When I first sent my SAR winging it's way to Chester Towers at the start of the year, little did I realise the tortuous path I had to tread in attempt to wring a full settlement out of the MBNA administration black hole, or indeed to get any sense out of those reprobates at all. But Hallelujah, just as I was about to revisit my old friend MCOL, my wife called with the news that MBNA have caved and credited my account with the balance of the full settlement! My flabber is well and truly gasted. So the story so far is now Halifax bank - Charges £4200, offered £2500 after prelim, settled in full before LBA Halifax credit card - Charges £600, offered £300 after prelim, settled in full after LBA but before MCOL MBNA credit card - Charges £810, credited £390 after prelim, settled in full after LBA but before MCOL Lloyds TSB bank - Charges £2860, no offer, MCOL defended, transfered to my local court, awaiting court date for a total of £3850 including interest and costs As expected the black horse will be last home, but there is even some movement on this front as their appropriately named solitors, [problem], have started to make some encouraging noises in my direction. A big thank you to all you MBNAers who have provided assistance and encouragement. To those still waiting, just hang on in there - you need a helluva lot of patience but a full setllement will be chucked out of the black hole eventually ...

Hi Lorraine They didn't pay out half on the credit card side, they just wrote me a letter after prelim with an acceptance form offering half. I used the standard offer rejection template letter to say I wanted a full settlement. I also added that I had already had a full settlement on the bank side and I expepected the same treatment on credit card charges - this probably put them in a position where they had no choice other than to offer full settlement. On the bank side, a very pleasant gentleman telephoned me directly after prelim with the slightly more than half offer. I declined saying I would settle for nothing less than full, he checked with his supervisor, and hey presto came back with a full offer - I wish they were all that easy! I hope you get similar satisfaction from them soon ... Brett

Thanks SS, I've already done the survey MBNA have just caved to a full settlement so it's now 3 down, 1 to go! Brett

Congratualtions to Halifax for claiming first and second places in my field of claim runners! Following a full settlement of my bank charges earlier this year, the card guys have finally taken the hint that they should be joining their brothers in retail banking, singing from the same mangled 80's song sheet and bestowed a little xtra by way of a full settlement. The story so far is currently Halifax bank, charges £4200, initial offer £2500 after prelim, settled in full before LBA Halifax credit card, charges £600, initial offer £300 after prelim, settled in full after LBA MBNA credit card, charges £810, initial offer £390, MCOL imminent Lloyds TSB bank, charges £2860, no offers, on MCOL for £3850 including interest and costs, awaiting court date. Of the other two reprobates, MBNA has been a nightmare but I am confident that a full offer will soon emerge from their administration black hole to claim third place, leaving the black horse to bring up the rear. One early faller at the first fence was Lloyds TSB credit card. SAR revealed only a few charges under £100 in total, so in the light of my experiences on the banking side, I decided not to pursue further after receiving the standard prelim rejection.

Hi Empowered Great news you now have full settlement from the boys in Chester Towers! I rang them on Friday to to give them a final chance to settle in full before I started MCOL. I received the normal flustered apologies for their nightmare admin and was assured that a response would be winging my way within 7 days. Just a couple of days to go on this final final extension and then I will be sharpening my quill pen for court action. I am very encouraged by your 2 settlements from LLoyds after the recent court results in their favour. I filed my MCOL against Lloyds a while ago, they defended, the case was transferred to my local court and I am waiting for a court date .... I'm just praying they cave beforehand On a brighter note, I have just received my second full settlement from Halifax before MCOL so there is light at the end of the tunnel

Hi Lorraine Hold out for a full settlement! I have recently received a full settlement after LBA (but before MCOL) on credit card charges following an earlier full settlement on bank charges after prelim. In both cases they tried it on by offering approx half the charges initially but soon caved when I declined. Their administration is one of the better ones that I have been dealing with but it is none the less positively groaning under the strain of all those claims so you just need a little patience!

The admin certainly doesn't get any better. Good for you to persevere and hold out for MCOL. My LBA is well and truly overdue now so I called them on Friday to give them the opportunity to make a full offer before I start court action. Needless to say, I got the usual flustered apologies due to admin backlog etc and said I would get a response within 7 days ... this is definitely their last chance! On a more positive note, Halifax have followed the lead of their retail banking brothers and just caved in to a full settlement of £600 on my credit card charges after LBA. Together with the full bank charges settlement of £4200 a couple of months ago, this gives a very respectable total of £4800 claimed from Halifax - certainly a lot easier than MBNA or Lloyds TSB

Can I add my thanks to BA and Corn for their sterling work ... any response yet from FSA et al?

Animaleyes I have not been in this situation before either - suggest you look at the rejecting settlement offers templates section in FAQ which covers this variation, I found these useful when I had to accept the credit to my account as a part settlement. On my own claim, I am now nearing the end of the LBA deadline and naturally not a dickie bird out of MBNA. I am currently well into MCOL with Lloyds TSB and it's looking increasingly likely that the Chester boys will be following the same route .....

Hi Empowered I am at a similar stage but my LBA has a few days to run. You could try Rachel Claridge, Assistant Vice President, who I have been corresponding with, or Steve Bailey, Head of Customer Advocate Office. Lloyds caving has given me some hope on that front - I am currently awaiting a court date after they filed their standard defence and admit I am getting jittery after the Birmingham result! In answer to your question, my feeling is that the Chester Towers administration is still in meltdown and you should wait another 14 days before the hassle of MCOL/N1

ajk I agree with Hedgerow, ignore the standard letter stuff and go for it! - you need to start with the prelim letter. In my own experience of claiming against 3 banks, Halifax have proved to be the easiest to deal with and offer a little xtra. On the bank side, they settled in full to the tune of £4200 after initially offering £2500 after prelim. On the credit card side, they offered £300 after prelim on my claim of £600 for repayment of late fees - this is now on LBA for the full amount and I expect settlement soon in line with their banking brothers. Of the other 2, Lloyds TSB are the most stubborn and will go all the way to a court date before coughing up - no offers made and currently in court action for £3800. Finally at the bottom of the pile there is the nightmare that is MBNA administration - say no more! After waiiting 80 days for my SAR to come back, this is now on LBA for £800.

Lazbones, naturally the SAR was not in the form of full copy statements as I have received back (within 40 days!) from other banks, but all of the charges were listed going back 6 years which was enough to get my prelim organised so it could be worse ... and at no charge too!

Good for you Animaleyes, MBNA seem to have their own timetable which bears no relation to ours! ... get ready for N1/MCOL on 17th After a massive 80 days I finally received my SAR from our friend Rachel Claridge, also like yourself, with my cheque returned again. They may not want our money but we certainly want theirs and my prelim letter was sent on it's way last week. The charges amounted to around £810, over half the £390 that Chester Towers have already credited to my account as a 'goodwill final settlement - let battle commence .....

Thanks Battleaxe I'll keep you posted when I receive further news from Chester Towers but I'm not holding my breath!

To quote a well known phrase, I don't believe it!!! After an outrageous 80 days from the original date of my SAR, 2 letters from MBNA, 1 letter from myself and numerous phone calls, the black hole that is Chester Towers administration has finally coughed up details of my charges! In a novel twist, they have also returned my much travelled and dog eared £10 cheque for the second time along with the immortal words that 'we have provided this information to you free of charge on this occasion'. This looks like a sure admission of guilt on their blatant non compliance. I would be interested to hear if anyone else from the mass complaint team has received a similar response. The letter was signed by one Rachel Claridge, Assistant Vice President, a name that is unfamiliar to me so far. As expected the initial payment the whacked on my account as 'full settlement' was less than half of the total charges. My prelim letter is winging it's way to Ms Claridige to join the rest of the claims overflowing from her in tray. No more delays! I know that hell will freeze over before they start meeting any deadlines so I am ready with my LBA after 14 days and MCOL after 28 days. Battleaxe, please update my file with 25th April as date SAR fulfilled.

Hi Mini-Pear Personally, I think claiming interest is too much hassle and initially I go for the simple approach of just the charges. However, if it goes to N1/MCOL (as I am currently doing with Lloyds TSB), you can whack on 8% interest there. I aggree with Bigjohnk, the amount can almost double if the majority of the charges go back a few years.

Hi Animaleyes I am now on day 73 from my original SAR and still waiting!!! My mistake was I didn't send Id with the original request because I wasn't aware you had to (every one else I've sent SARs to did not need it). MBNA wrote back within the 40 days, returning my £10 cheque and offering the standard token amount as 'goodwill full settlement'. They also said their SAR form and details of transactions were enclosed but of course, with their renowned efficiency, both were missing. I of course wrote back, returning my cheque, accepting their offer only as a part payment, and demanding a full SAR. I phoned them about a week ago re: progress and they said the 40 day limit started from when they received the second request, not the original request - very sneaky. The second deadline is now close to 40 and I'm still just about hanging in there .... In stark contrast, my son, who had kept all his old statements, got a full settlement cheque within a couple of weeks of the prelim letter, so maybe there is a ray of hope on the horizon once the boys in Chester get their act together with the SAR backlog

Battleaxe, Any news from FSA on the mass complaint? ... I'm still waiting on those cheeky chappies in Chester to deliver the goods ...

Hi Grimsa I also had £390 credited as a 'goodwill full settlement' as an initial response to my SAR and not surprisingly, took the same action as Moneydragon and Citybloke. That was a month ago with no further resonse. I spoke to Chester towers earlier this week and it appears that they take the 40 day limit from receipt of the re-request rather than the original request (2 months ago) .... more delaying tactics.

Hi Mini-Pear I had exactly the same letter from Rachel Nixon in response to my SAR with a 'full settlement' of £390. Unfortunately, unlike yourself, I don't know my full charges but based on the figures quoted earlier in this thread, I reckon they must be in the region of £1000. I sent my £10 cheque back, re-requesting the SAR and stating that I was accepting the £390 as part payment. That was about a month ago and I am still waiting for a response. I phoned Chester towers earlier this week to be told that the 40 day time limit started with my second request, not the origanal SAR receipt, so I still have another week to wait! They are trying every trick in the book as delaying tactics ......

You are absolutely right. However, maybe Battleaxe would welcome any additional non compliance cases to her files if as expected your deadline passes with no news from Chester .... I don't know

Don't forget to add your case to Battleaxe's mass non compliance complaint - there are a lot of us impatient souls out there with an SAR way over the deadline facing a wall of apathy from Chester towers ...

Hi Cornucopia I have added my complaint to Battleaxe's collection today In the meantime, any advice on the next best step would be appreciated ... maybe just hang in there a little longer ? Thanks

Cornucopia Surprise, Surprise, no response from MBNA and they are well past their SAR deadline, so I am going to sign up to your mass complaint via the renowned Battleaxe. Otherwise, not sure what to do next on this one, maybe sit it out for a little longer .... Elsewhere progress is better. Halifax credit card have returned the SAR and are now on the prelim letter. LLoyds TSB bank continue to show little interest after LBA so I am about to hit them with MOL (my first experience of the joys of court action). Also, despite numerous chasing calls, I still havn't received my settlement cheque from Halifax bank, their excuse being that it's in the queue and it's a long queue!

Thanks Advoc8 I'll knock up a version based on the bank prelim template for Halifax and MBNA and hope that Lloyds TSB don't notice that their prelim is missing