Well no it will obviously take some time because of the bulk, however, if they have agreed to settle some they are admitting guilt and need to settle all, you would think!! I this happens it will still be quicker than awaiting the result of the test case. It doesn't make it clear if this deal was made prior to that starting or if it is jus a recent thing either.

Yes, what I can't decide from this article is whether they mean just the claims that are already lodged with the ombudsman or all claims, mine is lodged with the bank but the test case had started by the time I was ready to take it to FOS and now they arnt taking any new claims so I'm in limbo like alot of others I suspect.

Does anyone know anymore about this article and what it means for everyone? EXCLUSIVE Banks' secret deal with ombudsman to stop probe into their rip-off charges 13/09/2007 Related Articles ID [problem] warning More City Banks struck a secret deal to prevent a probe into their rip-off charges by agreeing to repay customers' complaints in full. The agreement meant that anyone who complained to the independent Financial Ombudsman Service would get all their overdraft charges refunded. In exchange, the ombudsman agreed not to investigate whether the fees were fair. This prevented it from clashing with an Office of Fair Trading probe. And it averted the danger that the ombudsman would set a precedent - and force the banks to repay all similar cases. Advertisement //'); //]]> An ombudsman spokesman said: "We told the banks we would be forced to investigate if they did not repay the full amount. "They didn't want to have an investigation. So they agreed to pay up." The OFT is in the middle of a market study of current accounts and is involved in a joint High Court action to decide whether fees are legal. It reckons that overdraft penalties raise between £2billion and £3.5bn a year. For almost two years now a consumer revolt has seen millions of pounds being returned to customers who have complained about the cost of their overdraft penalties, which can be as high as £39 a time. Initially they took their claim to court, but this year the ombudsman was swamped by a flood of cases - hundreds every day. The secret deal led to the ombudsman service sending a spreadsheet with the names and claims of any customers that had contacted them. The bank would then reply, telling the ombudsman that each case would be paid in full. It has also been revealed that banks have admitted confusing customers with their explanations of current account charges. A rethink of the Banking Code is expected to clamp down on the way that banks explain their fees, terms and conditions.

Hi everyone, wondered if I could get some advice please. I was almost at the end of this process but this test case has thrown me off a little, I have done my spreadsheets and sent my letter to the bank asking for a refund. They have replied saying that basically they will be doing nothing till the outcome of the test case and that I have to wait. From reading other threads I can see that the general advice is to carry on, however, the total of my claim is around £2000 including interest and therefore I don not want to go down the road of small claims court as the limit in Scotland is £750 and I'm not prepared to pay the costs if I loose. I therefore have to do it through the FOS and I'm not sure how this works? I also should be giving my details to an administrator but not sure how to do this or what information they require. Can someone help please??

Thanks for that folks, guess I just carry on. Does anyone know if there is an estimated time scale for this test case to proceed under, guess the banks will drag it out as long as they can!!

Sent my letter asking for refund to Clydesdale Bank in Aberdeen 2 weeks ago, received my response on Friday. The jist of the letter was that they could not deal with my claim untill the outcome of the test case that is ongoing has been heard. They also say that they will comply with what the courts say and that I cannot do anything now untill the test case is over. I need to go through FOS because my claim amount is higher than I can claim in one go at small calims court in Scotland, The bank idicated in their letter that FOS had suspended all cased at the moment and will not look at mine. Is this the case? Should I carry on regardless? Do I need to wait? I need some help please, it would be much appreciated. Thank you

Thanks for that, my claim is against Clydesdale, there are 2 things holding up the process for me. The first is the interest thing, is it ok for me to just claim the charges or will it make me look stupid to the bank, it would be a lot easier. The second thing is that I am still waiting for the second lot of statements coming through. When BC did the initial SAR request they only asked for information for 1 account which only goes back to Feb 03, from reading other threads and information on this website it is apparent that some courts will throw out a second claim because they expect you to have everything ready at the same time. Is there a letter in the library which asks the bank to get a move on with the statements. The initial SAR was sent in March. Getting a bit frustated now, tahnks again for all your help.

Hi I am caliming from Clydesdale too, the items marked SC are a service charge and they are only applyed when your account is over it's overdraft limit. The amount has gone up since I banked with Clydesdale, they closed my account over a year ago, when I was using them it was £22.50 and these charges make up the most of my claim. Hope this helps.

I haven't heard anything from them at all, they have just ignored me so as far as I am concerned it's all over with them, I won't be contacting them again. I got some of my statements from the bank and was just about to send my request for refund when I realised that I'm supposed to add debit interest to my spreadsheet at this point and contractual interest if it goes to court, if I don't do this will the bank think I don't know what I'm doing? The spreadsheet is very complicated and I think I'd rather just go for the charges, and the contractual interest if it goes to court. What did you do? I just want to get the ball rolling after waiting all this time.

The short answer is I don't know, I had a company dealing with this to begin with and they sent the SAR, I now can't get a hold of them, think I will just go for the 6 years, don't want to push my luck.

Hi All, Would really appreciate some advice. Have just received some of my statements from Clydsdale Bank, the info covers around 3 years and I would be claiming approx £1400.00 + intrest. Should I deal with this claim first and request the rest of the information later? Should I request the rest of my info first and do it all together and do I have to pay another £10 for this additional info? On reading info from the site it would seem that in Scotland you can only claim 5 years but my bank manager has said that all the claims they have received have been for 6, I am also waiting to hear back from another post about caliming back since my account was opened, god I'm confused, don't want to make a fool of myself by doing all this in the wrong order. Also at what point should I show my details to an administrator is this just prior to court, should I send my refund request letter and notice before action letter first and then approach them or do they need to see it now? Please help!

Hi, I am just the start of my process against the Clydesdale bank, have requested my copy statements and received back information to cover Feb 03 to May 06 when my account was closed. I am just about to send a letter requesting the other 3 years worth of info which is covered on a different account. Can I claim more that 6 years from Clydesdale bank? At the moment with the 3 years I have I am looking at approx £1400 + intrest but have banked with Clydesdale since around 1995/6 and received charges periodicly throughout to claim another 7 years would be good, can someone clarify for me please?

Thanks for that, you've been a little goldmine of info and I need all the help I can get. Didn't refer to both accounts on my request for statements cause I thought this account would cover the whole period, since found out it is only 5 years in Scotalnd too. I guess I'm gonna have a busy weekend number crunching and reading up on everything, but still at least I can get thing moving, thanks again, I'll keep you posted on how I'm getting on.

Still no response fron BC Ltd, however, I came home today to a stack of bank statements, not them all but at least I can get started now:-D . My bank closed my account a year ago when I lost my job, they have only sent statements to cover Feb 03 through June 06, I know I can go back 6 years but can anyone tell me if that is 6 years from now or would it be 6 years from June 06?? Any help would be much appreciated it would be good to know before I contact them again for the rest of the statements, they were on a different account number and I think it will need to be a seperate claim. Looking forward to doing some number crunching over the weekend:-D

Hi All, I am just at the start of the process of claiming back my charges myself after stupidly trying to get Bank Complaints Ltd to do it for me. I have sent a letter to my bank 2 weeks ago asking what was going on and how far the process got with the above company prior to me sacking them and have had no reply as yet, have just phoned my branch where the letter was sent and they have informed me that it was forwarded to a branch in Leeds who are dealing with all these charges queries but that they could not give me their number because they didn't have it. I find this very strange, they must have some contact with them. Has anyone else been old this and how did they get round it? Has anyone ever got as far as speaking to someone at this Leed dept and kept the phone number?

Thanks, you've been a great help keeping me right, I'll keep you posted

I wish I had been able to contact them, at least then I'd know where they are with it. Can't get them on the phone or by email it's a joke, I'm assuming it hassn't gone as far as court yet or they would have been in contact. Sending a letter today talling them where to get off, might get a response to that but I dought it!

Nothing been sent to me and I don't know wheather they have been sent out to BC Ltd either (hopefully not) so starting from scratch, do you think I should send the £10 again with this letter or wait and see what my reply from the bank is first?

No reply from them yet, the email was sent to them last Monday giving a week for them to get in contact so I am writting a letter today cancelling my agreement with them and also a letter to my bank instructing them that BC Ltd are no longer dealing with my claim, that I will be doing that myself and requesting the information again from them. Not quite sure where I go from there, I'll just have to take it a step at a time and start reading up on all the info.

Thanks again, I have given them a week to come back to me and then I tink I'll jut start the process again myself, from what I can pick up about Clydesdale they will never settle out of court.

Thanks, don't think mine has gone as far as court yet, but I don't know because there has been no corresponance from them. Hope you do get sorted soon!

Hi I am having blems with this company too, have you managed to get things sorted out yet?

Hi all I have also posted this on the clydesdale bank section but was told this would be a better place so sorry for the duplication. I know it's a bit of a cop out but found all this a bit daunting to tackle myself so decided to get someone else, Bank Complaints Ltd, to do it for me, I contacted them in January 2007, sent my £10 fee in March and still have had no joy. I can't get them on the phone and when I contacted them by email In April to see what was happening I was told that they were very busy and to keep update requests to a minimum as they did not have time to deal with them. I know Clydesdale have a bad reputation for not playing the game on this subject, think that was the biggest reason I decided to get someone who said they knew what they were doing to tackle it for me but this is now ridiculous. Has anyone else dealt with this company, or heard anything about them? They have their own website an are a registered company and I thought everything looked ok but am starting to get worried now. I have sent a strong email today asking for certain information within a week or I will take it out of heir hands but any info would be appreciated.

Yes unfortunately, I have sent them a strong email today saying that I want answers to a few questions or I will take it out of their hands, hoping that will speed them up a bit. The £10 fee was sent to my bank in March, I know Clydesdale drag their feet bu this is ridiculous.

Forgive me I'm new to this, how do I do that?