Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

tsugi

I'm Chasing Clydesdale Bank for about £6000 in charges (not including the £800 they've added since my claim in September). With business slowing right down and clients getting later with payments, I'm claiming financial hardship. I wrote to them, they sent me the balance form; I filled it in and sent it off on April 29th. Having heard nothing, not even an acknowledgement of receipt, I wrote again on May 12th, explaining that the situation was worsening exponentially (charges on the account negating any money going in - i.e. client paid £700 late. By the time it had gone in, charges of £265 levied, meaning the £500 of debits they'd bounced could then not be paid with the money going in, and so it goes on). I heard nothing. I phoned today to get the "Customer Engagement" number, and was told they do not give out their number or accept phone calls.

Is it just me, or are they trying to be ironic with "engagement"?

So still waiting and charges incrementing.

mandij30

I have just sent my first letter to HSBC ( using the template letter ), complaining about there unfair bank charges, and trying to reclaim back the £475 they have charged me since january 2009. Every month they continuously charge me for overdraft, when I have no money in my account to pay it. So its a vicious cycle of continually paying them back every month.

My marriage has come to an end, and I'm now struggling on a part time wage, with 2 young children to support. I have debts spiralling out of control, getting arrear letters, and threatening to be evicted because I cannot cover all of my rent. And my salary isn't covering all my bills. HSBC is taking a minimum of £100 from me every month in charges, which would of gone towards covering my rent. Now I am definately in financial hardship, I have nothing in my bank account now with still 2 weeks to go to payday.

Has anyone had any success with HSBC ?
And how quickly after sending the initial letter did you hear anything from them ?? I am desperate atm, all help is appreciated.
I read on the ombudsman website that they are currently not looking into any more cases, until they get results of test case back. Would they help if i'm not successful with HSBC, as I am in financial hardship ??

I am at an all time low, and really feeling the credit crunch atm.
I need some positivity from other successful members who got a payout from HSBC

all help and advice appreciated

Mandi Xx

squink

natweststaffmember wrote: »

If we do post inaccuracies then we will have people going to court on Financial Hardship claiming that it is a legal requirement to overturn a stay because of hardship. That could lead to them having their case thrown out and costs awarded against them. Being factually accurate under those circumstances are necessary to point out. I very rarely jump on mistakes unless it is that glaring as to require intervention. Furthermore, the rest of your post was rubbish. If the user you were helping had priority debts then fine, but at least ask them for further information. Most of the posts I make on the forum are clarifying this before saying that the bank is wrong and go to the FOS.

Advising to phone the FOS for clarification on criteria for financial hardship is, I reiterate, not "rubbish" advice - better to get it direct from the horse's mouth (or his overseer) than anything well meaning but possibly inaccurate that I or another might give; hence irrelevant to "request further information".
That was not advice to pursue a complaint with the FOS/assume the bank was wrong, rather to gain information to ensure correct action is pursued. I have done that a number of times and found it invaluable in avoiding making mistakes, hence recommend that course to others (posts on here can be cryptic and not the full story so is easy to make mistakes based on well meaning advice).
Using the term "legal" mistakenly in the above context would have been immediately corrected (ie. by the FOS) therefore would hardly have gotten to the court stage - therefore not as large a faux pas as you suggest.
I repeat, there are ways of correcting mistakes constructively - getting angry (as comes across) also can impair judgment.

:cool:

squink

pingchris wrote: »

thanks for that squink,they are very insulting at the halifax bank,there customer relations are condescending and abrupt,and you are right they lie,in fact they lie a lot and are very economical with the truth,my health is now suffering quite badly as i have to work harder and longer hours because of there charges,just got hit by another £70.00,may have to cancel all my direct debits now.:mad:

I can't recommend highly enough going to the CAB or CCCS (debt advisory agencies - I found the latter easier and more accurate to deal with - my CAB advisor gave wrong information) - they really help to calm the situation down ie.contact banks/credit companies on your behalf after looking at your in/outgoings and working out what you can AFFORD to pay them, not what they're demanding (eg. going on a debt management plan). The priority made is that you have enough to manage on, pay out what you can afford, and then you are seen to be doing the best you can (eg. if they took you to court - unlikely).
I took Martin's advice yonks ago - opened another (parachute) account, transferred all in/outs to it; I kept the original account open to pursue bank charges claim, but you could close it, the amount owing would be passed to a debt agency and the interest frozen (check with the FOS as to whether this would prejudice a charges claim but I don't think it does).
Cheers!

Think Alliance and Leicester are still giving £100 for new account - takes about 3 months to get it, but worth it!

icecube2009

I have a quick question . have sent my letter to natwest clamining financial hardship, as I have £600 bank charges i am trying to reclaim, I have a £700 overdraft on this account & have just started a DMP with the CCCS, so the £600 would greatly reduce my debt to the Natwest!
They have sent me a reply with a financial statement to fill in, problem is it doesnt include a lot of the things that are included on my statement of affairs with the CCCS, so would it be OK for me to send them a copy of the CCCS one (which they would already have, as they sent me a latter today accepting my reduced payments, but assume this may be a different department) or do I havw to fill in their (very badly photo copied & not great at all) one???

Thanks

natweststaffmember

squink wrote: »

Advising to phone the FOS for clarification on criteria for financial hardship is, I reiterate, not "rubbish" advice - better to get it direct from the horse's mouth (or his overseer) than anything well meaning but possibly inaccurate that I or another might give; hence irrelevant to "request further information".
That was not advice to pursue a complaint with the FOS/assume the bank was wrong, rather to gain information to ensure correct action is pursued. I have done that a number of times and found it invaluable in avoiding making mistakes, hence recommend that course to others (posts on here can be cryptic and not the full story so is easy to make mistakes based on well meaning advice).
Using the term "legal" mistakenly in the above context would have been immediately corrected (ie. by the FOS) therefore would hardly have gotten to the court stage - therefore not as large a faux pas as you suggest.
I repeat, there are ways of correcting mistakes constructively - getting angry (as comes across) also can impair judgment.

:cool:

Point taken, Legal bit was an minor error but I do think that being objective as well rather than stating the bank are "bully boys and lie to you" might be better on your part. I do think that there is a lot of misinformation out there and that some posters rely on branch staff telling them things that in truth they either don't know or simply are guessing at.
Just as a matter of interest, the FOS's record on hardship is quite abysmal. Since they introduced the specifics of Financial Hardship in August 2008 it has resulted in an increase of cases paid out on hardship of, wait for it, 3%.
I think on reflection, my reaction was slightly OTT but someone had come on the forum either same day or day before saying they had had costs awarded against them for attempting to lift a stay on the basis of Hardship. I am very passionate on the topic of bank charges but I think my reaction to the post was not the best. Apologies.

aliyah

Can I ask some advice re a Barclays hardship claim please?

Made original claim in 2007, took small claims out but stayed as are so many cases.

Claim is now for 3,600.

Claimed hardship last October, no answer.

Again in December - Barclays asked for information etc.

I provided this and more.

In February I was told by letter that Barclays were considering my claim.

In March I wrote again demanding settlement under hardship.

I quickly received a letter saying someone may be in touch by phone or letter with queries within 5 working days (I see other people have had a call at this point and now have a payout)

No call or letter from Barclays. Three weeks ago I sent further strong evidence of hardship and another demand for payment.

No answer.

Two weeks ago I phoned Barclays hardship dept and asked why there was no action. Told the case manager was away that day. I asked whether Barclays had received enough evidence from me or could I send some more?

Was told ' Oh no we have everything we need...'

Since then nothing....

Anybody have any advice, contact details that may help PLEASE??

Thankyou

MagicBolton

Can anyone help.

I have recently been offered £800+ after going through the hardship proceedure but the bank want to pay it into an account they have previously closed when our finances went pear shaped. I have asked them to send me a cheque but they have refused.

Can they do this?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Magic

mrsdarbs

roberto1982 wrote: »

Hi all, my first post on here but ive been reeding for ages!!!

Started a hardship claim with Halifax, sent off for list of statements on 28-03-09, with £10 cheque, which was cashed 4 days later. Recieved list of charges on 27th April, along with a financial sheet for income/expenditure. Filled this out and sent back on 28th along with a copy of a utility arrears bill threatening court, a recent payslip to prove my income, and a letter asking for full amount of £3038 inc interest, but would accept £2500 if paid within 14 days.

Heard nothing back by 14 days so rang up on 12th May to see how it was progressing. Was told that case was being looked at on 14th May. Hopefully the postman will be kind to me today and bring a cheque!!

I have debts of around £3000 so this money would come in v. handy. Does anyone know what criteria halifax judge cases on and how quickly they pay out??

don't want to put a dampner on things, but though I should let you know that we started our claim with Halifax back in November 08 and i have now just filed a complaint with the FOS as Halifax agreed we were in hardship and we have been told to wait til the end of the test case!

(I will admit a little of this delay was our fault for not doing the letters quick enough - but we had been phoning every other day throughout April as we kep being told different things by people on the phone and by what their letters were stating!!!:mad:)

natweststaffmember

MagicBolton wrote: »

Can anyone help.

I have recently been offered £800+ after going through the hardship proceedure but the bank want to pay it into an account they have previously closed when our finances went pear shaped. I have asked them to send me a cheque but they have refused.

Can they do this?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Magic

The answer is that they can, however, if you have priority debt arrears, ie mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities you might want to ask them to send you cheques made payable directly to the providers so that it is not eaten up because it doesn't ease your arrears.