Bank Charges Financial Hardship Disussion

dominicmcg

HI,

My Portuguese 'girl' friend has been living in London for 4 years now and she has been in full time employment since arriving. She is a very honest girl and has always paid her way and never been in so much debt like she is at the moment and i think the bank are abusing her status.

Less than a year ago she was offered a overdraft of £1000 which she accepted beause she has very good credit and knows how to manage her money, this helped her move to a bills all inclusive flat. But, after some months she managed to reach the limit of her overdraft and obviously incurred some charges when money was taken out that she didn't have. Her wages and any other money she receives is paid into Barclays and after som time they sent her a letter to say that they can put a £500 reserve on her account, so £1000 overdraft and £500 reserve. She didn't agree to the reserve but they put it on anyway and in her current situation and the charges she paid and bills se ended up into the reserve.

The problem is that, some months ago the company she is working for changed her from full-time to 12 hours per week and she has been struggling to find another job. Since then she has been unable to meet some of her payments for rent and certain direct debits, but she has always paid it even if it be late. The bank is charging her for unpaid direct debits, unauthorised overdraft, a resverve fee and interest, she has been into the bank so many times pleading with them to help her and they refuse, saying there is nothing they can do apart from close her account or cancel the overdraft and she is then in a constant fight to get out of it.
She is so worried and has been to the doctor because it is causing her severe depression which she is actually being prescribed anti-depressants. I can see that she has no more energy to fight with the bank or to find new work and im very concerned by the fact that she tells me that it seems they are taking the charges and changing the days of when they take the direct debits to a day when she has no money and payments and ATM charges are processed 3/4 days later than they should be and she is paying for all these returned direct debits and :mad:crazy £22 every so many days and i just can't believe it and don't know what she can do.

Infact I was there when barclays told her, that, "if, you can't pay the money or have no job then go to the citizens advice and they can stop te charges, but it will mess up your credit score", which seemed to me like they were trying to scare her.

Can anyone suggest anything? please, from a friedn of a sweet portuguee girl who doesn't deserve to be treated this way.

Thank you thank you

natweststaffmember

mryork wrote: »

Yes i have payment plan with Natwest what was set up a few days ago, after i sent in my form, in which i pay £130 per month until my bank account is within its overdraft limit.

I also have a payment plan with both my credit cards. I pay mortgage, council tax the lot.

As i said before with this all in mind i was left with £60 surplus each month but now with this £130 i am £70 in the red each month.

to clarify arrears on mortgage, council tax the lot which are part of a payment plan?
If the answer is yes, then you will be lucky if the bank sees you as being in financial hardship.

natweststaffmember

BigAl13 wrote: »

I have just finished my first year as a full time University student during which I was living off at best £25 a week for everything as my student loan only just paid for my accomodation. Before starting University I set up an additional account to my Premier 21 Alliance and Leicester account, which has no overdraft. I set up a Student account with Halifax but didn't receive the full £3000 overdraft I had applied for instead my account had a £500 overdraft. Expecting a gruelling routine of intense reading I searched for bargain books almost buying all of the reading list provided, which wiped out that £500 overdraft, a very stupid mistake. From this point I found it very difficult to keep to my £25 budget and keep my balance out of the red. Eventually I went 79p beyond the agreed overdraft limit and was charged £48 for this by Halifax. Following this the situation snowballed with further charges of £45 from Alliance and Leicester, whih I claimed for and have been refunded the full amount, and an additional £68 by Halifax. The charges on my Halifax account, totalling £116, are currently in limbo. I claimed for these back in March and have since been sent four Common Financial Statements to fill in and return as they say that there is no evidence of hardship or of my income. This is just the problem, I'm on the edge I have no actual income apart from my loan, which goes straight out, and £100 from my parents who can spare no more. If I hadn't been charged disproportionately the first time I went over the limit then further charges may have been avoided.
I keep sending these Common Financial Statement forms but they don't really suit my situation. Is there another form or should I just write to them again? I know the charges aren't in the thousands but being partly refunded would make a significant difference to my financial situation.
Any advice would be great
Thankyou

If you don't fill in the common financial statement form then the bank do not have to assess you or deal with any hardship claim made by you until the conclusion of the OFT test case issues.

natweststaffmember

285741 wrote: »

but sure i need a car to get to my work i'm £100 a month just for fuel, due to me working a strange shift i cant car share finish 12 midnight so no public transport, the bank were actually trying to push me towards a debt management company but dont want to go down that line as hopefully if i get my debts cleared i will be looking to buy and dont want that on my file its bad enough just now
p.s. can i even claim the charges from the credit card company that i have the default against now as i think that will be the largest amount to claim

On the PS. yes 100% you can claim charges from the credit card company.

lustydog

natweststaffmember wrote: »

On the PS. yes 100% you can claim charges from the credit card company.

My daughter is a single parent with 5 children, one of whom is disabled. Her only income comes from benefits and she is unable to work because her duties as a carer preclude her from employment. C.S.A. payments from her ex Husband are very hit and miss, and payments do not arrive on their due date, thus causing her to go overdrawn by sometimes very small amounts, incurring large charges. She is indebted to the Yorkshire Bank in the sum of £1700 , and changed her account to HSBC. Bad move!! she is currently owing them over £1000 again often from very small amounts of overdraft. She has explained her situation to both Banks and has submitted a claim for repayment of charges to the yorkshire bank without success. All the stress of this is making her ill, and she is suffering hardship. I am currently paying for insurance for a disability car and also part payment for the car itself .I cannot believe that the set of thieves who call themselves bankers are allowed to do this to people. Can anyone advise me on her behalf as to whether anything can be done. Thanks for reading

natweststaffmember

lustydog wrote: »

My daughter is a single parent with 5 children, one of whom is disabled. Her only income comes from benefits and she is unable to work because her duties as a carer preclude her from employment. C.S.A. payments from her ex Husband are very hit and miss, and payments do not arrive on their due date, thus causing her to go overdrawn by sometimes very small amounts, incurring large charges. She is indebted to the Yorkshire Bank in the sum of £1700 , and changed her account to HSBC. Bad move!! she is currently owing them over £1000 again often from very small amounts of overdraft. She has explained her situation to both Banks and has submitted a claim for repayment of charges to the yorkshire bank without success. All the stress of this is making her ill, and she is suffering hardship. I am currently paying for insurance for a disability car and also part payment for the car itself .I cannot believe that the set of thieves who call themselves bankers are allowed to do this to people. Can anyone advise me on her behalf as to whether anything can be done. Thanks for reading

I think she needs to complete an income and expenditure form,
example is here: http://www.moneyadvicetrust.org/content.asp?ssid=38
Does she have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?

Wibbler_2

I was just wondering if anyone has used a claims handler to claim back their charges? I am thinking about doing so and was wondering if anyone could recommend a good claims handler. I don't mind paying them a chunk of what I receive and for various reasons would rather have some help in doing this. Recommendations anyone?

natweststaffmember

Wibbler wrote: »

I was just wondering if anyone has used a claims handler to claim back their charges? I am thinking about doing so and was wondering if anyone could recommend a good claims handler. I don't mind paying them a chunk of what I receive and for various reasons would rather have some help in doing this. Recommendations anyone?

answered already. Don't use them for financial hardship.

MARKZ123

Can you please give me some advice.
All of my wifes disabilty benefits and my wages go into the same bank acoount for the last 14 years. A year ago i gave up work to become a full time carer for my wife so im now claiming sda, dla, carers allowance, income support, housing benefit, council tax benefit.
A couple of years ago barclays charged me 12 x £25 for being overdrawn in the space of 4/5 months. Total £300
although were on benefits at the moment my account is a lot better and we never go overdrawn now.
With this in mind do you think i can still claim under the hardship rules.

I sent a letter to barclays yesterday asking for a refund.
What do you think my chances are...

natweststaffmember

MARKZ123 wrote: »

Can you please give me some advice.
All of my wifes disabilty benefits and my wages go into the same bank acoount for the last 14 years. A year ago i gave up work to become a full time carer for my wife so im now claiming sda, dla, carers allowance, income support, housing benefit, council tax benefit.
A couple of years ago barclays charged me 12 x £25 for being overdrawn in the space of 4/5 months. Total £300
although were on benefits at the moment my account is a lot better and we never go overdrawn now.
With this in mind do you think i can still claim under the hardship rules.

I sent a letter to barclays yesterday asking for a refund.
What do you think my chances are...

Barclays have, to their credit been refunding charges so normally I would ask about priority debts but I think I'll hold fire until you get a response.