Can you insist on that? The standard letter says that statements would be acceptable. HSBC have said I'll have to pay £35 per hour for them to collate such a list.

Naughty Tinkerbell28 didn't read the FAQs! ;-)

It sounds like the notes on your record were done validly & I doubt you'll get anyone to take them off, BUT... IIRC You can write to the credit reference agency asking for a note to be added to your file. This note will then be seen by anyone who looks at your file. It will be up to them to decide if they believe your explanation. Hope that helps

I requested my statements from HSBC, and when they came each one had 'total charges' on it, which was a cumilation of penalty charges and legit fees. So I phoned up to ask for a breakdown and this is the letter I recieved today...

I'd be very interested in what CCCS have to say about that. I've been in a similar situation and right now I'm trying to get my creditors to accept a reduced total amount to clear my debts. I thought it wise to hold off applying for my charges back until they'd agreed a figure with me. Once the accounts are closed, then I'll hit them with my claim! Do you have any idea how long you expect to be on a DMP? If it's only a few years you might be better waiting until it's over. You have 6 years to claim and by the time you're ready there might be a definitive bit of law that will make claiming so much more straightforward.

I might be wrong, but isn't the spreadsheet only for use when the case gets to court and you need to claim the 8% extra that the court allows? This is different to the interest that you have already been charged on the fees and are surely due back. There are different lines of thought about claiming back this interest - I'm sure I've seen elsewhere on this forum the thought that in court the bank might say 'but surely we're entitled to something?' - and a good response would be 'yes - that's why we haven't claimed the interest'. I have put together a spreadsheet to calculate this - it's neither pretty, clever or easy to use - but if you'd like a copy send me a PM. Regards....

You may have realised that I like PayPal, but I do understand that any large business makes mistakes. With regard to your last comment - there is nothing at all to stop you taking these matters to the courts. Also, your returned box might have been empty - did you claim a refund from the Post Office? As you chose RD, the cover for items is up to £30 so you really should have used the correct postage service, but I don't expect you'll have any problem getting £30 from them. It's not everything you paid but it's better than nothing. Incidentally, I'm not having a go about you choosing the 'wrong' service - I've done the same before and lost out myself!

I know I can claim charges back if the account has been closed - but what if it's been closed with an offer in Full & Final settlement? Obviously, when the offer was made the F&F was to stop THEM claiming more money, but does it affect me too? Thanks

Nah. I've been with PayPal since the 1st day they allowed UK accounts. Yes there are horror stories, as there are with any financial institution, but of course you don't always get the full story (no offence intended to previous posters). They are constantly critisised for their fees - yet there is no cheaper option for sending / receiving money that is anything like as convenient or secure. My personal 'horror story' involves a person in Singapore who took $950 from my account (which PayPal took from my Credit Card) and then tried the same the next day - this only failed because there wasn't enough credit left on my HSBC card. A quick phone call to PayPal in the States (2p a min max) and wheels were set in motion that got the funds back to me very quickly. The whole process took less time than Lloyds TSB have taken to send me my duplicate statements! One final point - use the US customer service numbers, the staff seem much more effective than the (Eire based) UK ones.

Interestingly, I got 6 years worth of statements off barclays with no charge. They were the quickest of 6 requests I made.

The interest incurred takes account of the difference between the two amounts - and interest is legal. 1p or £100,000, the letter, stamp etc still cost the same. I recon a pound per letter but maybe allow the banks to send out these 'reminders' at a set frequency.

Thanks again N. If anyone is interested, have found a tool to create daily interest rates at http://www.mw-plus.com/dic.html I'm creating a spreadsheet to work out what HSBC owe me - if anyone is interested, email me at bankcharges at snorkerz dot com

Thanks Natalie - have any of the banks accepted your calculation?

I am looking at submitting a claim to HSBC (though I guess it's the same for all banks) and I have noticed that they are currently charging me 25% interest on unauthorised overdrafts - and often my account has been overdrawn because of the fees. My account has been both in credit and debit since it opened about 3 years ago, which makes a simple calculation of 'interest charged on illegal charges' very difficult. I guess one could then look at interest charged on the interest ad-infinitum - but that would be silly. Has anyone come up with an easy-ish way to work out this interest? If not - can anyone confirm that a daily interest rate would = the published interest rate / 365?