I had a meeting with my LLoyds business bank manager a few months ago and put to him that the charges were unfair and I'd be reclaiming them. He also agreed!

Vital Spark It was actually the business centre that I rang. Apparently they deal with my personal account as well. The number was 0845 0725555. The main number for LLoyds personal centre is 0845 3 000 000. Hope that helps

Worried 37, I understand what you mean and I appreciate that you can't please everyone, however I have to also agree with mcarreno that when I ask him what they have done at school a lot of the time they have been watching dvd's such as Shrek and bugsy malone etc! He is at kids club between 3.30pm and 5.30pm and needs my help with his homework as sometimes he is unsure of what he is being asked to do. You're very lucky that your school doesn't have teacher training days. I understand that Teachers need to train, I'm just not sure why it couldn't have been done in the six weeks holidays rather than the first day of a new term. Also the personal development days are for the teacher, not the pupils. My son puts up with a relief teacher at school while his is "personally developing" I like to think I teach my son things when he is out of school also, though I prefer to spend time teaching him about the world around him.

Hello, I have a 9 year old son too and I am fed up with the amount of homework he seems to have been getting since he was 8! he has maths every week, reading and spelling. In fact I was shocked at the spellings he had to learn for last week which included words such as chappattis and haikus. i didn't even know what a haikus was! (apparently it's a poem). As me and my partner both work full time we never set foot in the house before 5.30 and my son is in bed for 8.30. This means by the the time we've had tea and he's done his homework it's time for bed. I want my son to play and have fun with his family and friends when he gets home. I thought teaching was supposed to happen at school, especially as I am being told by school that I am not to taech him my style of maths. Surely I should be attending school as well to learn how to help my son to use this new style??? I've often had to write to the teacher asking them to explain to me what we're supposed to be doing! Maybe we are being given the teachers work to do as they seem to spend a lot of time on "personal development days" and that's on top of the "teacher planning days" which they seem to be in a terrible habit of taking just after the school has had a fortnight/six weeks on holiday.

Docman My partner sometimes gets these phonecalls and he always refuses to answer their security questions and asks them to verify who they are! The caller always gets in such a tizz as they are not expecting that kind of reply and he asks them to call him back when they can verify who they are with some questions. They very rarely ring back!

Hi From what I've alredy read on this subject the DWP sound very helpful and aware of what the banks are doping. I think if you ring them they can arrange to pay it into any account you choose and if you explain why they are doing it they may step in and help. It's worth a try

Lloyds TSB took £170 in bank charges on 3rd September, the same day as my working family tax credit was paid! I have just rung the bank and told them what they have done and that it was illegal and they offered straight away for me to go and collect it back from over the counter! She didn't even sound shocked and was very pleasant about it all. I would try ringing your bank in the first instance as it sounds like they are well aware of what they are doing as they don't even argue with you. The whole process took 30 mins from the phonecall to collecting my money. I feel so empowered! Good luck

Hi I often book holidays over the internet and don't receive confirmation in the post just a reference number at the time of booking. I then pick up my tickets at the airport from the travel agent. I wouldn't worry.

Hi, Have just rung Chesterfield County Court and they say that they cannot refuse N1 applications and they have been dealing on a case by case but that they are looking at putting a stay on them until April next year!

ok thanks for that. Still haven't had that call from the bank manager!

Exactly the same thing happened to me with LLoyds 2 days ago. My working family taxcredit went in but I had three months arrears with my bank loan so LLoyds just took it. It was £945 and I wouldn't have minded but on the same day a LLoyds "councillor" was at my house refinancing my loan to lower payments! I rang the councillor later as soon as i saw what they had done and he was pretty disgusted with them. He's getting a manager to phone me back but still not heard anything. Surely just taking money (especially benefit money) without infoming me is no better than stealing?

Great thanks, i'll try that. So I'll now have to send two letters to the bank and have two court bundles etc etc? Will I have to start again with regards to my original letter claiming the £4767.50 or shall I go straight to the second letter with a split claim?

into years? Am I allowed to do that?

Hello, I have been watching the forum and have joined today. I sent my original letter to LLoyds on 22nd May and recieved the standard reply. My claim is only over 5 years though as the total (without interest) comes to £4767.50. I really want to keep it in the small claims court and if i do claim interest then the total owing will be over £5000. Should I forget the interest to keep the total under £5000? I need to send the second letter to the bank with the schedule of charges so I need to know whether to include interest or not? Many thanks