Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

owedbundles

I bank with natwest and have had my claim for bank charges on hold with a claiming company for a couple of years now - i also paid ex amount of money about a year ago for them to print out the six years of charges/statements - this i have in my posession at home,but am now in difficult hardship - rent arrears,debt collection and court letters - i have split up from my partner and now live at my mothers,but am paying rent out for my ex partner as we have 2 young kids,i am also responsible for my daughters school fees as well as my own debt which seems to be getting heavier and heavier - what is the best route to take and quickest way of getting some money back into my account - i reckon my bankcharges claim is in the region of £5k +
I am in full time employment but the outgoings are far outweighing my in coming salary
gratefull for any help

natweststaffmember

owedbundles wrote: »

I bank with natwest and have had my claim for bank charges on hold with a claiming company for a couple of years now - i also paid ex amount of money about a year ago for them to print out the six years of charges/statements - this i have in my posession at home,but am now in difficult hardship - rent arrears,debt collection and court letters - i have split up from my partner and now live at my mothers,but am paying rent out for my ex partner as we have 2 young kids,i am also responsible for my daughters school fees as well as my own debt which seems to be getting heavier and heavier - what is the best route to take and quickest way of getting some money back into my account - i reckon my bankcharges claim is in the region of £5k +
I am in full time employment but the outgoings are far outweighing my in coming salary
gratefull for any help

If you have gone through a claim company I would probably suggest going back to them and asking that they go through the hardship route with your claim and see what they say. Because they are representing you any advice I could give would be tainted by the fact that you are not the person reclaiming the charges since the company are acting on your behalf.

owedbundles

can i cancel my claim with the company representing me as i believe they are taking too long in reclaiming for me or do i have to leave it up to them now
thanks for your help

Chelski

does anyone know the best number to contact barclays on as the people i keep speaking to are useless and all they have done so far is to register my 'complaint' not actually discuss things with me -


EDIT - Just spoken to someone who said they can remove my reserve but as I am currently in it then they would put the account straight to the collections team to collect on the overdraft and also that the financial hardship claim on bank charges only covers the charges made before Oct 2007 when they brought in the reserves and that the £22 reserve fee's aren't able to claim back on - is this right????

mailmannz

This whole process of proving hardship is an absolute farce!

About 2 months ago I sent in my hardship request, along with the required paperwork as well. About a week later got a call from HSBC and went through it all again...then nothing!

Sent off a flba a couple weeks ago, of which I got a reply last week saying all cases had been put on hold and that if I want to be assessed for financial hardship that I would have to send in a complete list to support that application!

For the love of allah...that is EXACTLY what I did!

After speaking to others who have complained to the FSA a about banks inaction over hardship it seems Ill be wasting my time there anyways, as the FSA force the bank to do anything!

So come on people...renew my faith in mankind. Is it worth the time and effort to continue with my hardship case?

Mailman

natweststaffmember

mailmannz wrote: »

This whole process of proving hardship is an absolute farce!

About 2 months ago I sent in my hardship request, along with the required paperwork as well. About a week later got a call from HSBC and went through it all again...then nothing!

Sent off a flba a couple weeks ago, of which I got a reply last week saying all cases had been put on hold and that if I want to be assessed for financial hardship that I would have to send in a complete list to support that application!

For the love of allah...that is EXACTLY what I did!

After speaking to others who have complained to the FSA a about banks inaction over hardship it seems Ill be wasting my time there anyways, as the FSA force the bank to do anything!

So come on people...renew my faith in mankind. Is it worth the time and effort to continue with my hardship case?

Mailman

mailmanz, I kinda saw your frustration and the poor advice given on CAG to you.
If you want to know the process then I have put the lot on Legal Beagles which I will link you to:
http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showpost.php?p=123355&postcount=2

With regards to how I argue the case on financial hardship then it is lifestyle event, ie loss of job, hours, separation from partner leads to lowering of income going into the account and then charges. The charges impact on your ability to pay priority creditors(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities) leading to arrears. It is the point in which that lifestyle event happened from where you should argue the amount which may not equal the total amount of charges you are reclaiming.

Furthermore, on income and expenditure forms it is based on household income and expenditure. hope that helps and "yourbank" on CAG although time constraints mean I rarely post during the week there but do here.

natweststaffmember

Chelski wrote: »

does anyone know the best number to contact barclays on as the people i keep speaking to are useless and all they have done so far is to register my 'complaint' not actually discuss things with me -


EDIT - Just spoken to someone who said they can remove my reserve but as I am currently in it then they would put the account straight to the collections team to collect on the overdraft and also that the financial hardship claim on bank charges only covers the charges made before Oct 2007 when they brought in the reserves and that the £22 reserve fee's aren't able to claim back on - is this right????

They would have said or should have said, August 2008 and furthermore, the Barclays reserve is outside of the FSA Waiver but inside the OFT test case but they should still look at your case based on the banking code and dealing with customers in financial difficulty.

natweststaffmember

owedbundles wrote: »

can i cancel my claim with the company representing me as i believe they are taking too long in reclaiming for me or do i have to leave it up to them now
thanks for your help

you can but please remember that they may still charge you a fee to break with them so it might be worth checking that firstly.

wisnaeme

Hello Folks,

Go a letter on Friday from HBOS which reads as follows -

Dear Mr Wisnaeme,

Thank you for your communication.

We acknowledge receipt of your complaint about unarranged overdraft bank fees .We believe that your complaint concerns the level, fairness or lawfulness of the fees. If it concerns something else, such as an administrative error please let us know.

We also acknowledge that you indicate that you are experiencing financial difficulties.

Having reviewed your account D/34918101-3 carefully, I am satisfied that the fees were correctly applied. However, in view of your current financial circumstances, to help you I would like to offer you a payment of £315.00 which amounts to the fees debited to your account between 25 August 2009 and 29 September 2009. This offer is made without admission of liability.

In relation to account D/34914609-9, to help you I have arranged for the cancellation of any fees you incur in the 3 months after we receive your acceptance of this offer. Please note you may still receive letters advising of any instances when a fee would usually be applied. This gesture is made without admission of liability and to allow you time to better order your outgoings so they closely follow the regular credits made to your account.

To accept my offer simply fill in the enclosed form and send it back to me in the prepaid envelope. I will then make sure you get your payment within 14 working days of receiving your form.

We understand you are already in contact with our Collections Team and we strongly encourage you to continue to work with them to identify what further assistance we can provide.

If following your discussion with my colleague, you feel you need more help to manage your finances the following organisations may be bale to help you work out what you can afford to pay, and give free assistance on how to approach your other creditors:
CAB, National Debtline, Consumer Credit Counselling Service, Payplan.

Financial Ombudsman Service

I would like to let you know that if you remain unhappy with our decision you can refer your concerns regarding the assessment of your financial circumstances to the Financial Ombudsman Service. They can be contacted by telephone on 0845 080 1800.

You will find enclosed a leaflet providing full details of the Ombudsman service. If you wish to refer the matter to the Ombudsman you must do so within 6 months of the date of this letter.

Yours sincerely…..


£315.00 is only 10% of or original claim dated March 2007 and as of yet we still don’t have a final sum, despite asking for this and being advised it would be provided. What is the best course of action take from here??? If we were to receive £3000 then that would help us in our financial state right now and we could wait for the rest (at least another £3000) in due course.

Any help or comments would be appreciated.

jamestom_2

Hello

Natwest charges total £304 they paid £76 back last year. I've claimed £228 but they offered me £152 I referred it to the FOS who sided with NW and said I'm only owed £152. The FOS have missed several points I made in my complaint form which I find really annoying. I've sent him an email and asked him to re-read my complaint form.explaining that he'd missed important points. Has anyone else had any problems with the FOS and a lack of their attention.

James