Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

natweststaffmember

jodan wrote: »

Hi all,
I have put claims in for charges on my credit cards and started claims at weekend for ppi reclaimation.

Was wondering if anyone can help with a point regarding Abbey bank reclaim. The letter I received with the offer of £360 as a good will gesture has a different claim number to the one that the court stayed in 2007. At the end of the letter it says "Your complaint under reference number CMS****** remains on hold pending the outcome of the test case. We will keep you updated about the proceeding."
Am I right in assuming that this claim is still valid if I accept the £360 goodwill gesture. The £3100 was from 2001 till 2007. The £360 is charges from the past 12 months.

Thanks in advance for any help given.

ANy offers would be different to a court claim since the bank is giving you a reference number because they have to log all complaints about bank charges.
Personally I would accept if it eases your financial situation.

rocjescai

natweststaffmember wrote: »

I think we might have an argument on the February pay cut of 12.5%. With the epilepsy it will be difficult to go back 2 years since you then went back to working but your OH getting a paycut plus the difficult times we are living in perhaps might give us February as a starting date.
If you can argue that the charges since then directly caused priority debt arrears then we might have a case to ask the FOS to relook at it with evidence.

Once again thanks for your brilliant advice!I will wait & see what the outcome officially is from the ajudicator in writing & I will then get back to you,fingers crossed!!!:p

vladzie

I originally tried to reclaim up to £1950.00 in April 2007. Never got to court as the test case came in. I’m now going back and using financial hardship as another route via the FOS complaint form.
It all started when I left full time work to go back to full time education in 2005. With council funding delays and no means of financial support to live, I used up credit cards and my overdraft to get by with my first two terms. I ultimately maxed out everything, trying to meet basic living needs and repayments to a loan & credit card taken out before I started education. I ended up on hardship funds and emergency aid from university to cover the huge arrears with rent and bills which all in turn caused me to be removed from my course; a breakdown in my relationship and to top it off me being diagnosed with depression.
Accounts ultimately defaulted whilst I tried to get back into work, with debt collectors at my door, even when I was working and trying desperately to cover it all. I finally found CCCS in April 2007 (a full year and half later) who put me on a DMP and helped all interest to be stopped, which is when I saw sense, and started to reclaim my bank charges.

I stated all the above in my FOS complaints form with just a few more details. I’m wondering how much detail I actually have to go into? I’ve tons of correspondence through university about having to leave the course, and being on emergency aid etc. Do I need to include all of this? (its actually mostly letters/forms I’ve had to send stating my circumstances, not much that I’ve received from anyone) as its now been over 3 years, and I’m currently managing almost to get by (though I still miss an odd direct debit)
I’m still £8K grand in debt, and I was just over £10k when I started the DMP. The overdraft I still owe LloydsTSB is £2.5K which £1950 is really charges they owe me.
All the posts I’ve read so far make it sound like they will be going through everything with a fine tooth comb, which I feel won’t put my claim in a good light as I’m not struggling as bad as I was before my DMP (which I’m still on by the way and my pay hasn’t changed since I first started working.)

Any advice anyone and should I send this expenditure sheet I currently have with CCCS?

phew.... sorry about the long post....

jodan

natweststaffmember wrote: »

ANy offers would be different to a court claim since the bank is giving you a reference number because they have to log all complaints about bank charges.
Personally I would accept if it eases your financial situation.

Hi, I'm going to take the offer and see how things go with full charges claim after the court case, a really big thank you for all your advise.x

Thumbell_2

Sorry natweststaffmember but the way you have edited your responses means only the very last part is able to be quoted via the quote button, thanks anyway. I will definitely report the abuse of the waiver for what good it will do me :-) As for my income/ expenditure form if i can show that i paid for food, clothes, bills etc for 2 people to cover my share of the rent then i should be ok then? Should i provide my partner and flatmates' bank statements too?

natweststaffmember

Thumbell wrote: »

Sorry natweststaffmember but the way you have edited your responses means only the very last part is able to be quoted via the quote button, thanks anyway. I will definitely report the abuse of the waiver for what good it will do me :-) As for my income/ expenditure form if i can show that i paid for food, clothes, bills etc for 2 people to cover my share of the rent then i should be ok then? Should i provide my partner and flatmates' bank statements too?

With regards to income and expenditure it is household income and expenditure. You do not need to provide their bank statements either.

natweststaffmember

vladzie wrote: »

I originally tried to reclaim up to £1950.00 in April 2007. Never got to court as the test case came in. I’m now going back and using financial hardship as another route via the FOS complaint form.
It all started when I left full time work to go back to full time education in 2005. With council funding delays and no means of financial support to live, I used up credit cards and my overdraft to get by with my first two terms. I ultimately maxed out everything, trying to meet basic living needs and repayments to a loan & credit card taken out before I started education. I ended up on hardship funds and emergency aid from university to cover the huge arrears with rent and bills which all in turn caused me to be removed from my course; a breakdown in my relationship and to top it off me being diagnosed with depression.
Accounts ultimately defaulted whilst I tried to get back into work, with debt collectors at my door, even when I was working and trying desperately to cover it all. I finally found CCCS in April 2007 (a full year and half later) who put me on a DMP and helped all interest to be stopped, which is when I saw sense, and started to reclaim my bank charges.

I stated all the above in my FOS complaints form with just a few more details. I’m wondering how much detail I actually have to go into? I’ve tons of correspondence through university about having to leave the course, and being on emergency aid etc. Do I need to include all of this? (its actually mostly letters/forms I’ve had to send stating my circumstances, not much that I’ve received from anyone) as its now been over 3 years, and I’m currently managing almost to get by (though I still miss an odd direct debit)
I’m still £8K grand in debt, and I was just over £10k when I started the DMP. The overdraft I still owe LloydsTSB is £2.5K which £1950 is really charges they owe me.
All the posts I’ve read so far make it sound like they will be going through everything with a fine tooth comb, which I feel won’t put my claim in a good light as I’m not struggling as bad as I was before my DMP (which I’m still on by the way and my pay hasn’t changed since I first started working.)

Any advice anyone and should I send this expenditure sheet I currently have with CCCS?

phew.... sorry about the long post....

Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities)?
Have you got CURRENT charges?
Unfortunately historic financial hardship is not necessarily a financial hardship case today since it is about current financial hardship that is the key.

Lest701

Hi all

I have recently gone into Debt management and this has weakened my case with the Financial Ombudsman as they have accept the £35 that the halifax were going to pay us instead of the £2400 is fair! So we are now stuck and await the outcome of the FSA and court stuff. It is barking that i am now managing my debt that i am not in financial difficulty. The fact that we have no spare money each month and still owe the Halifax £440 you would of thought they may have cleared that debt...... Barclays accepted my application for financial difficultlies and gave us £1700 which has relieved some of the debt with barclays...... So please don't think it will be plain sailing with the FO

natweststaffmember

Lest701 wrote: »

Hi all

I have recently gone into Debt management and this has weakened my case with the Financial Ombudsman as they have accept the £35 that the halifax were going to pay us instead of the £2400 is fair! So we are now stuck and await the outcome of the FSA and court stuff. It is barking that i am now managing my debt that i am not in financial difficulty. The fact that we have no spare money each month and still owe the Halifax £440 you would of thought they may have cleared that debt...... Barclays accepted my application for financial difficultlies and gave us £1700 which has relieved some of the debt with barclays...... So please don't think it will be plain sailing with the FO

If you are simply arguing that their offer or lack of is not enough then the FOS will agree with the bank. You have to argue that the charges made your situation worse and meant that you were unable to meet priority creditors(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities). Furthermore, any offer is not in full and final settlement of a claim since on the conclusion of the OFT test case issues, any charges outstanding plus interest will be refunded.

natwestarggh

Hi i have recevied the usual financial statements response from natwest having filled it in i am -690 quid a month down.:eek:
Having left work to become a fulltime student is getting tough financially as well with mortgage and kids and what not,im asking for £1,900 back bank charges i dont have an overdraft and these charges are unpaid direct debits have mortgage arrears as well.
Has anyone had any joy out of natwest, i have just filled out the ombudsman form as well today,along with my response to natwest and may just chuck a copy of the ombudsmans form in as well as i dont htink ill get anywhere and may prove im serious with this claim

any ideas or further help

Tom