Help re confusing interpretation of financial hardship by Nationwide

birkersuk

Hi

I went through the motions to reclaim bank charges from the Nationwide (charges incurred 2002 to 2007) and it all stalled due to the appeal etc. In December I lost my job and in early Jan I wrote to the Nationwide asking for them to review my claim, due to "financial hardship". They sent me a letter asking for a "statement of means" which I duly completed and sent back. They replied with "your account was not in regular use during the period of financial hardship mentioned in my letter" (covering letter with current statement of means), "therefore we are unable to confirm the charges were incurred as a result of financial hardship". I was asking for a refund of charges incurred during 2002-2007 and they asked me for a current statement of means and based their decision to refund the historic charges based on this! I wrote back highlighting this and enclosing the original documentation to support the claim. The response I have got back on this is "we are sorry that we are unable to agree to your request for a refund of charges on the grounds of financial hardship as we are only dealing with current hardship and your account has not received any bank charges in the last 12 months"

Have I got the wrong end of the stick about banks dealing with cases of hardship, or is the Nationwide 'twisting' this to suit their position?

I have financial hardship now and certainly had financial hardship during the period I am claiming the charges for.

Any advice on what to do next would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Orford

Complain to the FOS;
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

birkersuk

I just spoke to the Financial Ombudsman and they said that I need to go back to the Nationwide and prove that I was in financial hardship during the period I am claiming the bank charges for. Re-reading the Nationwide's letter, they say "we are only dealing with current hardship".

Am I flogging a dead horse here?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks

chipbeck

I think there is a really big bed somewhere and the whole lot of em lie in it together.

Have I spelt anything incorrectly.

nickmack

birkersuk wrote: »

Am I flogging a dead horse here?

On what grounds are you claiming Financial Hardship?

There are no set criteria, but if you provide details, we may be able to determine if they are being unreasonable.