It seems there are no definitive answers. Anyway, I sent the preliminary letter off today, to the Churchill Place address. I am asking for charges and interest paid due to charges, without the contractual interest. The confusion I felt over contractual interest didn't get any better, no matter what I read, and I felt like I was going round in circles. So roll on the 1st of Feb and the LBA. Thanks all for your advice and encouragement.

Happy New Year! Thanks to all for your advice and encouragement. I have added up all my charges now - £1230 from June 2000 to December 2006. These are mostly 'transaction charges' and 'paid referral fees' of £20-£30, but also a couple of 'card misuse' charges at £5 each (can I claim these back?) I feel I am almost ready to hit the bank with the preliminary letter. There are a couple of things I want to clear up though. Firstly, I don't think I am going to ask for interest on top of the charges as I don't have confidence in my understanding of how interest is calculated, and I don't want to ask for the wrong amount as I feel this would make me appear not to have a good grasp of things, and would weaken my position. However, I am concerned that not asking for the interest will also reveal that I don't fully understand, thus weakening my position. I have read a great deal about contractual interest and statutory interest and have only succeeded in becoming extremely confused. I have looked at the speadsheets too and found them discouraging. I don't see how it is possible to work out if the charges have caused me to pay interest or to work out how much interest I have been charged purely as a result of the charges. I understand that I can only claim statutory interest in court, but don't understand contractual interest. Is there any more information on this that I have missed? Is there a fool-proof way of working out precisely how much I am entitled to ask for? If not, does anyone have any thoughts on whether not claiming the interest weakens my case? The rest of the steps seem very straightforward to me, with the only potential obstacle to success being a lack of determination. But I fear that my campaign is going to founder at this early stage bacause I don't have an understanding of how to work out interest. I would appreciate any advice or being pointed in the right direction. Finally: The bank responded to my Subject Access Request by supplying me with a report showing all of my transactions, from which I added up the charges. I matched it against the statements I have been keeping since I opened the account, and I found one more charge where I was missing 5 pages from my statements. The bank did NOT however disclose whether a default notice had been put against me. They said that they were under no obligation, and besides they weren't able to give me the information because of the way it was stored. So I thought in my preliminary letter I would say something like 'Additionally IF you have entered a default notice...' - is that acceptable, or should I really find out if they have entered a default notice against me? Lots of questions. And it probably looks like I am being lazy and can't be bothered to do the research. But the truth is, I have done a lot of reading in and around these forums, and I have become confused by what appears to be conflicting information. If only someone could point me to where I can find the definitive answers to these questions, I would be very grateful. Many thanks Slow-Worm

Hi all Just wanted to say how glad I am I found you. I admit I probably haven't done enough reading yet, but I can definitely feel myself becoming empowered and getting ready to take Barclays on. I sent the Subject Access Request last week. Just got a letter back from them returning my tenner and telling me they are under no obligation but as a gesture of goodwill they will send me copies of all statements for free. I am told to expect this in the post. They also said they don't have to tell me about any 'manual intervention', and that the bank doesn't hold the information I have requested in a form that would be covered by the Data Protection Act. Not sure what to do about this. At least I will be able to work out from my statements how much they have taken, and I'll be able to send the preliminary letter. Although I have a question about this, and I can't find the answer anywhere: the bank is not allowed to make excessive charges, so presumably some portion of each charge is lawful, and not reclaimable. How much is that? Surely I am not entitled to reclaim 100% of the charges? Do I really just add up all the charges and ask for it back with interest? Also not sure what date I can go back to with my claim. Anyway, looking forward to getting stuck in and reading about the successes of others. Initially I was going to let some legal firm do all this for me and take the interest as payment. But then I decided that the interest might be substantial and that it would be much more satisfying sticking it to Barclays myself. Wish me luck!