As i believe, you have to calculate the interest on each individual charge. enter all the charges into the spreadsheet in the library, and it works out the interest, as it depends which date the charge was applied. takes a little while, but you have to be accurate.

they used to add up all the charges for a month, then whach it on at once. these will be for going over you limit in my guess (they were on mine) They should be for multiples of £18, and then they changed them to multiples of £20 then they started charging individually, from £10 to £30 depending on the amount You should definatly claim these as they are penalty charges, which are the illegal ones. Good news?

This waiting game is terrible!!! HSBC only got my prelim on the 5th,5 days ago, and i cant wait to reieve a stupid nonsense reply and to send the LBA! oh well i will have to be patient. I said before that my friends were behind me on this, but now im getting annoyed by them saying "they will just say no" and "you cant sue a bank" They wont be saying that soon. I'm sick of telling them that its not just about writing one letter, and that i have to be prepared for court just in case. They always respond with "but it costs a fortune to go to court" - to which i really enjoy telling them all about what i have learnt on this site, in regards to small claims etc. They obviously dont know me that well if they didnt think i'd read up about that sort of thing before embarking on the claim. I think on this forum we are all like minded people, wanting to stand up for ourselves, not just trying to make a buck. Now they all want me to copy the prelim i showed them, and put their name on it!! to which i said its not that simple, and started to explain the DPA process and then just thought.... only one thing for it guys, and that is read every post on www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk Thats what we have done, and we will reap the rewards. Good luck to everyone, and some for me too. Mike

Got a solo card in the post today, will be made into a maestro in 3 months.

This is the stage where i will be bricking it. Cant wait though! Good luck.

Basically, they have 40 days after you request your statements under the data protection act, then you send a preliminary letter, which gives them 14 days to refund all charges. when they ignore this, or send a load of leaflets, you send a LBA or letter before action after 14 days informing them that in another 14 days you will be taking court action. if you get to this stage you file a claim with 8% APR added. the bank then gets served a summons and then usually pay you the full amount at this point. You set the timetable but this is what we all use.

good luck with it, get counting!

I was in the same boat, i got declined for a smile.co.uk account as i have bad credit. Its because their accounts come with a £500 overdraft. i went to natwest high street and was granted a full account, with chequebook and cards. if you have no proof of income, they will just give you a cashcard untill you have had 3 months of wages going into it. at least you will have an a/c and be able to get paid etc. I only asked for their basic "step" account but they offered me the advantage gold account. Hope this helps

This is really worth a read, trust me.

Good luck, we're all behind you.

i just opened a natwest a/c with no statements, they dont give you a debit card though. after 3months of payments into the a/c they will give u a full debit card.

Good luck, i'm paying attention!

thanks for the correction. If you were to lose in the small claims court, could you appeal in the high court, and if u won would precedents be set then?

Im following your claim... Good luck mate!!

I wondered this too ,after being on here a couple of weeks, i cant see anyone failing as if they did in court, the banks could use this as presendence in future cases - and take it to court everytime. for this same reason, the banks wont go to court incase they lose. people only fail if they give up. KEEP ON GOING STICK TO YOUR TIMETABLE

You cant add the 8% apr until you put in a court claim. as you've been lucky enough not to get to that stage, you cant add interest. you can add interest if you were being charged interest for being overdrawn when the charges were made, but it is highly complicated to work it out, so most people dont bother as its only a few quid usually. At the court stage, the 8% apr really bumps up the total. hope this helped

Got ya. cheers i'll be doing a prelim for the credit card as soon as i get the statements.

Hello, just a quick one ; i've just got off the phone to hsbc and got all my credit card statements to be delivered - he said 10 days. now charge one question - do i need to send a prelim, as in the templates there is only one for the LBA, and, why cant we just send one letter, like a prelim and LBA together? ok, a second question; Would it be wrong just to send a summons straight away (i know its jumping the gun, and i wouldnt do it personally) but is it illegal?

They would have given me it if i had a pay slip with me. when i take a payslip in tomorrow they are going to send it out. they need proof of income. on the application form they put the net monthly income box as "£0" and it passed for the gold account. im impressed seeing as i declined for a co op smile account.

Update: Parachute opened today at Natwest. Didnt get a free shower radio. Is that legal???

excellent! I went into natwest today to open a step ac, and they credit checked me. i was delighted when they gave me the option of an advantage GOLD account with cards and the lot. does anyone know if its true that constant standing orders between current accounts boosts your credit rating? eg. £100 constantly going back and forth between two accounts. on a credit file there is nothing about current acounts (apart from a default) but it might affect you score in points? anybody know??? Thanks

The person in question will give it a go tomorrow. Thanks.

If someone were to have bad credit, lets say because of a vodafone default that went on 3 years ago, and say this person were to be declined on a smile.co.uk current account, what would be an option to get a parachute bank account? this person doesnt need an overdraft, but DOES need a direct debt facility. Which banks will accept pond life? Thanks in advance.

Update: Online delivery confirmation of Prelim 5/6/06 they have untill 19/6/06 to give me a 'positive response'

Hold your horses, i said i'd donate havent got a pot to wizz in till i get my claim through though! i had an idea of starting a no win no fee type company to deal with this, but they already exist, and they are money grabbing bar stewards, as we get it here for free. i love this forum, i love my £1060, i love giving to a good cause where its due. so, after my claim i will stay here to help others to get theirs back, and donate.