Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

sienna2009

Hi everyone, new on here. I have put a letter together courtesy of Martin. Sent it to HSBC to see if I fit the financial harship criteria and to reclaim bank charges. Just make sure when you send anything that its recorded delivery as they have made out with me once theyve not received anything I reckon to stall the process. The financial ombudsman are involved, hsbc have stated they have received my expenditure form NOW!

I will let you all know how I got on.

bekki0405_2

This might be of some use to people. I had a claim with HSBC, and claimed financial hardship. This was proven, and after some paperwork and evidence sent, HSBC sent me back some of my charges. I was also told that I could ask for a second request after 2 months, as the money they paid was 2 months of my priority debts payments
Happy person I was!
2 months down the line I go back to HSBC, and was told that as my account was closed, which it had been before the first request, they could not discuss my account with me. I was very unhappy, and asked to speak to a manager, which the staff member would not let me do. He would also not let me make a complaint, as I didn't have an account.
By now I was furious, which was not helped by a bunch of Mumbai call centre staff having trouble understanding my issue. Apparantly HSBC do not have a Cusomer Relations/Complaints team.
I have contacted FOS, and although they are sympathetic about the poor treatment I received from HSBC, and I could have raised a complaint with them about this, they have stated that if an account is closed, the banks DO NOT have to consider financial hardship. Financial hardship is only considered if the bank, by continually charging the customer, is putting the customer into financial hardship. If the account is closed, this could not be the case, and you will have to wait for the outcome of the case.
I guess HSBC got wise to this, and stopped dealing with closed cases after my claim.

comicmankev

Following on from my much earlier post. Abbey automatically credited my account with about 20% of what I claimed. I wrote back asking where they got that figure from and provided further evidence of more recent financial hardship etc. I stated they should reply within 14 days.

I received an automated letter as if I had put in a new claim, it read that they would look at my complaint and get back in due course, but all claims were on hold. they did not address at all any of the details in my letter or what they have done so far.

It is now 30 days, what should I do at this point?

victorgm

Hi guys, had claimed for bank charges on my two bank cards, got no response, as I have been ill since 31st march 09 I decided to put in a claim for hardship for a total of £1900. A girl form the Halifax rung me last week to go through my income and outgoings and said that she was going to pass it onto the claims department and that I would be contacted by that department. Got letter back that the bank would only be looking to pay £140.00 and would weave 3 months fees so I could get my account back on the right road and would have to wait for the outcome of the test case.
What should I do??

fkelanne

hi there, is there a hardship template letter i can send to HSBC? im claiming for a friend who has lost his job, 3 months behind on his mortage, late with loans and so on. plus hsbc are chaging him 200 quid a month in charges.
thanks

satenya

I am with the Halifax, and I have already written to them saying that I am in financial hard ship; this is because I can't afford to run my car, buy food, or pay back the charges that they insist on putting on my account every other week. I work part time and only work eight hours a week at the moment because I had my hours cut recently, so I earn half of what I used to which hit me hard in the first place, and now the Halifax keep putting more charges on there to the point of owing me £400. This isn't as much as other people who are owed nearly £2000, but in my situation £400 is a lot of money that would go towards petrol, food etc. I'm a student as well in my last year of university doing my dissertation and re-sits and having to buy books as well as suffering with the consequences of being charged even more, subsequently I have had to not buy books that are essential to my course as well because I just can't afford them. Halifax keep putting charges onto my account which uses up all of my limited income on the charges that they keep putting on there!!

I have written to them both of the financial hardship letters off the website and I am waiting for a reply.

They have now today sent me a letter saying that I owe them £90 and that I have to pay that back now when I don't have any money because they have it all!!

How likely am I to get my charges back??

I need advice, as I feel like i'm drowning in the sea of charges....

*Sorry I waffled a bit at the top!!*

natweststaffmember

rocjescai wrote: »

Hi this is an update to my previous post.I have today recieved a letter from the co-op stating that although we are in financial hardship our request for a refund of bank charges has been put on hold.We have 6 months of arrears on both our mortgage & secured loan!I am off to the financial ombudsman now,does anyone know how long this will take?We are in desperate need!!Thanks,rocjescai.:mad:

Have they given the reasoning behind their decision? If not I would write back asking for a final response so you can take it to the ombudsman. If they have sent a final response can you post it up minus your details so I can take a look and see if there is some leverage to get the FOS to get Co-op to relook at this one?

natweststaffmember

Boodles wrote: »

I was wondering whether my boyfriend would be able to claim under hardship rules. He receives Incapacity Benefits (non means tested) as his only source of income, we occassionally struggle to meet the bills and have to take out his money a little earlier, for example 3-7 days earlier to pay a bill/buy food, he then will be charged by Barclays £40 for doing this. This month for example we've been charged for may and april and they've taken it out of this months, both charges, and we now only have £140 to last us 2 weeks to pay all the bills and be able to get food shopping and my gas and eleccy is £80!

You have got a Barclays personal Reserve where they charges £22 every 5 days. I would suggest you get rid of the personal reserve because it is not benefitting you but it the bank. Can I ask whether you pay a set amount by DD to the gas and electric?(I know this may seem strange but you might find you are in credit with them so they may owe you money )

natweststaffmember

bekki0405 wrote: »

This might be of some use to people. I had a claim with HSBC, and claimed financial hardship. This was proven, and after some paperwork and evidence sent, HSBC sent me back some of my charges. I was also told that I could ask for a second request after 2 months, as the money they paid was 2 months of my priority debts payments
Happy person I was!
2 months down the line I go back to HSBC, and was told that as my account was closed, which it had been before the first request, they could not discuss my account with me. I was very unhappy, and asked to speak to a manager, which the staff member would not let me do. He would also not let me make a complaint, as I didn't have an account.
By now I was furious, which was not helped by a bunch of Mumbai call centre staff having trouble understanding my issue. Apparantly HSBC do not have a Cusomer Relations/Complaints team.
I have contacted FOS, and although they are sympathetic about the poor treatment I received from HSBC, and I could have raised a complaint with them about this, they have stated that if an account is closed, the banks DO NOT have to consider financial hardship. Financial hardship is only considered if the bank, by continually charging the customer, is putting the customer into financial hardship. If the account is closed, this could not be the case, and you will have to wait for the outcome of the case.
I guess HSBC got wise to this, and stopped dealing with closed cases after my claim.

They do have a customer relations manager because I have an email from her. I think you need to put everything in writing to their UK staff so they cannot give you some spiel. However, are you still in financial hardship even though they repaid the priority debt arrears?

natweststaffmember

satenya wrote: »

I am with the Halifax, and I have already written to them saying that I am in financial hard ship; this is because I can't afford to run my car, buy food, or pay back the charges that they insist on putting on my account every other week. I work part time and only work eight hours a week at the moment because I had my hours cut recently, so I earn half of what I used to which hit me hard in the first place, and now the Halifax keep putting more charges on there to the point of owing me £400. This isn't as much as other people who are owed nearly £2000, but in my situation £400 is a lot of money that would go towards petrol, food etc. I'm a student as well in my last year of university doing my dissertation and re-sits and having to buy books as well as suffering with the consequences of being charged even more, subsequently I have had to not buy books that are essential to my course as well because I just can't afford them. Halifax keep putting charges onto my account which uses up all of my limited income on the charges that they keep putting on there!!

I have written to them both of the financial hardship letters off the website and I am waiting for a reply.

They have now today sent me a letter saying that I owe them £90 and that I have to pay that back now when I don't have any money because they have it all!!

How likely am I to get my charges back??

I need advice, as I feel like i'm drowning in the sea of charges....

*Sorry I waffled a bit at the top!!*

I do have a few suggestions which is really about boosting your income. Have you approached your university about hardship funds(I have assumed you are at uni)?
Are there any benefits you can claim that you aren't claiming at the moment as you are only working 8 hours a week?
Do you get student loans?
I would open a separate account with another bank and transfer over any essential Direct debits and perhaps look at a payment plan for the overdraft as you might not be able to claim financial hardship under the waiver. I hope that helps and I would speak with your student union.