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?????

I couldn't put it better myself. Exactly how I felt. Well done....

Need some advice. Both my business (private limited company) and personal accounts are held by the same bank. Last year the bank made two transfers out of my business account (without any authority) and put the money into my personal account to pay DD’s. When I noticed this I complained and they transferred the money back into the business account. This left my personal account overdrawn. I put money into my personal account to cover the payments and this should have left my account with a positive balance. I never used this account again but charges and interest on these charges ran up to a total of £1,350.00. Because I refused to pay off these charges the bank have closed my account and recorded a default. I am already past the AQ stage with getting these and all other charges back (total with 8% interest is around $4,500). Question: Is removing money from a Limited Company without permission of the directors of the company, a) illegal b) unlawful c) against banking code or directives? Question: Can I include the removal of default in my case at this late stage. Does the court have power to order removal of default notice?

Best of luck for tomorrow Super-hero. Don't worry, no more stories from me, promise.

Do you think that this could be why I am so much trouble with all the bank accounts and credit cards I have. i.e. Insufficient funds.

With one foul swoop of his trusty sword of litigation, the Cobbettslayer sliced off the right arm of the wicked witch of the NatWest. With money haemorrhaging from the near fatal wound, the Cobbettslayer took one step back to survey his neat yet fearless handiwork. With the assembled audience of lesser mortals baying for the death of the wicked witch and the almost certain end of her evil and greedy regime our superhero thought for what seemed a lifetime but in reality was just one nanosecond. Should he stay in the arena and finish off this evil monster or should he go home and have another cup of tea and a bun. Great news. Great result. Great story. Is that Hollywood on the phone???

Juat a quick update. Sent prelim application for payment letter on 8th and today received their stock reply (charges are reasonable....OFT referring to to late payments for credit cards only....yardy, yardy, yardy....). I must say that A&L are responding much quicker than NatWest did. Sent letter before action letter. Now wait for their second stock reply and off to the courts we jolly well go.

Thanks for the advice Sid. I sent my sons claim off today with exactly the same information. I removed the charges for authorised overdraft. Still left a tidy sum of £1,115 (without interest). Something my son never expected to see again. We WILL win.

Did you hear that???? Must be lard ass singing the last waltz. Go get her.....

Suziyh, Many thanks for your input. I also thought that this was reasonable but what exactly is reasonable when dealing with banks. I will take the same line as you and be very happy (or my son will as he had not expected anything anyway).