A basic starting guide

kim77

Wow. There are so many people claiming their charges back, its amazing.

I sent my first letter off to my bank three weeks ago, how long should it take for them to reply? How long should I wait before I send another letter chasing my first?

Also, are we just chasing the charges for letters being sent to us or for how much they charge us for being overdrawn?

I have an agreed overdraft facility of £250, but unfortunatley have gone over that this month and been charged £140. Do I try and claim back the £140?

I have taken Martin's advice and opened up another bank account just in case. They have been fantastic and are currently doing all the work for me in order to close my original account.

If anyone has any answers or advice that they could give me about them chasing up charges, they would be gratefully received.

Cheers

dolphin9294

Hi, can anyone tell me if you send the 1st letter to your actual branch i.e. Alliance and Leicester or to a main head office? Also, do you have to send a cheque or can it be another form of payment like a postal order because my bank would probably bounce the cheque ha! ha! thanks dolphin9294

jax25

i've always sent mine to the address on the statements

justlaugh2

I have sent my letters to my local branch (address on statement)who i assume forward it on to the relevant department as i have recieved acknowledgment letters regarding my claim.
You can also enclose a postal order made out to your bank ( they cant bounce that!)

Hope this helps

dolphin9294

Ok thanks, do you know about other forms of payment for the £10? Have you had much luck so far? I have been putting this off for a while but after my bank charged me £220 in charges on monday and approximately £1500 in charges since end of december, I decided it was time now, my husband is self employed, so christmas is worst time of year for us and also the following months due to the knock on effect from charges, we never have any savings or left over money in our account, I know £1500 sounds like we must have a big account but we don't, we only have a normal current account, the £1500 is the total of charges they have taken from us since end december which has left us nothing to pay bills, so hence we are financially stuck now because of the bank, so all advice would greatly appreciated, once again thank you so much

justlaugh2

I know how that feels!
I was on benefits and every month, the bank would take them all in bank charges left me with nothing !I only managed to get by, because of help from my family.
I am claiming £4684.00 + £560.91 interest (if it gets to court stage) from Lloydstsb

Best of Luck with your claim

dolphin9294

thank you so much for replying and for your time, hope your claim goes ok, I'm very nervous about claiming, you hear all these horror stories about closing accounts etc. Has your claim so far gone to plan i.e. responding in time and cooperating? I have no idea what the total of my claim would be as £1500 is only since end december and almost every christmas for last 6 years has been the same, I am told that you can only go through small claims court with less than £5000 claim, haven't a clue what happens if more than that amount, for example the case of the person getting £17,500 back? I can easily see my claim being more than £5000 especially with interest?

justlaugh2

Well i stupidly went with a company 1st ( i didnt know about this site) but after waiting 2 months they still hadnt got my statements from the bank so i cancelled the agreement with them.
Since then i have got all my statements from online banking, totalled up the amount and interest sent 1st letter ( no response) sent 2nd letter ( giving them 14 days or off to court i go) recieved a letter after about a week from the recovery centre in Andover saying they are investigating blah blah should take 4 weeks blah blah. I am ready to file a claim on 9th April if i dont get an offer before then.
You would be wise to get and go through your statements asap. Can you use online banking ( a much quicker way of getting your statements)
It is still possible to claim more than £5000, I read on here somewhere that some are breaking the claim up and say claiming 2001-2003 (£5000), 2003-2006 (£5000) just so they can get it through the small claims route. But initial (asking for money back) letter to bank should be for the total.
Just read a post in a different thread someone got a payout for nearly £7000 without even having to file a claim with MCOL. So anything is possible.

GOOD LUCK

dolphin9294

thank you, will check online but didn't think they would go back as far as six years, it would be nice if they do, then I wouldn't have to pay them the £10 as well, thanks dolphin9294

dolphin9294

Hi, have just checked and Alliance and Leicester only allow you to go back and view statements as far as August 2006, so no luck I'm afraid, will have to apply with first letter and £10 postal order, thanks anyway