Hi all, i sent off a slightly different version of the letter posted above and really vented my frustration at them. have returned from holiday to find a letter from hsbc increasing their final offer from £1,993.50 to £2,292.50! this is extremely close to my original request for £2,304.48 and so I am accepting. i'm not one to split hairs over £11.98. i would like to say a big thank you to all who have helped me pursue this claim. although i did not end up filing in court, the advice, support and encouragement i have received from this site enabled me to understand areas of the law and consumer rights i would have given up on before. i now have the requisite 14 days wait until the funds hit my account - a donation will be winging it's way once the money is in. thanks again everyone, best of luck to those still fighting their corner and a big 'what are you waiting for?' to all those still wondering whether or not to go for it! R (in a wet and rainy warwickshire-by-the-sea) PS. Please can someone move this to the successful claims bit? cheers!

cheers pete. will let you know how it goes.

thx pete. i must admit i am sooo tempted and it does seem slightly ridiculous to wait another 2-3 months for the sake of £300. but then again, it is the principle of it all! have knocked up a quick reply, just to vent my frustration really; "Thank you for your letter dated 25 June 2007. I am very disappointed to note that you have not read my letter of 11th May 2007 properly and therefore you have made the inaccurate assumption that I have applied interest to my request for a refund before I am entitled to do so. Please note that I have not added interest to my request for a refund. I have quite simply asked for a refund of charges you have applied, (£2,095.00), plus a further refund of the interest you have charged me (£209.48). Furthermore, my letter clearly states that I would only apply interest to the total amount once my claim progressed to court. If you are prepared to refund the charges you have taken from my account, you should be prepared to refund the interest that you deducted in relation to these charges. I would also point out that my claim only goes back more than 6 years due to the inordinate amount of time you have taken to respond to my request. Had you responded more promptly, this matter would have been resolved and without the need for my account to attract further fees and your accompanying interest. After very careful consideration of your letter I must advise that I feel the only way this matter can be resolved, and my faith in your integrity be restored, is for you to offer a full refund of both the charges you applied and the interest you deducted in relation to these charges." any idea on how successful others have been in negotiating? R

Hi everyone - it's been a while, so here's my update... i didn't get round to filing in court because things got a bit traumatic for a while and we had to put this on the back-burner. was just getting to grips with mcol when what should drop thru my letterbox this morning? a letter from HSBC offering me £1,993.50 in full and final settlement!!! i am really tempted to take their offer, but one thing is 'narking' me and that's the fact that my letter requested £2,095.00 plus £209.48 they charged in overdraft interest. in their reply they say that they note I have "added 'interest' to your request for a refund. We do not accept that this is appropriate and therefore our offer of a refund does not include any interest." what they have failed to grasp is that i was claiming a refund of the interest they have already charged me and taken from my account. as far as i am concerned if they are offering a refund of the charges they should be offering a refund of the interest that they took along with it! i am tempted to write back and point this out and see what response i get. it is making me very cross that they have completely misunderstood my LBA letter and have assumed i have added interest before i was entitled to. R

hi steve (and everyone), i was eagerly counting my days and then all hell errupted in my life and completely diverted my effort and attention. however, i am back on the case and shall be double-checking the info I had started entering with MCOL and getting that sorted this evening. must go and update my thread! good luck with yours Steve - R.

I think (and haven't been able to double check as not currently at home) that you can also access your statements via interactive button on your remote (sky active, customers services, view sky statement).

Hi all! So 14 days has expired with no word from HSBC and it seems that I join masses in starting court proceedings. Why can't they just pay up and be done with it? Am just in the process of re-reading everything again before I start filling it all in. Any last words of wisdom?

LBA sent by recorded delivery yesterday. second 14 day countdown begins!

hi jojo, i've worked for financial institutions in the past - although NOT hsbc - and would say that the majority of joint accounts are run on a 'jointly and severally' basis meaning that transactions and instructions can be authorised by one of the account holders without the bank needing to check that the other account holder agrees. especially so if your account was a run-of-the-mill current account. you would need to check on this but my guess would be unless it was a business account or something opened on behalf of a charity or club, you're likely to fall into the 'jointly and severally' category. in which case you won't need your ex's permission to pursue this repayment of charges. the one thing you will have to watch is whether the bank ever put any kind of 'flag' on your account - which may have happened if you informed them that you and your partner were separating. they will have done this to protect themselves and would have made sure from that point forward both parties authorised all instructions. perhaps the way forward would be to contact the bank and ask them to confirm the signatory conditions that applied to your account and whether they were ever changed. hope this makes sense? let me know if it doesn't! R:)

hi all! - am just getting my LBA ready to be sent tomorrow and am wondering whether it is worth inserting a sentence drawing their attention to the fact that I am keeping a record of time spent and costs involved in pursuing this claim, (in readiness for my wasted costs application once they finally refund my money!) can i do this or is it too much? your thoughts, opinions and advice will be gratefully received! R

update - received my letter 'from' colin today assuring me he is investigating and that I will have a full response as soon as his investigation is complete. he's got until friday and then my lba will be winging it's way!

hi steve, am in process of claiming a similar amount myself and sent prelim letter last friday - just in process of counting days to LBA now. you're in good hands on this site - everyone is friendly, helpful and very supportive. good luck with it all - R.

hi! was in a similar boat myself... hsbc took 45 days to get my statements posted to me - and then they arrived in 2 batches, all 40-odd envelopes!!! bless my postie! i sent them a nudge letter around day 35 and then also re-registered for internet banking. it was still good to get the paper copies - eventually - because it was easier to use them when filling in the spreadsheet. hsbc were also kind (?) enough to return my £10 cheque. good luck.

fair point - my mind rests. cheers lateralus.

have just been going through my filing, (as you do on a boring afternoon...) and have a letter that HSBC sent on 14th April saying how they have noticed I am "having to pay Arrangement Fees for my overdraft requests. We would like to talk to you about how we can help reduce your charges." (as it happens, I have some very good suggestions about exactly how they can reduce my charges, the first being to refund all the money they have taken over the last 6 years, but anyway...) does anyone know whether their use of the term 'arrangement fees' will have any bearing on my claim. for the record, they wrote a couple of months ago with what seemed to be a standard note about 'informal' overdraft requests but to be fair, their charges never appear on my statements as 'arrangement fees' - they just appeared as 'total charges' and now they've been promoted to 'notified fees'. does anyone have any advice ? Thanks in advance, R.