you're not the guy in those cheesy halifax ads are you ?!

if it helps, i've just opened a parachute account with First Direct, they offer £500 free overdraft, give you £50 when you switch, and its 'free' banking - although, I guess most banks say that and as we know, 'free' has a different meaning to the banks! its 24 hour telephone and internet banking too which is handy. I opened a nationwide as well but they could only offer me a cashcard basic account - and as I go abroad fairly frequently, I'm not entirely sure whether it would be that useful to me or not ?! hope this helps

have posted my DPA letter to Capital One together with my cheque for £10. I closed the account some two years ago, but I'm pretty sure that when I did close the account (I got SOOO fed up with them), it had about £100 on there for charges. Will post when I hear further,

hello just a quick post to say that I have sent my request for refund of my £125.00 in charges that they put against my account over the last year and get this, the balance only stands at £135.00!! will post again when I hear from Citibank GOOD LUCK everyone!

hiya I've also sent a DPA letter in relation to my HSBC credit card as I notice that I have had some charges applied to that recently in relation to late payment fees at £20 each time!

you're absolutely right overdrawn, I'm totally going for that money! keep me posted as to how you are getting on. GOOD LUCK!!

ok, make that £746 so far (I had £165.00 charges in just one day!) I'm waiting on some statements for 2003/2002 so lord only knows what charges might be in that lot! xx

hiya yep, just about to issue a letter to them about my credit card - they've charged me £125 over the last 2 years ! just wondering if you wrote to a particular person/address?

hey, isn't that funny - thats exactly what I am doing right now ! I was up late last night sifting through all my statements for other credit cards and have just found that another credit card owes me £125 in charges! You're right though, £100 is better in my pocket than in theirs ! Good luck - let me know how you get on

i think what is annoying with Smile and this is my current beef, is that when I requested the dpa information, i was told by a call centre staff member that i would be charged £10 per statement so going back 6 years would cost me something in the region of £480.00. I told him that I thought he was incorrect, and he checked with his supervisor (I have her name!) and she told him (which, love him, he had the nasty task of telling me in return because she wouldn't speak to me on the phone !) that the dpa does not apply to Smile and that their charges stand at £10 per statement. Suffice to say, I wrote to them and have received a letter this morning saying that the information requested in my dpa letter will be provided within 40 days. I wouldn't mind, but it seems to me that the supervisor in question, must be giving out that information to other customers and I bet other people have been put off requesting the information because of the incorrect response from some Smile staff. Its just basic data protection information and I feel that, somebody in her position as supervisor, Smile (as her employer) should make sure their staff know the Data Protection Act law. I work for an international law firm and do company/commercial and corporate work (which includes financial and banking law) and I have to know the fundamental basics and if I didn't, my boss would be asking me why or would make sure that I did know. I wouldn't be able to give good client service if I didn't know the basics. sorry, I'm rambling now I know, it just makes me cross when you are given incorrect information. Its just great that I stumbled across this website where I can get information and people help and assist one another otherwise, I would have been lost.

thanks for moving the above message into my original thread, much appreciated, I know you're really busy and you've a lot of work what with doing this website (which is fab by the way) ! xx

Hello sorry, I seem to have 'lost' my original thread on this? If Admin or Mods can find it, please could I ask you to move this thread into it? I know we are not to have loads of threads running on the same subject as it causes confusion for everyone. Anyway, so I telephoned the abbey last week and done a DPA request over the phone, I got home last night and I have received statements for the last 13 months and am still waiting on the remaining 5 years worth. Have done some totting up on the charges etc, and so far, the Abbey have charged me £535 just over the last 13 months ?! One thing though, I cannot believe that I had 13 separate envelopes all containing the exact same thing, i.e. their 'going abroad' leaflet and their updated charges schedule ... ?! As if I will be going abroad at the rate they keep charging me !! Will post again when I receive the remaining and statements and I've worked out the final figure of their charges, cheers,

Hiya, So, I got a reply from Smile this morning which says: I acknowledge receipt of your request for a copy of the personal data held by this Bank in connection with the above account. Under the Data Protection Act, this is referred to as a Subject Access Request. I alaos acknowledge receipt of your cheque for £10. Arrangements will now be made for the information requested to be provided within 40 days. Hoorah - so much for their really unhelpful supervisor at the call centre who informed me I would have to pay £480 this information ! Will keep you posted,

hello just thought that I'd jot down an update in relation to HSBC. I received a letter this morning from David L Johnson, Customer Service Office which says: thank you for your letter concerning the current circumstances on your account. I am looking into the matters you have raised and will contact you with a full response as soon as I have completed my investigations. In the meantime, I enclose a copy of our leaflet which explains how these matters are deal with. So Mr Johnson has 7 more days in which to come up with something constructive ... heres hoping he does ! Oh, just in case, his address is : HSBC Bank plc, Customer Credit Servics, P O Box 1321 Sheffield S1 2US, just in case this address might help anyone else, will keep you posted !

hey, thats fantastic news - well done! gives me hope of getting my £100 back from them!

don't be worried, just remember that you are totally in the right. If you don't feel comfortable speaking to them when they call, just tell them that you would have all responses in writing. Thats what I told them when I spoke to them about my unauthorised overdraft fees, I told them that I did not wish to discuss the matter over the telephone and would rather deal with the matter in written correspondence. I, tend to get rattled when I speak to the bank over the phone, I don't know what it is, but I always feel confident for the first few minutes of the conversation, then I start to feel intimidated by them (not to mentioned bullied). Just tell them straight - you want their response in writing. good luck, let us know how you get on,

sorry, this probably should have gone into my original Abbey thread? if so, have you got a spare second to shift it across for me? - sorry! DONE. Well done for spotting the mistake, plenty don't!

Hi there Sorry if this has been covered, but if it has, please point me in the right direction and I'll ask for this thread to be deleted, but, I am awaiting response to my DPA letter to Abbety regarding charges made against my account. My question is, and again, my sincere apologies if this has been covered before, I have a loan with them (£5k) so if Abbey close my account (I've already opened a parachute account just in case they do) could they also call-in my loan as well? any assistance would be greatly appreciated, thanks a million,

thanks Richard, will post again when I receive the statements from Abbey i'm feeling better already .. one small step but fingers crossed

hiya this is a great idea - i don't mind being a buddy and would be happy to help anyone where I can, just drop me a line, I'm only at the initial stage but would be happy to help

thanks dave, just had a look at your thread which is really helpful. I'll keep you posted on how I get on, let me know when you hear back from them, I'd be interested in seeing what they say, thanks a million,

hiya thanks for transferring this one over, have sent off my DPA letter to the Balloon Street address together with a cheque for £10.00 and have requested all statements or list of charges etc from August 2002 to September 2005 (I've got statements from last Sept) and I also added an additional paragraph which says: May I respectfully draw your attention to the case of Durant v FSA 2003 in this case the judge ruled that bank statement information is indeed personal information and thus covered. just in case those slippery little suckers try and flog me the old its £10.00 per statement line. fingers crossed!

sorry, i have realised that there is a smile forum that this should have gone in, please can i transfer this across to the Smile forum where it should have been in the first place - sorry, obviously messed this up now DONE

hiya thanks for this. I'm sending the letter with the £10.00 maximum statutory fee. I just got very cross because when I told the lady that I was applying under the DPA, she told me that its nothing to do with DPA and Smile allocate their own charges for statements and so the maximum fee £10.00 under the DPA does not apply as far as Smile is concerned. So, am I right in insisting that I only pay a maximum of £10.00? sorry and thanks,

hi there, I have just been told by Smile that it will cost me £10.00 per statement. So to get a copy of the last 4 years = a total charge of £480.00 for information that relates to me ! Has anyone else has this problem? I'm absolutely spitting mad ! any information/advice would be hugely appreciately. I cannot see this has been covered before, so many many apologies if it has and I have completely missed a thread that has already dealt with this.