Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

Thumbell_2

Natweststaffmember I'm Not sure what you mean by the first bit of your response ' You don't get bank charges for paying for food and clothes and travel.' (sorry couldn't figure the quoting thing ou with the way you'd responded). You can get charges for paying for anything (if you had insufficient funds) they don't discriminate depending on what you're buying, if only they did then it'd be great, only luxuries would incur charges?

Anyway, thanks for your reply. As for completing the forms (think you replied earlier about this but I can't find it to quote sorry). But completing them 'honestly' is what got me into mess where they thought I had £500 spare a month! I think the problem is that unless you can evidence that the priority debts are coming directly out of your bank account then they dn't believe you. I was kind of hoping for some tips on what people have shown on thier forms that have been successful and what teh guidelines for a 'reasonable standard of living are'. Sorry if I wasn't making sense.

As for the abuses of the waiver thing, has anyone on here managed to bring a complaint to the banking code standards authority or other organisation when the banks have abused them in thier time orf hardship?

weedenise

natweststaffmember wrote: »

One address is likely to be the same building. Can you post up both addresses?
The joys of google street side meant that RBS Group has a building with 2 addresses and the building are connected

hi thx for your reply...i dont have the address that was on the prepaid envelope anymore as i sent it away over a week ago and apparently its gone walkies lol..but the address that was on the offer letter itself is :

customer response services unit
drummond house
south gyle park
1st floor
1 redheughs avenuse
edinburgh
eh12 9jn

i do know that the address on the prepay envelope was diff thats why i called to check...i was trying to make sure that the acceptance letter didnt go walkabouts, and we'd get our money asap...but as it is one lady told me to use the envelope and the other is saying i shouldnt have...result being we still dont have money and they're taking no responsibility for this....i cant understand either why they spoke to me on two diff occasions regarding the claim and wouldnt speak to me a third time and after giving me a real thourough security check:mad: i mean fair enough my husbands name is the only one on the claim but it is a joint account and i did have to sign the acceptance form too!

natweststaffmember

weedenise wrote: »

hi thx for your reply...i dont have the address that was on the prepaid envelope anymore as i sent it away over a week ago and apparently its gone walkies lol..but the address that was on the offer letter itself is :

customer response services unit
drummond house
south gyle park
1st floor
1 redheughs avenuse
edinburgh
eh12 9jn

i do know that the address on the prepay envelope was diff thats why i called to check...i was trying to make sure that the acceptance letter didnt go walkabouts, and we'd get our money asap...but as it is one lady told me to use the envelope and the other is saying i shouldnt have...result being we still dont have money and they're taking no responsibility for this....i cant understand either why they spoke to me on two diff occasions regarding the claim and wouldnt speak to me a third time and after giving me a real thourough security check:mad: i mean fair enough my husbands name is the only one on the claim but it is a joint account and i did have to sign the acceptance form too!

If you have copies of the paperwork ie the offer letter then write a letter accepting the amount with any reference number you have and send it recorded delivery since the format of acceptance should not matter and it will reduce the timescale of a letter being sent to you and you receiving the funds.

weedenise

natweststaffmember wrote: »

If you have copies of the paperwork ie the offer letter then write a letter accepting the amount with any reference number you have and send it recorded delivery since the format of acceptance should not matter and it will reduce the timescale of a letter being sent to you and you receiving the funds.

thx i wil shal i photocopy the letter that they sent me and send that with it too?:cool:

natweststaffmember

longhauladdict wrote: »

Hiya, thanks, do you mean no to the 2nd question about hardship?
In reference to the A&L charges can anyone help about whether I can try to claim both back???

Thanks

Just to clarify, you can reclaim bank charges at any time so definitely ask the question. With regards to financial hardship, it is about whether there are priority debt arrears(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities) and how the charges are increasing them by taking money out of a limited income with which you pay them.
I hope that makes sense.

natweststaffmember

weedenise wrote: »

thx i wil shal i photocopy the letter that they sent me and send that with it too?:cool:

If they are happy to accept a fax(which I would assume they would only do via one of their branches) then yes.

natweststaffmember

Thumbell wrote: »

Natweststaffmember I'm Not sure what you mean by the first bit of your response ' You don't get bank charges for paying for food and clothes and travel.' (sorry couldn't figure the quoting thing ou with the way you'd responded). You can get charges for paying for anything (if you had insufficient funds) they don't discriminate depending on what you're buying, if only they did then it'd be great, only luxuries would incur charges?
What I am saying is that when you pay for shopping you do not get bank charges for buying them(albeit I can probably say you can for the payment of shopping with a debit card). All banks will factor into the equation of financial hardship, the issue of reasonable costs on food and on clothing.
To quote on the bottom right hand side of the post is the "quote" button.
Anyway, thanks for your reply. As for completing the forms (think you replied earlier about this but I can't find it to quote sorry). But completing them 'honestly' is what got me into mess where they thought I had £500 spare a month! I think the problem is that unless you can evidence that the priority debts are coming directly out of your bank account then they don't believe you. I was kind of hoping for some tips on what people have shown on thier forms that have been successful and what teh guidelines for a 'reasonable standard of living are'. Sorry if I wasn't making sense.
If the priority debts aren't being paid from the account then the charges are having no effect on the ability to pay for them because by definition there are funds in another account to pay them. If you pay them by cash, for example, then you would be able to prove this by the withdrawal of cash from the account to pay the bill or online transfer. What I meant by filling it in honestly was that. There are no tips to completing an income and expenditure apart from taking time to complete it and thinking about your income and more importantly expenditure. Sometimes, it will either show unnecessary spending which can be cut back on or that your initial figures were incorrect.
As for the abuses of the waiver thing, has anyone on here managed to bring a complaint to the banking code standards authority or other organisation when the banks have abused them in thier time orf hardship?

If there is a breach of the FSA Waiver on Bank Charges then a complaint can be made direct to the central waivers team
email: centralwaiversteam@fsa.gov.uk
It must be specific to your claim and must quote the FSA waiver(on my signature).
August to July 2009 there was 18 complaints in total.

rocjescai

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Do you still have charges with Smile even today?
Is the account still being used?
Did Smile offer anything ie suspension of charges and interest(cos if they did the FOS will probably agree with that opinion)?

Hi I do still bank with Smile & I do still get charges!Smile have done absolutely nothingThe guy from the FOS said that as we havent got an overdraft with Smile then there is probably nothing that can be done!So a word of warning to everyone out there,we have 6 months mortgage & secured loan arrears ,but without owing the bank anything they will not do anything for us ,so I think the financial hardship route is a pile of keek depending on the bank!!:mad::mad:

natweststaffmember

rocjescai wrote: »

Hi I do still bank with Smile & I do still get charges!Smile have done absolutely nothingThe guy from the FOS said that as we havent got an overdraft with Smile then there is probably nothing that can be done!So a word of warning to everyone out there,we have 6 months mortgage & secured loan arrears ,but without owing the bank anything they will not do anything for us ,so I think the financial hardship route is a pile of keek depending on the bank!!:mad::mad:

Financial hardship is worth going down and I haven't finished with you yet .
Were the priority debt arrears going out of the smile account?
Were any of the arrears being paid off?
Is the Smile account your main account?

Sappoo21

Sappoo21 wrote: »

yes it is still open and overdrawn by £1000+
Council tax (baliffs) gas electric Debt Collectors
Nationwide haven't sent me an income and expenditure form
I have used one from the Council and one from national debtline
and also now one from CAB but this I have only sent to the FOS. :mad:
any help much appreciated.

any help on the above much appreciated.