Bank Charges Financial Hardship Success Stories

Jill_Evelyn

Bank: Barclays
Date of application: 7th July 2008
Amount requested: £2845 + £658.46 Interest (Total £3503.46)
Amount Received: £2263.78 straight into bank account todaywith letter saying it was a gesture of Goodwill.

Following my claim last year, I was sent a letter in March this year, saying that financial hardship rules had changed, and as I had previously requested that my case should be considered under the rules of financial hardship, and they had never received a budget planner from me (I had never been asked for one), could I now send this and my case would be reviewed.

I Duly did this, definitely showing my income was less than my outgoings - got a letter back 'one day' later, saying my details were passed to finance dept, and I should hear outcome within 20 working days. Didn't hear within 20 days, so left it a week over, then phoned and complained of not being told there would be a delay - received a letter the next day apologising for the delay saying I could go to ombudsmen if I wished, but saying they hoped to resolve it without the need for me to do this. I then Read some of success/non-success stories on this thread - decided to give Barclays a week and write to them again. Then suddenly today I received a BIG envelope (thought it was a 'sorry' and another bunch of leaflets telling me how I could help myself and complain) - it wasn't though, it was the letter (and yes a whole pile of supportive leaflets) saying they accepted my claim of financial difficulty and confirm the sum of £2263.78 will be transferred into my account today. GREAT NEWS - Thank you so much Martin!

Perhaps someone could advise me though - the letter says that they have now closed my financial difficulty claim - and that for the purposed of the FOS process they have followed Barclays complaint procedure and that I may consider this letter to be their 'final response' to my financial difficulty claim. They do also say, that if the court or other regulatory body orders them to make a payment in respect of my unauthorised overdraft charges complain, such payment will be made less the goodwill payment they are now making. I am assuming that this means my complaint is still active, and the rest will be paid if they have to? Should I still send a letter requesting the rest? Also should I also send a letter requesting overdraft fees and charges from the date of my last claim up until now? Has anyone done this? I can't think why they wouldn't pay the rest of the claim - if they have agreed I qualify, they should just pay it - without me having to go to the ombudsmen, who will surely agree with me!

I accept what Martin wrote about it's money I wouldn't otherwise have had, if I hadn't made the claim - but if it's illegal to take those charges anyway, ones that put us into financial difficulty on many occasions - surely I should be entitled to ALL of it - I'll keep fighting, and keep you informed of any other outcomes. It's good to hear of other's successes with Barclays too - perhaps they are now trying to be a responsible bank? - I will stick with them for the time being.
Thanks again
Jill:T

jido2k

Bank:
Amount Reclaimed: £834
Amount they paid: £783.37
How long did it take: 6months
The story: I initiated my claim in December 2008, I finally got a check from BARCLAYS bank on the 8th of June 2009 for the amount of £783.37. The process we very straight forward for me. I claimed finacial harship and I got paid within 6months. Hte process took long because I was out of the country for three months. I feel great!

Thriftkitten

Hi I have just been successful with Lloyds, you will need to call Andover, who deal with Financial Hardship, the number is 01264725214, or failing that the Andover customer recovery centre is 0845 300 00 00. Hope this helps, by the way you should keep a copy of every letter you send, send them all RECORDED and keep an eye on the dates as they have to respond with in a specific time. Don't give up...

we_are_always_skint

Bank: barclays
Amount Reclaimed: £630
Amount they paid: £630
How long did it take: 1.5 months
The story my story kind of echoes jill evelyns ^

i applied to barclays under the hardship rules and was told it made no difference and i would have to wait like eveyone else

a month or so ago they wrote to me saying they had changed their rules and if i completed the budget planner they would asses my claim

so i sent it back and the very next day got a letter saying they would be looking into it and i should hear within 21 days
its 3 weeks at the start of this week so i called them this morning and the man said i had been sent a letter yesterday but as i hadn't received it offered to read it to me over the phone, it basically said i had been accepted and my full claim for £630 (without interest) would be paid into my account at some point today :j:j:j

so far its still to go in but i could not be any happier - i never even expected to be offered half so to get the full amount im over the moon
THANK YOU BARCLAYS

natweststaffmember

To clarify for Jill, any claim that is not 100% of the amount owed is due on the conclusion of the OFT test case issues. Closure of a financial hardship case is not closure of a bank charges case.

kazdolly

ooft soo sick of RBOS btw:(
i gotta give all letters and confirmations of my outgoings !!!!!!
BUT i will find these just 2 prove my hardship ....yet aw the f****in politicians get away wi jack sh*t aaaaaahhhhh makes my blood boil what ids this country comin 2????????????

liberty_lily

Thriftkitten wrote: »

Hi I have just been successful with Lloyds, you will need to call Andover, who deal with Financial Hardship, the number is 01264725214, or failing that the Andover customer recovery centre is 0845 300 00 00. Hope this helps, by the way you should keep a copy of every letter you send, send them all RECORDED and keep an eye on the dates as they have to respond with in a specific time. Don't give up...

Hi Thriftkitten!

Thanks very much for the numbers - will try calling them next week.

Did you send Lloyds proof of your priority debt arrears or any other evidence to support your hardship claim?

We've sent lots of back-up proof of hardship plus our own I&E as they haven't provided one. They admitted in a letter that we were in hardship so had moved our account to Consumer Debt Recovery, which is supposedly to help those in financial hardship (according to them), yet in the next breath they deny that we are in financial difficulties!

Having sent further proof of priority debt arrears we have merely received another lot of 'looking into your complaint' type letters.

Lloyds have to be the worst bank ever!

Liberty_Lily

newyorklover

wooooodzy wrote: »

WELL JUST WHEN I THOUGHT HALIFAX COULDNT SINK ANY LOWER THEY HAVE SENT ME A LETTER OFFERING £35!!!! CONSIDERING MY CLAIM IS FOR OVER £3000 I THINK THEY HAVE A CHEEK!!! BY THEM OFFERING ME THIS PAYMENT IS THAT THEM ADMITTING IM IN FINANCIAL HARDSHIP???SENT FORMS TO FOS TODAY WITH LETTERS FROM DEBT COLLECTORS. iS IT WORH PHONING HALIFAX AND SAYING I WONT BE ACCEPTING IT AND SEE IF I CAN GET IT HIGHER?ANYONE ELSE IN THIS SITUATION?ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED FOLKS,IM AT MY WITS END!!!!

I tried to claim from HBOS under hardship (was claiming circa £16'000). They offered me £28 - so yes I think they can sink lower.

I've gone to the FOS though so fingers crossed! Claim has been with them since April now.

beaniebabe

Both me and my husband have accounts with Natwest and have not used these accounts for some months now. (nothing going in / out)
Due to our financial circumstances and the loss of my husbands job we could not afford to repay the loan repayments (We both had a loan on each account) . We eventually went on a DMP shortly after and Payplan make a repayment to our Natwest loan accounts monthly.(Based on what we could afford.

We contacted Natwest on numerous occasions for help with this matter and also expressed concerns that we were having charges applied to the account due to the original loan direct debit being refered which was also accumilating un authorised overdraft charges. Despite our efforts Natwest refused to let us cancel the direct debit or close our account. The charges have accumilated to over £500 on my husbands account and over £200 on my account and we are not in a position to clear them which means the bank continue to apply the charges and interest.
We have been informed by Natwest that we do not meet the criteria for a hardship claim and can not cancel the DD or close the account. Can they do this. Can anyone offer anty advice on this matter? We would be very grateful!

DENMAN_3

bank:clydesdale
claimed:£745
paid out:£200 (eventually)

better than nothing so many thanks to all that helped(my folks are grateful):T