Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

chipbeck

Rickee wrote: »

The collections department are the best people to speak to (0845 600 6283). The complaints department in Andover were the ones dealing with my written complaint but it's the Collections department who made the decision to refund the charges, but as part of my finiancial situation.

The puzzling thing is that the complaints department in Andover still have no idea that I'm getting this refund or that it's as a result of my charges. I contatced them again as I have a complaint with HSBC and wanted to see whether LloydsTSB have agreed I am in financial hardship and if they would send a letter confirming this which I can pass to HSBC but as they didn't have a clue what refund I was going on about I didn't wanna waste any more time with them.

According to Collections, they are the only ones who can refund the account for you, the complaints department can't give the okay on that sort of thing apparently, very weird and probably absoloute rubbish but there you go.

LOL.
According to collections they can not authorise refunds I have to write to Andover. Pot Luck but thanks anyway Rickee.

Robbda

So i'm posting it here - hope no-one minds:

The letter i sent was this:

Dear Sir/Madam,

REQUEST FOR REPAYMENT OF CHARGES – HARDSHIP CASE

I am writing to ask you to refund to me bank charges and related interest which you have levied from my account over the last x months.

The High Court has recently decided that your charges are subject to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. I consider that the regime of bank charges you operate is unfair within the meaning of these Regulations as they are not individually negotiated, they operate in much the same way as charges operated by other High street banks and therefore there is little alternative to myself but to agree to the charges. Furthermore the charges are contrary to the requirement of good faith and fair dealing as they lack basic standards of commercial moral practice and take an unfair advantage of the weak bargaining power of the consumer. They impose a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations between the contracting parties which is to my detriment. I also consider that the charges may be unlawful at common law.

Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law. Furthermore you are bound by the Banking Code to treat your customers fairly and it is evident that you do not so.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise.

I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them.
Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.

What I require

I calculate that you have taken £x plus a further £x which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £x
I enclose a schedule of the charges which I am claiming with this letter.

My targets to resolve this matter
I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

I am fully aware of the waiver which you are presently relying upon and which was granted to you by the FSA. However, this is an internal industry matter and has nothing to do with me. It is one-sided and I note that you continue to levy charges and to enforce them despite the weight of judicial and popular opinion against you.

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

If you dispute that I am entitled to a refund of these charges, then please let me know within the above timescale the basis upon which you dispute together with the reasons why you consider your charges to be fair.

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

In considering this request for repayment, your attention is drawn to the Press Release issued by the FSA on 27th July, which states:

"Consumers who are in very difficult financial circumstances - 'hardship cases'

Banks and building societies will have to conduct a filtering process to ensure that cases of genuine hardship are still dealt with during the waiver period. Cases of hardship would still be entitled to be referred to, and dealt with by, the FOS."

I believe that my personal circumstances fall within this category because I am currently struggling financially and the unlawful charges made to my account by you have aggrevated my situation and I am now working with the CSSS to repay my debts using a Debt Management Plan.

Yours faithfully,


Then when they came back and said no proof I re-sent the above letter (increasing the interest of course) and i got a copy of the banking code http://www.bankingcode.org.uk/pdfdocs/PERSONAL_CODE_2008.PDF (Page 25) and highlighted the bits that fitted me under their discription of "someone experiencing financial Hardship" the I wrote pointing out the lack of salary credits when out of work, the random salary credits since i started temping and sent a copy of my financial budget agreed with the CCCS

hope that helps

wwwigz

Hi, very interesting thread.

I have recently begun a reclaim on a closed account with Halifax, I have only just sent of the request for statements.

I think I may qualify for F.H. and have emailed the CCCS for a call, I also want to get in touch with my bank, but am unsure of the process for the Halifax account I had, and the current Natwest account I have.
I am assuming that I need a F.H. classification from my current bank, yes?
I can't find a template letter on the site to send to my bank, so would someone be able to advise what number to ring, so I will be treated seriously?

Thanks in advance...

dec001

was told at the end of sept that the financial hardship criteria did apply to me but my bank needed another four weeks to consider my case,i will be gobsmacked if they credit any money into my account-claiming just over £3000 so fingers crossed as i really need some financial help-will update in two weeks.

impecunious

I am about to take my hardship case forward and I must admit that I am not overly optimistic after reading previous posts! But I am truly in the mood for a fight with my now ex-bank (Nationwide) as I think they have completely taken the pi$$ and have not bothered to listen to anything I have to say.

We had a stillborn son last January. Our world fell apart of course. Money wasn't paid in to cover DD's and suddenly it spiralled out of control. I only had a basic account with no overdraft, yet in about 18 months, I must have had around £1500 in bank charges, of which I have paid around £1200. About two months ago I made an arrangement to pay back the rest of my 'unauthorised overdraft' and thought I had eventually sorted things out. But Nationwide then added another series of charges to my account and because I had gone over my now 'approved overdraft', they withdrew it and demanded full and immediate payment. It mattered not one jot that it was beacuse of thier charges which pushed me over the limit in the first place!

Just as we were beginning to get some semblance back in our lives after the loss of our son, my wife became pregnant again. The last 18months or so have been really tough for us, but we now have a three and a half month old little buddah to show for it. Along with plenty of debts, arrears and ccjs of course!

Now the black clouds have well and truly lifted and our finances can take some priority, I am furious at how Nationwide have treated me. How can it be possible for us not to be able to take action against the banks over these charges, but they can send solicitors and debt-collectors after me in pursuit of these bank charges???

lucinad

i applied for hardship from the rbs in juneish time and was firstly told no, then i wrote back and asked to see a copy of the assessment criteria as i believed that they had not assess us correctly. then a week later i didnt get the criteria but i did get a letter saying that my application for hardship had been accepted!! woo hoo. however i left it for a few weeks and then rang them... they told me "yes it has been accepted and was still in with the decision makers that usually take 14 days " i left it for another 3 weeks and rang back as i hadnt heard anything and i was told that they couldnt make a decision and had to wait till the outcome of the court case in november!!! i am so annoyed at them just fobbing me off and each time i have had to ring them they havent bother to keep me informed at all.

jmcguinn

barclays have pretty much told me that they will not even look at bank charges claims, even under the FSA financial hardship waiver, and that i will have to wait until after the test case. i have now sent the complaint to the FSA, who say that they will respond within 2 month, but i really can't see any changes, especially with all that is happening with the banks now!

TinChipMan

re: my previous posts. I have now followed the advice on this site and contacted the FOS with my details, they responded with a letter of acknowledgement yesterday, we'll have to wait and see.

korimac

Well I've done everything our Martin has told me to do, but sorry to say the bank has said I still have to wait for the courts to dicide . Its so anoying as I'm disabled and its getting harder to live on what I receve from DLA. Everything is going up by %30+ but those of us on DLA have not receved %30+ Rise in our benifits. Where to next, any tips please:rolleyes: . Kori

krisskross

korimac wrote: »

Well I've done everything our Martin has told me to do, but sorry to say the bank has said I still have to wait for the courts to dicide . Its so anoying as I'm disabled and its getting harder to live on what I receve from DLA. Everything is going up by %30+ but those of us on DLA have not receved %30+ Rise in our benifits. Where to next, any tips please:rolleyes: . Kori

I think having to cut back and manage on what we have is affecting all of us. Certainly no one is getting 30% rises. At least you don't have to worry about losing your income completely. Watching the unemployment figures rise means a lot of people are facing that stark reality.