Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

levetti

I have just completed an income/expenditure conversation with halifax money management team (a must do apparently before halifax decide whether I fit hardship criteria). They say I spend over £700 more than my income which is no surprise as I am unemployed and on benefits with a dependant.

I have council tax arrears of £1,647.00 which I have a payment plan for of £100.00 a month which I only agreed to to stop bailiffs from taking my car. I cannot afford the payments. I also have arrears of elec/gas/water of over £1,000.00 which I have no payment plans for as of yet and a threat of disconnection.

Does the payment plan for the council tax arrears jeapordise my claim for hardship even though it was to stop the bailiffs for now?

Should I send halifax copies of the bailiff notice and disconnection notices?

Please help as I am sinking lower and lower and still getting bank charges on a weekly basis.

natweststaffmember

squirrel7 wrote: »

I've had exactly the same thing with Smile Bank and the FOS- Smile acknowledged my financial hardship in a letter and the FOS have said smile can wait until the court hearin to refund my charges?- conflicting messages...i thought they had to look at the case if you were in financial hardship as is said on this site where the FOS say something different....who's right? and if the FOS are right where does it leave us financial hardship cases? should we take them to court anyway?

With financial hardship cases, most banks are looking at priority debt arrears however that doesn't mean the bank have to refund the charges, merely that they do have to look into cases of financial hardship and perhaps suspend charges, perhaps suspend any collection of any debts but there is no compulsion on the financial institution to repay any amount.

elwolfio

Hi I have just finally started trying to get to grips with my finances after years of burying my head in the sand. Just wondered if someone can advise.

I am currently in the process of trying to reclaim my bank charges from hsbc on the financial hardship basis. I have sucessfully received list of my charges which amount to approx £4,000 (yes i know)
I have sent the initial letter claiming with interest 14 days ago, along with my evidence i am under hardship. So far i have heard nothing. Do i now send the second letter?

My other question is i intend to close my HSBC account and have opened another account with LLoyds TSB. I have now moved all my direct debits and my wages to the new account.

Will it cause a problem if i close the account I am claiming charges on? I do still have a loan and credit card with HSBC which I switched payment to the Lloyds TSB account.

Should i keep it open until this has been resolved or can I close it.

natweststaffmember

elwolfio wrote: »

Hi I have just finally started trying to get to grips with my finances after years of burying my head in the sand. Just wondered if someone can advise.

I am currently in the process of trying to reclaim my bank charges from hsbc on the financial hardship basis. I have sucessfully received list of my charges which amount to approx £4,000 (yes i know)
I have sent the initial letter claiming with interest 14 days ago, along with my evidence i am under hardship. So far i have heard nothing. Do i now send the second letter?

My other question is i intend to close my HSBC account and have opened another account with LLoyds TSB. I have now moved all my direct debits and my wages to the new account.

Will it cause a problem if i close the account I am claiming charges on? I do still have a loan and credit card with HSBC which I switched payment to the Lloyds TSB account.

Should i keep it open until this has been resolved or can I close it.

Can I ask where you sent the letter?(and you did claim back from July 2001, right?)
Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?
It should not effect your claim if the account is closed but until they have made any decision on the financial hardship element of your claim I wouldn't close the account.

natweststaffmember

levetti wrote: »

I have just completed an income/expenditure conversation with halifax money management team (a must do apparently before halifax decide whether I fit hardship criteria). They say I spend over £700 more than my income which is no surprise as I am unemployed and on benefits with a dependant.

I have council tax arrears of £1,647.00 which I have a payment plan for of £100.00 a month which I only agreed to to stop bailiffs from taking my car. I cannot afford the payments. I also have arrears of elec/gas/water of over £1,000.00 which I have no payment plans for as of yet and a threat of disconnection.

Does the payment plan for the council tax arrears jeapordise my claim for hardship even though it was to stop the bailiffs for now?

Should I send halifax copies of the bailiff notice and disconnection notices?

Please help as I am sinking lower and lower and still getting bank charges on a weekly basis.

I would send as much details of financial hardship as you can including disconnection notices, bailiff letters, the lot.
Are you claiming all benefits you are entitled to?

levetti

natweststaffmember wrote: »

I would send as much details of financial hardship as you can including disconnection notices, bailiff letters, the lot.
Are you claiming all benefits you are entitled to?

Yes I believe I am claiming all I am entitled to....Job Seekers Allowance, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Child Tax Credit (which was single parent benefit).

I'll send all the copies of the notices and bailiff letters, THANKS!

satenya

natweststaffmember wrote: »

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.

I am at university. I am applying for hardship funds at the moment through the university. I already get student loans and all the grants. I am looking at applying for job seekers allowance, but i'm not sure if I can apply for this as I am a student, so I am looking into it a bit more at the moment; as I am not claiming any benefits at the moment. I have just applied for another bank account with the abbey under a student account so I can pay my salary in to there and not have it taken off me every month. I will also e-mail my SU and see if they can give me any advice!!

Thank you!! You have given me a couple ideas that I hadn't thought of before and I am extremely grateful!

urgenthelp_2

I am really disappointed by the Financial Ombudsman, I claimed via hardship to the Halifax - charges with interest which totalled £8478, as a goodwill gesture I was refunded £1995 which did not meet any priority debts merely part of the money owed to Halifax which still hasnt paid off what I am over on my overdraft.

I then went to the Financial Ombudsman who have sent me a letter saying my case does not merit any further action from them:

Quote: the bank has recently refuned £1995 of charges to you. I understand that it has increased your overdraft limit (wrong - I had that from when the account was open) to assist you with putting your finances in order. In taking this action, the bank has offered remedies that are consistent with its obligations under the Banking Code.

As explained the bank is under a duty to treat cases of financial difficulty positively and sympathetically, but that does not mean that there is any kind of financial difficulties "threshold" which once reached triggers a refund of charges. Moreover, the bank is not required to refund the charges as means to resolve a hardship complaint.

Going forward I would suggest you contact the bank to agree a suitable repayment plan for your debt!"

Can someone please advise what the next step should be as I do not believe this to be a fair outcome from the ombudsman.

natweststaffmember

urgenthelp wrote: »

I am really disappointed by the Financial Ombudsman, I claimed via hardship to the Halifax - charges with interest which totalled £8478, as a goodwill gesture I was refunded £1995 which did not meet any priority debts merely part of the money owed to Halifax which still hasnt paid off what I am over on my overdraft.

I then went to the Financial Ombudsman who have sent me a letter saying my case does not merit any further action from them:

Quote: the bank has recently refuned £1995 of charges to you. I understand that it has increased your overdraft limit (wrong - I had that from when the account was open) to assist you with putting your finances in order. In taking this action, the bank has offered remedies that are consistent with its obligations under the Banking Code.

As explained the bank is under a duty to treat cases of financial difficulty positively and sympathetically, but that does not mean that there is any kind of financial difficulties "threshold" which once reached triggers a refund of charges. Moreover, the bank is not required to refund the charges as means to resolve a hardship complaint.

Going forward I would suggest you contact the bank to agree a suitable repayment plan for your debt!"

Can someone please advise what the next step should be as I do not believe this to be a fair outcome from the ombudsman.

Yes, I do.

Let me take it back a bit. Has the refund of charges now meant that the account is back within the overdraft facility?
Has the overdraft changed at all since the period in which you reclaimed bank charges under financial hardship?
Can I clarify the amount of the charges back to July 2001 excluding interest?
Furthermore, on the priority debt arrears are there any payment plans in place to clear the arrears?

elwolfio

Hi thanks for the reply.
In answer to your questions
I sent the letter to the registered address off the sticky on here.
HSBC Bank;

FAO Data Protection Controller
8 Canada Square
London,
E14 5HQ

I have claimed back to 2003, wizard template

I don't have any priority debt arrears. Basically due to credit cards and loans my outgoings are more than my income. I don't have enough to pay for fuel food etc. Thus incurring charges every month, using more credit etc

I have switched my account to Lloyds with the intention on cutting out my overdraft and charges. If i pay my overdraft off (My parents bless them) is it going to lessen my claim of hardship?

Thanks again