Thanks for that younganfree I have wasted no time at all and sent my letter to the Nat West asking for all my statements - this is gonna take longer i know as I had only recently incurred charges from A&L, Nat West goes back years!!!!!!!! Great stuff. I am going to tell the whole world about this awesome site. Also another helpful piece of info. I went into my claim on the money claim online AFTER I HAD RECEIVED MY CHEQUE and according to that the A&L were defending the claim and as I read it they were also refusing to pay and as a result I would no longer be able to continue with my claim online but instead would be hearing from the courts. Well as you can imagine I was needless to say slightly confused ( the cheque had been in the bank a couple of hours by this point!) Anyway I rang the help line and they explained to me - I hope I understood this correctly that even though the bank agreed to pay up the courts still advise them to put in a defence as a way of making the claimant call to agree that they have in fact receved the monies, its at this point then that the paper work is filed away and the case is closed!!!!!???????????:-| Does that sound familiar to any one out there or have I completely misunderstood? Anyway, I am going to turn off my computer, go home, open a bottle of chilled wine, sit in the garden and dream of God only knows how much I could get back from Nat West and more importantly what I am going to do with it:D . Keep an eye on the Nat West group! And keep smileing

Can someone tell me If I have to start a new thread in the Nat West group or do I just continue on this thread?

just to let everyone know that yesterday I received all of my bank charges back from the A & L. Total £241.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yipee. Of course with a letter stateing the normal garbage, in this instance, not liable, not a sign of weakness etc etc. I want to say thank you to every one for their advice and help and to reassure everyone out there who is claiming that even despite blunders ( I made a few) it will happen! Keep going. My cheque has gone into the bank this morning and once it clears I will be making a donation - as we all should, without this site I would not have any of this money back. Keep up the good work, I feel vindicated and liberated and defiant, watch out Nat West cos I'm coming to get you!!!!

Thanks for all your lovely positive remarks. Have infact phoned the claims helpline today, I can submit a new claim even after the first one has been acknowledged by the bank at a cost of £35.00. Yiiikes! Can,t afford that so explained to the lovely lady exactly what I had done - the wording of the claim eg quoteing legislation and paragraphs and the such. Anyway to cut along story short I asked if the claim should infact come to court because of my errors can i use these legal terms and paragraphs in court to fight my case and she said of course!!!!! Halelujah. I know ideally we do not want to go that far but i feel reassured that if it does go to court I can say all the things I should have said in my claim and hopefully still win my money. Keep your fingers crossed for me guys.

Well I now feel utterly deflated and its my own fault. Lesson to all new comers - make sure you do everything properly! Hopefully they will just decide to give me my money back but should they not can i claim again do you know? I know you can't trial a man for the same murder twice but is this not different, or is that just wishful thinking? All my life I've gone in like a bull in a china shop, you'd think at 45yrs I'd have learnt by now wouldn't you? Anyway, whatever the outcome I will keep you posted.

You are right there. One hand is stealing our hard earned cash and the other hand is counting it!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the help guys, I didn,t put interest at any particular rate only that I wanted interest. I have just checked status of claim and it has been acknowledged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. So I guess all I have to do now is wait PATIENTLY for the nail biting, hair pulling, wall climbing etc. 28 days? Will let you all know as soon as I hear anything.

Good Idea Karnevil Here's how it goes in Particulars of claim - I have had an account with the defendent bank since 2004 approx. Since February 2006 I estimate that they have taken £211.00 from me in bank charges. I now know that these charges are unlawful and therefore unenforcable as they are extremely unfair and they are contrary to common law. I have asked the bank on two occasions to justify the charges but they have refused to do so. I am therefore seeking repayment of bank charges totaling £211.00 over the period indicated below plus interest 5th June 2006 £34.00 failed D/D 31st May 2006 £34.00 failed D/D 18th May 2006 £34.00 failed D/D 15th May 2006 £34.00 failed D/D 12 April 2006 £25 paid item charge 1st April 2006 £25.00 Unautherised OD charge 15th February 2006 £25.00 Paid item charge I did fill in the boxes amount claimed and court fee - Phew! Can someone PLEASE let me know ASAP if this is ok so if its not i can call the help line, though i do not know wether its too late to do anything anyway as i issued this on the 20th and after checking my status it says its issued, so i am assumimg that means they have already issued it to the A & L

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Think I have made one hell of a booboo. On my money claim form I have just asked for the total amount of charges to be returned plus yearly int. @ 8% plus Daily int @ 4.5% not infact giving them any totals!!!!!!!!? Will this be a problem do you think? Any comments would be very much appreciated - YES, even if it is to tell me I am stupid!:o

Have sent my online money claim form in the last couple of days to A & L, am trying to be really posotive:grin: hopeing they will just agree to return my money! If this is successful I am going to town on the nat west, I can't even begin to imagine how much they have taken from me over the last 6 years? A & L have taken £211.00 since feb this year so it could work out to be quite a substantial amount!!! Crikey, I may even be able to retire. Now that would make excellent headline news "45 year old able to retire early thanks to the Nat West Bank" He He.

Just as an after thought:D Presumably the police would have been involved, you could try contacting the station to see if they still have the records of the incident, if they do they may look kindly on you and give you the defendants name. Its worth a try. Good luck

It sounds to me like the courts are doing a bit of 'its more than my jobs worth and i can't be bothered'. Persist, in an perfect world where people don't lose documents that would be acceptable but we don't, I do not believe for one second that they cannot do a search for the relative documents on your name alone - they just can't be bothered. In this day and age we can identify murderers by teeth marks in an apple! They need a No. indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!! Persist.;-)

Is it not possible for you to have a family member or a friend to act on your behalf ie by having their address as your correspondant address and should you have to appear in court could they not act as proxy? It would be so worth finding out. There must be cases where it is impossible for people for one reason or another to attend court, how do they get round it?

Hi LeeBrannan, I am not a violent person but i thank God i do not own a gun as I dread to think what I may have done with it!!!!!!!! I have incured £211.00 charges since Feb and all because of one failed D/D which was no fault of my own, my local borough council changed the D/D collection date from the middle of the month to the beginning of the month - the letter advising me of the fact I never received and it has snowballed from there. I would put money in to cover the next D/D, they would steal £34 from me leaving me short again and so it goes on!!!!!!!!!! Never ever has anything made me feel so bitterly angry. The threads are a great tonic though - there is light at the end of the tunnel. All the best.

Hi moomoo1, What brilliant news, i am so pleased for you! I sent my online money claim form yesterday and will hopefully have the same brilliant result. Oh my goodness, already getting giddy about what i can spend it on!!!!!!!!!!!

doing the last bit of my claim form, what do i put in as the daily interest rate, is it 4.5%.

In a bazaar kind of way it feels good to be on board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for your help LondonPam, It has to be said I am bloody useless at this sort of thing, its only my anger that keeps me going.

Hello, Have sent the first and second letter to the A & L, the reply to the first was clearly just a standard letter as is the second, however in the reply to my second letter they do mention that the Office of Fair Trade report on the 6th April 2006 touched breifly on current accounts did not give any specific recommendation regarding the level of charges appropriate for current accounts. At present there has been no consultation between the Banking industry and the Office of Fair Trade about current accounts? Is this as I suspect just a scare tactic? I am ready to send my claim form but not too sure about wether I should submit a Consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT at the same time(and if I am how do I go about doing it) or to wait and see what response I get from the bank? Just a Quick note to say am I completely dim? I find it really difficult to move around this site to search what it is I am looking for, not even sure if I am sending this message to the right place or not? I hope someone gets it and is able to help!

Hello there, Sent my 1st letter to the A & L on the 18th May requesting back my bank charges, received a letter back from them on the 27th may ( I am sure it is just a standard letter saying how sorry they are to hear about my complaint) any way, basically the letter said that they are looking into it and will get back to me. My question is do I ignore this letter and still issue my second letter to them on the 1st which is 14 days from the 1st letter or do I hang fire and see what they come up with. Also since sending the first letter I have incurred more bank charges, do I need to send them an updated letter with the new sum I am demanding back? I really hope someone can help me