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I had a phone call from the Halifax today. (We had very serious financial difficulties from October 2005 up to re-mortgaging our house in early January 2006). I kept very calm when I spoke to the woman and she started off by offering me all January's charges back (our total charges are about £800 and this represented about £100). I held out and she then went on to offer December and January (about £400 of charges). At this point I nearly caved in (WHAT WAS I THINKING?) but then she asked if I was willing to accept reimbursement of last 6 months! I accepted (hey, I'm only human) and she is going to send me a letter of 'full and final settlement'. I was very reasonable with her and stressed that I didn't have a problem with them charging me SOME interest on overdraft but that these charges were way over the top. I wish you all the best of luck and happy outcomes. Hang on in there and thanks to everyone on this forum for giving us all the encouragement to go for it

I too have just received this letter from the Halifax and they are "looking into the matter" and will get back to me shortly. How long do I wait?

I don't know if I ever had a 'contract' with them as I took out a mortgage and opened an account with them about 20 years ago. What I don't understand and haven't come across on your forums is the fact that they actually enticed me to carry on using my account debit card by arbitrarily declining or accepting these payments - particularly on small amounts. To me it seems totally immoral - particularly when it is obvious people are at a very low time in their lives. I am definitely prepared to take this one all the way. (I am currently in the process of changing banks and going to the Co-op - though looking at your website the words 'fire' and 'frying pan' spring to mind!!!)

Good to find your forum - it has given me the impetus to carry on the fight. I'll not bore you with too many details but last October we got into serious financial difficulties. We have since re-mortgaged our house (which I told the Halifax was our intention) but we have been charged over £900 for what was, in effect, 19 days of being over authorised overdraft limit ( and never more than £488 - our cheques go in the bank at odd intervals making it very difficult to know if you are within your limit). What I find so deplorable is that a) no-one phones you to discuss your situation - even though you have banked with them for 20 years and b) even worse, several times my debit card was accepted at a supermarket - once for just £7.96 - and 2 days later I had a letter saying that I would be charged £30 for this. Sometimes my card would be accepted and other times it would be declined in the supermarket - so no consistency. If they'd just declined these small payments I could have used a credit card instead! It is also well worth scouring through your statements. Being in a dire financial state I'd become a bit of an ostrich and didn't look through everything thoroughly and have since discovered some of these charges were imposed even though, according to our statements, we were within our authorised limit. Let that be a lesson to everyone - and KEEP EVERYTHING. Have just sent off my 2nd letter to the bank from one of your proformas (my first, detailed, letter elicited a response of "we will refund you the £28 overdraft fee"!) thanks again for your very useful forum and so much for "I won't bore you with the details"!!!!!