Sparkie, Have you seen this recent post by Bankfodder ? http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-charges-consumer-issues/158738-ombudsman-focus-compensation-distress.html PM

Okay, firstly and most importantly, do not get yourself stressed about this. Perhaps leave things for your partner to deal with. It sounds to me as one of two things has happened. a/ Although there is a £1044 overdraft limit on the account, it appears from your post that the account was at one point around £1300 overdrawn. Perhaps the charge is in relation to that, albeit a bit late. or b/ The supposed DD temporarily took the account over its limit for a day or two before it was returned? I suggest you get your partner to call the Bank on Monday and ask to explain the charges. Then get him to remind them of the strenuous efforts you are making to repay your borrowing and how this is a big setback. Also inform them of the stress this is putting you through. Ask politely that all things considered the charges are unfair, also that you were never informed of them in advance or given any opportunity to avoid them, and that they should be refunded. You may find that this polite approach will work, as Banks are very keen to improve their public image at the moment, and will also overlook or refund a certain number of charges over the course of a year as goodwill, provided they don't happen too often. If the nice approach doesn't work, then inform the that you will commence court action for the sums.... plus court costs..... plus interest upon the whole amount. You will also consider taking actions to claim damages for the stress this has caused you. Hopefully they will then see you mean business and that this will certainly cost them considerably more in the long term. (if you go down this route, due to your circumstances you would not yourself have to pay any court fees), and also the size of you claim would mean that you would have no costs to pay regardless of whether or not you won or lost. The danger of threatening court action though is that they may respond by attempting to call in the whole sum or pass it onto a debt agency. If this happens you can then respond by claiming that their actions are retaliatory, and that the account is in dispute, and refuse to make any more payments. You can then continue with your claim. You may or may not get the charges back, but in any case this would freeze any interest accruing, and due to your circumstances you would probably find that if matters took this route, the worst that would happen is you would be put on a debt management plan by the court, which I would even bet would be less each month than you are currently paying ! If no goodwill refund is forthcoming, then the alternative to actually starting any action now, is to simply tell them that you dispute the charges, continue to make your regular payments, and once the account balance is around the same level as the disputed amount then stop. Wait and see if they try to recover such sums, and then take counter actions claiming the sums are in dispute. You may also benefit then from things having progressed and being a bit clearer on the subject of charges due to the OFT case. Again, most importantly, Do not get stressed about this. If you think about it, at present your not really any worse off then you were just before the charges, not until you have paid of what you really owe and are left with the extras. Then you can just take actions and contest the sums. Good luck and best regards PM

Watching with "interest" !! PM

....He'll be down the Pub..... whichever way it's gone !!

Some comments of my own.

Try something like this: (credit to Maroondevo who composed this) Here's the thread I took it from, maybe worth a read? http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/150128-dca-chasing-me.html?highlight=account+in+dispute ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX Dear Sir/Madam, ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE As you are aware, this account and the balance thereof is currently subject of a dispute. as you must surely be aware that action such as that you propose would constitute breaches of the banking code. Additionally, this action you propose is clearly quantifiable as retaliatory due to my own claim against your client to recover unlawfully levied penalty charges. To proceed as you have indicated would therefore be contrary to the statement of the Financial Services Authority of 6th July 2006 in which it ruled such action to be discriminatory. I also believe this action to be tantamount to a sanction imposed merely for pursuing my legitimate right of seeking a judgement from a court. I trust your client is committed to upholding the standards of the Banking Code to which it subscribes, and would not hold its regulator, the FSA, in such contempt as to ignore its 6th July statement. I will allow you 7 days to reply to me, in writing or by Fax only, withdrawing the threat of action imposed in your letter of **/**/**. If you do not do so, I will draw your client’s transgressions to the attention of the Financial Services Authority and the banking code standards committee, by making formal complaints and enclosing copies of all recent correspondence. I look forward to your prompt response. Yours faithfully Regards.

If the amount you are claiming back in charges is greater than or near to the amount they are claiming you owe them, then I believe there are ways to have the account declared as being in dispute, and so have their actions paused. I'll try to find and post up an appropriate example, but otherwise I'm sure someone else will also be along soon to advise and suggest a template letter to use, Can you post up some more info. How much do you supposedly owe them, and how much of this is made up of charges. Best regards Pm

yes, sounds like you need to tread carefully if deciding to accept this current offer in any way, otherwise you could find they try to declare it as a full and final. Make your own terms known to them, and see what response you get ? Also,..... Actually, I think the offer date was meant to be 6 August 2008... otherwise the offer date would already be over a year old !! I too have had the same glitch sometimes when trying to enter an 8 in a number !

Well done Martin. Quite right too that the limitations issue should be considered separately, and good that the judge agreed on such. Well done, and roll on the next round, do keep us posted. PM

So, in short, the condensed words of wisdom I myself picked from the above are: So, IMHO, in accordance with the above I would say: 1/ No harm in perhaps accepting their current offer, but taking great care to make sure that it is made explicitly clear that you would only accept it as a "goodwill" gesture, with no prejudice to your current or any future actions or settlements (in short, no details of such sums or reasons for such can and should not be brought to the attention of any court). 2/ File a claim based upon the nature and presentation of the charges over the whole period. Then read and research any historical terms and conditions relating to your account over the whole term of the claim, compare them to present ones and bring any changes that have occurred to the courts attention should it get there. This could also be useful if any part of the claim relates to charges that are older than 6 years (search and read threads on section 32 of the Statute of Limitations act). IMHO, the Banks are more afraid of tackling this aspect than the charges themselves, as it opens up a whole new ballpark for all claims should they lose such an argument in court. 3/ Look into your rights and fight any attempts by them to retain any payments internally by the practice of offsetting them against other debts. This does not mean avoid paying any legitimate debts though, but instead insist that they deal with such issues separately. (You may also want to seek the advice of your accountant or tax adviser on this aspect, dependent upon if and how such charges have been previously entered in your books, and also how any refunds and interest would affect your future tax position) Just my tuppence worth (well actually mainly just a re-itterance of the good advice posted by others) PM

Good luck, go get 'em. If you get the jitters, just picture in your minds eye the most daunting thing you have ever achieved at some point in the past, and use that to put the current events into perspective. Will likewise look in later, do please post up a synopsis of events. Pm

Tifo, Have you seen lancasterchelseas great Business account claim win ? Just shows that Business claims are very much back on track !! PM http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/business-claims-bank-charges/110522-lancasterchelsea-lloyds-business-1995-a-3.html#post1662503

ahh... the old "Catch22" Actually my absolute favourite book of all time !! I implore anyone who has not yet read it to do so.... as one of the reviews on the cover claims it is a real "rollercoaster" of a read !! PM

FANTASTIC RESULT !! Just shows there is still life in Business claims, and they are VERY much alive and kicking. Also shows that there is some mileage in compounded interest, and also in the arguments for absolutely smashing through the Statute of limitations 6 year bar. WELL DONE !!! PM

Gaz, Got your Pm, and taken a look at your thread. Tried to reply by Pm, but your mailbox is full (you need to do a clear out.... remember you can also download and store your previous pm's onto your own computer if you need to keep any for reference... the way to do this differs slightly depending upon the type of computer and operating system you are using, so have a little play to find best way, and once successful then delete the messages from your mailbox to clear some space, remember to do both incoming and outgoing messages). To be honest, I'm a bit confused at to exactly what is going on here, plus I have no experience of dealing with Natwest. It looks like you are already receiving some really good advice from peeps like Martin, so hopefully they will be able to help you. I will try to take a look at your thread in more detail later or over weekend, and if I have anything I can add will either post it up or Pm you. Good luck and best regards Pm

WELL DONE !!!!!! Can you please give us details regards the compound interest aspect ? Did they actually pay you in a compounded manner, and at what rate ? Well done again. PM

I am truly disgusted (but not surprised) by lloyds latest actions. All this for a £2 error (Was it your phone bank error or theirs) ? I would consider contacting your MP over this one, and also going in to see someone at the DHSS to discuss the situation (you may also be eligible for an emergency payment/loan until you have resolved the matter). This so stinks of a retaliatory act in response to your previous actions, and is sooooo disproportionate to their supposed cause of action it's a joke. Keep a diary of events and all correspondence, and have no hesitation in taking action over this matter. You are right. It will be an expensive mistake. Once they have had to refund all sums, plus court costs and legal fees. Plus interest upon the whole sum. Plus the hassle and embarrassment of dealing with your MP, DHSS etc. It will indeed be expensive. For them, that is. Good luck and best regards PM

Glad I could be of SOME help. I'm unable to help you regards the specifics though, and re-iterate my advice (seconded by others) that you deal with this by consulting and using legal professionals. PM

Firstly scan your images and save as jpegs Then open an online account with an image hosting website (somebody like photobucket.com which is free) Then post your image to photobucket Then once it is posted it will give you a series of codes to use. Copy the code (I think its the one that starts with IMG) and paste it into your post on here. Make sure you cover over any personally identifiable information (name, address, account numbers etc) It may take a little trial and error, but thats the jist of it. PM

Jewelleryman I agree with Neil. This matter is something you cannot tackle by yourself, and you should seek proper legal advice. Agree that the CAB and writing to your MP are both good ideas. It sounds like some of Lloyds practices (ie getting Barclays to freeze your account) were a bit extreme and possibly a breach of your customer confidentiality (see section 11 of the Banking Code, and the Data protection Act). There may be counter legal actions you can take with regards to this, either through the courts and/or the Financial Ombudsman (FOS), and this may even warrant a claim for damages. Perhaps ask the legal expert at CAB about all this ? Best regards PM

Hi there I've not presently got time to write a full and specific response, so really just bumping this up the list of threads so that someone more in the know may come along and give some advice. Sounds like you need to inform the bank and debt agency asap that the account and supposed sums owed are in dispute. Hopefully someone will point you in the right direction and give you an idea of a letter. Make sure you send all letters to all by recorded delivery, and do not deal with any of them over the phone. In the meantime have you had a read of this thread ? http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/business-claims-bank-charges/68191-claiming-business-account-lets.html It's very long I'm afraid, but there are some very useful bits in there, and maybe some stuff that can help you. It may also be worth considering involving the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), and informing of your situation and how it has arisen. Good luck and best regards PM

Andrew1 Just watching. Sort of got the jist of whats going on, and no real advice I can offer just best wishes. i am sure you will win the case, you are certainly looking into all the detail and considering all options, which is a a good thing to do with such tricksters. regards PM

PS: I've just noticed that my own reputation has just gone up from being "highly informative" to "authoritative" ! ....... does this mean I get a payrise PM (PS: Just in case, for anyone not realising, the whole of CAG is voluntary, with no financial incentive or payment given to anyone regardless of reputation or status). ..... but watch out ........ There are claims touts about !!

What the picture doesn't show: The large photo crew standing in front of her consisting of: The Photographer His Assistant The Hairdresser His Assistant The make-up artist Her Assistant The Client The Art Director The Producer Also The large crowd that has gathered to watch including: A large group of lads from Basingstoke on holiday, who have been drinking all afternoon and are cheering wolf whistling and exposing themselves. The familly from Hull who are are trying to stop their 4 kids from crying, screaming and throwing sand at her. Also just off to the left of the picture is a bar called "Sams" which has been open all night and smells as much. The staff there are currently making a load of clatter emptying the bins and bottle crates whilst playing thumping house music at 100db. There is also a Macdonalds, a tacky souvenir shop and an ice cream van just behind the photographer, which all just barely hide the unsightly and noisy building site where they are erecting a giant hotel (the are all staying there, and have no water, electricity, windows, carpets or AC in their rooms) and are so behind schedule that they have to keep busy with their drills and tractors 24/7. The exhausted model has just got off a long haul flight and straight onto the set (the palm tree is false), where the photographer is barking orders at her and the fat, bald ancient year old client is making unwelcome advances. Also, her agent just treats her like a commodity, and has no consideration for her human needs (like rest and food) and just has her constantly flying about, which means she has to dash around and do 15 shots a day for the next 7 days straight and then it's back on the red-eye to New York, and straight onto another job. She hasn't seen her family or boyfriend (who she suspects is cheating on her) in over a month. Her flat has been flooded, burgled and had it's gas cut off whilst she's been away, and the pot of half eaten yoghurt in the fridge has morphed into an aggressive, noxious and very smelly lifeform in her absence and seeped all over the kitchen floor. And after all that she won't get paid for 6 months, and her agent and the taxman will then collectively take 3/4 of her hard earned money. ............ Other than that....... it's paradise !!!

The reputation system on CAG is set up in such a way that if you have recently given someone a positive rep, then you cannot do so again until you have done the same to some others. I suppose this is to stop members grouping together and bumping up each others points, thus giving them a false or undeserved reputation. PM