Good luck glennsterblue - is the Halifax your existing bank, or have you since moved? If this is still your main account, you might want to consider searching for a new one now, before things really start hotting up!! John

Here's a quick rundown, for anyone interested, of the major players... Organisation Geographical number Freephone number Special Instructions Barclaycard 01604 614811 0800 400100 (Main switchboard - ask operator for B/card) NatWest 0800 0154212 Abbey 0161 9516500 0800 7317774 A & L 0116 2004444 0800 0688638 (press option 2) Bank Of Scot 0131 5498041 0500 800500 Barclays Bank 02476 842099 0800 435872 Co-op Bank 01695 53760 0800 576777 (hold for Customer Services) Halifax 01422 380880 0800 0856280 (Use option 2) HSBC 01226 261010 0800 520420 (Main switchboard - ask 4 Customer Services) Lloyds TSB 0207 7857654 0800 0320444 (Operator will transfer you to correct department) NatWest 01634 890876 RBS 0131 3174597 Yorkshire Bank 0141 9517315 Some of these freephone, and indeed geographical alternatives, may require you to speak to an operator and ask to be transfered to customer services or the correct department. If that is the case and they make a fuss of you using the 'wrong' number, then best advice is to 'play dumb' and say you had no idea, and of course promise not to phone the 'wrong' number again... Many more on the site.... why pay more?

Found this info..... :arrow: Consent Orders Tomlin Orders 9.16 Where proceedings are to be stayed on agreed terms to be scheduled to the order, the draft order should be drawn so as to read, with any appropriate provision in respect of costs, as follows: "And the parties having agreed to the terms set out in the attached schedule IT IS BY CONSENT ORDERED That all further proceedings in this claim be stayed except for the purpose of carrying such terms into effect AND for that purpose the parties have permission to apply". This form of order is called a "Tomlin Order". Hope that makes some sense!! But maybe one of the legal eagles can turn it into English

Duly noted

When you write to the bank requesting a refund, include the question in that letter.. maybe the following?? If you have evidence to show that my account required manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my banking business with you. In such circumstances, I would require you to show the name and position of that person, the action or decision taken and the reasons for doing so. Evidence of such manual intervention may alter the amount of my claim. That way, the bank can not claim you were being unreasonable in your request should it reach court.

As I understand it, only those who are undischarged bankrupts , or with a record of fraud, would not be able to open a Basic bank account. For what it's worth, I would recommend HSBC's basic account - online and telephone banking, DD's and S/O either in or out. Only starts with a cash card, but they do consider upgrades to solo once your account has operated properly for a period of time. And, unless they have changed policy since I opened my account, you DON'T get charged for failed DD's or S/O's - but they will likely close the account if it happens 'frequently'...!! I'm currently updating a list of these accounts and it will be made available to all soon.

See case guidance notes here http://www.bankactiongroup.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=286 2. Having received your statements and calculated your charges plus interest which you may have been charged on them if you were in overdraft at the time, enter the charges into the spreadsheet which is also provided in the Library section of the http://www.BankActionGroup.com forum. This will provide you with a total which you can claim from your bank. If you have to issue a court claim, the spreadsheet will also calculate interest at 8% as allowed by s.64 the County Courts Act (1984) and which you will add to your claim at that point. NOTE: you do not claim the 8% unless you put in a court claim. Have a good look through the site, I think just about every question is answered on here somewhere. Good luck with your case

Would like to add my thanks - clearly a lot of hard work and probably far too many hours, go into the running of this site.... Cheers to all...

Garry R D Kettle.... or For Eastender's fans.... TRY A DR LEG TREK or maybe he's actually a company, all by himself - GERRY TAKER LTD or a message ending...TRY LATER, DR KEG.

Agree - I did the same as I found that I was having to pay more for some items if internet ordering was off the menu. Even with their 'promise' of being available to everyone, I still thought there was little chance. Initial £300 limit was raised after 6 months to £600, which I'm sure is more than I will ever need on a debt card. I would also repeat the point above about paying off, in full, every month. I always pay back into the card through internet banking the same day, or next at worse.

Send the request for refund letter along with your calculations as this gives the bank an opportunity to see what you are claiming for, precisely. It may also help later, if you have to go to court, to show that you supplied all the evidence you had in your attempt to settle out of court. The reason that the interest is at 8% is because that is the figure the courts use. Part of the template letter reads... "What I require" and should, I believe, look like this.... I have prepared a spreadsheet detailing dates, amounts of each charge and an additional 8% interest, as allowed by the County Courts Act (1984). The total charges in this period amount to £XXX.00 The interest total, as of XXth March 2006, amounts to £XXX.XX and so the total amount I require you to repay me is £X,XXX.XX Hope that helps...

Welcome to the Halifax appreciation society!!! I would suggest having a short period of mail redirection to cover this. It 'only' costs £6.65 per month - but could be the ideal solution for you - and would also cover any mail you had forgotten about changing. Best of luck with your claim, and always happy to help if you need it - just ask.

Hi goony - rest assured you are no longer alone. The basics of the process are to request a list of charges from your bank over the past 6 years (unless you already have statements for that period) - a template is provided for you and can be found in "The Library", and once supplied you then enter the details on a spreadsheet (also in "Library") which works out the interest you should also be claiming. Then write to the bank again, requesting your money back (template provided) and unless you are very, very lucky, they will refuse. Your next step is to start legal proceedings to recover them, with most people opting to use the Court's online service. This is very simple and more guidance is available on the site. I doubt there is a standard "what happens next", but from what most people are saying on the forums, the banks will either pay up or say they will contest the action, and then not attend court (I suspect to make you believe you have a fight on your hands which might tempt you to give up)... But, we all have to be aware, it could be you they choose to fight - so you have to be prepard to attend. I will gladly offer you other, personal, advice regarding your current situation with the state of your account - I have experienced similar difficulties in the past. They are not the views of this site by the way, as I have no association other than being a forum user. I'm just happy to pass on my experiences.. You've taken the first step, looking on the site and posting here - and the next should hopefully feel much easier. Best of luck jonni2bad

Have sent you PM for email address.

Agree with advice on the CCCS - they were a great to us in our 'hour of need'. Once they had sent me a printed Personal Budgeting Sheet', I converted the info into a excel spreadsheet, so that I could make ongoing ammendments as necessary. Very simple to use, you input your income(s) into box A, your expenditure in B and it works out your available funds for creditors, if there is any! Priority debts into C (like mortgage, council tax arrears etc) leaves money for 'everyone else' in D Once you input the total amount owed to each of these it will work out the monthly percentage share that you should be paying them (since it should be pro-rata). If anyone would like a copy, I would be more than happy to email it and explain further, in case the above sounds odd!!

There is some info available from here, in pdf format http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/pdfs/bank_account.pdf Page 6-7 has a condensed summary, which I think is quite useful. Not sure if this is bang up to date, but can check this tomorrow evening. I chose HSBC as it lets me bank online, DD's and SO's can be set up there, as well as one-off payments, no charges for failed DD's and a £10 buffer zone, but no switch/solo card.

I have Dragon, and whilst I am more than happy to help, I might need a little guidance (not used the program very much) I can convert just about any file format to another, but I have opened mp3 files and wav too, both convert to a mass of unrecognisable characters... So, not sure if I'm a help or a hindrance!!

Join the club - but on the bright side you should have no difficulty opening a BASIC bank account elsewhere. That's what we had to do, and we moved to HSBC - their basic account lets us do everything online (if needed) and we can pay DDs, SOs, one off payments to any account etc. They only issue a card for cash withdrawals, but if you need a solo / switch etc then other BASIC bank accounts do have these. See here for a pdf guide to these accounts http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/pdfs/bank_account.pdf

Well done geewizz - many people might have been tempted to take the offer. Good luck with your case....

Have decided I would be mad to ignore years 4 to 6, just in case there is at least another charge (which would then cover the cost of the £10 DPA charge). Letter sent 1st class recorded delivery on Saturday 11th March.

Hi all, Newbie here, would first like to say a big thanks to the peeps who run the show - I too read the MSE article and having looked through the forum and the FAQs have been most impressed. We banked with the Halifax for many years and found ourselves in financial difficulty about 2 - 3 years ago. Account charges were a common feature back then, and they often left us chasing our tails in a fairly vicious circle. For some reason, we have always kept our bank statements (4 years worth) so I had a look back... £1,292 in charges!! I have used the spreadsheet to work out interest (an extra £325). I can't remember ever being in that situation over 4 years ago, so I'm considering not bothering to ask for records from years 4 - 6 and having to wait even longer under the DPA. I have read the different templates and other letters folk have sent in, and tried to cobble the best of each to match my situation - which is shown below. I'm thinking of sending this out very early next week, so would appreciate any comments / feedback (good or bad) that you feel could help. Our account defaulted too, so I am asking for a removal of that - having read the basics it looks like that is the thing they will fight hardest.. am I right? Anyway, here is the letter............. Halifax PLC Trinity Road Halifax West Yorkshire HX1 2RG Request for repayment of charges Dear Sir/Madam, ROLL NUMBER: D/XXXXXXX-X SORT CODE: XXXXXX ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXX I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account over the last 4 years. I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth, are unlawful under Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations. Your responsibilities I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law. My request I have prepared a spreadsheet detailing dates, amounts of each charge and an additional 8% interest, as allowed by the County Courts Act (1984). The total charges in this period amount to £1292.00 The interest total, as of 10h March 2006, amounts to £325.65 and so the total amount I require you to repay me is £1,617.65 If you have evidence to show that my account required manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my banking business with you. In such circumstances, I would require you to show the name and position of that person, the action or decision taken and the reasons for doing so. Evidence of such manual intervention may alter the amount of my claim. If you are unable to supply details of manual intervention because there has been none, then please be so kind as to confirm this in your response to my request. Additionally, you have entered a default notice against my credit record. This default occurred merely in respect of unlawful charges levied by you, or was the result of impecuniosity caused directly because of the taking, by you, of penalty charges which you had applied unlawfully to my account. In addition to full payment of the sum mentioned above, I require that you remove the default entry from the register. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the entry will not be acceptable. My targets to resolve this matter I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment, which should be in the form of a personal cheque. I believe that this timeframe is more than sufficient for a large company, such as yours, with dedicated customer care and legal staff. If you choose not to reply, or you reply indicating that you are not willing to refund the charges stated above, then my next correspondence with you will be my notification that I intend to start proceedings for recovery in the County Courts, as I believe that I am legally entitled to this money. By doing so, you will also be liable for my court costs. Yours faithfully Xxxxx Xxxxxxxxx Enclosed: Charges spreadsheet