Just spoken to the lady at customer services and she says my acceptance reached them on 29th March and it will be within 14 working days that it clears. Hope this is true. Bless her, I made a comment about what a busy day she must be having after a double bank holiday and she said "Yes, it has been busy. Having Easter this weekend as well hasn't helped - you'd think with the two bank holidays one after the other they might have decided to move Easter to another weekend, but there you go" Aw...

I am going to send another letter saying that I will be persuing it through the court as before if I don't have it by the end of this month. Otherwise I can see this lasting indefinitely.

Hi guys I sent off my acceptance letter this week... yippeee! I just wondered if those of you who have already had money back could let me know how long it took before the money arrived in your account or the cheque arrived or whatever? This seems to be as mixed as all the other responses we are getting - some arriving quickly, some needing to be chased up etc. How was it for you?

Mine settled too before MCOL (though I left massive gap after LBA due to personal circumstances). Settled full amount of cgharges but not the contractual interest but am happy to accept. Not sure how to link my thread...

Sent the LBA and had date in diary to get ready for court. I had all the papers ready and so on. Due to family illness and then a quick well deserved holiday, I was running late on filing and had decided to sort it all out in school holidays. Got home today to find a letter on the mat offering £1037. This is the full amount of charges but not the contractual interest. Since they have offered full refund, any court case now would (I assume) hinge on proving my right to contractual interest which to my mind seems a whole other kettle of fish as a standalone case now the charges themselves have been refunded. (nb. for anyone confused by this - I haven't yet filed a claim). So I am going to accept the offer of all the charges back. And I must say, I am very pleased indeed - thanks guys you have made it a very painless process. I have donated contents of my paypal account today. My share of the holiday paid for and enough to re-tile the bathroom!

Well - no more news from the banks. Not a sausage. All quiet - they must be keeping busy with all the letters. Time for the LBA... Sending it recorded tomorrow.

Good luck! It took me ages to get going once I finally got my statements - I got the letter off this week in the end. Now the waiting game begins... I look forward to hearing how you get on!

Have a look at the bank statements you have. Lots of the charges come out on a certain day and it is often the same each month. So if some of the missing statements include this date - get them! Also - you will see that there will be referral charges on certain months - if there are high charges at the end of that month / start of preceeding month then it would imply that the reason for the referral etc must be around somewhere - check to see if any missing pages might include those. I'd say it is worth the extra days to get it all together - you want to look organised and so on in the claim. You don't want to miss anything! Eg - I called the bank and complained sometimes and had certain charges refunded. The refud didn't appear on same day as charge, of course. So I would have looked like a fool if I'd tried to recliam that and then found I was missing the page that showed I'd been refunded anyway! I found that by calling phone banking and just asking for statements, they arrived v fast - it cost me £5.

My postman battled through the blizzards to deliver my letter today "sorry to hear you are dissatisfied, referring to customenr services... etc etc" The ball is rolling! The snowballs are rolling too - school closed today! Don't know who is more happy teachers or children. I've made a snowman and am eating cinnamon toast. Lovely. Bet the banks know a thing or two about the snowball effect... ha ha!

Well - since I'm pretty sure mine will go as far as court (because of asking for contractual interest) I'm quite pleased to hear that! Another 8% on top will suit me fine. Drag it out as long as you want, bank. I've waited long enough - I can wait some more...

Thanks ickle peach - I knew someone wuld be more on the ball than me! That's v interesting too - hearing of others who have gone for contractual (compounded or otherwise). Mine is a relatively small claim going by some on here (may later go after older amounts as was a student over 6 years ago and that's when I rally suffered). However, adding the interest nearly doubles it so is well worth doing to atempt to redress some of the pain and financial stress this has cost over the years. I left a job and house in 2001 because I couldn't pay transport costs to work or rent for 2 months due entirely to overdraft charges. I want it BACK. Good luck with the rest of yours - I'll watch your progress.

I could be wrong here - and I know someone else will spring to your aid if so - but what will your case be in court?? They have offered to give you all your money back. Surely there is no need to proceed to court in this case? From what I have read on here you only get the 8% if it goes as far as the court and they have settled out of court, haven't they? Can someone else let me know if this is true or not? I have actually filed my claim asking for my money back plus contractual interest on it at their unauthorised rate. I fully expect them to refuse that and perhaps offer to pay without interest - or at 8% as they seem to have done a few times on here...

Since I last posted, I have done a fair bit of research as there were several mysterious bank charges on my statements. As a result of requesting info on these (I hadn't said a WORD about reclaiming anything at this point) I received a letter saying that these specific amounts had been credited back to my account since "the reason for the application of these charges is unclear". Great! So now the bank is admitting that it doesn't even KNOW why I've been charged .. that hardly fills me with confidence in their methods and records. I've stated as much in my claim for a refund on all the unlawful charges. Following sweet revenge's success with unauthorised interest thread, I have claimed £1,037 in charges and a further £956.81 in interest at their unauth rate of 29.8% Total £1,993.81 Going in the post today, recorded delivery.

You are completely right. I had, to be honest, got really confused with what people who were claiming 'interest' were actually claiming. I've now used Vampiress's simple spreadsheet for working out the interest and I think I will push for contractual compounded as it does seem most fair - I am following other threads where this is being done... Of course - once you start compounding, every day counts! I had been planning to send details and letter on Mon but was still working it all out so have just gone and changed the day just by a few days to today. Well - of course that makes a difference. Since the first charge I'm claiming was in Feb 6 years ago this coming Feb I'm now wondering whether I should hold on a couple more weeks to see how people do with their compounded clims - whilst at the same time adding more interest day by day to my claim... But I did wonder if I should just go the simple interest route and try to push this through by just after Christmas - decisions decisions!

That's kind of what I have done so far. I have taken the charges and charged a contractual rate of interest on them as they are. I also want to know though if I can claim back the interest I have been charged that they have taken from me (because of THEIR charges). I believe this is so AND that I can then also justifyably ask for interest on that amount too. I am just finding it hard to apportion the amount of interest that has been taken from me due to the charges, and the amount that would have been taken in any case. To do that, I need to know what my overdraft limit (free) was at any time. Otherwise I don't know at what point the limit is being exceeded and I am being charged. So - to clarify: I want the charges back - plus interest on them I want the interest back (that I have paid them) - plus interest on it. Hope that makes sense?

Thanks - that would be really helpful. Sorry - I wasn't very clear - I didn't mean the 8% exactly as I am trying to calculate how much of the interest that they have charged ME over 6 years I will claim back. I intend to ask for contractual level of interest on the lot also. which I will ask for right from beginning letter as suggested on here... I think it's a valid request that will stand up in court so will go for it and se what happens. Thanks for your help!

That's a good idea. I don't know if they'd be legally obliged to provide it as it wouldn't come under data protection etc but it would be handy! I have no idea what some of the charges are for on my statements - some seem completely random! I can't get my head round calculating what percentage of the interest I have paid is down to the charges either but I don't want to miss out by not claiming it, if it is due. Is it only the interest bit we can try to claim back at contractual rates or can we charge interest on the whole lot? I am getting v muddled after about 4 hours a day on here for past week!

It's complicated, isn't it?! I am only at the beginning myself. I have added up the charges but have no idea what I'm doing with the interest. I have had LOADS charged in interest but haven't quite figured out how to work out which bits of interest are because of the charges and which bits I would have been charged any way. As far as I can see I will need some more info for this - namely finding out what my agreed overdraft was at any point - it has varied lots and many times. Will have to call them and see if this is info they have to hand. There are still charges in that which I may not be able to claim as well as I have no idea what they are for! Good luck with yours - I'll keep an eye out to see how you are getting on!

Hi Matt - sorry to bother you but am really interested as you have already won! If you don't mind me asking - what level of interest did you demand from RBS? Did you just request the charges back or did you ask for interest as some people are at a higher rate (eg. authorised or unauthorised rates from the bank?) I have totalled up my charges and they seem to come to just over £1000. I say seem as I still have 1 or 2 to check out as I don't know what they are for and therefore whether they are reclaimable. I still haven't figured out how to calculate which bits of the HUGE amounts of interest I have been charged are down to the charges (as my overdraft limit has changed tens of times over the period) I really want to get the prelim letter out but don't want to mess up right at the start! Would you mind talking me through a bit? I'm going barmy on here with an overload of info and no idea about spreadsheets! Thanks SO much!

Yes, of course full details can be SOUGHT out but it's quite hard work (as I am finding) to work out what charge / interest is for what. It is by no means transparent. I don't think it would stand alone of course but did wonder whether it would be worth mentioning as further evidence of RBS failing to make their methods clearly know to their customers.

Just a thought but as the statements from RBS do not specifically state reasons for charges OR reasons for interest on them (unlike some other banks') - instead using a key which states 'full details on request' - could this not be raised by those people claiming re. concealment? I know it isn't concealment entirely as presumably you COULD track down this info but I would argue that as it places the onus on the individual to research the bank's reasons and methods for apportionment of interest/charges, it is far from a transparent system. I think it could well be worth a little paragraph.

Thanks for that! No - it wasn't a royalties account. Well - it was for 3 months as they put me on without me asking but that has been refunded already as I had a mini strop at the time! The referrals are marked and the over draft charge (for going over) is always £28 from what I can work out but there are all sorts of other random things and amounts (including amounts that are not in straight pounds but include pennies) that I have no idea about. I may phone about a couple of them and see if that throws any light on the others. Thanks guys

Hi - not sure about the Scotland thing I'm afraid but I do know that as long as your account has kept the same number then it doesn't matter what type it has been (mine is the same). Only thing it MAY affect is if you are working out overdraft limits for the calculation of charged interest etc. Good luck!

HI everyone. I was ent statements from my bank, rather than list of charges and reasons. Each of the charges on statements (unless for card misuse or unpaid) just say 'charge' and the amount. In the teeny weeny key to abbreviations it just says 'details on request'. Well - I have requested details and been sent bloody statements. Asking me to request details... Same for the interest 'details on requset'. I have phone banking. Do you think I should just ring the lovely people on there (they are great) and list the charges one at a time to find out what they are? Otherwise I just don't know what to put on the spreadsheet under reason for charge / type of charge etc. Any advice? What did others do???

Hi Alison - I hope you don't mind me asking but I wondered what type of interest you claimed on your charges?