Congratulations Tim, that's fantastic news. :-) Ooh, how I'd love to be a fly on the wall in Abbey's office !

Abbi10 I think you'll find that Abbey now let you know about the charges they are going to make at the bottom of your statement, e.g. "Why we are charging you: on 10 April 2006 you exceeded your overdraft by £1.50 The charge for this is £35.00. This charge will be deducted from your account on 10th May 2006" It's hardly noticeable unless you particularly look for it. Janey

OK, looks like i'm going to have to file a claim now. Oooh, I feel sick On Saturday, I received the standard letter from Abbey in response to my LBA, i.e. thanks for your letter, charges are lawful, reviewed your account and can see it's not your first time you have incurred charges (patronising sods), should have raised the matter at the time of the charges (I did, was told "tough, push off"), in fact I've seen word-for-word copies of this letter on other people's threads. So now I'm going to lodge my claim with the court. I'm going to wait until Wednesday because, according to Abbey, they are going to relieve me of a further £50 from my account for a transgression of £1.97 and I want to include that in my claim. In total covering both my accounts, there are 38 charges in the last six years. Which is the best way to submit the claim? Moneyclaim online or the N1 form (my "local" county court I think, is Nottingham, approx. 30 miles) ? Is the cost for these two methods different? Sorry about all the questions but I don't want to get it wrong.

Well done Rayo, I'm 4 days behind you so I've got some idea of how you must be feeling. I'll let you know for sure on Tuesday If the recent success stories on here are anything to go by, we'll cope! Hopefully, you can just sit back and relax now and wait till your money comes back Good luck

Nikki, Try not to get too upset chick. Everyone is here for you and we really feel for you. You've got to stop thinking that Abbey are these kindly people who will listen to your problems with a sympathetic ear - they are not going to do you any favours, they don't give two hoots that you have a kiddie that needs food and clothes - all you are to them is a source of revenue. You've had some good advice re. putting your money into another account so they can't get their grubby [small edit] mits on it. Just remember, when this is all over and you've got your money back, you can put this behind you and start with a clean sheet and the money going into your account (not an Abbey one I assume) will be all yours. Chin up poppet Janey

Well done Neil, your news is just as faaabulous as Wizzys'. You're both an inspiration - it takes real guts to go up against a huge organisation in this way. I hope to God mine doesn't go as far as yours both did 'cos I'm sure I won't be able to go the distance. I'm sooooo pleased for you. I wish I could send a hug over 'tinternet' Janey

Wizzy, congratulations, that's absolutely FAAAANTAAAAASTIC !!!!!!! Phew, I can breath now. I'v got to say that you journey with this has been gripping and such an inspiration to everyone else. I'm so pleased for you I could cry !! Well done sweetie, God knows, you deserve it.

You can send a registered letter to a PO Box, also Recorded Signed For letters. I sent my LBA to Abbey at Milton Keynes who use a PO Box number and this is the biggest office Abbey have in the UK. Janey

Kimmie, All the help you need is in the FAQ, you just have to take your time and read everything, over and over if necessary (I know I did ). The step-by-step guide http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=243 is a good place to start. It seems daunting at first but if you take time to read the threads (usually the best way is to choose the forum that relates to your particular bank so you can see that other people are receiving the same info./letters as you and this is very reassuring). There's loads of help out there and you'll soon get a grasp of it and the folks on here are fantastic and fall over themselves to help you. Good luck Janey

I thought last nights programme was fab. Well done to you guys who appeared - you showed that "normal" people can stand up to these huge companies and win. I think you all looked great and you got the message across in an articulate and positive way. Well done Janey

Just sent myself an e-mail home to remind me to watch Martin Lewis on Tonight with Trevor McDonald at 8 o'clock where the programme is dedicated to unfair bank charges. Compulsive viewing for us don't you think Janey

Thanks cillitbanger, fingers crossed ;-)

What if Abbey pay up and it doesn't actually go to court though ?

Hi guys, I sent my LBA to Abbey on 30 May, 1st class recorded delivery and, although not able to track actual receipt until Wednesday because, apparently, they have bulk deliveries at Milton Keynes and just give one signature for the whole delivery (!), I have been advised by Royal Mail that the letter WILL have been received. However, my dilemma is that on Saturday, I received my statement and have seen that they intend to charge me £20.00 on 14th June for "unauthorised overdraft" and £30.00 for a cleared Visa payment. Apart from the fact that I wouldn't have incurred these charges if they had simply refused the Visa payment instead of letting it go through (took me £1.07 over my limit) obviously these charges have not been included in my request for refund of charges in my LBA. What should I do? Assuming Abbey cough up the figure given in my letter, do I then start all over again for this £50, do I send another LBA superceding the first one or do I just write these latest charges off ? I have today contacted them requesting that they do not go ahead with charges but was informed that they can only refund one lot of charges in a 12 month period, and as they have already done this once, I can whistle for any more :_(

Thanks Natalie, I checked again this morning and it still says no confirmation of delivery received. I called the post office where I sent the letter from and he says that Royal Mail say you should wait 15 days!!! - for 1st class mail !! Stuff that ! - I'll re-send on Monday as you suggest and then I'm going to sue the Post Office for my pound back ;-) Janey

Hi guys, I sent my LBA to Abbey by 1st class recorded delivery on 30th May but, according the Royal Mail website track and trace, it says "your parcel is being processed but we have not had confirmation of delivery". Should I just wait a couple more days or should I send another copy in case this one has gone astray ? Janey

Congratulations vixtrix, nice one! Janeyh

Thanks Jayne, I'll keep you posted. Also good luck to you.

Just want to wish you good luck for tomorrow Neil. I'll be thinking of you, as I'm sure will everyone else on here. Go get 'em boy! Janeyh

I assume Rayo must know how much his charges are without having to request copy statements and wait 40 days. He sent the Preliminary Letter, they said they will "investigate" and contact him in 4 weeks (he got the standard letter that everyone else got) and he is sticking to the suggested timetable and sending his Letter Before Action 14 days after his Prelim. Janey

Thanks Alan, Will do.

I am just about to prepare my Letter Before Action using the suggested templates and have noticed that this letter is almost exactly the same as the Preliminary Approach letter. Is it OK to use this letter as it is more or less repeating what I said in my first letter to them, or should I modify it by omitting the paragraphs about level of fees being unlawful, terms of contract, calculated fees etc. and just use the bits about requiring full repayment or else I'll sue etc. Grateful for your advice Thanks Janeyh

Hi guys, Well, the original 14 days expires today and since the "sorry you are unhappy" letter arrived last week, no further correspondence. So, off I trot to the Post Office with my Letter Before Action in my hot little hand. It's nice to know that there are a few of us at the same stage - we'll be able to compare notes and I'll bet you we all get exactly the same from Abbey. Janeyh

Hi guys, I sent off my preliminary approach letter to Abby on 16th May giving them 14 days to respond. Yesterday I received their reply and, from reading posts on here, it's the standard "sorry you have a complaint ...." letter. Here is a copy of their letter: "Dear Mrs. *** Thank you for contacting us and I am sorry that you have been so unhappy that you have felt you must complain. One of my team will be responsible for investigating your complaint and I have enclosed our Complaints leaflet whch explains our procedure for doing this. High quality customer service is of great importance to us at Abbey and we will do everything we can to resolve your complaint in a timely and satisfactory manner. I know it is important to you that we resolve your complaint quickly, but we want to do a thorough investigation and sometimes which can take time. If we have not contacted you before then, we will write to you in four weeks to let you knwo what is happening. Although I do not know what the outcome will be, I do hope that we will be able to find a solution that you are happy with. Yours sincerely Marc Winder Head of Complaints" The "Complaints leaflet" is one badly photocopied sheet giving addresses of where to complain to and "in the unlikely event that you are still unhappy" details of how to contact the Financial Ombudsman. What should I do now? Do I wait to hear from them (in four weeks if not before) or do I just now send them the Letter Before Action ? Just one more question, the letter I received came from a different address to the one where I sent my prelim. request. Do I send the LBA to the original address (head office in Trident Square, London) or to the address their response came from (Complaints at Milton Keynes)? Thanks in advance Janey

Just seen on my statement that GrAbbey have charged me £35 for an unpaid DD. On 10 April, a DD for £30.45 was "not paid due to insufficient funds" (shown as debit on by statement). On 11 April, I received a letter from the company owed the DD saying they could not collect (and charging me me £20) so I transferred £50 for when they re-applied which would cover the deficit with plenty to spare. On 14 April, Abbey charged £20 for an unauthorised OD (although I didn't go over then as they didn't pay it !) plus £30 for clearing a DD whilst overdrawn. I called them on 19 April and "as a gesture of goodwill..... blah, blah" they refunded the charges. Thought that was the end of the matter. Then, on 15th May, my statement has an entry £35.00 charge for unpaid DD !! I called them this morning asking what this charge was for and they said it related to the incident in April when they did eventually pay the DD and could not refund this charge as they had already done this once this year! I asked why did they not just refuse the DD so that I wasn't charged by them and she said that, as a third party to the DD agreement and as it took me only £2.00 over my OD, they did this so as not to cause me embarassment by having a DD refused, a strange statement in itself because it's not as if the payee did not know my DD not been honoured 'cos they wrote to me about it. I said "I'm sure you are aware of the current interest in bank charges and that I assume she realises they are unlawful" she said, "Yes of course but Abbey are transparent about their charges and I am aware that they apply them. She is sending me a leaflet with a reference number telling me how I can escalate my complaint if I am still unhappy. I said I already know how to do this and I hope she wasn't going to charge me another £35 to send me this letter. She said "of course not!". The most annoying thing is I sent off my Preliminary Approach letter on Monday so this charge was not included in my request for repayment. Doh! (edit)