Interesting debate. I think that it's quite clear that the banks have been using charges from those of us who are not so careful (shall we say) in order to bolster their profits. I don't know this but I would imagine that rather than consider them an unexpected bonus they probably plan things on the assumption that they will get this income from a certain percentage of their customers. Maybe it's just me but I didn't notice that my bank was over-keen or quick to inform me that I'd gone overdrawn, and I've never had my switch/maestro card refused. So more and more people claiming is going to affect things somehow undoubtedly. Obviously there's the money that they are having to pay back in the first place, although I know that at the moment it is a mere drop in the ocean, still it's increasing. Also anyone who claims successfully is no longer a cash cow for the banks. I don't know about anyone else but personally I'm determined never to pay any more bank charges so that's another fund that's slowly drying up. What will they do to recoup these lost funds? Well, whilst I do think that there's a danger of being too complacent I don't think that it will come from them challenging individual cases in court. Yes sure if a customer challenges the charges and is not prepared fully and doesn't follow the rules if you -like them- of course they'll defend their case (they'd be daft no to) but I don't think that there will be some kind of mass crackdown. I do think though that the banks are aware of all of the publicity and this website and are looking for ways in which they can change their customer contracts and pricing policies so that the law cannot be easily challenged. I would imagine that changes will start to happen perhaps with new customers in the coming years. It also seems to be the norm in some banks these days to encourage new customers to take up an account with a monthly fee ('you get free travel insurance!'- er yeah thanks) so that's another stealth tax on their customers, they're making up the old money they raked in from charges in new inventive ways. Having said all that I don't think any of us should be over confident and complacent when taking action to reclaim charges with a bank, and nobody should do it unless they are fully prepared, ready and willing to take any case to court.

Thanks Gary. Since I posted the acceptance letter tonight I've been slightly wondering if I did the right thing. I know that it's probably better to hold out for the full amount but the truth is I don't really want to take this to court. It's not that I couldn't or wouldn't, it's more a touch of laziness I suppose really- in that I can now say it's all done and I can get on with other things. I'm not in dire financial straits, but as I've made it resolution this year to be better with money I'm not going to go mad with the money either. I'll most probably pay off a credit card so that's one less bill I have to worry about each month. So I don't see it as a failure, I think I had a minor victory against the bank and anyway, I will still visit here and post and I still feel that this is an important issue. I want to be here the day on the day of reckoning when the tide finally turns and all this people power finally gets them to change their policies and the way they operate. The way things are going, it surely must be coming soon.

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Hello gav. Well obviously nobody can predict the future but I've read enough case studies here to indicate that it would be highly unlikely to lose against the bank if you pursued your rightful claim correctly. Having said that like anything worth doing in life there is a risk, it's up to you to decide whether it's worth taking that risk for the end result. One things for sure though, if you do nothing you'll get nothing. I would suggest that before you do anything or worry about the court you read all you can here on this site in order to feel more confident that you really know everything what you're asking the bank for, you might well not get to the court stage anyway. The law is on your side, but of course (like most businesses) the banks will not give up without a 'fight' and I've found that your best weapons are confidence and knowledge. Best wishes and good luck with your claim- keep us posted on how you get on.

Apologies for not updating this sooner (although until today I didn't have too much to say). Anyway just after I sent the LBA my lovely lovely computer decide to die:o leaving me in a kind of limbo. After a phone call or two, a new shiny computer and more money spent I was back online to pursue the case. Luckily I had managed to save some data. In the meantime, I had heard zilch from HSBC in any case not even an acknowledgement. Fast forward to today and lo and behold a letter from the bank! They've offered me £1866, which I don't think is that bad to be honest. I certainly wasn't expecting that much as a first offer. I could push for the extra what £300? But I think I'll settle. I know that some will say I should push for the full amount but the way I look at it I've got £1866 more that I started with and although I could do the court thing I don't really want to to be honest. Of course, it's all totally thanks to this wonderful site. So thank you to you all. I shall send my contribution as soon as I can after I receive the money.

I asked the same question before I started itchy. Apparently it is unlikely and reading a lot of the threads here backs that up. It could depend on your bank, you'll get more specific advise when you start to post in your particulars banks thread. Also, it does seem more likely when more than one claim has been made. Personally I think that if you stick to the facts, do your homework and preparation and keep any correspondence with your bank civil and to the point then I can see no reason why they should close your account. It's always a good idea to set up another account though just in case (a parachute account) best to be prepared . Best of luck with your claim . Keep us posted.

Congratulations tededdy:) ! Well Done, another inspiring story for the rest of us still in battle. And, I couldn't agree with you more about this website- what a find! I consider myself reasonably intelligent and fairly clued up (on a good day:p ) but I'd have never have known the steps to take to attempt this without all the great help here. My claim is just beginning but I'm hoping to be able to make my own contribution to this wonderful site in the near future.

The statements arrived this week individual envelopes (not sure why but I found that surprising). Anyway, despite my terrible spreadsheet skills (God, I really am bad at them!) it did not take me too long to work out that HSBC have charged me £2194.50 :o for the privilege of being a customer in the past six years. This consists entirely of thier 'TOTAL CHARGES', interestingly they've never bounced a cheque of mine or refused a direct debit. Mind you, I can understand why they haven't as it appears to have been far more profitable to just use the charges. The request for the money back will be posted tomorrow. I'll update as I hear anything, although I think that Christmas will delay this somewhat. Oh well, I'm not particularly bothered the money is money I wouldn't have had anyway- so I'm prepared to be patient.

Another update: Received what I think is thier standard letter yesterday saying that the statements will be here soon. They also enclosed my £10 cheque which, despite the banks being the enemy and everything, I do think is a nice gesture. I'm looking forward to moving on with this although I am a bit worried about making sense of the charges on the statements. Also, I don't know if I'm the only one but I find checking though old finance details slightly depressing, I think it's the looking at how much I spent (wasted:p ) that does it. Anyway, onwards and upwards... I'm hoping that the statements will arrive next week as I have a few days off. Thankyou all for your help and invaluable information so far.

Just to update this: I've drafted my S.A.R., addressed it to Canada Square and I will be posting it recorded delivery tomorrow 31st October. I can also access my statements online, but I think it makes things more formal this way. I shall also be applying for my parachute bank account in the next few days, most probably with the Co-op. Only one tiny worry with this; recently I was refused a credit card (I wanted it to balance transfer a couple of others at 0%) for the first time ever. I hope that this does not mean that I may be refused another bank account, I've decided to apply for the most basic account they offer (no overdraft etc) just in case. I'll keep the new account in any case and perhaps use it for ebay sales. Lastly, I'm still a bit nervous about calculating the charges and filling in the spreadsheets (no formal training on computers!) but I'm going to do a fair amount of reading in the next month or so. Today unfortunately HSBC charged me £75 (charges form last month) luckily I've been very careful this month so hopefully fingers and toes crossed that will be the last unfair charge they'll ever get from me.

Thanks for the info cadencealex:) . I will print out my statements but I've decided to also send an S.A.R. to HSBC as well. That may sound a bit daft but for me the main reasons are: It's a sort of 'belt and braces' approach, covering every angle. I'm keen to follow the procedure to get back these charges to the letter, I don't want to find that I've made an accounting or clerical mistake along the way. And lastly by requesting the statements I'll have given myself a bit more time to study the law and the procedure to work out and make my claim. Plus, by the time I've used all that paper and ink in my printer- I'll probably have spent the £10 I'd have sent to the HSBC anyway! Thanks once again, and good luck with your claim.

Thankyou both for the advice and encouragement. I still have more reading to do, but I have drafted my SAR which I plan to post at the beginning of November. I figured that it will take them some time to provide the statements so I can do more 'studying' whilst I'm waiting. As I've been a customer for many years of HSBC and I understand that you can only claim for the past six years I've amended the letter very slightly to say 'Please supply me with a complete list of my transactions and charges relating to my banking history on this account since Nov 1st 2000' . Is it OK and appropriate to use this wording do you think? At this stage I don't even know how much I may be claiming, once the statements arrive, and I've made sense of them I'll post more information about my case. Anyway, fingers crossed. I'm off to read that thread of success stories for inspiration.

Thanks for the help and advice Gary . I'm relieved to learn that the bank are unlikely to close my account. Also funnily enough I had recently been looking into a Coop account- it looked like the best idea, so I'll definitely try for that now. I'm still reading up on how to go about my claim. I actually think that it's the confidence that I know what I'm doing before I start is what I need - hopefully I'll be able to go ahead soon, (and it won't be that scary!). Anyway thanks once again.

Hello Everyone, I've read and studied a lot of the forum with interest, and I am quite keen to take action to claim some of the bank charges I've paid back. But, I do have one or two concerns and I wonder if anyone has any advice or experience that would help. I've been an HSBC customer for many years and although it would be annoying and a bit inconvenient to have to change accounts I would be happy to do it but for two things: The main problem is that I have a credit card attached to my account and I'm not at the moment at least in a position to be able to pay that off in full, so if HSBC foreclosed my account as a result of any bank charges claim it would be difficult. Also, in the process of trying to set up a separate 'parachute' account with another bank I've found that most if not all seem to an agreement that my wages paid in before they will let me open a new account. I don't want to do this yet, as ideally I'd like to keep the HSBC account because ironically apart from the charges issue I've been fairly happy with thier service. I'm not totally confident about how to make my claim as yet, I think that I do have a fair amount to learn before I go ahead and take any action. I imagine it will be in the new year but if and when I do can anyone let me know how likely HSBC are to close my account? Thanks for any advice .

Thanks for your helpful advice Micheal, those links were very useful. I will start a thread in the relevant section once I proceed with my claim. At the moment I'm still studying all of the information available here so I imagine it will still be some time before I do that because I want to be really confident that I know what I'm talking about before I go ahead.

Hello:) , I've spent a good couple of hours reading a lot of the information here and I can't believe how helpful and interesting it has been. Of course I'm keen to get going but realistically I can see that I need a good few more days research at least. Having had a very tough financial year I've been frankly horrified to discover how much my bank HSBC has been charging me. Like most reasonable people I accept that there needs to be charge, what I don't accept is that for example £125 in one month is fair and reasonable and commensurate with the banks costs. I've noticed too that they sneakily take out the charges on the 30th of each month when most salaried people get paid on the 31st thereby affecting the budget for the next month and so on. It's a viscous circle- yet a profitable one for the bank no doubt;) . So anyway I'm sure going to give a claim a go . My only concern- and it may sound silly- but apart from the charges I've always been happy with the bank. Even the local staff are very helpful and it would be a shame if I had to move banks, so I'm hoping that that doesn't happen. Anyway- I have lots of reading to get on with. Hopefully I will catch up with some of you soon.