Hi MTM I know I'm going to regret asking this ....... but what does rofl stand for? Is it an island in the Pacific? If it is, then I'm up for a bit of luggage carrying myself! By the way, haven't heard from NW yet - thinking about getting the SAR request off to HSBC while I'm waiting. Hey, Hey, Hey its Friday

Thanks speedy, just what I was thinking. It's going tomoz then. At least it will be started then cos as you said, its just a matter of waiting to get the claim filed anyway. Good luck to you too and likewise with keeping posted

I won't have internet access in Bulgaria and would prefer anyway to use N1 form - from what I've read it seems to give you better control over things - holidays must be a common occurence this time of year so I think it might seem ok to have a slightly increased time span before filing in court - but at least I would be able to do it as soon as I get back.

Many thanks for replies. Haven't managed to get to the computer for couple of days cos life's gotten difficult. We have a house in the mountains in Bulgaria which was broken into on Monday - loads of phone calls and hunting for receipts needed - and then the cam belt on our car went in the outside lane of a four-lane busy road in the middle of a major hail storm. Terrifying and horribly expensive. And today I broke one of my toes. It never rains but ....... Anyway, back to the business in hand. So, should I wait until I come back on 14 August to post my schedule of charges and prelim letter (all ready and waiting to go) or can I go ahead and then file the court claim when I get back (which means there will be more that 14 days between lba and filing) but will mean I am further on. I really would like to keep momentum going with this and carry on with it but my worry is that it will seem that I don't know what I'm about at all because I let too much time elapse - or could that be seen to be my decision?

And does anyone know of a sure fire way to stop spam. If I get any more offers of a certain chemical beginning with the letter 'V' I'm going to start buying it and go into business myself - who needs a pension anyway?

Well many thanks for your kind offer but I'm afraid it isn't as flash as a cruise, all inclusive or otherwise. Still, I hear the Carribean is over-rated at this time of year - Better off in England, if it ever stops raining. So if I send my prelim letter tomoz - allow 14 days, 16/07, then send lba say 18/07 - allow 14 days - 01/08. I won't be here to file claim at court until 14/08. Does that matter?

Another thought. I'm out of the country from 24/07 to 14/08. Would it be best to wait before starting out on the prelim letter or can I set a timetable to suit myself as long as it doesn't mean that I won't be around for any court appearances obviously.

Just to keep this thread up to date, list of charges arrived today and I have spent awhile going through them - and they seem to tally with the statements as far as I have them - so am going to get to grips with the spreadsheet this evening and get a prelim letter done to send off this weekend. Interestingly, the very polite letter I received accompanying the charges list gave a list of "manual processes (which) may have been applied to your account in order to ensure the smooth running of your facilities" followed by about 30 services provided. It states that 'manual intervention' would have been involved, indirectly implying that these should be taken into consideration along with the charges list included. I thought there was no charge for opening a bank account!

Thanks for replies. He only has third party insurance - even that cost £1300 in the first year, £560 in the second and he was just coming up to the end of the year when he would have had 2 years ncd. Its really annoying but at least he's ok so we're really grateful for that. We have been up to recovery today and ended up paying £350 - including £135 call out, £114 for 6 days parking (@£19 per day) and a scrapping charge of £50. We managed to persuade them to drop the winching fee (£70), the health and safety granules (£17.50) and the property search and handling (£30) as a gesture. We had no choice but to pay otherwise the costs would have kept escalating and my son couldn't get his possessions back. I have a breakdown of their charges but not their costs. Did we do OK or should I write and ask them for their costs to see what the profits are and do some research at other companies? We know we have to pay but don't like feeling as though we've been mugged - but he seemed very reasonable - but then he would be wouldn't he? However, we did get something off so we don't feel too badly. The callout charge was high because the police called them but the car had already been pushed off the road and was not causing an obstruction.

Help. Could someone tell me what they think. My son, who has just finished first year at uni and has no money and loads of fee debts already, was involved in an accident and his car was towed away. They now want £360 plus £12 per night (so we have to get it quick) before they will release it OR any of his belongings (including all the shoes he owns!). The police have told us this is 'more than excessive' and have advised us to write a letter of complaint to them about this garage. We are going to have to cough up as he has no money and he will have to pay us back but can I use the 'charge not related to cost' argument which applies to banks and proceed along the same lines to reclaim some or all of the money via the small claims court? Does that sound reasonable?

Right. O.K. Many thanks and you're right of course. One step at a time is always a good idea. It was my husband's fault - he hasn't gotten involved in this at all but he knows what I'm doing and he said he thinks I'm really brave - that makes me very nervous! On the plus side he did say he would come to court with me - I wonder if he'll visit me in clink if they throw the book at me?!?!? Seriously, though, I thought the bit about unlawful charges was probably what it was but weren't the credit card companies allowed to levy a decreased charge of £12 on late payments - that's certainly what we get on ours now and it always used to be £25. I shall go and read some credit card threads to find out and leave you alone while I wait for Nationwide to send the info. Many thanks again - I just hope I don't bottle out of this before the end; you need to be made of stern stuff don't you? PS - and is it because the lady loves them or do you like climbing cliffs in a gale?

Posted thanks on your reputation. Hope I did it correctly. I now have two threads on here as I opened one before this one was moved. Can I combine them or should I just ignore one and carry on using the other?

Sorry, just trying to be useful..... perhaps I should keep my thoughts to myself until I have a vague idea of what I'm talking about! Trouble is I'm seeing things from my point of view I guess. I've known about the idea of claiming back charges for at least a year and have read lots of press reports on it but have not felt able to take on a bank - I was brought up not to argue with people like doctors, lawyers and bank managers! I have also been on this site for months before I actually wrote anything - but I s'pose once you start you can't stop. So I need a shove rather than a slow down....Anyway, I have now PRINTED OFF all the step by step instructions for easy reference. I've read several threads from start to finish and it all sounds terrifyingly stressful and I'm already waking up early with all my arguments as to what I'll say in court going round in my head. And all I've done is send an SAR to Nationwide - the lesser of the two evils. Our real challenge will be the HSBC where our main household account is in my husband's name and we have had an overdraft more or less constantly since we were students in the 70's. Bank charges taken by them over the last six years will run into many thousands. I don't know whether to write to them at the same time while my mind is fired up with all the information or wait and see what happens with the Nationwide. What would you advise? Also, I have read about the reason for taking action - but am still a little unsure as to why its possible to claim back all the charges rather than the difference between what is a reasonable charge and what is not? Sorry if that sounds stupid but I need to be absolutely clear about all of this! Probably no hope of that at my age. By the way, is there any information about how many people have actually ended up in court 'cos in says in some places that none have but there must have been some - and how many people have lost? or am I just a pessimist (can't spell that).

Many thanks MTM. I'm reading the site while I wait for list of charges. What is a 'cleared transaction charge'? And just an observation, but its quite tricky to find all the different abbreviations used - like LBA and MCOL. I have found most now but thought perhaps it might be useful, especially as all this is a bit daunting to start with, to have those listed at the beginning to aid initial confidence! Regards and thanks again.

I have made the decision so am sorting out my reading on this site and sending the SAR tomorrow. I feel a sense of outrage - many of these charges were incurred as a result of a problem from one nw account to another (a savings account). I was not even sent a letter informing me of the problem. Is that suppose to be a service? Its time we went back to the days when banks treated their customers as exactly that - not just as a business opportunity! Wish me luck!

Well, I ummed and arrhed and thought and thought about it - and I have decided that I can't NOT do it. I have to take on Nationwide. The snotty girl on phone told me a month or so ago when I challenged them about recent bank charges which I thought were unjustified that if I abused my account then I had to pay! This from the company which charged me £28 a month for months 4 years ago because I moved area, my pay date changed and a change of date for an automatic payment got missed - I moved all the rest. It was from my flexaccount to a savings account with the same company and they didn't even bother writing to me about it! - just let it go on until I noticed. That's a £28 monthly charge for a payment from one account to another! How ridiculous. Some saving incentive. So its the principle of the thing isn't it?