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YAY no more worrying as came home to find a lovely cheque!!! Just hope they don't try and close my account now....

Argh A&L have now filed a defence what does this mean? What will happen next? This didn't happen with Halifax!

I am finally getting round to submitting my claim. I have recently had two more charges since emailing them. Should I just add them to my claim? Please help!!

SWEET VICTORY £1046 JUST RECEIVED INTO ACCOUNT!!! wooohoooooooooo

Still waiting, it got acknowledged on 24th! Wonder how long it will take now.....?

Hello, I put my claim in via mcol on the 15th? When do you think I will hear anything/get the money back? anyone know the average wait at the moment? Cheers!

Hello, 10 days have passed do you think I should send some sort of reminder that I will take action if they don't respond positively??

Hi guys, well I sent them my LBA this morning (less than an hour ago!!) and I have had this response: Thank you for your e-mail regarding charges raised on your account. The charge applied to your account was raised due to there being insufficient funds to pay debits due on your account. The terms and conditions of your account state that you must allow at least one clear working day from the time we receive the funds before any payment is made against it. The charge has been raised correctly and, therefore, unfortunately on this occasion we are unable to offer you a refund. If you have any further questions or need any more help please visit our 'help' section online or contact us again. Kind regards Customer Services Alliance & Leicester plc Doesn't even look as though they have read the LBA!!

Excellent news. Does the same apply if they get back to me quickly with a response to the LBA or do I have to wait the full 14 days?

I have had an immediate response the SAME DAY (!!) from A&L: Thank you for your e-mail requesting a refund of your charges. I have noted your comments that you believe the charges that have been raised on your account to be unfair, please be assured our charges are reasonable and are competitive with the charges made by other financial organisations. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has commented that they consider the level of late payment charges to be unfair, however they were actually referring to late payment fees for credit card payments, which are quite distinct from a bank's charges on current accounts. As yet, the OFT have not entered into any discussions with the banking industry regarding current accounts. However, should that position change in the future, then Alliance & Leicester will participate as appropriate. Given the above, I cannot accept you have been unfairly charged as you suggest. I regret, therefore, that I am unable to agree to your request for a refund of charges on this occasion. I am sorry if you are disappointed with my response, but as the charges have been raised correctly in line with the terms and conditions of your account, they must stand. If you have any further questions or need any more help please visit our ‘Help’ section online or contact us again. Kind regards Customer Services Alliance & Leicester plc I am guessing I still have to wait 2 weeks and stick to the timetable?

Hiya, I have been with them for just over a year. I really don't like the way they update their systems as it never seems an accurate figure of what money you have etc.. online. I have a Barclays account open already so will be ready to transfer everything there if necessary. How much notice will they give if they decide to close the account?

Have just sent two letters via the secure messaging: Request for repayment of charges Dear Sir/Madam, My request I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account since September 2006. I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. If you say that they are not, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs. Additionally, it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary. Your responsibilities I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law. I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary. I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them. Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now. What I require I calculate that you have taken £155.50. Please find listed a schedule of the charges which I am claiming: UNAUTHORISED OVERDRAFT CHARGE £25.00 08/11/2006 PAID ITEM CHARGE £25.00 16/10/2006 UNAUTHORISED OVERDRAFT CHARGE £12.50 23/09/2006 PAID ITEM CHARGE £25.00 12/07/2006 FAILED STANDING ORDER CHARGE £34.00 06/03/2006 FAILED DIRECT DEBIT CHARGE £34.00 05/01/2006 My targets to resolve this matter I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets. I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment. If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments. After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline. Yours faithfully Mrs VHoops Has anyone else done it this way and what sort of response did you get?

Sent my prem letter off last week and got a fairly quick response of 'we are sorry you are unhappy blah blah' Shall I now send my LBA or should I wait until the 2 weeks are up officially?

Hello, well I won my claim for just under £200 so I am now onto my husbands claim for approx £820. I have already sent the DPA and received statements after 20 days - can I add the £10 that I sent with it onto my claim and should that just be added to the schedule of charges? (I didn't have to send DPA letter for my claim as already had statements! Cheers in advance