[Mr Angry]

A few points worth noting on this matter are as follows:

Send your request by recorded / guaranteed next day delivery. Do NOT send it to a PO BOX address (Royal Mail cannot afford you a guarantee of delivery). You are dealing with a legal matter so it's best for you as a potential plaintiff to be seen to abide by the law.

All too often companies will maintain that they haven't received your correspondence. By law (if they are a Ltd company or PLC - which most of these gangsters are) they have to have a registered office address for the purposes of "service" (serving legal papers / documentation) so look through all the paraphenalia you have from the company in question and send it to their Registered Office Address. Any failure on their part to acknowledge receipt of same if you have a guaranteed receipt and proof of delivery can constitute a breach of the Companies Order 1985 (a further headache you can give them).

When you make your initial request under the 1998 Data Protection Act ALWAYS include the following statement;

"Please note that I am making this request under the terms of The Data Protection Act 1998 in accordance with Chapter 29, Part IV of the exemptions clauses, specifically Paragraph 35 part 2 (b) thereof in respect of all and any data which you hold in relation to me.

I understand that there is a maximum statutory fee of £10.00 payable in respect of this request. Please debit my account for this amount if you feel it appropriate to do so".

By citing the above Exemption Clauses you are affording the respondant no leeway / get out. Effectively you are advising them that you require the information for the purposes of obtaining legal advice or taking legal action.

Once you've received your charges history you should calculate the interest owed (I can provide anyone with a copy of a spreadsheet to do this automatically should they require it).

Once you've done the maths send your letter off pretty much as described on the motley fool site.

Users of this forum might want to take note that the common law which covers illegal penalty charges is not restricted to banks and credit card companies. The fact is that the OFT were forced to look at banks and credit card companies because they are, by far, the worst offenders. It relates to any contract under consumer law and such terms are referred to as "in terrorem". Essentially they are put in place by one of the parties to the contract as a "deterrent" (penalty) to deter the other party from failing to honour their part of the contract.

One such example of a penalty charge is the recently introduced "£1 0.00 late payment fee" (by its very own title a penalty) from a certain company.

Before anyone gets all sanctimonious with the old "they wouldn't do it if it was illegal" and "don't you think their legal dept....etc etc" ad nauseum - ask yourself this.

If it's illegal (as it has already been proven in court) then how come the banks, with access to some of the best legal minds in the country, have been doing it for years upon years and refuse steadfastly to attend court to defend their charges when challenged?

I'll tell you why. It's because if you are the type of individual who thinks that a corporate entity (bank or otherwise) is entirely above breaking the law - then you are sadly mistaken and they will continue to fleece you until this money making circus grinds, or is dragged, to a halt.

The sooner people get wise to their rights under common and consumer law the better.