Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

flatbroke49

can anyone tell me if I an claim under the hardship rules even if you have joint savings? last year I became severely ill and have spent most of the year off sick , although still in full pay. I recently went back to work on a rehab programme and if I am go off within the next 12 months then I will be on half pay.

I am the main wage earner, but got in a lot of debt and in September went with a debt management programme for these unsecured debts. They are in my name only.

The illness I have means I have to travel to the hospital at least once a week (a forty five mile journey) and also need the heating on constantly. The last quarter ending 12th July my gas and electricity bill totalled 600 pound.

The problem I have is that we have savings with the Halifax, who i have paid thousands of pounds out in charges over the past six years, but these savings will need to be used to pay off our mortgage if and when I have to finish work (which is looking highly likely). I have been receiving fortnightly chemotherapy which ends in a couple of months (I am not terminal) and I withdrew my superanuation years ago when I had the children, so will only be entitled to 20 years pension.

Can they say that I am not a hardship case at the moment due to these savings or should I still try and plead my case? non of the debts under the debt management plan are with the halifax, although the mortgage is.
Can anyone advise???

flatbroke49

the last bill was 12th january not july!

moneymonkey35

natweststaffmember wrote: »

NatWest are not stalling because the FSA Waiver will be continued onwards as the OFT test case will NOT have concluded by January 26th 2009. If you have sent a list of your charges to the bank, they should have sent an income and expenditure form. If the address is wrong, then that has to be correct or the bank is failing in its duty of care under the Data Protection Act.

Fair enough if the address is vastly different but the difference is in ONE WORD - 'flat'!

Rickee

For those of you that are interested, my complaint continues against HSBC and LloydsTSB.

LloydsTSB

I last reported that LloydsTSB confirmed over the phone that I would shortly be receiving a refund of £999. This turned out to be a mistake of the advisor at LloydsTSB. Initially, I was advised during an enquiry to my complaint when I was told I would be getting the refund. A week later I hadn't received it so called again. When I spoke to someone else they advised that for some reason the money was pending. They said they would email their supervisor to get the money released and it should be with me in the next week. After that, the money still had not be received, so I called again to be told that the 999 was actually a code which meant I was in financial hardship and therefore meant that if I called I was okay to have my overdraft increased and charges waived.

Further written complaints citing this as a further reason I should get my money back were fobbed off with generalised responses. I recently wrote my final letter and will be referring to FOS as soon as I receive any unsatisfactory response.

HSBC

HSBC have been absoloutely terrible to deal with during my entire complaint, none of them seem to have a clue.

At this point the complaint is with FOS who have today (after over a month since receipt) assigned an adjudicator to my case. Apparently the adjudicator will contact me by the end of the week to discuss the complaint and possibly of a solution to the complaint for both parties to agree to. If one doesn't then they will provide an ultimate decision.

Obviously, I'll keep you updated on this one as following discussions with the FSA (yep, they speak to consumers, numbers on their site) I am quite hopeful of a favourable outcome. Just hope FOS interpret the situation as well as the FSA do.

kitty187uk

hi, it seems the banks are only willing to pay up if it benefits them, and means means you clearing a debt or overdraft with them,
i pu a claim in under the financial hardship route with halifax, i spoke with them last wk and was told they had accepted my case as a financial hardship case and it had been referred to the relevant department, i received a letter this morning with the ususal charges are fair.. test case.. blah .. that they have referred me to their money management team, if not happy to call them so i did .. 1st call was told to go awy and call fos... 2nd call was told they agreed i was in financial difficulty but i wasnt in financial difficulty with them so would not be paying out, i explained i di not have the oppurtunity to be in financial difficulty with them as they refused me any overdraft facility etc so most of the time my account is in credit!
has anyone else had a similar experience?
:mad:

Josie64

last year from december 2007 till august 2008 , we were on the dole having both being dismissed from jobs ( but thats another story) our bank account is with alliance and leicester where our JSA went into and directs debits were being bounced and we were being charged £25 per item and the alliance said they were paying the DD and that was why we were being charged but the DD were not being paid and also we were being paid for being over the overdraft limit on two occasions when we were not and I have a paper copy of this!

I contacted alliance and leicester and mentioned the hardship thing as we were on benefits and also mentioned the social security act and they said they had never heard of that and the bank charges case was ongoing we could not have our money back.

hubby is now working but on low income, we now have working tax credit going into alliance and leicester but DD are still being bounced. is WTC classed as benefits?

can we argue that last year they took charged from benefits or do we have to wait the bank charges thing is sorted out?

Trying2beGood_2

Josie64 wrote: »

also we were being paid for being over the overdraft limit on two occasions when we were not and I have a paper copy of this!

I think they have just done this to me as well! I have send them a message asking why I have been charge but not heard anything back. I have just put in a hardship claim and they are really messing me about since. How long did it take them to get back to you? I've been waiting about two weeks now and they won't even tell me if they've received the forms back.

Trialia

My questions - DWP paid my income support a day later than they usually do at the end of December, so my water bill's debit took me into an unplanned overdraft. Lloyds sent me letters saying they're charging me a total of £39 for that, due to be taken out today. But I don't have anything in my account, and have a strong suspicion that my latest water bill, from yesterday, will have knocked me into overdraft again. These last two months are the first time I've ever slipped into that situation, as I have serious mental health problems and so am as careful as possible to avoid going into debt in any way. I only have a debit card, no credit cards, and my only income is from benefits due to disability.

I don't know what to do. What can I do about this, if anything? I have no other income than benefits, and the only outgoings are bills, medical expenses (albeit 'alternative' in some cases) and a couple of direct debits for tickets I've bought online for my sister, whose debit card is being reissued - and she paid me back in cash for them. I have fibromyalgia syndrome with severe cognitive dysfunction and rapid-cycling bipolar disorder NOS - and I have a phobia of using the telephone.

Any suggestions?

xxsteph-hillxx

I have rang Lloyds TSB about reclaiming my bank charges back as i am in financial hardship. Lloyds told me that it doesnt matter i still have to wait in the queue like everyone else. Can anybody advise me as what to do now.......

k1mmie

Looks like I belong to this club now. lol. I called lloyds as I ws originally in the queue for charges from last July. However, hubby been laid off and having to live of JSA and desperate. Wrote giving them details of JSA etc. They sent standard letter back saying 8 weeks etc. I called them and they said basically don't even bother calling us for a while as we wont have dealt with it for weks and weeks yet. No mention of sending out any form etc. DO I have to sit and wait or can I escalate this?