Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

natweststaffmember

RuthnJasper wrote: »

Hello NWSM,

I don't have arrears as such; but I DO have an IVA, into which I pay £157 per month. My salary goes into the bank account (which is a basic STEP account). Any credit cards were wiped out in the IVA, so no extra charges there. I filled out a hardship form, which Natwest sent to me, and provided proof of every item listed there. Their response was that "I had enough left over at the end of my outgoings to not qualify for hardship." My monthly budget leaves @£22 after expenses.

My current situation of hardship came about purely and simply because I inadvertently missed one payment of £3.84 and was charged £38 by NatWest for doing so. This increased by one extra missed payment fee per month because of my lack of available 'contingency money'. By living exceptionally frugally for the past two months (candles for lighting, not going out except to work, cancelling all non-essential payments, eating very plain basic fare, etc.), I have managed to reduce this to one £38 fine this month, but I really cannot live like this much longer.

The annoying thing is that I know £200 is just peanuts to NatWest - it is the difference between food and no food to me and, apart from the lack of £3.84 (I had £2.50 in my account at the time, and thought that the £3.84 had already been paid. Silly me.), I am not a reckless spender, having learned my lesson good and proper with the IVA business.

Still trying to keep smiling though...
x

You will hate me for saying this, but I have seen worse with priority debt arrears. If the I&E came to +£22.00 then that means that I can see where they are going with this. However, £38.00 a month is one charge a month, is there anyway of paying via a different method, ie Standing Order or Credit slip?

joeyjojo9658

natweststaffmember wrote: »

You kinda gave yourself advice while writing so there is not much I can add to this.

Yeh I had some time to write my post, I kind of mulled over it

Would you agree with that plan? Just try and get the charges repaid, and worry about being stuck with a solo card later? Ta

RuthnJasper

joeyjojo9658 wrote: »

Yeh I had some time to write my post, I kind of mulled over it

Would you agree with that plan? Just try and get the charges repaid, and worry about being stuck with a solo card later? Ta

Hi Joey,

I've got a Solo card - it's not that bad, pretty much like a Maestro card. Same principle as Switch really. Good luck!

RuthnJasper

natweststaffmember wrote: »

You will hate me for saying this, but I have seen worse with priority debt arrears. If the I&E came to +£22.00 then that means that I can see where they are going with this. However, £38.00 a month is one charge a month, is there anyway of paying via a different method, ie Standing Order or Credit slip?

Of course I don't hate you! I'm grateful for your wise advice. I'll have a go at appealing and see how I get on. I've pretty much done all I can do, including making better use of Standing Orders, so looks like it's just plain rice with a dab of soy sauce and bread and butter for me for a while longer.

There are plenty of folks worse off than me. It's just that I've been struggling for so long and and am incredibly tired.

Thank you again for the sound counsel - it's very kind of you to use your time and expertise to help guttersnipes like me.

alliduk

I started my claim back in 2007 and was put on hold pending the test case like everyonelse.

When I lost my job in March and read about the financial hardship regulations I contacted Abbey by phone to ask about the procedure.

I was told to write to them explaining I was in financial hardship and give them a list of my income and expenditure which I did immediately. After 3 weeks and hearing nothing back I called to get an update and was told I had to fill in their own version of the income and expenditure form.

I sent this back as soon as I received it (was just a simple in and out list which was the same as I had already supplied).

I then received a letter about 3 weeks later offering me £1684.29 payable direct into my loan account with them (now in arrears) as a 'goodwill gesture'. I wrote back immediately saying I did not accept this and wanted to pursue the full amount of £5,400. I offered to waive the interest of £810.33 if they gave me back the £5253 I had originally claimed.

I heard nothing and after another 2 weeks I called Customer services and was told my letter hadnt been received. I offered to fax a copy through as was told they had daily 'hardship' meetings and if I got it to them before 2.30pm that day they would look into it urgently. So I faxed it immediately.

I then called at 4pm that afternoon to see what happened at the meeting to be told that it would be impossible for them to even acknowledge receipt of my fax as the customer services fax machine was based on another floor in the office that was locked and accessible to the customer services team!

Someone promised to come back to me the following day and said they would alert the guy who handled financial hardship cases to my case and try and 'find' the fax.

The following day I heard nothing and called again to be told it takes approximately 5 days for the fax to be 'matched' to my account before they would even acknowledge my letter.

At this point I went to the obmudsman who on the telephone thought I had a good case. It will be 3 months on Monday from the date I sent the FSO my forms and copy letters. I have just called them for an update to be told that my case still has been assigned to anyone and it should probably now take approx 6-9 months before the FSO get to dealing with it.

It seems like such a long time especially as the FSO original letter of receipt said they hoped to resolve claims in approximately 2 months.

In the meantime, I am still overdrawn with Abbey to the tune of £600 plus have loan arrears of £995 and on Saturday received a demand from the Revenue for £3.5k.

I am at my wits end now and was really hoping the FSO could resolve things quickly and get my refund of £5k meaning I would pay off the overdraft and the loan arrears and be financial straight again - mind you even if I got it it would have to now all go on the tax bill.

AAARRRGGGG

Any ideas, help, advice, words of wisdom gratefully received.
Thanks

Glpark01

we put in a hardship claim with halifax and recieved a letter this morning saying they believe all our charges are fair and the account is still on hold, they can see we're in financial hardship so are getting one of their debt managment team to contact us. Does anyone know if we can appeal or are we better leaving it on hold now? the claim is for over £4k.

chargesufferer

Hi all,

I wondered if anyone can help me.
I have put in a hardship claim for my charges of £400+ to natwest and have recieved a letter with a hardship form etc...
HOWEVER,
The letter states that they will 'help' me recover by REMOVING account facilities vital to me such as debit card cheque book, and overdraft (which is £400!!). How can this HELP me?!!!
I'm considering whether to continue my claim, as I would be back to square one with my overdraft removed. Anyone got any experience of this or any advice?

Thanks!

gazzebo69

alliduk wrote: »

I started my claim back in 2007 and was put on hold pending the test case like everyonelse.

When I lost my job in March and read about the financial hardship regulations I contacted Abbey by phone to ask about the procedure.

I was told to write to them explaining I was in financial hardship and give them a list of my income and expenditure which I did immediately. After 3 weeks and hearing nothing back I called to get an update and was told I had to fill in their own version of the income and expenditure form.

I sent this back as soon as I received it (was just a simple in and out list which was the same as I had already supplied).

I then received a letter about 3 weeks later offering me £1684.29 payable direct into my loan account with them (now in arrears) as a 'goodwill gesture'. I wrote back immediately saying I did not accept this and wanted to pursue the full amount of £5,400. I offered to waive the interest of £810.33 if they gave me back the £5253 I had originally claimed.

I heard nothing and after another 2 weeks I called Customer services and was told my letter hadnt been received. I offered to fax a copy through as was told they had daily 'hardship' meetings and if I got it to them before 2.30pm that day they would look into it urgently. So I faxed it immediately.

I then called at 4pm that afternoon to see what happened at the meeting to be told that it would be impossible for them to even acknowledge receipt of my fax as the customer services fax machine was based on another floor in the office that was locked and accessible to the customer services team!

Someone promised to come back to me the following day and said they would alert the guy who handled financial hardship cases to my case and try and 'find' the fax.

The following day I heard nothing and called again to be told it takes approximately 5 days for the fax to be 'matched' to my account before they would even acknowledge my letter.

At this point I went to the obmudsman who on the telephone thought I had a good case. It will be 3 months on Monday from the date I sent the FSO my forms and copy letters. I have just called them for an update to be told that my case still has been assigned to anyone and it should probably now take approx 6-9 months before the FSO get to dealing with it.

It seems like such a long time especially as the FSO original letter of receipt said they hoped to resolve claims in approximately 2 months.

In the meantime, I am still overdrawn with Abbey to the tune of £600 plus have loan arrears of £995 and on Saturday received a demand from the Revenue for £3.5k.

I am at my wits end now and was really hoping the FSO could resolve things quickly and get my refund of £5k meaning I would pay off the overdraft and the loan arrears and be financial straight again - mind you even if I got it it would have to now all go on the tax bill.

AAARRRGGGG

Any ideas, help, advice, words of wisdom gratefully received.
Thanks

I feel your pain, my girlfriend has had similar responses from Abbey, saying that they had not recieved and letters and stuff...basically stalling at every opportunity. Abbey in my eyes are the worse bunch of scumbags on the planet. They are the only ones who haven`t responded, she has had claims settled from the Co-op and Halifax, although Halifax were a little harder to get the money out of their grubby mits.

As she owns a shop she is constantly in and out of her overdraft and yet they still charge her. She now refuses to use her Abbey account, and as soon as it is settled, if it ever will be, she will be closing it and never going back. (Don`t get me started on how useless they were at setting up the account, believe it or not, they set it up as a MR at first, Ive checked, and she aint btw).

You really will struggle with Abbey, because they do not respond, they do not acknowledge, and they even say they do not have to pay even in financial hardship cases, so basically, they do not care. Hope you get success with them, and if you do, please do tell us all how you did it.

Regards
Gazzebo.

natweststaffmember

alliduk wrote: »

I started my claim back in 2007 and was put on hold pending the test case like everyonelse.

When I lost my job in March and read about the financial hardship regulations I contacted Abbey by phone to ask about the procedure.

I was told to write to them explaining I was in financial hardship and give them a list of my income and expenditure which I did immediately. After 3 weeks and hearing nothing back I called to get an update and was told I had to fill in their own version of the income and expenditure form.

I sent this back as soon as I received it (was just a simple in and out list which was the same as I had already supplied).

I then received a letter about 3 weeks later offering me £1684.29 payable direct into my loan account with them (now in arrears) as a 'goodwill gesture'. I wrote back immediately saying I did not accept this and wanted to pursue the full amount of £5,400. I offered to waive the interest of £810.33 if they gave me back the £5253 I had originally claimed.

I heard nothing and after another 2 weeks I called Customer services and was told my letter hadnt been received. I offered to fax a copy through as was told they had daily 'hardship' meetings and if I got it to them before 2.30pm that day they would look into it urgently. So I faxed it immediately.

I then called at 4pm that afternoon to see what happened at the meeting to be told that it would be impossible for them to even acknowledge receipt of my fax as the customer services fax machine was based on another floor in the office that was locked and accessible to the customer services team!

Someone promised to come back to me the following day and said they would alert the guy who handled financial hardship cases to my case and try and 'find' the fax.

The following day I heard nothing and called again to be told it takes approximately 5 days for the fax to be 'matched' to my account before they would even acknowledge my letter.

At this point I went to the obmudsman who on the telephone thought I had a good case. It will be 3 months on Monday from the date I sent the FSO my forms and copy letters. I have just called them for an update to be told that my case still has been assigned to anyone and it should probably now take approx 6-9 months before the FSO get to dealing with it.

It seems like such a long time especially as the FSO original letter of receipt said they hoped to resolve claims in approximately 2 months.

In the meantime, I am still overdrawn with Abbey to the tune of £600 plus have loan arrears of £995 and on Saturday received a demand from the Revenue for £3.5k. How come their original offer was £1684.29 in arrears at that time and the Loan arrears are now at £995.00? This bit doesn't make sense

I am at my wits end now and was really hoping the FSO could resolve things quickly and get my refund of £5k meaning I would pay off the overdraft and the loan arrears and be financial straight again - mind you even if I got it it would have to now all go on the tax bill.

AAARRRGGGG

Any ideas, help, advice, words of wisdom gratefully received.
Thanks

I think you made a mistake rejecting the financial hardship offer. I would never advise rejecting an offer but accept and attempt to negotiate. The issue at the moment is perhaps about the paperwork that the FOS are having to obtain from Halifax. Normally with a financial hardship final response letter it should take 12 weeks maximum but clearly this may not be as straight forwards as it may seem.
Can I ask if you have cleared some of the loan arrears?
Make the FOS aware of the demand from inland revenue btw.

joeyjojo9658

chargesufferer wrote: »

I wondered if anyone can help me.
I have put in a hardship claim for my charges of £400+ to natwest and have recieved a letter with a hardship form etc...
HOWEVER,
The letter states that they will 'help' me recover by REMOVING account facilities vital to me such as debit card cheque book, and overdraft (which is £400!!). How can this HELP me?!!!
I'm considering whether to continue my claim, as I would be back to square one with my overdraft removed. Anyone got any experience of this or any advice?

What is the exact wording? For me, they said return your service card, cheque book, and phone us about cancelling direct debits and further payments to your overdraft. I gave them a ring and turned out they just meant replace the maestro with a solo, and that I shouldn't make any new direct debits. Not the end of the world basically.

Part of it is they are trying to scare you into giving up. The way I saw it was - if they do refund the charges, but make using my account a nightmare, I'll just go open an account with someone else :rolleyes: