How to claim for a Hardship case?

catmiaow

grouperbobby wrote: »

I've also been waiting 8 weeks now. How I wish I'd never heard of Halifax PLC

Here here!

macatac

macatac wrote: »

I applied to the Halifax a week ago for a refund of charges. I told them i am suffering financial hardship, and they have said if i can prove this, and if they accept it is financial hardship, they will look into my claim straight away. Luckily enough i have a copy of all my expenditures which was worked out by a debt management company who i have agreed to deal with by going onto a debt management plan, so i have sent this in to halifax bank today. I am hoping it wont take too long before i recieve their reply. If they repay my charges, ive asked them to refund me by cheque. I hope they do this, as i am going to close my account once this is sorted.

Still waiting to hear from the halifax. Phoned them today ( 29/12/2008 ) for 3rd time now, and been told i should have a decision within the next two weeks.
Will let you know of result asap.

macatac

Was told i would have a decision in writing by 12/01/2009.
Rang Halifax today, 09/01/2009, to ask if decision had been made and was fobbed off. Been told there is a huge backlog of cases, that mine is being looked into, but cant now give me a time frame of when i can expect to hear a decision. Ive sent an email of complaint to the financial ombudsman service to see if they can contact the Halifax on my behalf to get them to get their act together. Will see what they say when i get a reply.
I sent in a financial statement drawn up by the consumer credit counselling service on the 22/11/2008 to show that i was having financial difficulties and it doesnt seem to make them do anything quicker.
Halifax told me they were sending me out a statement showing all the bank charges ive had, this has never been recieved by me.
I was once short in my account by £5 to pay a direct debit and they charged me £58 for the failed direct debit. They say they think their charges are fair! Most of the money that was going into my account was disability living allowance and incapacity benefit.
When i first opened my account with the Halifax i told them i did not require a overdraft but they still gave me one. Of course this encouraged me to get into debt with them.
I have now closed my account with them.
Will update again when i hear more.

natweststaffmember

If you wait further than 8 weeks then you have the right to contact the Financial Ombudsman service. Can I ask you all to read the FSA Waiver on Bank Charges especially PAGE 11. If your circumstances changes and you have not filed a case at court then you can still ask them to change their decision or if not go to the FOS and ask for their opinion.

macatac

The Halifax made me so angry that i did ring the financial ombudsman service instead of waiting for a reply by email. They said that the Halifax has had enough time to sort this case out, and they are sending me out a complain form and they are going to get involved when ive returned it. I then rang the Halifax and told them that the financial ombudsman service are getting involved and told them to try and fob them off like they have been doing with me. They didnt know what to say to me.
Will update again at some point.

natweststaffmember

Excellent, and ignore part of my post. Having discussed a few things with some other people within the bank charges reclaiming campaign, I am now certain that my advice re someone who has filed at court not claiming hardship is utter rubbish. SO if you see anyone asking the question, even if they have filed a claim in the county court that is stayed they can claim if they are in FH(feel really embarrassed on that front cos it was a schoolboy error). I don't think calling Halifax solves anything apart from your frustration but I can understand what you mean. When cases are delayed so long, it usually means that the bank simply are not allocating enough staff to deal with the issues. The more that the FOS are involved the more likelyhood that they will get their house in order.

macatac

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Excellent, and ignore part of my post. Having discussed a few things with some other people within the bank charges reclaiming campaign, I am now certain that my advice re someone who has filed at court not claiming hardship is utter rubbish. SO if you see anyone asking the question, even if they have filed a claim in the county court that is stayed they can claim if they are in FH(feel really embarrassed on that front cos it was a schoolboy error). I don't think calling Halifax solves anything apart from your frustration but I can understand what you mean. When cases are delayed so long, it usually means that the bank simply are not allocating enough staff to deal with the issues. The more that the FOS are involved the more likelyhood that they will get their house in order.

Heard from the Halifax, got their final decision, and their decision was

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We aint gonna refund you. The FOS have now took up the case, and i should hear again within 4 weeks. Will update again when ive had reply from FOS.

macatac

macatac wrote: »

Heard from the Halifax, got their final decision, and their decision was

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We aint gonna refund you. The FOS have now took up the case, and i should hear again within 4 weeks. Will update again when ive had reply from FOS.

Still waiting, (yawn)

macatac

macatac wrote: »

Still waiting, (yawn)

27/03/2009 Still no word from FOS regarding my claim for unfair bank charges. Someone somewhere is definately take the P

bubbaloula

Ive just spent the morning in the library filling and printing out my reclaim letters..my natwest bank is next door so popped in with letter in hand thought i might be able to get rid of the £10.00 charge if i asked the girl nicely..Just to be told that i might as well rip it up as its no use as natwest dont give 6yrs worth of statements if any and i might as well just ask for all my charges to be looked at and then they will send me whatever they owe?
i pointed out that i need to see if what they pay is what is down on paper and she said no..i stated i was hardship and can prove it she said just put in the letter? so is this information wrong is the template crap to natwest or have i just been done?