Hi Quick update: I used the contractural interest rate spreadsheet and my claim swelled to £1,580.42!! Revised Prelim sent yesterday via recorded delivery. Didn't want to alter the amount and then go straight to LBA, as I want to appear to have given them more than enough time to settle, in case it goes to court! Will post their reply on here!!! Cheers! Steve

Just a quick update... Prelim letter sent off yesterday via recorded delivery for £3,648.65 which includes interest at their contractural rate (which is compounded of course) Just gotta sit back and count 14 days off now!! Will post their reply on here! Cheers Steve.

Just to update.. (as someone might be reading!) Send off Prelim yesterday via recorded delivery Lloyds TSB for £10,492.54, which includes contractural interest (which is compounded) at their rate of authorised borrowing on my overdraft. Will post reply here when it arrives (probably be a standard "No" letter.... we'll see.. Anyone give me some advise about Fast-track and how it works? (as I'm sure this amount is too large for small claims Can I still file my claim on MCOL? Cheers Steve.

Hi Sarah, I'm a little ahead of you with my claim with MBNA. They too credited my account with a sum (£940) on the understanding that it's full and final settlement of your complaint. - They also returned my cheque and sent a list of charges, not a full S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) (which is a bit cheeky!) I carried on to the LBA stage, and told them that I'd only accept the £940 as part payment, and would action action to recover the rest in the timescales outlined below (see LBA letter in the templates liabrary) I think they just do it to see if you'll go away, and drop any more action. Don't worry about it and carry on with your claim in the timescales outlined in the templates liabrary. From what I've read about MBNA on this site, they seem to fold quite early and pay up with Contractural interest. (they even work it out for you). But this doesn't make them good people! - They did take your money in the first place after all!!! Hope this helps! Steve.

Received the SAR today. another £197.50 to add to the lloyds claim bring it to a total of : £6907.50 plus interest (as I was nearly always in my overdraft) Need someone to help me with the spreadsheets though... anyone wanna PM me so I can call them and go through a few questions I have (That ARE NOT in the FAQ's!!)

got my first serious reply from mbna today. Returned my cheque, said they didn't treat it as a serious SAR, but if I want one (like, YEA! - THAT'S WHAT I ASKED FOR!), then send a cheque and id (LIKE I DID!)... They also gave a goodwill payment of £940 (which is less than half of what they've charged me in six years!) LBA off this evening.....

Letter in post this morning, along with a partial statement for the past six years..... read on..... Dear Mr H****** Account ******** We refer to your recent correspondence concerning default fees on your account. I would like to clarify the situation from our perspective. We have always set out precisely what our charges are in our agreement with you, as they are an integral part of the terms and conditions under which we are prepared to provide credit facilities. When Customers pay late, we incur substantial costs in dealing with their default. Similarly, we have set credit limits carefully for each Customer and for good reason. We expect every Customer to respect their credit limit. If a Customer goes over their credit limit, he or she is using the card in a way that is not allowed, in effect obtaining unauthorised borrowing. We, therefore, lend more than we agreed to, and take on risks, which were never accepted in the first place. In the case of both late payments and overlimit usage, and also where a cheque is returned unpaid, we look at the portfolio as a whole and set uniform charges reflecting our costs of dealing with such defaults of customers overall, as do all other major credit card providers. This approach allows us to be clear and upfront about all default charges and the basis on which they are applied. Our view is therefore that the charges that you agreed to are valid, fair and enforceable. Term 3b of your credit agreement with us clearly states that you must pay £25 each time your payment has not reached your account within one day of your payment due date, or when you exceed your credit limit, or a cheque is returned unpaid. As requested, we have enclosed details of your statement information. On this occasion we have provided the information to you free of charge, as we have not treated your request as full data subject access request. Please find enclosed your £10 cheque payment. Should this information not be sufficient, and you wish to make a full data subject access request under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998, please complete and return the attached form. Please ensure you include the fee of £10 (cheques to be made payable to MBNA Europe Bank Ltd) and appropriate ID (e.g. photocopy of driver's licence or passport). (Which is exactly what I did in my Data Protection Act 1998 S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) letter (in BIG BOLD LETTERS!!!! - Cheeky gits!) We do value your custom and so we would like to resolve this matter. I have therefore credited your account with a goodwill payment of £940 on the basis that this is in full and final settlement of your complaint. (So after all that, they've gone and refunded a grand, but they insist they were right to charge!!) You may know that the Office of Fair Trading has recently issued guidelines for the level of credit card default charges. MBNA disagrees with the OFT's interpretation of the law and continues to maintain that its default charges have always been fair, legal and transparent. However, we have decided to reduce our default charges to £12 with effect from 28 June for late payments and returned payments, and 28 July for overlimit fees. You will have received notification of the changes to the terms and conditions. We expect you to honour the revised terms of your agreement with us. If you do not do so, we will have no alternative but to cancel your card and to formally terminate your credit agreement. I enclose a copy of `Our Commitment to You' leaflet for your information. If we do not hear from you within eight weeks of the date of this letter we will assume that the matter is closed. Yours sincerely Stuart Johnson Assistant Vice President According to what they've sent me (list of charges), they've taken £2036 in late payment and over limit fees.... LBA coming up methinks!! Anone know how I calculate the contractual and compound interest on the amount I paid? Anyone? Please!!!!!! Will keep you guys all posted! easy grand though... now I'll dig my heals in for the rest

Gave Lloyds a courtsey call today to ensure they'd received my SAR. Turns out the Andover address (SAR DEPT) doens't actually issue the statments. They just log the letter and forward it to Birmingham. So, Spoke to a lovely lady at birmingham, and she confirmed receipt, and advised full SAR will be forwarded within 5 days. All going swimingly so far (I've already got 2002 - present, just waiting for oct 2000 - july 2002, which I can't access on line). Will keep ya all posted!

Yea, I got the same standard response... still waiting for my SAR to come from them! Don't think there's much you can do until the 40 day deadline has passed. be mindful that (from what I've read on here) keeping to the deadlines set out by the guys that know (bankfodder, dave, etc..) is the best way to go. that way if your claim does go to court, the judge cansee you've given MBNA more than enough time to sort out your claim out of court. when did you sent in your SAR?

need help here!! In Vapiress's spreadsheet (complex one!), the column "J" "INTEREST CHARGED".. do I put in the interest rate here, as a percentage? or the actual amount of interest charged? (and how do I work out that!!) I think it's the interest rate, but I'm not sure... ALSO..... I've been in my (authorised) overdraft for six years (apart from the odd occasion - a few months here and there)... so do charges the applied back in jan 2001 still accruing interest now? (I mean, money has gone in and out and whatnot).... Confused!!! HELP!!!!!! anyone? Hullo?!

Still waiting for my SAR from these guys..... are they always this slow? would a phone call help?

Prelim Letter sent today recorded delivery, accepting their offer of £416 only as part payment, and not accepting any of their conditions. (which were usual..."full and final payment.... no future attempts to recover past or future charges.... blah blah blah....") Outlined I'll still be taking actions to recover full amount of £1318 (or the balance of £912.15 if I receive part payment as offered!) within outlined timescales... (standard Prelim letter, tweaked a bit to include their offer - don't want to sound too unreasonable, do I?!) will keep updating as I progress!! Starting to really enjoy all this!!

maybe the point here is you can only use it as evidence, if both parties are aware the conversation is been recorded... no?

got it - that's what I thought! full whack it is then!!

Sent of SAR on 18th October 2006 Statements Recieved on 1st November, along with offer of £416 to call it quits! I've worked out (on their admitance) they've charged me £1064 (plus contractual interest as I was always in my balance with them,, so I guess I'll be accepting the 416 in part payment, and demanding full payment. one thing though, they say they can charge £12, so have detucted this from every £20 fee..... is that allowed? or were all the charges illegal? Anyone?

Recieved reply today from Amex Mr Ian Hayward acknowledged reciept of my plreliminary letter, and assured my I will have a response within 28 days. Should I carry on with the LBA 14 days from now if I haven't received a reply? or should I wait and see what they come back with? - Don't want to seem to be too unreasonable incase we see the inside of a court room! Anyone?

yup.... American Express Services Europe Ltd Data Protection Office Dept 2007 Amex House Edward Street Brighton East Sussex BN88 1AH

don't mind waiting.... not as hard up as I used to be, so I'm happy to play them at their own game... thing is, I always paid ok when I was earning, but I race motorbikes, and with that comes a lot of down time (usually in hospitals!), and then the money drys up pretty quick! I paid the charges, as I thought I had no choice, and just decided it was one of those things I had to live with! Then my manager put me onto this (as he claimed sucessfully of First Direct), and now I can't believe I can get it back! - Lloyds have hit me for over 8k in six years!

no worries pal... we'll keep tabs on eachother.. how long before they sent you your statements?

Reply from MBNA recieved 30th October 2006: October 25th 2006 Dear Mr H******* Account: ********** Thank you for your letter dated October 19th, 2006, which we recieved on October 20th, 2006. We are currently investigating your complaint and will send you a full response by November 16th, 2006. In the meantime, should you have any queries please call the Customer Advocate Office on 01244 672628 Monday to Friday 8am - 5pm. Yours Sincerely, Stephen Bailey Customer Advocate office enc... "Our Entitlement to You"(.... Fnnaaaarrrrr!!!!) Standard response I guess... only I didn't make a complaint, I sent an SAR requesting all my statements, and telling them if there were unlawful charges on my account (which there are.... loads!) I'll be claiming them all back (bankfodders standard letter!) I'll keep you updated (if anyones watching!!!) Steve.

Sent off Prelim Letter 30th October. Total amount requested £572.76 including Contractual interest @ 1.46% per month, and S69 Interest @ 8%. Hope I've done this right!! Will keep everyone updated as and when it happens.

Is the Prelim Letter we send to credit card companies the same as the template for the bank? (and just alter accordingly), or is there a specialized template just for credit card claims? anyone? Thanks Steve.8-)

Need a bit of help here... My monthly statements state a "Monthly interest rate" of 1.46% Now, I know people have claimed for 8% interest, but I want to claim the contractual interest rate, as that's what they charged me on their £20 charges (as it was always added onto my balance!) To get the annual rate (which i need to input into Vampiress' Spreadsheets) do I simply mulitply the 1.46% by 12? or is it more complicated than that? Anyone? Hellooooooooo? (quiet in here!!)

Revieved All statments and transaction on account info this morning! (27th October 2006). - Which was pretty quick (first ones to come back to me!) Am working out charges right now!!

standard disclosure? whats that then? Fast Tracked? ??! Please explain?! Jeez, I feel like an annoying child pestering people with all these questions!!