Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

ninjastriker

i recently did a application form over the phone for a debt relief order which i am qualify for and filled in the 2nd form with all my creditors. now i got to wait a reply so i can pay for it.

i am wondering if i can start claiming for finanical hardship because i quality for a debt relief order or should i wait untill the year is over, some of the charges i will be claiming for is from the same bank.

any advice what i should do?

natweststaffmember

jill07 wrote: »

Would there be now way around this? I know it would take my overall debt down, but at the moment I have bigger priorities debt wise (utility & water arrears). The DMP has been accepted by all of my debtors, and although it is not a permanent solution, it is covering all debts for the time being.

This money could prove to be a lifeline at the moment, and would really help me to get back on my feet....

Ps. Many thanks for your reply - the advice you give to people on here is fantastic and you are a star for taking so much time to help!
Jill x

Jill, if you can argue that the charges today are causing the hardship today and that from a specific point in time they have done so then you might stand a chance of arguing the case with the FOS(however, it will mean no refund until they have investigated which could be next year before you get a response). I think next weeks Supreme Court decision might decide your approach since if the banks' win I would accept the offer and if they lose then look at the argument I have suggested to you.

natweststaffmember

Guapa1 wrote: »

Good morning, I've tried to read as much as I could but couldn't make all the way through this thread. I started claiming back in 2006 and got as far as court in 2007, but the case was held.

My charges start from 2000, which was obviously fine in 2006, but if I claimed hardship now, could I still claim from 2000? I've had to move out of my home back into my mums and am barely making up the mortgage as the rental prices in my area are lower than my mortgage.

I had also other charges added as I was going to court, but my memory has been affected by my painkillers and I can't remember if I had paid £80 to be seen in court? The bulk paperwork is packed away in storage, and I just have the folder I took to court with me.

Thanks in advance for any help.

You can ask the bank to consider your case as financial hardship and that means writing to the bank. You will need to get the charges from the point you filed a claim to today and include all charges since July 2001.
You need to include arrears as well.

intrepid

All or most of the success stories seem to relate to Halifax!! Wondering if I am with the wrong bank...
HSBC have been charging us in such a way that even our branch were shocked and said we should get it all back. £70- £150 per month between us- roughly how much we go over by, meaning we'd never go over if they did not charge us. We were declined on hardship recently, though they are stopping the charges, suggesting surely they never should have applied them in the first place?
We filled in their hardship questionnaire, and then you have to call and speak to them, there is no way to do it by letter. They then told us that in the expenditure section, travel is not a legitimate expense unless to work- ie my kids travel to college, my travel to job interviews- none of this was allowed to be listed. My son is 18 so not allowed to be considered dependent, even though he is in full-time further- not higher -education, the man said he knew 'a lot of teenagers' who are self- supporrting in further education and my son had to do the same. Not that we object to him getting a part time job but he hasn't been able to yet. He told me that £100 per week is the grocery allowance for a family of four regardless if the kids are 5 and 6 or as in our case 16 and 18. This is because it would be unfair on others if the allowance were different. Wrong- it's unfair on us as we are the ones with adult kids who eat more! I was told that as I am not currently working (I have had ME for 5 years) I ought to qualify for free dental work etc- prescriptions- proving this man has no training in actual hardship. You cannot be classed as unemployed if you are out of work but live with a partner and there is not a saftey net if like us your income is just above the working tax credit limit. (if my partners' income was £1000 less than it is the kids would have £30 ema per week, we'd have free dental care and prescriptions, I'd have free open university, the list goes on and on and you needn't do the maths to see the problem)
Oddly they allow £40 a month 'entertainment'- as if we could ever afford that. This they said is for magazines and coffees out even though i am not supposed to travel to a job interview! Also, my payments to Open Uni are not allowed to be called an expense as it is an unsecured creditor and I would not lose my home (which I rent anyway) if I did not pay it. The experince of talking to them was horrific- this just went on and on, arbitrary decisions on what I may and may not spend on if I'm in hardship- with the result they decided i am not, of course. Oh, you are allowed £50 per month clothing for a family (we buy none) £20 hairdressing (who can afford a hairdresser?) but you are not allowed to buy a Christmas or Birthday present for your kids and consider it a legitimate expense. This is how they get the figures to add up -it's very arbirtary but is essentially weighted in their favour quite dramatically. They even decide how much is ok for all your bills, even if they are what they are and must be paid.
Sorry, rant!
Hoping the Ombudsman can help.
Anyone else had trouble or good luck with HSBC?

intrepid

Incidentally in response to the person who posted the FSA info on what banks should do and how they should behave in cases of Financial difficulty / hardship- HSBC made a distinction between these two. And it is only hardship which they say qualifies for any return of charges. Hardship means to them- as i said above- you take no buses unless to work, etc- it is only if you are in danger of losing your home without the extra funds that you qualify for hardship and therefore a return of charges, so sayeth HSBC...

Guapa1

natweststaffmember wrote: »

You can ask the bank to consider your case as financial hardship and that means writing to the bank. You will need to get the charges from the point you filed a claim to today and include all charges since July 2001.
You need to include arrears as well.

Thank you for replying. I was getting worried because most of my charges were in 2000, I went to CAB in 2001 and only have about £30 from July!

natweststaffmember

intrepid wrote: »

Incidentally in response to the person who posted the FSA info on what banks should do and how they should behave in cases of Financial difficulty / hardship- HSBC made a distinction between these two. And it is only hardship which they say qualifies for any return of charges. Hardship means to them- as i said above- you take no buses unless to work, etc- it is only if you are in danger of losing your home without the extra funds that you qualify for hardship and therefore a return of charges, so sayeth HSBC...

I would agree that there is a diffeence between financial difficulties and financial hardship. Financial hardship could qualify for a refund of charges but it would not be 100% of the charges, as it would only be for the period of financial hardship and would be there to alleviate arrears.

ailsajayne29

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Right, let's work this one out and get somewhere further here.
Is there any credit card charges to reclaim?
The bank will look at priority debt arrears(mortgage or rent, council tax, utilities) because they would get you kicked out of your home, lose your liberty and/or lose essential utilities).
Without that it is difficult to argue that you are in financial hardship.
How much do you owe against how much they owe you? The answer could put you into a strong position against them. Remember, at the moment you are still in control.

I dont have any other credit card charges to reclaim, as I kept on top of credit card payments while things were sliding! It was just my loan and car payment that didnt get paid, but obv you put everything on a DMP, and it was actually Halifax that pushed for me to go on it!

Lloyds did agree I fall under the hardship rules but they are simply choosing not to pay anyone even if they are in hardship... anyway I owe Lloyds nothing at all, but I owe Halifax £2187 and they owe me £2400. I called Halifax on tuesday having not had a response to my letter requesting reassessment sent on 23rd Oct and was told I would hear in a few days but still nothing, keep checking the account just in case lol! Again the lady on the phone at Halifax said that I do appear to be in hardship as I cannot currently meet CC and loan payments etc but that she would need to forward it to someone else. Its just if Halifax would pay up I would knock 2k off my 11k DMP and still have a couple of hundred to help with the move and over christmas!

thanks for the advice.. its helping stop me going completely crazy!!

natweststaffmember

ailsajayne29 wrote: »

I dont have any other credit card charges to reclaim, as I kept on top of credit card payments while things were sliding! It was just my loan and car payment that didnt get paid, but obv you put everything on a DMP, and it was actually Halifax that pushed for me to go on it!
Car payment would be classed as priority debt arrear if it is the car you use for work.
Lloyds did agree I fall under the hardship rules but they are simply choosing not to pay anyone even if they are in hardship... anyway I owe Lloyds nothing at all, but I owe Halifax £2187 and they owe me £2400. I called Halifax on tuesday having not had a response to my letter requesting reassessment sent on 23rd Oct and was told I would hear in a few days but still nothing, keep checking the account just in case lol! Again the lady on the phone at Halifax said that I do appear to be in hardship as I cannot currently meet CC and loan payments etc but that she would need to forward it to someone else. Its just if Halifax would pay up I would knock 2k off my 11k DMP and still have a couple of hundred to help with the move and over christmas!

thanks for the advice.. its helping stop me going completely crazy!!

Are you aware that you can be in financial hardship with one bank but not with another one?
as awful as this sounds, having any money for Christamas could ultimately prove the fact that hardship may not be as severe as to get a payout which does not have to happen under financial hardship.
Please see above re car payments though.

blurayaddict

hi i have been living in my overdraft for about 5 years and sometimes gone over the agreed overdraft limit ,going to be starting a dmp with cccs in jan 10 ,but my partners parents are helping to pay the overdraft off so we can close the account,,whould i still be able to claim for hardship charges,thanks i bank with hsbc

am i right in thinking that i would only get financial hardship charges back if i was in arrears with my priority debts,as i am not but behind on cc payments thanks