Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

skint_scot

Ooops! Forgot to mention that I am currently owning HBOS around £600 in total in those two accounts (currently posting reduced payments to them in accordance with CCCS). Obviously, I am happy to have the reclaimed fees be used to pay the debt I owe to them as a prioity...and to close the accounts immediately afterwards!

NK74_2

OK, sorry if this has already been covered.
I have a reclaim for charges on hold. I have written twice myself to my bank stating financial hardship (only just managed to stop house being repossed by 3 days!). They sent a form to fill in but was very difficult to understand so filled it out as best I could. Twice they have said I do not fit into the financial hardship. My bank charges continue to be a headache.
What should be my next move? Please help!

Many thanks

natweststaffmember

Mathsgeek wrote: »

Smile (Co-op) agree that I am in financial hardship which is why they so graciously allow me to pay off my £1000 overdraft through a DMP . As I am keeping up the payments on the DMP they see no reason to refund the £3500 of charges they owe me as they have done all they need to to alleviate my hardship .

FOS agrees with them as do CCCS .

I am seriously considering asking CCCS to remove them from the DMP and then saying I can't afford it and really am in hardship due to non repayment of fees .

Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage or rent, council tax, utilities)?
Do you have non priority debts(credit cards, store cards, catalogues,loans)?

natweststaffmember

skint_scot wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
Hope you enjoyed your extra hour in bed this morning, and also hope you will be able to give me some advice on my matters with HBOS.

I wrote to HBOS around two weeks ago, to reclaim around £2,500. I'm currently on a DMP with CCCS and both myself and my wife are currently claiming job seekers allowance (thanks, recession!) so am claiming hardship.

I quickly received their standard reply letter stating they would aim to respond in 4 weeks. This morning I received a more detailed letter from a Customer Relations Manager, who is "satisfied that the fees were correctly applied".

However, they are offering me a payment of £30 for one account and £136 for another, for fees debited to my accounts between February 2006 and October 2009. Of course, this offer is made without admission of liability!
　
Several issues however come to light.
Firstly, in light of the amount I believe to be owed me, the amount they offer is ridiculous. The charges I am reclaiming date from October 2003 - October 2008, a marked difference from Feb 06 - Oct 09. Why are they ignoring several years?

They acknowledge that I am experiencing financial difficulties but then proceed to mention the banks' and OFT legal proceedings and only once the proceedings conclude will my case be reviewed - completely ignoring the waiver relating to hardship cases.

They also mention that apparently I "…am concerned that the fees have been deducted from my Social Security benefits." I said no such thing in my initial correspondence.

Having read the comments on the MSE forums I am aware that the fact they are prepared to offer me money - even their paltry amounts - is encouraging per se, and that 'the purse can be opened'. However, I am wanting to bring this matter to a speedy - and successful - resolution, and wish your opinion on how to expedite this.

In short I am wondering what my next steps should be…. I feel I should immediately write back, reinforcing my claim under the hardship provisions, and also taking them to task over their inaccuracies etc.

The bank also proceeded to telephone my parents to try and get hold of me, even though they send my statements to the address I live at with my wife, and I have repeatedly told the bank I will communicate in writing only. I've not lived with my parents for nearly 6 years! My parents experienced anxiety and I consider this harassment. This makes my blood boil.

Furthermore, my local MP is none other than Vincent Cable, Shadow Chancellor, most trusted MP in Britain, and who widely predicted the global financial crisis before it occurred.

Do you think if I mentioned the prospect of getting Vince Cable MP involved - a worthy opponent - and also bringing to light their less than honourable actions in contacting my parents, would be worthwhile? Also, maybe I should contact their Chief Executive as well, to raise the stakes?

Any advice on how to move forward would be most welcome!

Thanks

Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage or rent, council tax, utilities)?
What caused your income to go down leading to bank charges?
Are the bank charges currently worsening your situation?

natweststaffmember

NK74 wrote: »

OK, sorry if this has already been covered.
I have a reclaim for charges on hold. I have written twice myself to my bank stating financial hardship (only just managed to stop house being repossed by 3 days!). They sent a form to fill in but was very difficult to understand so filled it out as best I could. Twice they have said I do not fit into the financial hardship. My bank charges continue to be a headache.
What should be my next move? Please help!

Many thanks

Which bank is it?
Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage. council tax, utilities)? I am assuming that mortgage arrears remain.

skint_scot

Had it not been for my parents, then there is no way we'd have been able to pay our rent for several months this year, as we are both freelancers and the recession has really caused contractions in our industries. Our finances are a delicate balancing act as we seek to try and pay our council tax and utilities. We are late in our payments for CT and utilities - not by months, but by 'red letter' levels....of a few weeks etc. Am currently applying for council tax and housing benefit.

The bank charges themselves - most relate to pre-2006, rather than recently. I've been on a CCCS DMP since 06. A fair proportion relate to going over agreed overdraft limits, which can be attributed to increased living expenses as a result of moving down to London.

The charges have certainly made my outstanding balances with HBOS higher than they would have been had the charges been realistic.

greendollar

We have been refused our charges back due to financial hardship by Nationwide.
I lost my job in Aug 2008 and have been receiving JSA since,we have been on a debt management plan with the CAB for about 3 years and with their help have seen our debts reduce steadily since.
In July due a mistake by Job Centre Plus our benefits were'nt paid on time to cover ou D/D's and we were charged £90 by Nationwide.
As we could ill afford to lose so much money in one go we had to plead with our local branch not to take the money.
They paid back £60 but were so incensed by their attitude decided to look at our charges and found that we had paid over £1200 in the 6 yrs we'd been banking with them.
We thought due to being unemployed,on a debt management plan and our only source of income being benefits that we would qualify under the waiver.
After writing to Nationwide,twice as they didn't respond when they said they would,twice,we complained to the FOS as the 8 weeks for resolution had passed.
I contacted Nationwide by phone stating that we were prepared to drop the complaint if they paid our charges back as they hadn't responded,to be told that their response must have been lost in the post and that we had been unsuccessful with our claim.
We asked for a copy of their response that was "lost" and that duly arrived with a bank statement saying that they would be taking another £90 in charges this month,I must explain that Nationwide have been re-imbersing charges since I put my claim in,and even taking back a charge they had previously re-imbersed.
Now its back to the FOS i suppose and see if we have any joy with them.
As for banks dealing with hardship claims speedily and sympathetically.......hahahaha

natweststaffmember

skint_scot wrote: »

Had it not been for my parents, then there is no way we'd have been able to pay our rent for several months this year, as we are both freelancers and the recession has really caused contractions in our industries. Our finances are a delicate balancing act as we seek to try and pay our council tax and utilities. We are late in our payments for CT and utilities - not by months, but by 'red letter' levels....of a few weeks etc. Am currently applying for council tax and housing benefit.

The bank charges themselves - most relate to pre-2006, rather than recently. I've been on a CCCS DMP since 06. A fair proportion relate to going over agreed overdraft limits, which can be attributed to increased living expenses as a result of moving down to London.

The charges have certainly made my outstanding balances with HBOS higher than they would have been had the charges been realistic.

If you are not getting charges today then I would be surprised if they offered you anything under financial hardship but ask the question nonetheless.

natweststaffmember

greendollar wrote: »

We have been refused our charges back due to financial hardship by Nationwide.
I lost my job in Aug 2008 and have been receiving JSA since,we have been on a debt management plan with the CAB for about 3 years and with their help have seen our debts reduce steadily since.
In July due a mistake by Job Centre Plus our benefits were'nt paid on time to cover ou D/D's and we were charged £90 by Nationwide.
As we could ill afford to lose so much money in one go we had to plead with our local branch not to take the money.
They paid back £60 but were so incensed by their attitude decided to look at our charges and found that we had paid over £1200 in the 6 yrs we'd been banking with them.
We thought due to being unemployed,on a debt management plan and our only source of income being benefits that we would qualify under the waiver.
After writing to Nationwide,twice as they didn't respond when they said they would,twice,we complained to the FOS as the 8 weeks for resolution had passed.
I contacted Nationwide by phone stating that we were prepared to drop the complaint if they paid our charges back as they hadn't responded,to be told that their response must have been lost in the post and that we had been unsuccessful with our claim.
We asked for a copy of their response that was "lost" and that duly arrived with a bank statement saying that they would be taking another £90 in charges this month,I must explain that Nationwide have been re-imbersing charges since I put my claim in,and even taking back a charge they had previously re-imbersed.
Now its back to the FOS i suppose and see if we have any joy with them.
As for banks dealing with hardship claims speedily and sympathetically.......hahahaha

Unfortunately, I would agree with Nationwide based on two things, ie they refunded £60.00 of the £90.00 and as you have stated in your post your debts have steadily reduced. Being on income based benefits does not necessarily mean that you are in financial hardship as defined by the FSA waiver. Some of the delays are caused by writing to the wrong address, not including income and expenditure forms and not including copies of debts. That issue leads to the view that the banks are delaying things when we ourselves who advise and the sites on the WWW are deficient in our knowledge of the FSA Waiver to advise properly to avoid unnecessary delays.

greendollar

What planet are you on,the benefits I receive,the minimum the goverment says we need to live,go towards our day to day living expenses,not to pay Nationwide's extortionate fee's due to a mistake....yes,our debts were steadily reducing,token £1 a month payments,until Nationwide decided to screw us for as much as they could and after complaining decide to screw us over again knowing full well what our situation is,what's up with you....do you think it's acceptable for Nationwide to take over half of someone's benefits in one week?Is this not going to make our situation worse,of course it will,anyone with half a brain can see that.
And your defence of the banks is laughable,wrong address...no it took Nationwide over 3 months to turn me down despite repeated attempts to get a final response.