As in my post above, Experian say it is only 36 months. Also read the same on another site recently.

Sorry if this has been aired before but I have just noticed on the CreditExpert website Credit rating myths | Articles | CreditExpert Newsletter Spring 2007 - CreditExpert from Experian® Missed repayments stay on your credit report for 36 months, a court judgment is there for six years. A discharged bankruptcy stays on record for at least six years but a bankruptcy restrictions order is there for as long as 15 years. I thought that CRAs were holding "missed repayments" (is this same as default), for six years.

Have just received A&L's Acknowledgement of Service to my claim filed with County Court. Interestingly, they enclosed another letter from their Litigation Team informing me that some of my claim is over the 6 year limit (which I was well aware of when I filed this claim). This claim actually goes back to March 2000. However, the interesting part of this lettter is the last sentence. "Therefore only costs incurred from 23rd Of January 2001 are potentially recoverable". Am I reading this correctly??? Are they admitting that these costs are potentially recoverable???

I am dealing with RMA (Risk Management Alternatives) which is "part of the NCO group of companies". Also calling up daily. They have my Amex debt.

So if this is correct then your default, for one debt, will be on file for longer than 6 years. I thought that there was a legal time limit. Theoretically you could have a default on file for ever (if the debt is sold and re-sold, etc).

Fabulous idea Nattie. Will work on this immediately. Thanks.

Thanks for that Nattie. However, I don't think that this can be right. The business account is in the name of a fully registered Private Limited Company. In law this is a totally independent entity. A bank cannot just remove funds, without permission, from your employers account and pay direct debits owed on your personal current account. I would like some advice.

Hi geek, I think that the £10 charges ARE penalty charges and claimable. Reason being the bank have charged you for unauthorised overdraft yet also charged you higher interest rate on that unauthorised borrowing. I believe that the £10 is a penalty charge. Yes what you are doing, by leaving off the £5 is the safest way and likely to bring you a less complicated payout.

Hi Geek, I have looked at my statements for the period 2000-2001 and on the back they show that authorised o/d charge (possibly legitimate) was £8 p/m. The £10 p/m was for unauthorised borrowing and is a penalty charge. Therefore if they were charging you £10 during this period then they were most likely penalty charges. My statments after that period show that the authorised charge was still £5 and the unauthorised penalty charge was £25. Regarding can you claim/can't you claim there seems to be two schools of thought here. 1) Claim only those charges that are clearly penalty charges, ie when you go into unauthorised overdraft, returned cheques etc. This is the option I personaly chose. 2) Claim ALL charges shown on the statements and let the bank come back to you and tell you you are wrong. Now, most claims are settled before court stage so this could be a good option as the banks may just pay up the figure you have quoted. However, you should always plan that your case could reach the court and if your claim is shown to be wrong in its detail you could risk loosing the whole claim. The choice, as always, is yours.

Hi Nick, I had the same question regarding the £5 p/m charge. Was told that this was a legitimate charge for your agreed overdraft facility. I left this out of my claim.

I believe you have the Wicked Witch over the proverbial barrel. The only way thay can now extract themselves from this is with your cooperation. In my book that costs big bucks.....

Fan bloody tastic Great job, well done....

Just received second letter from A&L. Usual thing, "charges are correct and inline with T's & C's"....... unable to refund......and a new one on me, "you can avoid further charges if you behave better" (well not verbatim but that is what they are saying). They are quick in responding to our letters, lets see how quickly they respond to N1 being lodged in County Court.

Hi cartoonhead, You do not need to send statements or copies of them with the LBA or when/if you file N1 with the court. All that is needed is a list of charges you are claiming back. There is a spreadsheet for this on this site which should be self explanatory. It is your account and if you wish to make an offer then go ahead. However, I wouldn't and I don't believe anyone else on this site would advise you to. In my experience if the claim is below £1,000 then it may possibly be settled after one or two letters. You may get a first offer of around 50% but again most, if not all, would stand firm for the whole amount (it is after all your money they are holding).

Hello all, Can anyone help with the questions above?????