You may find six years' worth of bank charges add up to quite a shocking amount

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The next step

Once you have received the bank's own figures for the charges you have incurred - you may need to pause for a few minutes to recover from the shock of quite how much you have paid to your bank - you should use this information in a second letter.

Write to your bank, telling them that you are unhappy with the charges you have paid. Allow the bank a reasonable amount of time to respond. They may agree to pay back all or some of your money.

The second letter

This letter politely tells your bank that you are a loyal customer and that you want to be paid back default charges (on unauthorised overdrafts and unpaid direct debits) applied to your account in the last six years.

As with the first letter, carefully insert your personal information where indicated. Remember to delete this preamble before you print out your letter for the bank.

[INSERT TODAY'S DATE]

[INSERT YOUR HOME ADDRESS]

[INSERT THE NAME OF YOUR BANK]

[INSERT THE ADDRESS OF BANK]

Re: Default charges on account number [INSERT YOUR ACCOUNT NUMBER]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to default charges which have been applied to my account by [INSERT THE NAME OF YOUR BANK], amounting to [INSERT THE FULL AMOUNT OF THE BANK CHARGES].

I have been a loyal customer of [INSERT THE NAME OF YOUR BANK] for [INSERT THE AMOUNT OF TIME YOU HAVE BEEN A CUSTOMER WITH YOUR BANK]. I have always maintained my account well and believe that the charges applied to my account do not reflect the cost to the bank of my account going into unauthorised overdraft.

I therefore ask that you repay the amount of all these charges, [INSERT THE FULL AMOUNT OF THE BANK CHARGES].

I am happy for you to contact me on [INSERT YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER] to discuss the matter.

Yours faithfully

[SIGN YOUR NAME]

[TYPE YOUR NAME]

Or open the letter as a word document