help needed, wasnt sure where to post.

chimp306

Hi everyone,

first post and i appologise if its in the wrong place but i could not work out exactly where to post this.

Important things i need to tell you,

I have a claim in with Halifax for bankcharges that totals just over £5000
as of January 1st 2009 my employer cut all overtime in an effort to avoid reduncies, this reduced my income by nearly 30% and has made living a real challenge.

What i need help with is this,

On the 2nd of febuary i wrote to Halifax informing them of my change in circumstance and asking that they proceed with my case as outlined under the "financial Hardship" ruling, i also asked them to cancell all my direct debits and standing orders as i was moving the payments to another account. my final request was that we could reach an arrangement where i repay the ammount outstanding in my overdraft (£2000) at £50 per month as it is all i can afford at this time.

They didnt respond to this and on febuary 13th i discovered that they had not cancelled any repayments, all had bounced and they had hit me with several charges.

I borrowed £250 which i paid into the account to bring it back within my authorised overdraft and wrote to them again, asking the same things and enclosing a copy of the first letter. i decided to give them about a month to respond.

on the 18th of march i recieved a letter from halifax retail bank collections (dated the 5th!) saying that i was £260 over my authorised overdraft and that i should contact them immediately to repay. i didnt have anywhere near that so i wrote to them again enclosing both previous letters to halifax and again outlining my problems.

today i have recieved another letter, the ammount i now must pay is £400 and if i do not pay within 5 days ( the letter is dated 23rd) then a default notice will be issued against me and they will either send bailifs or start court proceedings.

i could really use some advice, im getting quite scared now, writing is doing nothing. there just ignoring my letters.

any help or suggestions would be gratefully recieved. i have always written in regard to matters such as this as i believe its best to have a paper trail of whats been said but i will have to call them tommorow and have no idea what to say or where to begin.

thanks in advance

Steve

dizzydebs27

Hi Steve

you have done the right thing by posting on this board, i am new to this all myself and the people on this site are amazing.

most people start off by posting their statement of affairs, have a look at some of the threads to get the link, if i find it, i will post it for you, that way everyone can see where the money is going and if u can cut back, secondly have u thought of talking to CAB about every thing that has happened with regards to halifax???

well done for posting!!!

dizzy x

dizzydebs27

only me again, on the thread page, there is a a thread for newcomers and SOA weblink! good place to start!!

dizzy x

aligerdie

I think it might be an idea to go into your branch and cancel your direct debits there if it hasn't already been done. Do you have internet banking? you can do it online, just in case they decide to whack any more charges on.

I was under the impression once you had expressed financial hardship concerns, they had a duty of care to help you.

Try sending this letter (from fellow mse'r esmerellda)- I sent it to Alliance & Leicester 2 weeks ago with my details and have had my payment proposals accepted. Send it recorded too.

Sirs,
PAYMENT PROPOSAL and COMPLAINT REGARDING OVERDRAFT FEES - FINANCIAL HARDSHIP
Account xxxxxxxxxxxxxx sort code xxxxxxxxxxx

You have written to inform me that you are withdrawing my overdraft facilty from my account and indicated I should repay the sum in full within 7 days.

I am unable to do so as I am currently in financial difficulty following a 30% reduction in my income due to the loss of overtime.

As I have no intention of reneging on my debts, and as a goodwill gesture, I should like to arrange to repay the sum by installment of £XX per calendar month. If you could let me know where to arrange this payment to be made that would be of help.

I would like you to note that I dispute the amount of £XXX which you say is owing on the account. The entire overdraft is made up of bank charges imposed on myself by BANK over many years. For the past year I have struggled to keep up to date on my essential living costs and the constant removal of fees from my account has made this incredibly difficult. I understand that these fees have been judged in the high court and found to be assessable under the UTCCR. I do not believe these fees to be fair.

I would like all charges made to my account repaying in full. This will clear my debt to you and enable me to pay XXXXX, XXXX and XXXXX (put details of urgent payment/arrears etc) I have written to your data controller to request details of all charges incurred on my account since July 2001, however I would like you to take this letter as formal notification of my complaint regarding overdraft charges and I would like you to consider my claim under the financial difficulty exemption to the FSA waiver.

Please send me your common financial statement to complete with my current situation and I will enclose relevant copies of letters on its return.

I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Yours faithfully


Hope this helps.