I was defaulted for £575 ish and the £75 was from charges so based on what you are saying I wouldn't have a case Otoh the overdraft was interest free so wouldn't have required me to pay any of it back (at least in the short term) but the application of excessive charges to the account required immediate payment into the account of money which perhaps I could argue I didn't have?

So I would claim that the excessive charges for exceeding my overdraft left me unable to bring the account back within it's limit which resulted in the default?

Cheers mate, I will have a dig around for those threads.

Hi all, I had an account with First Direct about 3 years ago in which I went over my overdraft limit and recieved several letters from the bank threatening to close my account, report me to CRAs etc... Being an irresponsible student I moved house and forget all about it until last year when a debt recovery agency managed to get in touch with me and I subsequently paid off the debt. First Direct, I've recently discovered, did put a default against my account which has made it impossible to get any form of credit since. As First Direct had levied excessive charges against the account for going over my limit could I use this as the basis for getting the default removed? I'm not concerned about getting back any money just about clearing my credit record. Any advice appreciated!