Hi, I took my bank (Barclays) to court over unlawful fees back at the start of the year, and after they entered a defence was finally sent my court allocation questionnaire at the start of this month. The date I had to respond by was the 12th of March and so, taking advice from here, I was prompt and sent it back in good time (around the 6th). I have still yet to hear back from the court with a date for proceedings some 3 weeks later. Is this the usual timeframe to expect a response? I'm somewhat concerned that the earliest charges I am claiming for are in March of 2001, and so part of my claim will be past the 6 year mark by the time it is heard (even though I started proceedings months ago). Can anybody say if this is usual or unusual? If it's unduly long, who should I be trying to get in touch with?

Hi there, I'm just in the process of making a claim online against Barclays for bank charges. One thing several of the guides mentioned was that I should include my schedule of charges along with the particulars of the claim, but this seems to be more intended for people sending in a written claim form rather than using the moneyclaim.gov.uk website. How do I send a schedule of charges for that, as I only have the (very limited) box in which to enter a description of what my claim is about. I saw no other means of attaching supplementary files to support my claim. Can I safely ignore this and proceed with the claim without specifying the exact schedule? Presumably this is a question everybody who makes an online claim will have been asking themselves, so surely somebody must know! Thanks in advance.

Hi there, I'm following through the step-by-step instructions here with regards to claiming back my last 6 years' of charges from my bank, Barclays. I wrote to them initially to make a subject access request, and although they wouldn't give me the information in the format I requested, they did send me 6 years of printed statements, which I was able to use to make a spreadsheet of the charges against me. I have since then written to them with this schedule of charges demanding the total amount back (£1,540) using the letter template provided. They initially responded within a few days with their standard "Sorry you're unhappy, we'll get back to you within 4 weeks" letter, but today (9 days after I sent my demand) I have received a letter offering £650 "in full and final settlement of your complaint". Where I'm confused is what to do next. The step-by-step instructions say "We would advise you to accept this - but only on the condition that it is a partial settlement and that you will continue with your claim to recover full funds." - but how exactly would I ensure that I do this? Surely signing and returning the acknowledgement they have provided me with would nullify my claim to the rest of the amount? I certainly don't intend to settle for less than half of what is owed to me. So what I'm wondering is what the next step is for me to take. Do I write another letter saying that I accept their partial refund, without signing the agreement they sent me? Or do I sign it but also send a letter explaining that I don't accept this as 'final'? Or should I simply proceed to the Letter Before Action? Advice, suggestions etcetera would be appreciated!

I just stumbled upon this thread following a search as I have just today sent a letter to the SLC demanding they cancel £40 in charges they have added to my account which are apparently for sending me letters concerning arrears on my account (I've just changed banks - ironically this is so I can claim back unfair charges from Barclays - and so my new direct debit hadn't been set up yet, hence payment failed). I basically used the existing letter template I have already sent to Barclays to ask them to prove the cost of the charges and if not, cancel them and confirm they won't attempt to levy them in future. I'm disconcerted by the above saying that they tend not to acknowledge post... what can be done to ensure that they acknowledge it? It seems like this is yet another dirty tricks scheme to make money out of students (I knew there had to be some way they were going to try and make money, given the low interest rate on the loan).. Anybody else had any similar experiences with the SLC?