Bank Charges Financial Hardship Success Stories

Naistacks

arigney wrote: »

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

Hiya,

Do you have a phone number for Natwest? I would like to call them regarding my claim but I am not sure who I need to contact, whether it be my branch or the collection centre which I have no number for.
Thanks

Naomi

liberty_lily

Thriftkitten wrote: »

Hi Liberty Lily

Yes I sent a legal beagles (Another very good site thats free like this one) type income and expenditure form, showing monthly deficit, I also sent proof of means tested benefit, rent arrears, utility arrears and debt collectors, they sent me a letter stating they would NOT be proceeding with financial difficulty as they couldn't see how my financial situation had had a negative impact on my account, After blowing my stack I called Andover and spoke to a nice lady and went through it again and she stated that I was indeed in financial difficulty, but said that she would log it on my case notes for all to see and wasnt forth coming about sending it to me in writing, after this I re sent the letter asking for my charges back to Andover stating that I had been accepted, I got a crap response so I sent them ANOTHER letter( a speedy settlement template) stating that if they were to settle with me for the full amount minus interest I would close the case and they seemed to go for it as after a few days I called Andover again and was about to blow my stack when the guy said they have agreed to make me an offer, it was in the bank the next day and I never even had to sign anything.

Hi Thriftkitten,

Well, we sent yet another letter to LTSB regarding our hardship claim and got the standard, fob-off 'will get back to you as soon as we can' response - no surprises there then!

So we plucked up the courage and called the numbers you suggested -

The 0845 number had an automated response and only dealt with card enquiries etc. When we waited to get put through to a real person, they rung off before we had a chance to speak.

The actual Andover number was almost impossible to get through to - took nearly an hour before anyone responded. When they did at the first mention of hardship, they denied that Andover was anything to do with hardship claims and only dealt with straightforward bank charges claims.

They said we needed to speak to someone at Brighton and put us through to them. They in turn said no-one was available and that someone would call us back............and so far guess what - no call.

So back to square one I'm afraid!

God knows what to do now - if they don't even have someone prepared to speak to you about hardship, I don't know how this will ever get sorted???

I'm very close to giving up now - although that won't help pay off our priority debt arrears - and I'm sure that's what LTSB are hoping for:mad:

Thanks again for your help - it just didn't work for us. Hopefully others will have more success with the delightfully helpful LTSB!

Lily xxx

spacetraveller

arigney wrote: »

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

That is really good news for you. I started hardship with Natwest at the end of March. They have asked me to send back my servicecard, which i did straight away, and when they had received it they would send me an offer letter. I am starting to get really frustrated with them now. They say that they still haven't received the card (over a week later). I know its a waiting game - BUT how long are Natwest going to make me wait? I was, and still am in financial hardship and the outstanding bills are not going away until natwest cough up!!

jos004

liberty_lily wrote: »

Hi Thriftkitten,

Well, we sent yet another letter to LTSB regarding our hardship claim and got the standard, fob-off 'will get back to you as soon as we can' response - no surprises there then!

So we plucked up the courage and called the numbers you suggested -

The 0845 number had an automated response and only dealt with card enquiries etc. When we waited to get put through to a real person, they rung off before we had a chance to speak.

The actual Andover number was almost impossible to get through to - took nearly an hour before anyone responded. When they did at the first mention of hardship, they denied that Andover was anything to do with hardship claims and only dealt with straightforward bank charges claims.

They said we needed to speak to someone at Brighton and put us through to them. They in turn said no-one was available and that someone would call us back............and so far guess what - no call.

So back to square one I'm afraid!

God knows what to do now - if they don't even have someone prepared to speak to you about hardship, I don't know how this will ever get sorted???

I'm very close to giving up now - although that won't help pay off our priority debt arrears - and I'm sure that's what LTSB are hoping for:mad:

Thanks again for your help - it just didn't work for us. Hopefully others will have more success with the delightfully helpful LTSB!

Lily xxx

I got through to Andover yesterday. When I got through, at first I got an automated msg. stating: " Press 1 if you want us to call you back " ( as if they will ). " Press 2 to speak to a member of staff ". Having selected 2 I spoke to somebody and told her that I had sent, further evidence of hardship last Thursday, recorded delivery - which she claimed had not arrived. Whenever I post a letter, recorded delivery, it ALWAYS gets delivered, from the local sorting office, next day.

duncan19702000

I am currently engaged in a claim for bank charges refund (£2100) from RBS under the hardship waiver. After 4 months and 10 letters from me I seem to be getting nowhere and have lodged a complaint with FOS. I have done the income/outgoings sheet for RBS showing negative net income, given proof of council tax, mortgage and utilities arrears and still they won't make a hardship decision. I am being made redundant in Sept and their latest letter requests details of any redundancy payment I might get (wouldn't be due severence payment until end of Oct). This information is confidential and subject to a signed non-disclosure agreement with my employer. Are RBS entitled to this information and in any case I fail to see how any future potential payment is relevant to my current circumstances?

arigney

Natwest customer response services unit in Edinburugh TEL: 0131 549 8741

Good luck!

I didn't send my switch card back to them I took it into a branch and asked the branch to call the customer response services unit in Edinburugh to let them know that it (the card) had been destoryed.

p2mcg

hi all had tried to reclaim £140 from my closed a/c with first trust but just got the usual automated response letter i rang the lady who signed the letter and told her i needed my money back she asked me a few questions about my financial status and said she would post me an income and expenditure form to fill out which i returned got letter back a week later with GOODWILL GESTURE of £140 which i accepted. so thanks to martin and all you guys for your support and information halifax is next on the hitlist . p:j
AMOUNT OWED £140 AMOUNT PAID £14O

liberty_lily

jos004 wrote: »

I got through to Andover yesterday. When I got through, at first I got an automated msg. stating: " Press 1 if you want us to call you back " ( as if they will ). " Press 2 to speak to a member of staff ". Having selected 2 I spoke to somebody and told her that I had sent, further evidence of hardship last Thursday, recorded delivery - which she claimed had not arrived. Whenever I post a letter, recorded delivery, it ALWAYS gets delivered, from the local sorting office, next day.

Hi Jos,

Did Andover say anything which would imply they admitted that they do deal with hardship claims?

As for them saying they haven't received stuff, it's a total load of c**p, I'm sure for as you say when you check up on track and trace it usually shows delivery the next day. The trouble is, when they send a response it is so vague and often with a different reference number, that you can't make out to what they are referring:mad:

Good luck with your claim!

Lily xx

jos004

liberty_lily wrote: »

Hi Jos,

Did Andover say anything which would imply they admitted that they do deal with hardship claims?

As for them saying they haven't received stuff, it's a total load of c**p, I'm sure for as you say when you check up on track and trace it usually shows delivery the next day. The trouble is, when they send a response it is so vague and often with a different reference number, that you can't make out to what they are referring:mad:

Good luck with your claim!

Lily xx

Yes, she did admit they do deal with hardship claims, but as far as they are concerned, they are not going to deal with any cases, until the test case has been concluded.

essexlander_2

Result thanks to Martin and reading advice on the forums here this morning i recieved a cheqe for £1425.25 from barclays we sent them the hardship letter they sent us a form which we filled in and sent back 2 weeks ago its not the original £1600 but will help us cover all we owe plus a bit left over thanks again everyone