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Bank Charges Financial Hardship Success Stories

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  • denice37 wrote: »
    anyone know of any success stories with rbs? Sent in the template letter, had hardship form sent back with information saying that if we're found to be in financial hardship they can then downgrade our account, cancel any non essential direct debts/standing orders etc and cancel maestro cards, can they do this or is it just to put us off?
    Denice37, look back a couple of pages in the forum- i wrote there yesterday.

    Had a successful claim with them........ called them today and they say i will have money in my account within 3 working days
  • kathryn33
    kathryn33 Posts: 13 Forumite
    hi would anybody be able to post the address i need for halifax to send my hardship claim thanks
  • denice37
    denice37 Posts: 478 Forumite
    awalker58 wrote: »
    Denice37, look back a couple of pages in the forum- i wrote there yesterday.

    Had a successful claim with them........ called them today and they say i will have money in my account within 3 working days

    Thanks for this, i'll definately persue this now, did they do anything to you account or direct debts? And well done you.
    :laugh::Sometime I try to be NORMAL. . . But it gets boring so I go back to being me. . .
  • Denice37,

    I had not used the account for years anyway due to the fact that I was appauled at the charges.
    My accound was a basic account right from the start- I've never been a big fan of credit; I believe that if you don't have the money to pay for something then you wait until you can afford it. I watch my brother clock up £34,000 woth of debt on credit cards from the day of his 18th birthday and it only took him 5 months to do!!! Anyway, that's a diiferent story and his not mine.

    RBS have not said anything about closing the account but I'm doing this anyway as soon as I withdraw my 'winnings'.

    The fact I only had a cash card and not a highline card, and the fact that I had that account specifically so as not to be able to go overdrawn were both points in my initial claim letter.

    The final nail in the coffin for my association with RBS was when they decided to not pay a £3.11 direct debit but still have the gaul to charge me £28, and this is what started the charges in the first place.

    My personal opinion is just to open a different account with a different institution.

    My only worry about the advice of changing banks is that all the banks out there, from what I can see, are involved in unfair charges so what's the point?

    Even the basic of bank accounts offer direct debits
  • send it to your own branch. Be prepared though, they are taking around 8 weeks to reply. Keep making a nuisance of yourself, and call for updates. Also get a name of the preson dealing with your case.
    Trying to get out of debt......it's a slow but satisfying road! :j
    Hubby now converted to MSE :beer:
    MEAF charge reclaimed = £50:T
    Energy switch to capped rate + free case of vino
  • I am back here again to report my latest success. I recently 'won' my HSBC claim for bank charges, and got £1240 from them, with a chance to go back for more this month.
    Now, after I can't tell you how many phone calls, letters etc, I have settled with Halifax for £3401 to pay off my mortgage arrears, and £3286.39 to pay the balance of my gold card with them.
    The gold card account will be closed, but that's fine with me.
    The relief is immense, and I am still after money from Natwest.

    Tip for the day, do not give up. If you think you have a case, send everything you have to back it up. Keep copies of everything (stuff goes msing in the banks). If the banks say jump, ask how high. If you are seriously in hardship like myself, now is not the time to get all high and mighty with the staff.

    :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
    Trying to get out of debt......it's a slow but satisfying road! :j
    Hubby now converted to MSE :beer:
    MEAF charge reclaimed = £50:T
    Energy switch to capped rate + free case of vino
  • mrsdarbs
    mrsdarbs Posts: 412 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    We have put in a claim for nealy £4k with Halifax and they confirmed we are in hardship and told us to wait. We have now reported to the FOS and am waiting for them to investigate. However, we weren't in arrears as we had used credit cards etc to pay bills and see us through, these were maxed out and Halifax were told this. We will be ok now as I have a property which has just been rented out so we have more income and probably wouldn't score in their hardship text now - will this effect our claim. Will the FOS ask us to complete an income and expenditure form again?!

    (If we had received the money back or been charged less for these defaults originally we wouldn't be paying the interest on our c/c's that we now are?!)
  • I wouldn't think you will qualify under the hardship rules. The banks seem to very strict about the rules, which in a nutshell are that you have more outgoings than income, priority debt arrears and you can prove that you have lost your job, reduced income, illness, and so the list goes on. If you have property, the banks would probably argue that you have capital which you could tap into.
    It doesn't sound like you are sctually in hardship, just have cash flow problems
    Trying to get out of debt......it's a slow but satisfying road! :j
    Hubby now converted to MSE :beer:
    MEAF charge reclaimed = £50:T
    Energy switch to capped rate + free case of vino
  • mrsdarbs
    mrsdarbs Posts: 412 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    bekki0405 wrote: »
    I wouldn't think you will qualify under the hardship rules. The banks seem to very strict about the rules, which in a nutshell are that you have more outgoings than income, priority debt arrears and you can prove that you have lost your job, reduced income, illness, and so the list goes on. If you have property, the banks would probably argue that you have capital which you could tap into.
    It doesn't sound like you are sctually in hardship, just have cash flow problems

    We WAS in hardship when we submitted the claim which is what I am stating we had more outgoing than our income each month. There is no equity in my property due to the market and it being a shared ownership property I am actually in negative equity so that's not a choice - wish it was!

    Our tenant moved in on 3rd june and we have just received our first income from the agent, this is why I know we will not be classed as in hardship now.

    Will they ask us to redo the forms? We was in hardship and have the letter from Halifax to say they agree from the figures we gave them. these were submitted back in Feb/Mar when we had no tenant lined up or any interest in the property?!
  • arigney
    arigney Posts: 12 Forumite
    Thank you so much Martin, I followed the instructions on this website for financial hardship with Natwest bank. It has taken around 6 weeks since I first wrote to them claiming hardship. On saturday I had a letter back from them after sending them proof of bills and income around 3 weeks ago (my much reduced income this year) and they have offered me £5,568!!!

    I had asked for £5090 through the court system which included inertrest in 2007 but the case was put on hold around 1 week before 'my' case happened. Natwest have been very understanding of my changed circumstances and have been very helpful on the phone, they have left my overdraft in place and just asked for my switch card and cheque book back, they have sent me a solo card so that I can still use the account and they have told me there will be no further charges or int added to this account until the OFT case has ended or for 2 years.

    I cannot start to thank you enough Martin this money will make such a big difference to me at the moment, the timing really could not be any better. Natwest asked me to return a slip to accept the offer and say to allow up to 21 days for the credit, but the nice lady on the phone told me that 7 days is more normal.

    Thank you again XXX
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