Yes, amount claimed is the total charges plus interest at 8%. The MCOL will automatically add their fee to the amount at the end. Simmo

Hi JoJo, I assume you are referring to this paragraph: "I calculate that you have taken £XXXXX plus £XXX which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £XXXXX ." What this is referring to is overdraft interest on the fees you have been charged, not the 8% interest that you add when you go to court. Most people skip the overdraft interest as it is difficult to calculate. Just change the statement to read as so: "I calculate that you have taken £XXXXX in charges." Remember, add the 8% interest at the court stage. Simmo

MCOL is Money Claim On Line and is what you use if you want to file your claim via internet. You can also do it via post - whichever suits you best. There is info in the FAQ's.

A copy of the letter to send in reply: Dear Ms Tyrie, Thank you for your letter of 12th December 2006. Unfortunately I received your letter after my deadline of 15 December 2006 and I have therefore filed a claim through the County Court which should have been served by the time you receive this letter. I appreciate the fact that Barclays have made an offer of repayment; however I am unable to accept the goodwill gesture of £1000.00 as full and final settlement. I would be willing to accept the offer as partial payment but I have to make it clear that I would then continue to pursue the remainder through the courts. I am aware that Barclays intend to maintain the position that their charges are fair and transparent. Unfortunately Barclays have not at any time, to my knowledge, provided specific and convincing evidence that their charges are fair under the terms of the pertinent acts. Since the Office of Fair Trade has ruled that disproportionately high penalty charges are unfair, I must insist that Barclays provide such evidence forthwith. This was – in point of fact – a request I made in my first letter on this matter on 17th November. This request, which I consider to be entirely reasonable in the context of our relationship, has thus far been entirely ignored. I am emphatically not making the complaint that Barclays have issued the charges per se; I am making the statement that the charges are so out of proportion to the infractions that they are deemed unlawful penalty charges under United Kingdom law. This is therefore a legal matter, and not simply a customer dispute to be handed off to the Financial Ombudsman Service. If Barclays will not make a repayment in full, and cannot or will not provide sufficient evidence that their penalty charges are fair, I will continue to pursue this matter with the County Court. I calculate that you have taken £**** in charges. I enclose with this letter a schedule of the charges which I am claiming. You should be aware that now I have filed this claim with the courts I have added a further 8% APR interest, under Section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984. The total interest added to date is £*** and will continue to rise daily until the claim is settled. It is therefore clear that Barclays should work quickly to resolve this issue. Yours faithfully, Simmo

Received a letter from Barclays (Katie Tyrie - anyone dealt with her before?) dated 12 Dec 06 offering £1000 as a goodwill gesture, without admission of liability, full and final settlement blah blah blah!! Pity Barclays didn't consider the christmas rush as I only got it today so a bit late there, they should be getting a claim via MCOL right around now! I shall write back to them and accept their offer as partial payment. I needed to send them a schedule of charges anyway so I shall send both together now!

You can get the 8% interest on ALL your charges. Yours should come to around £200 by my reckoning. I have no idea about the complex spreadsheet as it was far too complicated for me. Read through some of the threads as one or two people have gone for that as well.

Have you looked at the templates section? There are some interest templates there. You put all your entries onto the excel spreadsheet and it calculates the interest for you. I have added a link below. You should use the simple charges template. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/182-6-interest-calculation-spreadsheets.html However, when you send the charges sheet along with your letters to the bank, hide the "interest" column and the "days since offence" column. You add the 8% interest when you file your claim through the court

Excellent news my friend! Your perseverence paid off in the end. CONGRATULATIONS!!! :D :D :D __________________ 04 Nov 06 - S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) letter sent 16 Nov 06 - Statements received - £2685.00 of illegal charges incurred 17 Nov 06 - PAR (Preliminary Approach for Repayment) letter sent 01 Dec 06 - Received Stalling letter from Barclays 02 Dec 06 - LBA (Letter Before Action) sent 18 Dec 06 - Claim filed with MCOL You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! Click the scales at the bottom left if you find my advice useful. However, the advice I give is only my opinion based on my experience, I am not trained in Law!

I filed my claim with MCOL today as nothing heard from Barclays. Court bundle is ready for action. I am going off to the FAQ's now to get myself up to speed for the days ahead. Merry Christmas to all! Simmo

I am sure that this information will have been posted elsewhere but it proves what we have believed for a long time Banks' £30 penalty on £2.50 service - AOL Money Maybe now they will start to pay up!

Does anyone have any thoughts on compounded or contractual interest? Would be interested to know what the general thinking is on this as I may consider applying it to some other claims I will be submitting when I have won this one. Hi Humpty, Most people don't bother just go with the 8% interest that is worked out on the simple spreadsheet that is found in the library. I have put a link to it: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/182-6-interest-calculation-spreadsheets.html The 8% interest is only added at the claim through court stage. Hope this helps Regards Simmo

Don't worry Piggy Bank, the interest changes daily anyway. When you file with the court you add the 8% interest so you are not doing anything illegal as Barclays won't pay out prior to that anyway. It is worth sticking out as the money in question is YOURS not Barclays. Besides, you will get what is owed plus the 8% interest which increases each day. Heres hoping for early settlements!!

Congratulations!! Worth all the hassles you had to go through!

I wouldn't think so. Barclays nearly always take it to the wire anyway so the interest is likely to come into play at some point. When they eventually agree to settle, then you can let them know the amount they need to pay, including interest up to date!! Cheers Simmo

Hi there, When you sent the Excel spreadsheets to the bank did you hide the "days since offence" and the "interest" columns? The 8% interest gets added when you file a claim via MCOL. Simmo

I don't think it matters too much where you send the letters. I send mine to the main address at Churchill Place, London. The link is here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/31052-contact-details-banks.html?garpg=4 Cheers Simmo

I totally agree with you. Don't let them off the hook! Just remember that you are getting interest for every day they stall!

I know that you won't need it.... but I wish you good luck anyway!!!

Update: Received a standard Barclays stalling letter: "Thank you for your recent letter. I am sorry that you are unhappy.... blah, blah, blah! We will endeavour to respond to you within timescale.... blah, blah. Aim to find a solution within four weeks.... blah, blah..... Signed Mike Brophy Head of Customer Relations I don't feel the urge to respond, or to wait, so I am sending my Letter Before Action today. I will keep you all informed. Simmo

Hi Steve, Don't worry. Read the FAQ's and follow some threads and you will see that Barclays are acting as per the norm. You can find the court bundle here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/33060-basic-court-bundle.html Print it off and take some time to read through and index etc. Any questions? Just post them on here and someone will help.

It's as the Welshman said. All the time Barclays will try to stall and harass. Just stick by your own agenda and be patient! Another way of looking at it is if you let Barclays drag it out, you will be able to claim more interest. It goes up every day!! Simmo

Hi there, Don't worry, it gets easier as you go along and everyone here is very helpful - you aren't alone! In answer to your questions: 1. Use the simple spreadsheet which works out the 8% interest for you. When it is completed hide the "interest" and "days since offence" columns (format- column- hide) and then print off but don't save with the columns hidden. 2. I think you are better to claim back up to, but not over 6 years. This seems to be the standard period at the moment. Claim the 6 years back from Dec 00 or Jan 01. 3. Feel free to get the defaults removed. Just add the red section from the template letter. There is a link to the library where you can find the letters. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/ Hopefully this will be useful to you and perhaps answer your questions. Feel free to ask any more you have and I, or someone else, will answer them ASAP. Regards Simmo

Hi there, Don't worry, it gets easier with time and everyone here is so helpful. In answer to your questions: 1.

Looks good to me. Stick to your timetable and don't allow them to delay/ dissuade/ bully you into anything you don't want to do. As for the amended total, you could also write: "I respectfully decline your offer of settlement and request, once again, that you return to me all charges imposed on this account, totalling £295.00. My original claim, dated 08/11/2006, totalled £343.19.This figure included interest at 8% which of course will be added to the amount if I am forced to file through the Small Claims Court." Hope this is of use.

Try putting the charges onto the spreadsheet that can be found in the library. It will then automatically work out the 8% interest for you every day. When you send the ruqest to get charges returned, just hide the interest column. You include it when you file at court. If you need help with excel then just ask. I have given a link to the excel spreadsheet, but there are others in the library: http://www.cag-files.co.uk/barracad/Spreadsheets/England/Simple-charges-calc.xls