Bank Charges Financial Hardship Success Stories

Hootie19

Hi - this post runs alongside this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2259305

I am trying to help my daughter get out of the real mess she's in at the moment. Having looked at her recent bank statements, I can see that she's been charged £439.80 in fees and interest over the past six or seven months.

I think she easily falls into the hardship category, but I can't see a template letter specifically for this situation. Is there one?

She moved back home three weeks ago, after a very acrimonious split with her boyfriend.

She is unable to pay anything towards her board or "rent" for being at home.

Her car loan is in hideous arrears and in fact the HP company have written and terminated the agreement and have demanded return of the goods, which means she will lose her job as it is vital she has a car to be able to do the work. (We will phone them today and see if there is anything we can do to prevent this.)

Her credit card is in arrears.

Direct debits are being returned every month.

Her bank (Nationwide) have withdrawn her overdraft facility of £400. The last statement I have in front of me, dated 11 January, showed the account as £462.01 overdrawn.

She started a new job in November, and her salary has plumeted. She is 22 years old and on NMW. She was earning approximately £800 a month in her old job, in this job the average is £434 a month. (She thought the job was full time, but it has turned out to be much less than this.)

Her outgoings are more than her income.

Outgoings are her car loan (£192.53), car insurance (£140 - this is business insurance), Orange mobile phone (average £33.19). That's £365.42 before she even starts putting petrol in the car.

Given the above, I believe she is suffering real financial hardship. I'd be grateful if someone could point me in the direction of a template FH letter to send to her bank, or is it just a case of setting out the above in a letter to her bank and hoping for the best. In which case, how much detail do we go into?

Any information or advice gratefully received.

Premier_2

Hootie19 wrote: »

Hi - this post runs alongside this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2259305

I am trying to help my daughter get out of the real mess she's in at the moment. Having looked at her recent bank statements, I can see that she's been charged £439.80 in fees and interest over the past six or seven months.

I think she easily falls into the hardship category, but I can't see a template letter specifically for this situation. Is there one?

She moved back home three weeks ago, after a very acrimonious split with her boyfriend.

She is unable to pay anything towards her board or "rent" for being at home.

Her car loan is in hideous arrears and in fact the HP company have written and terminated the agreement and have demanded return of the goods, which means she will lose her job as it is vital she has a car to be able to do the work. (We will phone them today and see if there is anything we can do to prevent this.)

Her credit card is in arrears.

Direct debits are being returned every month.

Her bank (Nationwide) have withdrawn her overdraft facility of £400. The last statement I have in front of me, dated 11 January, showed the account as £462.01 overdrawn.

She started a new job in November, and her salary has plumeted. She is 22 years old and on NMW. She was earning approximately £800 a month in her old job, in this job the average is £434 a month. (She thought the job was full time, but it has turned out to be much less than this.)

Her outgoings are more than her income.

Outgoings are her car loan (£192.53), car insurance (£140 - this is business insurance), Orange mobile phone (average £33.19). That's £365.42 before she even starts putting petrol in the car.

Given the above, I believe she is suffering real financial hardship. I'd be grateful if someone could point me in the direction of a template FH letter to send to her bank, or is it just a case of setting out the above in a letter to her bank and hoping for the best. In which case, how much detail do we go into?

Any information or advice gratefully received.

This may sound harsh, but it's not supposed to be. It's more of a reality check.

As I understand matters, your daughter who is 22 currently earns about £434 per month (not sure if that is gross or net). This is lower than one would expect for a full time job, but that is because it is not currently full time, although your daughter originally thought it would be.

Furthermore, to carry out the job, I understand your daughter needs to provide her own vehicle which costs £192.53 p.m. plus £140p.m insurance(business). i.e. £332.53pm leaving her with earnings of just over £100 pm. (or less if the earlier earnings figure was gross)

Perhaps she should reconsider if she wants to continue with the existing position. If she were to take a different job, even at the NMW which on a full time basis would pay her over £850 per month (gross) full time, and it usually wouldn't expect her to provide and fund her own vehicle. Get her to contact somewhere like JobCentrePlus to see what might be available for her.

Hootie19

Thank you for your reply Premier. The £434 is her net pay.

She loves the work she is doing, and really wants to stay in the job. She has accepted that she in fact cannot afford to. She asked her boss this morning if they could give her more hours, but was told there was nothing else available at the moment.

She is looking for other work, in nursery settings and pre-schools etc, but so far hasn't got anything. She is also looking for any other part time work that might fit in around the hours that she does do.

However, given the above, does it sound as though she would likely to be successful in following a claim for a refund of bank charges, as she is experiencing financial hardship?

natweststaffmember

Hootie19 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply Premier. The £434 is her net pay.

She loves the work she is doing, and really wants to stay in the job. She has accepted that she in fact cannot afford to. She asked her boss this morning if they could give her more hours, but was told there was nothing else available at the moment.

She is looking for other work, in nursery settings and pre-schools etc, but so far hasn't got anything. She is also looking for any other part time work that might fit in around the hours that she does do.

However, given the above, does it sound as though she would likely to be successful in following a claim for a refund of bank charges, as she is experiencing financial hardship?

She is ticking a few boxes with me re financial hardship, ie break up of relationship, arrears on car she needs to go to work(priority debt).

The problem I see is that the car agreement has been terminated, did she explain she was suffering hardship to the HP company?
Was there any payment protection insurance on the HP(which might have been reclaimable)?
Have Nationwide asked her about financial difficulties?

To be honest she needs to ask the bank on Financial hardship but the next question is if she is still using the nationwide account?

Read my signature page 20 cos she does fit the criteria for me on initially reading the thread on financial hardship.

Hootie19

natweststaffmember - thank you for your reply. I think she's been a bit of an ostrich in the past and has been hoping that the problems were just going to go away, so I doubt very much that she's told anyone about the hardship she's faced.

I just wish she'd come to us when she first started to struggle. We could at least have stopped it from getting this bad.

I can't see anything in the paperwork for the HP loan about payment protection.

She has just opened a NatWest account, and once that's properly set up, she said they're going to move all her DDs etc over to that account. Presumably Nationwide would then just close her account (with the overdraft debt still outstanding, naturally)?

Hootie19

I have drafted the following letter for her to send. Does it sound ok?

******************************************************

Since July 2009, charges amounting to £410.00 have been applied to the above numbered Flexaccount.

This has resulted in my experiencing extreme financial difficulties.

I have looked at Section 9 of The Lending Code, and believe I meet the criteria for financial hardship. I enclose a copy of Section 9 in which I have highlighted the areas applicable to my situation.

Clause 138:

1.My relationship has broken down, and I have had to return to my parents’ home.

2.I started a new job and was under the impression that this was a full time position. Unfortunately I was misled at the job interview, and the position is not full time at all. This has resulted in my income roughly halving. I cannot afford to give my parents any money towards my keep, meaning they are having to support me completely.

Clause 139

1.Items are repeatedly being returned due to lack of funds.

2.My car loan payments are consistently not being met, as are my credit card payments.

3.My bank (Nationwide) has withdrawn my overdraft facility.

4.My credit card and overdraft limits were repeatedly exceeded without agreement.


Clause 164

My car HP agreement is a priority, as it is not only my means of getting to work, but also necessary for me to carry out my work. My job is Family Care Worker, which involves me travelling to clients’ homes and taking children with special needs to and from various locations in the town. This is not possible without a car.


I therefore request that you consider refunding the above charges to my account, which currently has a £XXXXXXXX overdraft.

******************************************************

What do you think? And should it go to her branch of Nationwide, or to their head office?

natweststaffmember

That does seem to be a good letter so definitely send it and we will see what their response is.

Make sure the letter is specific as to when things have occurred but apart from that, a pretty good letter.

Hootie19

Thank you - should the letter be sent to her branch, or head office?

D-MAC

Hi first timer here.. so forgive me if i ask anything that's been asked before..


I bank with the Lloyds TSB

I tried claiming my charges back but about two day's after my letter went in the whole thing was frozen awaitng the court case....:(

Anyway Iv'e had a look around and believe I meet the criteria for financial hardship...missing a couple of loan re payments, always in my overdtraft..(may not seem like much but it's killing me)

My question is can i do anything about it..could someone point me in the right direction as i haven't got the foggiest idea what/where to go..or has the boat sailed without me???

Anyway thanks for taking the time!!!

Premier_2

D-MAC wrote: »

Hi first timer here.. so forgive me if i ask anything that's been asked before..


I bank with the Lloyds TSB

I tried claiming my charges back but about two day's after my letter went in the whole thing was frozen awaitng the court case....:(

Anyway Iv'e had a look around and believe I meet the criteria for financial hardship...missing a couple of loan re payments, always in my overdtraft..(may not seem like much but it's killing me)

My question is can i do anything about it..could someone point me in the right direction as i haven't got the foggiest idea what/where to go..or has the boat sailed without me???

Anyway thanks for taking the time!!!

Hi D-MAC and welcome to MSE :hello:

Refer to the initial post of this thread. It will not only point you towards the correct thread to raise such questions (this thread is specifically to report financial hardship claim successes) but the initial post there will also point you to the very useful & informative MSE article on how to go about reclaiming under such circumstances.