Thank you very much for your advice, much appreciated.

Hi, I wrote the initial letter to the bank asking for my statements/charges paying the £10. I received my statements, I added it all up and then sent the next letter requesting a refund. I then got a letter from them explaining that they are sorry that I am not happy but they think their charges are fair! Also that they are involved in legal proceedings with the Office of Fair Trading in relation to the bank charges. They said that I'll have to wait until a decision is made by the Courts. They pointed out that if I make a claim before a decision is made it will be postponed until a decision is made. But they will be in contact once it is resolved. I got this letter in November 2007, at the time I was suffering financial hardship but then I got a job and I've been extremely busy since with working and studying. My job contract has now ended and I finished my course so I thought I would continue with this case again. Within that letter they did refer to the fact that I was suffering financial hardship and that a person from the Customer Support Unit would be calling me to discuss this - they never did call me. Could someone please tell me what I should do (if anything) now? Many thanks, Bobbles:-)

Hi all, just to update, it happened to me again, I got overdrawn and the bank wanted to charge me £110, through no fault of my own, I've been really messed about with benefits (this is sorted now at long last) but it got me overdrawn again. As I said before the Bank Manager promised to remove the charges because of my situation. Well, different story when I tried to contact him about it, I left messages about four times over two weeks for him to contact me but he didn't. So I went down there and insisted that I see him that day. Which I did and he said that he could not remove the charges because he got told off for doing it last time. I refused to accept that and told him that I would not leave his office until he does! He got the Branch Manager, who was a stern, evil woman who spoke down to me. I argued with her stating that their charges are unacceptable, especially under the circumstances, she would not budge, but I made it clear that the Personal Manager had promised to remove the charges because he sympathised with my situation. The Personal Manager admitted to the Branch Manager that he did say that and with that she said, well if he promised you then he will have to do it, but it won't be allowed again and with that she got on her broomstick and left! I think part of the trick to getting your own way with these people is to be assertive and firmly state what you want and expect without shouting or swearing. I've just sent my second letter requesting bank charges over last six years which amounted to £1,097. Here's hoping.

Hi, I'm with Virgin media and pay for 2 mb broadband, but the test says the speed I'm getting is 33.55 kb and 0.26 Mbit per second. I don't mean to appear thick but I don't actually understand what that means. I get the impression that it's super slow though. Can someone explain the numbers please? Thank you.

Hi, I trusted my teenage daughter with a mobile phone contract, which is in my name (yes, I know, stupid idea!), instead of giving her pocket money. However, the first six months she was good then last month the bill came in at £126.00 for one month! It's with '3' so it's normally £15.00 per month. Anyway, I'm making her pay the bill with her EMA (Education Maintainance Award - she's at college), I'm unemployed at the moment, she's saving up the money so we are going to pay it late, which I've discussed with them. My problem is I'm scared to allow her to continue using it and asked them if I could cancel the contract but they said no, unless I pay the outstanding contract balance of £150, as it ends in August 2008. Is there any way out of the contract at all? I've read the Terms and Conditions but there's nothing in it about canceling. Thank you.

Hi muggins73, thank you for your reply and advice. I will keep you all posted. Bobbles

Hi Frzkitten and all, I thought I'd let you know that I went to my bank and told them that I have been reading this website and that they should not be charging me £75 for going overdrawn and that they're making a lot of money out of my misfortunes. I also told them that I had sent in my first letter to request my statement of last six years and I expect to receive a full refund. Eventually, he said that he would cancel the £75 charge! Result! He also advised me that if I were to become overdrawn again to let him know and he will cancel the charges again. I think if you show that you are confident and understand your rights, they should back down. And thanks to this website I did. So here's hoping I get a refund of the last six years' charges. Good luck everyone! Bobbles

Hi Fzrkitten, Many thanks for your advice, I'll give it a try and report back. Regards, Bobbles

Hello everyone, this is a bit weird - I just joined a few weeks back and was getting familiar with the website when I became overdrawn, (I haven't been overdrawn for a long time), and I received a letter from my bank because they couldn't pay on of my Standing Orders, so they're gonna charge me £30 then a day later I received another letter charging me £35 because they did pay the Standing Order which made me overdrawn by £5! The letters' contradict themselves! I'm unemployed at the moment and really can't afford to pay such a fee. I wasn't able to send the 1st letter because there wasn't enough money in my account to cover the £10 charge! How can I stop them from taking this money from my account? I think I should go and see them but what if they say that they're gonna take the money anyway? It'll make me overdrawn again! Has anyone got any advice for me please? All help appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Ukaviator, thank you very much for your advice. I will follow it. Kind Regards, Bobbles

Hello, I decided to come to this website, recommended by someone on the Netmums website, because I want to find out how to claim my bank charges back. I thought I heard that you cannot claim at the moment as the banks are going to Court next year for the Courts to decide whether charges should be made or not? Does anyone know if this is true? Or can I still process a claim? Thank you.