Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

natweststaffmember

barloo69 wrote: »

I sortve knew I might get the following response from Abbey but thought I would try and argue my case regardless.

Since the beginning of the year I decided to face up to my debts and take my head out of the sand.

I therefore approached the CCCS who advised me that I was not able to go on a repayment plan as there wasnt enough money left at the end of the month to play with and to offer each of my creditors. They therefore offered me with 2 options, Bankruptcy or offer token payments to each of my creditors whilst I try and sort further funds from another source (ie addl income).

I chose the latter as the least painful solution and whilst I knew this was never going to be a permanent solution it might just buy me some time in retraining for an alternative career.

I therefore have kept regular contact with each of my 6 creditors who I owe a total of £25k and advised them I am unable to make my contractual payments at the moment due to financial difficulties and I am therefore making you a token payment instead.

Each of my creditors have appeared to be fine with this (apart from Barclaycard, but hey thats a different story) and have said they will review my financial situation again in 6 or so months.

In the meantime I have started the reclaiming charges process and because I now have many defaults and debt collection letters, solicitors letters demanding payment and final demands and the fact that I have very little nearly zero money, I believe I am in financial hardship.

It it wasnt for my girlfriend moving in and taking control of the household bills / utilities etc I wouldve been in arrears with all these bills also.

I therefore requested that Abbey look at my bank charges claim now as I believe I am in financial hardship. Today I received a response from Abbey today stating that they DO NOT believe that I am in financial hardship as my debts are NOT priority debts. I sortve guessed that this would be the standard response I would receive so I placed empathsis on the fact that I would have priorty debts arrears if it wernt for my girlffriend taking over the payments on these.

However this fact has obviously fallen on the Banks deaf ears.

It seems beyond comprehension to me that the only way a Bank will acknowledge someone is in financial hardship is when they are in arrears with their council tax, mortgage / rent or utilities ie when things have got really bad. Why cant the bank intervene before one gets to this stage and assist. Doesnt the fact then I am getting daily phonecalls and receive final demand letters constitute as being in financial hardship. Obviously not.
I totally agree with the first part of what you have said re the bank intervening earlier to assist their customer(you). The issue is with regards to the ultimate sanction, for example, none of the non priority debts will put you in prison, leave you homeless, or even stop your essentail utilities. A CCJ will effectively take into account your income and give you affordable payments. However, are you getting letters from institutions where you are challenging the amount owed? The debt is in dispute and therefore should not be chased until the disputed element of the debt has been resolved.
Roll on the end of the Test case.

To clarify financial hardship, it is about priority debt arrears and household income. Abbey have responded to a T with regards to the FSAWaiver on bank charges.

conn75

I just followed the template on this site and provided the copy of the letter and the fact that I am now on benefits. I'll look into what you've mentioned. Thanks!

conn75

Also, they didn't say they were closing the hardship claim - just that they would assess but I'd still have to wait anyway. Is this just stalling?

natweststaffmember

conn75 wrote: »

I just followed the template on this site and provided the copy of the letter and the fact that I am now on benefits. I'll look into what you've mentioned. Thanks!

At the moment banks are looking at priority debts and household income. It could be that you are in financial hardship with non priority debts(credit cards and loans) in which case I would suggest going after charges on credit cards, or loan PPI or credit card PPI(cos they are easier to get a pay out on).

natweststaffmember

conn75 wrote: »

Also, they didn't say they were closing the hardship claim - just that they would assess but I'd still have to wait anyway. Is this just stalling?

That means they have assessed it and you have to wait.

conn75

natweststaffmember wrote: »

That means they have assessed it and you have to wait.

I mean they said they would assess the situation but I would still have to wait for the court case to be dealt with. This just seemed like they were saying "Well, no matter what we assess you will have to wait like everyone else."

lililis

biggles26 wrote: »

I did a financial hardship claim earlier this year agianst my bank Abbey. They gave £2,025 on 1st June 2009 but did not tell me until late June/early July. Every time I treid to access my account through an ATM I was told that Abbey would not allow me to see my balance, etc. Eventually I found that there was an "abused account" block on my account. No-one in Abbey was prepared to admit that it was their department that put the block on the account. It took 3 weeks to get the block off and even now I still cannot use my card. This is despite my branch telling me that there is nothing wrong with my card! I have now been told that I have to apply for a new card (which will not be a multi-function card like what I have got now) but merely a cashcard! What should I do?

Abbey did the same with me even though I also have a charges reclaim with them. I didn't pursue it as I was happy enough with a cash card which cuts down on my monthly charges. You could respond saying you think you are being victimised because you had a claim against them. The rules regarding the reclaims states you should not be treated unfairly although I'm not sure if thats just relevant to closure of account. I know last year my overdraft expired and I did not think I would get it extended but one phone call and they put it back on my account. It's worth a try to go down this route.

I'm thinking of going down the hardship route myself as my initial claim was for £5k and they have charged me another £900.00 this year alone so I wanted to use the clause which states if you are charged more than £500 per year you are eligible for consideration of hardship.

Did you find them hard to deal with? I have had so many problems with Abbey and hate getting in touch with them but am encouraged by your success.

I am working but am a single parent on low income. I just about manage to pay rent and utilities but by the time the bank have applied my charges every month I do not have enough left to live on and incur more charges. It's a vicious circle that I can't get out of.

Does anyone think I have a chance?

natweststaffmember

lililis wrote: »

Abbey did the same with me even though I also have a charges reclaim with them. I didn't pursue it as I was happy enough with a cash card which cuts down on my monthly charges. You could respond saying you think you are being victimised because you had a claim against them. The rules regarding the reclaims states you should not be treated unfairly although I'm not sure if thats just relevant to closure of account. I know last year my overdraft expired and I did not think I would get it extended but one phone call and they put it back on my account. It's worth a try to go down this route.
Having a different type of card is a reasonable and sensible approach to financial hardship and is part of the FSA Waiver.
"16. Before closing a personal current account of a customer in financial difficulty, the firm might offer the customer a basic bank account, if this is a facility that the bank offers."
It is possible to suggest that the bank would have closed the account had it been in the normal circumstances.
I'm thinking of going down the hardship route myself as my initial claim was for £5k and they have charged me another £900.00 this year alone so I wanted to use the clause which states if you are charged more than £500 per year you are eligible for consideration of hardship.
£500 over 12 months can be seen to be indicative of financial hardship but may not be financial hardship.
Did you find them hard to deal with? I have had so many problems with Abbey and hate getting in touch with them but am encouraged by your success.

I am working but am a single parent on low income. I just about manage to pay rent and utilities but by the time the bank have applied my charges every month I do not have enough left to live on and incur more charges. It's a vicious circle that I can't get out of.

Does anyone think I have a chance?

I think you have a 50/50 chance(either yes or no).
"For the purposes of this direction, a complainant is considered to be in financial difficulty when his income is insufficient to cover reasonable living expenses and meet financial commitments as they become due"
The above I would say means you are borderline

SUFC

SUFC wrote: »

Thanks for this nat. Financial Hardship started last Oct, starting having trouble covering bills through account from about January this year.

Hi nat, have you replied to my answers that i provided for you yet? Thanks SUFC

natweststaffmember

SUFC wrote: »

Thanks for this nat. Financial Hardship started last Oct, starting having trouble covering bills through account from about January this year.

Thanks for the nudge .
Are the priority debts still in arrears and not being paid off?