John, It's your money. Don't let them bully you and look at the results everyone has had on here. Eventually they do capitulate. Look through the FAQ's and use the templates in the library but follow the correct line of process. Go for it.

Result. Enjoy

Perhaps they use this way of processing transactions to generate as much as they can in 'charges'. That way they can restrict what you can withdraw, then tell you you were overdrawn after bouncing a few payments and earn more cash for themselves. Or am I being cynical ;-) Anyways, that was before the tidal wave of claims that everyone is filing from here. Like you say, more for you to get back eventually. Also know what you mean re: secure messages. Some sent to me disappeared after I had read them when I had questioned charges to my account!!!

Hiya Jacksy, I had same problem as you with that 'card misuse' line. I told them that there was money in the account when I used my card to buy a mobile phone but they said that it depends when the store processes the payment (could be a few days later). As this was after a variable DD went from my account and before a cheque payment had cleared, I was then overdrawn. It's like rubbing salt in the wound as you have to pay charges for the retailers who can't be ar**ed to process transactions promptly. Grrrrr

Can anyone give us any advice? I had a loan with Barclays when I got into some financial troubles in early 90's and to prevent any leagal action on their part was advised by a solicitor to accept their offer to attach the debt to my property. Me and my wife signed this off in 1992 for approx £5,200. We than had no communication from Barclays until I tried to re-mortgage in 2003 and at which point I had to ring round about 6 different departments before they found out they did actually have this charge on my property. Have now paid them off last month but does anyone think it would be possible to contact them again and request details of the charges, etc and go after them for this. The other issue would be that if I did not receive any communication from Barclays for over 11 years, and made no payment to them over this time, can they still take the money. May be an obvious answer but want to make sure just in case.

Hiya Dave, Jacksy, Keep on at them. It took me a few weeks of phone calls (about 2 per week) before one where they said something along the lines of, 'don't want to jump the gun but looks like a credit of £2,500 will be made to your account in the next few days. It just needs confirming by a manager'. I asked them who and requested they contacted me the next day to confirm. Went on Smile website next day and there the money was! Result.

Hiya zara, I didn't need a parachute account. Just took the gamble and I still have all facilities with them after refund of charges. Keep pushing with phone calls. Need to make clear your intentions and show you are not afraid to take it all the way. Don't bother with secure messages and soon they will tell you you have an 'adjusted commission' credit due on your account. stay positive. sunseeker

Bookworm, Given your success rate at present should be like shooting fish in a barrel Do you fancy gettin the baliffs in like Mondeo!!

Hiya, Bankrupcy does seem a much easier route now but I was declared bankrupt in 1993 for approx £11k to HM Customs & Excise. Just paid this off last month by remortgaging house and had to pay £50k including interest and trustee fees and solicitors fees. Whilst a lot of money, it now means my house is now my own, I don't have this hanging over me any more and am nowhere near as stressed. As seminole has said, could be an option for him if zero or minimal assets as then they can't take anything he may be able to come out of this in a year or two with no debt. Collecting all the debt up and getting rid of it via bankruptcy may help in the short term as long as you can live without credit though it is tough to begin with. Good luck with whatever you decide and there'll always be people willing to help and give advice here if you need it

Hiya maggie, I was like yourself, a bit apprehensive at first but took the plunge and followed the excellent advice from the forum and established members. Started one step at a time, first with my bank and then one of my credit card suppliers. Got over £2,500 back from the bank before even getting my list of charges and what a feeling that was. I've still got my account with them, and my £500 'fee free' O/draft, plus a loan of £4k and not heard a peep out of them since then. This gave me encouragement to start County Court procedings against Citi and have just had them write off my outstanding balance of nearly £700. £3,200 not bad for a few phone calls, letters and an £80 court fee. Seeing that's 2 out of 2, have gone for my old mortgage supplier and the other credit card suppliers for me and my wife. When dealing with these people, get all your info to hand and do not let them bully or scare you off. That's their tactics. Decide how you want any conversation to go and try and keep control of them. Good luck when you go for it. Though you don't need luck, you got the law on your side. Look at the total reclaimed back of over £300k for the 400 or so members. sunseeker.

Cheers Alan, Have just drafted up letter now but will include request for redemption costs. I was lucky to get my mortgage changed last month as the redemption statements went up to £150 from May 1st!!!

Has anyone had any success with mortgage charges and what charges would you consider to include within a claim. I am about to take on my previous mortgage company as I know they have charged me for being in arrears and late payments. I also want to claim for the Redemption Statement charges applied as these are £130 for each statement (I've had three in recent years due to my situation) which can be produced within a day or two. I honestly can't see how this is a fair and reasonable charge!! Cheers.

Well...after starting my court action and with 2 days before going for a default judgement, I got letter from Citi solicitor saying that as my claim is roughly the same as my outstanding balance 'it would be far easier to simply write off the existing balance on your account and bring matters to a conclusion that way'. So will give them a ring on Monday, accept the £693.71 and close that one off. 2 down, 5 to go. sinseeker

Hi xxdidiexx, Received exactly the same letter as you first posted. Just go for the jugular. That's what I'm doing though have just had to pay £95 to prevent going to default with Citi Cards tomorrow after submitting 14 DBA. Give em as much grief as you can as said by above posts. Do the 14 day before action, as harsh as you want, then hit em. I'm going to submit court papers on Friday so will keep you up to date as to how they react sunseeker

Spiceskull Cheers mate. will keep everyone informed as to how it goes in the future. Been out buying holiday clothes today.

Don't know at present. They havn't sent any details of the charges even though I requested these on 15.02.06! Will calculate what I should be owed when I get them then any shortfall will be requested again from then. In the meantime, something is better than nothing

Well, looked at current account this morning and have an entry titled 'Adj. Commission' with a credit value of £2,522 next to it. Guess who's going for 2 weeks all inclusive to Sharm el Sheik coutesy of Smile!! Result

As previous with 'fuzzy' pics but looks cool, straight to the point, not to fussy with colours, graphics etc. and main page fits pretty much within the screen size. Looking forward to logging on next week.....but leave some time to enjoy weekend Dave

Bookworm Just thought that at least there is some give from Smile given some of the recent posts....probably more than others and that the option of requesting reasonably without threats may make them less likely to dig their heels in. I know that if my £2k plus is only part settlement then I'm still going to go for the full amount ;-) I suppose each case on it's individual merits but can understand the hard tactics if neccessary (see my CitiCard post).

Received a letter today stating that they cannot help me and believe their charges are 'fair, transparent and lawful' Also received a default notice in the same post requesting £94.54 in outstanding arrears before 20th April. Questioned this as £575 of the balance of approx £700 is charges and said I could make payment on 25th April. They refused this point blank and stated they will sell the account on to a third party to collect the sums due. Said I would be statring legal action against them and got a very arrogant 'OK!' How should I proceed with the county court action I will now take on 25th April. Will the defendant be Citi Cards or the unknown third party, am a bit confused!

I would personnaly leave out the final paragraph if it were me. At least you got some of it back before having to resort to 'letter before action' and the threat of court action should be enough for now. Can always use the threat later if they don't comply or once judgement is made against them.

Hi beercan Don't bother messaging them. I sent DPA request letter first, they sent secure message stating receipt then they deleted this message. As you know the amount, send letter before action giving them 14 days to credit the said amount to your account. If no action fothcoming, go for them through the county court. I would probably phone them 7 days after sending letter to request what they are doing about it and do they realise they have 7 days before you commence legal action. That said, I have regularly sent secure messages and contacted them by phone. They will mention that they go on this website and that the charges are in the T&Cs. I just said that I wasn't questioning the charges as such, it was the level of the charges. I said £3 seemed reasonable to me, not £25 per e-mail! Called them again today and have had a refund confirmed by them of over £2,000. Just needs to be authorised by a Senior Manager then value will be credited to my account. Keep at it, don't let them keep putting you off and be firm but fair in all communication with them. It's your money, they know that, and eventually you will get it back. all the best.

Could have a result on the cards. Called up today to request info on what was happening re: supply of details of charges and was informed by gentleman that a refund of over £2,000 was detailed in my account notes and just needed authorisation from Senior Manager as being delt with by another department. However, I did ask that if this was to be credited to my account, then I would also need confirmation that this was the total of all charges applied to my account over the previous 6 years. Unsure when this will hit my account but will let everyone know when it does. sunseeker.

Good luck Stephen. I'm unable to get there as in meetings all day but will keep checking on here for any updates. Let 'em have it. sunseeker

Hi DaveJ, I sent a request using the template to Smile on 16.02.06 and after receiving no data rang them on 12.03.06. The Managed Account Dept siad they would look into it and I received a secure message stating that they had received my complaint and would be looking into it. I rang again, stating that my letter was not a complaint but a request for data. They stated that it was being classed as a complaint and so they only need to respond in 40 working days on the complaint. Dependent on what their view was on that, they would then have a further 40 days to comply with DPA! Then got a letter on 31.03.06 stating that they had now reviewed my complaint and would be forwarding the data within 40 days.........that is 40 days 31.03.06!!!!! Have printed all secure e-mails off incase they are in breach of DPA and also to show judge of their un co-operativeness. Seems they are trying to stall as much as possible but once I get the info, they'll get 14 days before I start the court action