait to see if they defend?

Ok it's 14 days since my Perlim letter and no reply from HSBC. I have my "Letter before action" ready to go. At the moment I'm addressing everything to the Manager at my local branch. Is there an organ grinder behind this monkey that I should be addressing? s

Story so far. Received 6 months bank statements 18 october 2006, (they sent back my cheque for £10 saying "we are happy to cover the fees for the production of this information" - I'm so greatful !!!!) Filled out the spreadsheet provided by CAG (very helpful thank you). I have calculated a total of £1994.50 I have not claimed for OD interest because it was too difficult to calculate and was a small fraction of the charges. Just finished my Preliminary approach for repayment letter and will post recorded delivery tommorrow. They have 14 days to respond. Also requested statements from First Direct. Wish me luck s911