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Hi Sarrah, you can do the 30 day free trial with Experian, and just cancel your account before the 30 days is up and your account doesn't get charged! I did it recently, found out about it on MoneySavingExpert.com ad-free, free to use, Consumer Revenge!

Hey dudes, You'll never guess what the ever predictable ****s have done now? Yup - I came home from work today to the 'commercial decision' letter. I'm in the middle of a second claim for £175 they snuck out of my account while my 1st claim was in process. I submitted MCOL for this one last week and a couple of days later they wrote offering the full amount. But the numbskulls had made a mistake saying that itfull amout was £125 - 'doh! They obviously didn't read my preliminary or lba's closely enough! Anyway - luckily I opened up a parachute last week after reading SarrahK's thread. I plan on submitting complaimnt to Ombudsman etc shortly. Managed to get a Co-Op cash minder which has internet banking an visa electron. sops

You could try adding the £125 to your claim when you claim on line for the full or remaining amount (depending on whether they do give you a partial payment). You might be better off doing this because if you do a separate claim after the 1st one is settled then you will more likely have your account closed. You could include in your response to their offer that you've added the new £125 on to the total refund. Good luck

Hey Strapt, Don't worry, there are lot's of other banks to try. I know AbbeY National and Halifax both do basic accounts. Telling them about your HSBC account shouldnt make any difference, they will be able to see your details from your credit reference anyway. Maybe the post office do an account? I have just applied for a co-op basic account, it takes a few days to heard from them though so I dont know how strict they are. good luck :O) good luck

Hi Kat I wouldn't worry too much about not having had a reply yet, you could always send a reminder but it will probably take them 3 weeks to get round to reading it, by which point your MCOL will have been settled! :O)

hhmmmm... I too have a large OD which I wasn't able to pay off with my first claim. Surely they will allow it to be paid off gradually though, through monthly increments. Let's hope so, Good Luck. :O)

Hello, what do you mean by 'charges' and 'total charges'? Is there a difference? You can claim for any penalty charges they have applied to your account and for any interest that was charged to your account as a result of them taking you OD because of the penalty charges. sopsps

Hi Sarah, what a pain eh - I think they will be closing my account soon too 'cos I have had simillar sitauaion to you where since my 1st claim they have taken more charges. I managed to get some back through a phone call but have sent an lba (expires today) for a further lot & haven't received an offer yet. Have you got an overdraft on your account? Do you have to pay it off within the 30 days?

Hi Crusher, well done you! With your second claim did you get to the mcol satge? Or was it after your LBA?

hi emily-oliver I haven't heard hsbc do this before, although I know they have asked a few people to close their accounts... this may be a new tactic though to deter others from claiming. How much is your claim for? Is it loads?

Hi RMoody! Yep - I am in the situation as you... my first claim was settled but in between the mcol and getting the cash back they charged me further unlawful charges!! I sent LBA for these on Monday, then on Tuesday I got my statement and they are going to charge me again at the end of the month! I am going to phone them to ask them to stop the pending charges. How are you getting on with yours?

Hi Cornucopia, the intereston the statement is different from the interest on the spreadhseet... the spreadsheet is used to calculate interest earned on the charges that would have otherwise been in your account - when you put in the date they took the charge on the spreadsheet it calculates how much interest was earbned on that ampunt per day since that day. The interest on your statements is what they cahrge you for being overdrawn - you can only claim this back if you were overdrawn as a direct result of the charges being taken from your account. I didn't bother calculating this for my claimn cos it is very fiddly & doesnt amount to very much. good luck:O)

whoopwhoop! the money's in my bank! :grin::grin::grin::grin: Donation made by paypal... but I wonder how I cancel the old MCOL thingy - anyone know? Do I have to ring? I can't find the 'what to do when settled' thread!! :-DThank you all for running such a fantsatic forum, keep up the good wotk

Yeh, I'm crossing out the confidentiality bit too - it seems that many others have done the same thing but haven't had the offer withdrawn so I'm sure we will be ok! fingers crossed - we should have the money refunded next week!