Spoke to a weird sounding woman...very smarmy ewwwwwwwwww. She took my number to call me back What sort of accent did she have?

Here's hoping!

Can anybody remember how many views Whizzkid got for his thread? I'm going for 10,000 plus.

That's brilliant. Thanks GMIB

Well, I spoke to Christine yesterday. Abbey are still being as awkward as they can. They cannot transfer funds straight to my account because of admin procedures. The cheque was aked for by DLA when they were still dealing with the case and it takes about 10 days!!!!!! They refuse to remove the charges they have added on to my account since the claim against them was filed. They will only refund what I asked for in my claim. Therefore I am going to have to go through the whole procedure again for £401 added on since April. I really feel like refusing their offer and seeing them in court but I know the judge would not appreciate this.

Thanks Jonesey. I appreciate it.

Received a reply this morning informing me Abbey is now dealing with my case and to phone 1 of 2 numbers if I had any queries. Phoned and was told the guy at the other end (American or Canadian) was on gardening leave and would I phone a different number. Did so and the very breathless lady informed me she was out of the office and it was ..... wait for it..........."Wednesday 23rd August" but if I left a message shewould get back to me ASAP!!!! (Another north American accent)! Phoned the other number given to me by DLA and got through to a lovely lady (North American again) who asked me to forward my E-mails etc and the offer letter. I informed her of my conditions and the Friday 4pm deadline, and she seemed to acknowledge my request in quite a positive way. Particularly when I asked her to take back the charges put on my account since I filed my claim. I pointed out that if this was not done then I would have to go back through the whole process agin to recover these extra charges. She agreed. Here's hoping!

GMIB - I haven't considered my response yet, not until I have the readies. I was one of the first to complain to the IC, back in May so I'll be using all the evidence I sent to them. I first made my SAR on 30th March so Abbey don't have a leg to stand on. Just think of all my time, my paper, my ink, my anxiety, my depression my...... Oh well I think you get the picture.

Me neither. This must be one of the longest ever. And don't forget.... much of this was estimated and I still haven't received more than the original 15 months worth of statements. They may owe me aa lot more when I pursue them for the DPA.

As they still seem to be delaying, I have sent the following E-mail: Thank you for that. However you will see that the figures are inaccurate as further charges hve been added and interest increased since my original claim I attach the spreadsheet with the relevant figures. Also, I do not want this money paid into my Abbey account - one to which I no longer have access. I will provide details of my bank account and would think a BACS type payment could be arranged. On the matter of a change in solicitors, I have been reliably informed that it is the Abbey legal department which has taken over the case loads and therefore I believe this should expedite matters rather than delay them. Therefore, my condition of a deadline at 4pm Friday still stands. Can't wait for the reply.

I'll wait till I've got it. Too many false starts on this one! :lol:

Hi all The moment I've been waiting for (apart from the money actually being in my account): Received he following E-mail: Dear Ms N XXXXX I'm sorry I have been unable to respond to your email of 11 October 2006 sooner. As you may already be aware, Abbey National plc has decided to use another firm of solicitors for the conduct of their Bank Charge Litigation. As such, all ongoing cases - including yours - will be transferred to the new firm. Abbey is willing to settle you claim in full, and in order to avoid any unnecessary delay they have asked me to relay this to you. Please see a letter attached, which will follow in the post tonight. I have also written to the court informing them of Abbey's intention to settle and that we will not therefore be submitting an evidence bundle by Monday 23 October. You should understand that due to Abbey's administrative processes, your request that "full settlement plus all costs, needs to be cleared into my new bank account (not Abbey) by 4pm. on Friday 20th October" is not feasible. Every effort will be made to get the settlement to you as soon as possible, but given the change in representation, there will be some delay. If you have any further queries, please contact Abbey National directly: Abbey National PLC Abbey National House 2 Triton Square Regent's Place London NW1 3AN Tel: 020 7756 4398 or 020 7756 4306 Kind regards etc etc No letter attached though!

Yes I did. Thanks ever so much as usual. :)

Headline was: Banks to be probed on illegal charges

BANKS are being investigated for violating the rights of customers by stalling claims for refunds of overdraftcharges. Money Mail readers have told how High Street banks quote phoney legislation endlessly send forms,fob them off with excuses and then spend more than a month dealing with requests for details of charges dating back up to six years. You do not need your statements - your bank can print out details of the charges you’ve incurred. It can charge you for doing this, but the cost should be minimal The law states that you can only reasonably expect to recover charges dating back six years. And now the Information Commissioner, Who is charged by Government with Upholding the Data Protection Act has launched a probe to discover whether banks have breached customers’ rights. Over the past year, thousands of bank customers have recovered an estimated £10 million of unauthorised overdraft fees by threatening to take their bank to court for making illegal charges. These charges can be up to £39 for accidentally going overdrawn, then having payments bounced or authorised when they are in the red. But the law says that charges should reflect only the cost of dealing with these transactions — which often means just sending a letter out to the customer Many bank customers do not keep their statements for more than a few months. Even most internet banking does not allow you to see years of statements, so those wanting to reclaim charges need to get this information from their bank. Statements on their Own are not Covered by the Data Protection Act 1998. Banks know this and so can delay and charge as much as theylike. However the details of your charges and transactions are covered by the Act, so you are within your rights to demand to know more about them. Customers who do not ask specifically for details of charges incurred for going overdrawn are just fobbed off. Even when customers do quote the Act, some banks claim that they do not have information on charges filed in a way that can be recovered for the customer. Readers have told how Abbey, in particular, has replied to requests for charges by saying that old state- ments are kept on microfiche and so are not easily recoverable. It offers to print off these statements for around £10. Marc Gander, from campaigning website ConsumerActionGroup.co.uk says that this shows that the bank is failing to comply with the Data Protection request. He says: ‘You should write back to them and reiterate that what you want is not the statements, but the charges. State again that you are entitled to these under the law.’ After receiving customer complaints, the Information Commissioner is investigating whether the banks are allowed to do this. It will make a decision this week, A spokesman for Abbey says: ‘We had an informal discussion with the Information Commissioner earlier this year and were told that our filing system did not come under the Data Protection Act. Now it appears it may have changed its mind,’ J Coney Sorry, it was Wednesday's Mail.

It was about bank charges being unlawfull and Abbey were specifically mentioned as being awkward with their customers. I'll try and scan it or find a link.

Sorry Karne - Page 15 of what? I'm not even going to think of putting the bundle together until Wednesday as I'm expecting a better offer by then. Did anyone see the article in Thursday's Daily Mail? :) LOOKING GOOD! :)

Reply of sorts - how convenient for DLA but inconvenient for me: Am out of the office today until Monday 16th October and will deal with all messages on my return. If however the matter is urgent, please speak to my secretary XXXXXXXX on 0113 369 2201. Kind regards XXXXX Is there a time limit for DLA telling us they are not dealing with Abbey's cases any longer? I do hope so.

I've now sent an E-mail to DLA - as I haven't had official word of any solicitor change. I informed them I required full settlement plus all costs, in the form of cleared funds into my new bank account by Friday 20th October at 4.00pm. If not, I will see them in court. I also told them I would prefer a banker's draft. It's taken so long to get this far, I am rather looking forward to my day in court.

No they don't as far as I know. I asked DLA for a copy of their AQ but it has not been forthcoming. More ammunition and evidence of their uncooperation.:-|

Sorry Lula. LGIL????

The following is a copy of the judge's directions: On Monday, 18th September 2006 the papers in this claim were considered by District Judge XXXXXXXXX who allocated the Claim to the Small Claims Track to be heard at XXXXXX on a date and at a time to be notified to you (29th January 2007) with a time estimate of three hours The following directions apply to this claim: 1) Each party shall deliver to every other party and to the court office copies of all documents and Skeleton Arguments (including experts’ reports if the Court has given permission for expert evidence to be used) on which he intends to rely at the hearing. 2) The copies shall be delivered by 4pm on Monday, 23rd October 2006. 3) The original documents shall be brought to the hearing. 4) Signed statements setting out the evidence of all witnesses (including expert witnesses if permission has been given to use them) on whom each party intends to rely shall be prepared and copies included in the documents mentioned in paragraph 1. This includes the evidence of the parties themselves and of any other witnesses whether or not the witnesses are going to come to court to give evidence. 5) The court must be informed immediately if the case is settled by agreement before the hearing date. 18th September 2006 District Judge XXXXXXX 6QZ34722 I think this means there should be a better offer by 4pm on the 23rd.

Update - Court date 29th January 2007 !!!!!! Abbey solicitors (still DLA as I have not been notified officially of any change) have till 4.30pm on 23rd October to provide all the information.

Sent an E-mail refusing the 50% offer at 4.05pm. Received a reply at 4.23pm stating: We note your decision to decline the without prejudice offer made in our letter dated 27 September 2006. We will no doubt be in further touch with each other once directions have been given by the court and a hearing date has been listed. Yours sincerely Working on Sundays, eh? It must be all the work generated from this site!

Not an expert but I'll give you all the help I can. Thanks for the good wishes. It's what keeps a lot of us going.