Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

rosieposie57

Hi, l started my claim on 2nd august withthe hallifax bank of scotland, got a reply informing me charges amount to 1475, not a lot compared to others i know, anyway, l went through the money mangement dept and gave them all my details as well.l wrote back with the i&e form which the halifax provided, then l remembered that theey might need documentary evidence, so l phoned them, they told me to go to my branch and ask them to fax the details. lo and behold, the day l was going to do this a sherrifs officer,( bailiffs , l think they are known as in england,) came to my door with a writ demanding council tax arrears, l had to sign for this as it had to be hand delivered to me. l took this to the bank with letters from the local authority regarding rent arrears, and another one regarding council tax arrears from the local authority. l also have a 500 pound overdarft whic is well eaten into. The girl at the bank took them upstairs and faxed them through. then she brought them back to me. a few days later l phoned the bank to see if they had recieved it. no, they hadnt, affter 3 further phone calls and still no sign of the fax they offered me a waiver on bank charges from the past three months and the future three months, which l have not incurred for a few months by cancelling all but esential dds and being really frugal . l had to give up work a year ogo due to sciatica. Anyway, the customer relations guy called phil suggested l go back to the branch with all these documents again and fax them through again, this l did and the girl in the bank took them upstairs brought them back and said that the fax adress was on redial, but that she had taken photocopies and would try again later. l sent a template letter after all that and followed the advice to accept the offer but not to accept that it was final etc and that l would be prepared to accept 100 less than claimed. l sent it recorded delivery, but wouldnt you know that the post strike is due!!. so l shall wait and see. how can faxes not get delivered and how can they just keep putting people from pillar to post all the time. has anyone had the same runaround as me and do you think l have a strong hardship case

jazz1955

I have had Nat West tell me im not hardship case even though they are one of the creditors taking me to court to have a charge order put on my property (I fell seriously ill 5 years ago but have maintained an agreed lower paymentand never missed one ) I dont understand it. And now today becuase I was honest and told Saga my house insurance company they have cancelled my insurance because i now have this ccj . Really dont now where to turn next.

natweststaffmember

jazz1955 wrote: »

I have had Nat West tell me im not hardship case even though they are one of the creditors taking me to court to have a charge order put on my property (I fell seriously ill 5 years ago but have maintained an agreed lower paymentand never missed one ) I dont understand it. And now today becuase I was honest and told Saga my house insurance company they have cancelled my insurance because i now have this ccj . Really dont now where to turn next.

Who is the CCJ with?
And why have they cancelled your insurance?

natweststaffmember

rosieposie57 wrote: »

Hi, l started my claim on 2nd august withthe hallifax bank of scotland, got a reply informing me charges amount to 1475, not a lot compared to others i know, anyway, l went through the money mangement dept and gave them all my details as well.l wrote back with the i&e form which the halifax provided, then l remembered that theey might need documentary evidence, so l phoned them, they told me to go to my branch and ask them to fax the details. lo and behold, the day l was going to do this a sherrifs officer,( bailiffs , l think they are known as in england,) came to my door with a writ demanding council tax arrears, l had to sign for this as it had to be hand delivered to me. l took this to the bank with letters from the local authority regarding rent arrears, and another one regarding council tax arrears from the local authority. l also have a 500 pound overdarft whic is well eaten into. The girl at the bank took them upstairs and faxed them through. then she brought them back to me. a few days later l phoned the bank to see if they had recieved it. no, they hadnt, affter 3 further phone calls and still no sign of the fax they offered me a waiver on bank charges from the past three months and the future three months, which l have not incurred for a few months by cancelling all but esential dds and being really frugal . l had to give up work a year ogo due to sciatica. Anyway, the customer relations guy called phil suggested l go back to the branch with all these documents again and fax them through again, this l did and the girl in the bank took them upstairs brought them back and said that the fax adress was on redial, but that she had taken photocopies and would try again later. l sent a template letter after all that and followed the advice to accept the offer but not to accept that it was final etc and that l would be prepared to accept 100 less than claimed. l sent it recorded delivery, but wouldnt you know that the post strike is due!!. so l shall wait and see. how can faxes not get delivered and how can they just keep putting people from pillar to post all the time. has anyone had the same runaround as me and do you think l have a strong hardship case

I usually suggest negotiation but not on that basis. You have to argue that a lifestyle event, ie unemployment, loss of hours, separation from a partner has lead to the drop of income and therefore charges leading to you being unable to pay your priority debts and therefore leading to arrears. It is the point the lifestyle issue arose where you need to start counting the charges from.
Any claim for bank charges in its entirety remains live regardless of whether they refund(they don't have to under the FSA Waiver on Bank Charges), waive charges and interest for a period of 3 months(your case), whether they increase an overdraft or even offer a loan(not sure I agree on this bit at all).
With regards to the FAX number issue, I think I would have taken a name and number or department so that the branch could ring and confirm receipt of the documents or that copies was sent internal mail to the right department avoiding postage delays(that is the way I would do this).

filthiestfish

I also have written to Natwest reclaiming bank charges. The difference is that I started off being in financial hardship and their charges were applied during this period of financial hardship. They have now sent me a form to fill in basically to let them know of my financial situation, but as I am in full time employment, I shouldnt fall in the financial hardship at this time. Yet THEY charged me at a time when I WAS in financial hardship (unemployed and on benefits)
The issue here is that since the beginning of the year they have been receiving monthly payments from CCCS on my behalf, yet they have continued to charge me for going over my limit or making less than the minimum payment (via CCCS).
After having written to Natwest to explain the situation they have sent me a financial hardship form to fill in. Yet my request is relating to charges applied to my account when I WAS in financial hardship. What should I do?

filthiestfish

What is classed as financial hardship?
I am currently in full time employment getting a monthly salary but have debts with various creditors which are being paid off by CCCS on my behalf. Can I therefore make a claim under the financial hardship rule?
As it relates to credit card charges, my bank has continued to charge me even whilst being aware that CCCS is paying them on my behalf. Surely a case for the financial ombudsman?

jazz1955

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Who is the CCJ with?
And why have they cancelled your insurance?

the ccj is Nat west (and stupidly i suppose i didnt know it was a ccj as the letter from the court was headed variation order and told me just to keep paying them the £10 per month with i have done) they have also summons me back to court here at warrington which i attended as was lead to believe it was to up my payments, but when i arrived there they first said i had called the court appearance -- i hadnt-- after making a phone call nat west rep said no they had called it because i had missed the last 5 payments, devastated i argued my case with her that id never missed one. again after much conversation and her making more phone calls she came back and said sorry ur right u never missed any paymts but we still want an charge order to make sure u dont ). I went to seek a free half hour solicitor and she asked if id got house/bld ins i have and always have had, she said we could claim of them for the proceedings. so i rang them and when i told them id got this ccj which id just been informed it was they said someone would contact me i told saga i geniunely didnt know it was a ccj this last week. ysterday they sent me a short note saying that from 27 sept becuase of the ccj i didnt tell them they have ceased my insurance.?????????????????????? this is a minefield and im afraid im not as sharp as i was this terrifys me.

natweststaffmember

filthiestfish wrote: »

What is classed as financial hardship?
I am currently in full time employment getting a monthly salary but have debts with various creditors which are being paid off by CCCS on my behalf. Can I therefore make a claim under the financial hardship rule?
As it relates to credit card charges, my bank has continued to charge me even whilst being aware that CCCS is paying them on my behalf. Surely a case for the financial ombudsman?

do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities)?
Are any of the arrears being paid off?

I think you asked about credit cards on the other thread so there is no hold on claims on credit cards and financial hardship does not apply so reclaim those one now(cos they are easier to do ).

natweststaffmember

jazz1955 wrote: »

the ccj is Nat west (and stupidly i suppose i didnt know it was a ccj as the letter from the court was headed variation order and told me just to keep paying them the £10 per month with i have done) they have also summons me back to court here at warrington which i attended as was lead to believe it was to up my payments, but when i arrived there they first said i had called the court appearance -- i hadnt-- after making a phone call nat west rep said no they had called it because i had missed the last 5 payments, devastated i argued my case with her that id never missed one. again after much conversation and her making more phone calls she came back and said sorry ur right u never missed any paymts but we still want an charge order to make sure u dont ). I went to seek a free half hour solicitor and she asked if id got house/bld ins i have and always have had, she said we could claim of them for the proceedings. so i rang them and when i told them id got this ccj which id just been informed it was they said someone would contact me i told saga i geniunely didnt know it was a ccj this last week. ysterday they sent me a short note saying that from 27 sept becuase of the ccj i didnt tell them they have ceased my insurance.?????????????????????? this is a minefield and im afraid im not as sharp as i was this terrifys me.

I have asked someone I know who is a bit more knowledgeable than me on the CCJ stuff to offer some advice that will be better than me winging it now that we have the full picture of what has happened.

esmerellda

Thats a cheap trick from Natwest (re the pretending you had missed payments and bloody good on you for showing up at court and defending yourself)

The reason Natwest said you could speak to your insurers about the hearing was insurers often offer legal cover in with their policies.

So your insurance was with Saga. Was this home and contents insurance ?

the only thing i can find in their policy docs from a quick look is this

Saga wrote:

4. The policyholder must contact Saga as soon as possible about any change
which may affect this insurance, this includes any changes concerning the
policyholder, their spouse/partner, relatives and domestic employees, normally
living at your home or changes to the property including major building work.
If you are not sure if a change is relevant, contact Saga. When you renew
your policy, you must also tell Saga if the policyholder, their spouse/partner,
relatives and domestic employees, normally living at your home have been
declared bankrupt or convicted of any criminal offence.

Did they write to you to explain why the policy had been cancelled ? Was it due for renewal and were you paying by monthly installment?

Did natwest get granted the charging order at the hearing ? If you like we can go back and look at the CCJ you originally got, your immediate priority is the hardship claim, and the insurance policy.

Will be difficult in with this thread as theres a lot to go through so could you possibly start your own thread either on here or on https://www.legalbeagles.info/forums and we'll help you through everything. I'll pm you a copy of this too.

Ame
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