Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

natweststaffmember

mdes wrote: »

we got a letter back from the a&l telling us that we were not in hardship and that i had enough income to meet my outgoings however we dont as i explained on the inc/exp form we have rent arrears of over 2k and to make ends meet each week we cant pay the rent as it is the only bill i pay by cash to my landlord?
what should we do next????

Have you got something from the landlord stating you are in arrears?

natweststaffmember

independenttelford wrote: »

Looks like a lot of banks use dirty tricks (or delaying tactics if you like).
Hmmmm.....


We like many others put in for a hardship payment from the abbey way back in feb 2009 , they claimed they didn't recieve our I & E documents , complete with all our documentary proof. This was despite that we had sent it recorded delivery. We have phoned them several times over the months and they keep moving the proverbial goalposts , first they said we would get a definate answer within 2 weeks , now they say there is no timescale on it????
Where was the letter sent? If you have got to 8 weeks then that is the point you can go to the FOS

But everytime we phone they always say that they have staff who goes into meetings to discuss certain cases and that they would push ours into that meeting and phone us later that day. Now this has happened on numerous occassions and we are no further forward.
I wouldn't expect them to call because messages do not always get passed on and if there are a hundred people asking for phone calls, one phone call itself can last a long time because of disputed hardship claims.

Our case was due to go to court in July 2007 and we are constantly fed up of being decieved by these people who treat us no more than idiots. When they phone us back later today i am going to give them 24 hours for a decision to be made (unless of course they make a decision today , but im not holding my breath) , then we will contact the FSA with every date and time of every phone call and every discusion and see where we go from there. Because we can't be the only one's that this is happening to and enough is enough , because they don't need to worry where there next meal or mortgage payment is coming from , do they? And they don't care about the damages they are doing to people , these banks monopolise our money , they make sure they get every penny of the bank charges and leaves us the consumer with a load of unpaid bills.
Sounds like you are frustrated and I don't blame you.
In our case the Abbey were guilty of taking direct debits out early (if it had been on the date it should have been , we wouldn't have had bank charges)Direct debit providers request them through the BACS system and the bank have no control over them(unless it is one to Abbey themselves) , they were also guilty of clearing cheque's we had written within 48 hours(there are slightly different rules. If the cheque is incoming it is 3-5 working days however if it is a cheque you have issued it can be anything from 24 hours to 72 hours or less, ie cheque you issue to me and I pay it in on a Monday debits your account on the Wednesday). , yet it is supposed to be 3-5 working days.

It's frustrating but have your paperwork ready. You need I&E form, you need schedule of charges, you need an explanation as to how the charges caused the hardship and the effects on you. You need priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities) with no payment plans for the arrears.

TwoLeafClover

Hi to the Financial Hardship forum

I recently (28th May) wrote to Barclays requesting refund of charges for last five years, quoting 'unfair contractual terms' as per template letter in Fin. Hardship cases. The reply is a final response saying no.

They say:
"the fees were properly charged and do not amount to penalties at common law; a position that has been supported by recent High Court rulings on these issues.Therefore I must advise you that we will not be refunding these charges as a result of your complaint. If your dissatisfaction with the bank charges is not based upon their fairness and lawfulness then please let me have more information to clarify the basis of your complaint".

I thought that the whole point was their disproportionate and unlawful 'contractualness'....have Barclays moved the goalposts?

Any thoughts on next step

TwoLeafClover

natweststaffmember

TwoLeafClover wrote: »

Hi to the Financial Hardship forum

I recently (28th May) wrote to Barclays requesting refund of charges for last five years, quoting 'unfair contractual terms' as per template letter in Fin. Hardship cases. The reply is a final response saying no.

They say:
"the fees were properly charged and do not amount to penalties at common law; a position that has been supported by recent High Court rulings on these issues.Therefore I must advise you that we will not be refunding these charges as a result of your complaint. If your dissatisfaction with the bank charges is not based upon their fairness and lawfulness then please let me have more information to clarify the basis of your complaint".

I thought that the whole point was their disproportionate and unlawful 'contractualness'....have Barclays moved the goalposts?

Any thoughts on next step

TwoLeafClover

Did you quote Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Requlations 1999 or just penalty charges argument?

TwoLeafClover

Hi NatWestStaffMember

My actual words were:

I am writing to request that you repay all the default charges that have been applied to this account since June 2004. I understand that the Court of Appeal following the High Court decision earlier this year has confirmed that the charges, which you have been levying on my account during the past five years, are subject to the 'unfair contracrual terms' laws. I do not believe that these disproportionate charges reflect the true cost to Barclays Bank plc of accounts going into unauthorised overdraft. Therefore they are unlawful.

Thanks for your very quick response

TwoLeafClover

natweststaffmember

TwoLeafClover wrote: »

Hi NatWestStaffMember

My actual words were:

I am writing to request that you repay all the default charges that have been applied to this account since June 2004. I understand that the Court of Appeal following the High Court decision earlier this year has confirmed that the charges, which you have been levying on my account during the past five years, are subject to the 'unfair contracrual terms' laws. I do not believe that these disproportionate charges reflect the true cost to Barclays Bank plc of accounts going into unauthorised overdraft. Therefore they are unlawful.

Thanks for your very quick response

TwoLeafClover

You need to quote UTCCR 1999 cos that letter could be interpreted as penalties in Law. That isn't from MSE is it?

natweststaffmember

It is from here.....time for letter number 2

TwoLeafClover

Hi NatWestStaffMember
The letter I wrote refered to a line I had seen in MSE news on the test case etc, I did not say "UTCCR 1999", but I will obviously rewrite quoting it if that is what you think they would react more favouribly to.
TwoLeafClover

natweststaffmember

TwoLeafClover wrote: »

Hi NatWestStaffMember
The letter I wrote refered to a line I had seen in MSE news on the test case etc, I did not say "UTCCR 1999", but I will obviously rewrite quoting it if that is what you think they would react more favouribly to.
TwoLeafClover

Please give me a day or so cos I need to flag this with site team here. I don't like the wording on financial hardship letters at all.

lucror

Hi,

I recently sent letter 1 from this site to HSBC regarding bank charges, I claimed financial hardship as I believe I currently have a case for hardship.

I've today received a letter back, saying the usual regarding the test case, and that to be considered under hardship I should complete a form and telephone a telephone number having the results to hand.

Is this normal, I don't really feel comfortable discussing the complaint over the phone and would much rather have the paper trail of traditional postal mail for my records, a telephone discussion can quickly turn into mistakes being made and me agreeing to something that I might not had I been given the time to think.

It specifically states on the form though that it isn't to be sent back to HSBC and is purely for my records.

Is this something that can be continued via post, despite HSBC's requests to continue via telephone?

Thanks in advance.
L