Thanks for that, Dave - just gone through the Moneyclaim online process and it seems OK but I have two questions before I press the button. I'm after the return of £2,538 - the default court fee shown on the final screen is £30. When I keyed in £2,538 and then pressed "recalculate" it went up to £120.00, with a total of £2,658. Presumably this only becomes payable if the thing goes to court, or do I have to pay this up-front? At the moment that would be, frankly, impossible. Also I've been wavering over the interest issue - wasn't sure whether to bother or not, and found the Excel spreadsheet really complicated - not sure how I'd go about working this out. Is it as complicated as it appears or am I just panicking and convincing myself it's not worth bothering?

Hi all - been so busy with work that I've let my timescale slip slightly. I've received no response whatever to my last letter to Halifax, in which I said I'd accept their £500 as a partial settlement but would proceed with my claim for the full amount, and it's now over 14 days. Where do I go from here - is it to start the small claims court action? Guidance appreciated here! Thanks.

I sent off my original letter having received my duplicate statements and worked out what they'd taken off me over the last 6 years. I was then away for a week (last week) and came back to two letters - the first said thanks for your letter, sorry to hear your concerns, usual crapola about their charges, and that they'd get back to me within 4 weeks. Also in the pile of post that had collected last week was the letter saying much the same as before but offering £500 as a goodwill gesture in full and final settlement. I'm probably wrong but the LBA letter seems to be the one to use if you haven't had a response; I had a response, it just wasn't what I'm looking for (£500 instead of £2,538), so my feeling is that I'm going to write back and say I'll accept the £500 as a partial settlement but I'm still looking for them to pay me £2,038 and if I don't hear from them within 14 days I'll start proceedings in the small claims court. At least, that's the gist of it, I'll use the form of words that the fine folk who've started this ball rolling on this forum have put together. Hope that helps - I'd like to get this out of the way as I'm also thinking of going after NatWest with whom I'd banked for about 30 years until we parted company a while back. After their takeover by RBS I got a particularly shoddy standard of customer care from them. But that's a different story for a different thread. Good luck. And yes, I'll be donating to the forum once I've got some cash out of Halifax - seems only fair to put something back.

Hi - I just want to make absolutely sure that I'm about to do the right thing as my next step. I've had a letter from the Halifax in which they've offered £500 as a full and final settlement - the LBA letter introduction suggests that this is the letter to use if they haven't replied - but they have. I'm not totally clear about what I should be doing next. My inclination was to write back to the person who wrote to me from the Halifax and say that I'll accept their offer only as a partial settlement and that I'm looking for full settlement. Obviously I don't want to cock it up at the second fence and neither do I want to settle for a fifth of what they owe me. I'd appreciate some guidance here folks. Thanks in advance.

Hi all - I've been away for a week and came back to a letter from Halifax saying that they'd received my letter and that they'd definitely get back to me within 4 weeks. There was a second letter too, which said the usual stuff about my need to ensure that I had enough money in the account yadda yadda and that as a goodwill gesture (where have I seen that phrase before?) they'd be prepared to refund £500 of my charges (the total I'm chasing is £2,530) in full and final settlement. Am about to send a further letter suggesting that they come up with an offer for the full amount (in the politest way, of course). Will post again when they respond to that one - if what I've seen on the forum so far happens in this case they'll up the offer slightly, but still fight shy of offering the full amount.

Thanks - yes, have used the preliminary approach for repayment letter. If I give the impression that I know what I'm doing that's reassuring - I'm just making the best use of the experience and guidance of others on here who've already been down this road.

Hi all - I've had my duplicate statements back from the Halifax (responded really quickly, I have to say) and have discovered that over a 3 year period they've had £2,538 off me in charges. The interest calculation route seems far too complicated so I'm just going for a repayment of the above and will be sending off the letter together with a breakdown of these charges tomorrow. Be interesting to see what happens with this - advice/support appreciated as appropriate, will keep you all posted. Good luck to everyone else going through this procedure!

Hi all - I'm also on the trail of Halifax, who so far have been prompt in responding to my initial letter and providing me with 149 duplicate statements stretching back to early 2001. Be interesting to see if they are as quick off the mark when it comes to the next stage - good luck to you all, whoever you're pursuing for a refund!