Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

WarKirby

Hi everyone. I'm in Scotland, with Halifax Bank of Scotland. They've charged me a total of £70 for failed debits for utility bills.

I sent them a letter with all relevant details explaining hardship, and it's been two weeks now. Their response was... nothing. I got no reply.

Any advice ?

shik1

WarKirby wrote: »

Hi everyone. I'm in Scotland, with Halifax Bank of Scotland. They've charged me a total of £70 for failed debits for utility bills.

I sent them a letter with all relevant details explaining hardship, and it's been two weeks now. Their response was... nothing. I got no reply.

Any advice ?

wait longer... with ABBEY i always always get a letter 28 days (normally on a saturday) later... 4 times i've wrote to them and each time it takes a bloody month excactly to respond

SHAZZYB_2

I have financial hardship and have gone thorugh the Ombudsman after over two years waiting for the banks to pay up. I have just been told today by an Ombudsman adjudicator that it will be at least another two years before any final outcome. I am, to say the least, GUTTED!!!

natweststaffmember

SHAZZYB wrote: »

I have financial hardship and have gone thorugh the Ombudsman after over two years waiting for the banks to pay up. I have just been told today by an Ombudsman adjudicator that it will be at least another two years before any final outcome. I am, to say the least, GUTTED!!!

Which bank is it and do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?

natweststaffmember

WarKirby wrote: »

Hi everyone. I'm in Scotland, with Halifax Bank of Scotland. They've charged me a total of £70 for failed debits for utility bills.

I sent them a letter with all relevant details explaining hardship, and it's been two weeks now. Their response was... nothing. I got no reply.

Any advice ?

£70.00 may well get a No response since the FSA waiver does state that £500.00 in charges over a 12 month period might be indicative of financial hardship. Have you reclaimed ALL charges on your account since July 2001?

natweststaffmember

vanman7 wrote: »

hi guys, its been a long time since i last posted about bank charges, and im a bit rusty on the latest news as to whats going on after big success with barclays few years ago and halifax last year.
my problem now is that after being self employed for last 3yrs i am now out of work and only recently claiming job seekers allowance (still awaiting my first payment).
i made a claim for bank charges due to financial hardship with halifax last year(and got them) and since then i have had more charges on my account, and when ever i call and ask about them waving any charges they say NO as i have made a claim b4. surely this shouldnt matter and they should still pay me back!
and now that i am on JSA i am under the impression they are not allowed to toutch the money as it is government benefit.

anyone help me please? realy strapped for cash and not coping with increasing bills!

many thanks Dave

They can touch the money since there is nothing stopping them for doing so unless it was for an assignment of debt at court, ie bankruptcy.
I would look at reclaiming the additional charges back. They might not pay back initially but if items continue to be bouned they might. It might be worth contacting priority debtors ie mortgage company(insurance claim if you have mortgage PPI) Council Tax( you should get a rebate) utilities(perhaps pay a lower amount) and consider cancelling non essential direct debits.

zpacey

Hi Natweststaffmemeber and all other mse users, you might recall my last post a couple of months ago regarding my claim for financial hardship with alliance and leicster, well after sending the second letter and ringing every week and being told it was under investigation, I have spoken to a totally different person who has told me that the person I had been speaking to before was new and that she should have told me that there was no way I was going to get anything until after the test case as I have not being banking with them since 2007 and they only go back with hardship claims if you are still incurring them, he told me that I was absolutely not going to get anything and should take it up with FOS who he says will tell me the same thing. I could have done this after they first refused but they stalled me by telling me that my case would be reopened and looked into, I asked why they never sent me a letter again to tell me I was wastingmy time and the guy said that they had a backlog of these claims hence why it's taken them another 10 weeks to correspond with me...??? What should I do now? Should I start with FOS and how long do you guys think it's gonna take, it seems a complete waste of time, just how I reckon they want us to feel and give up but am willing to keep pushing, any advice will be highly appreciated.

icecube2009

I wanted to aks a bank charge question if I may. My son has been charged over £700 by natwest over a space of about 3 years (most being because he has gone overdrawn due to a charge from the previous month being taken) he is now unemployed (for 8 months) & I have told him to try & reclaim the charges, thing is he has looked on the internet & feels using a company to do it for him would be the best option, I have told him he can do it himself but he said everything he had read says he would stand a better a chance if he put into into someone elses hands.
I wondered what views there are on this? I assume they would take a precentage of anything they get back, but do they stand a better chance? he is a bit rubbish at getting things done to be honest so it could be that putting it into someone elses hands would be the best optiin for him, and in this case can anyone recommend someone who wont rip him off?
Thanks

natweststaffmember

If the bank are not applying charges to the account today then I would agree with them since financial hardship is about current financial hardship caused by bank charges today. Is the account closed? Do you bank elsewhere and are incurring charges today?
Will have a look back later on this evening since I gotta go out again......

natweststaffmember

icecube2009 wrote: »

I wanted to aks a bank charge question if I may. My son has been charged over £700 by natwest over a space of about 3 years (most being because he has gone overdrawn due to a charge from the previous month being taken) he is now unemployed (for 8 months) & I have told him to try & reclaim the charges, thing is he has looked on the internet & feels using a company to do it for him would be the best option, I have told him he can do it himself but he said everything he had read says he would stand a better a chance if he put into into someone elses hands.
I wondered what views there are on this? I assume they would take a precentage of anything they get back, but do they stand a better chance? he is a bit rubbish at getting things done to be honest so it could be that putting it into someone elses hands would be the best optiin for him, and in this case can anyone recommend someone who wont rip him off?
Thanks

Tell him that 3 stamps and £10 cheque or postal order is all he needs plus your help to work out the charges . Otherwise he will lose probably 25% of any payout so about £200.00. Tell him whether he wants to pay you the £200.00 and you'll do it for him