Bank Charges Financial Hardship Success Stories

Moiraworks_2

Thanks for that I'll write to HBOS and also appeal to the FOS they have given me until the 3rd September. Why is it that some people have had success with their banks and other haven't do they not have to be consistent with their policy, and how impartial are FOS when they are in fact funded by the banks and insurance companies?

Linzoid

I just wanted to share with everyone that we have just had our bank charges repaid by Abbey after filling in the financial hardship form. We returned the completed form and within about 2 weeks the money just appeared in the account and then a letter came 2 days later saying they had decided to pay our charges back.

Over the moon! )

natweststaffmember

Moiraworks wrote: »

Thanks for that I'll write to HBOS and also appeal to the FOS they have given me until the 3rd September. Why is it that some people have had success with their banks and other haven't do they not have to be consistent with their policy, and how impartial are FOS when they are in fact funded by the banks and insurance companies?

Moira, you ask how one person gets a refund and someone else doesn't?
At times, I haven't a clue but I don't see the income and expenditure forms or assess them for financial hardship.
With regards to your last point.....please do not go there(cos I do bite on certain issues). Let's keep things going and see how we get along.

lawfrodo

have been through calls to halifaxs money management team etc and have received an offer which says they would like to offer a payment of £35.00 which amounts to the charges debited to my account during the period between the 26th of may 2009 and the 26th of august 2009, and the cancellation of any charges on my account in the next three months if i accept their offer.

my claim for charges is around £1,800.00 with the interest added.

i have been on a low income for years receiving charges etc form halifax.

how can they offer to repay one charge?!

and the letter that they want me to sign says that the offer is for settlement of my complaint!

they have got me to incur costs by phoning their money management team etc, they have agreed that i am in financial hardship, but still they offer to repay one charge. and the offer of no charges for three months is practically worthless as i only have one dd on my account which i am going to cancel as i cant afford to pay it, and i cancelled the other dd's months ago to avoid charges from halifax. also my account is a basic account with no overdraft facility.

but, i do realise that the banks dont actually have to pay any charges back to customers until if/when the court/house of lords etc rule that they have to, and that even when they agree that someone is in financial hardship, the banks dont have to pay the charges back yet(as above), they only have to process the claim.

the charges reclaiming process at present doesnt seem to be very consistent from bank to bank/outcome to outcome. and even if its ruled that the banks should repay the charges to customers, the length of time it takes banks to pay up will probably vary from bank to bank as well.

but for now i will be trying to get the halifax to up their offer of payment to me, and passing my complaint back to the fos.

natweststaffmember

lawfrodo wrote: »

have been through calls to halifaxs money management team etc and have received an offer which says they would like to offer a payment of £35.00 which amounts to the charges debited to my account during the period between the 26th of may 2009 and the 26th of august 2009, and the cancellation of any charges on my account in the next three months if i accept their offer.

my claim for charges is around £1,800.00 with the interest added.

i have been on a low income for years receiving charges etc form halifax.

how can they offer to repay one charge?!

and the letter that they want me to sign says that the offer is for settlement of my complaint!

they have got me to incur costs by phoning their money management team etc, they have agreed that i am in financial hardship, but still they offer to repay one charge. and the offer of no charges for three months is practically worthless as i only have one dd on my account which i am going to cancel as i cant afford to pay it, and i cancelled the other dd's months ago to avoid charges from halifax. also my account is a basic account with no overdraft facility.

but, i do realise that the banks dont actually have to pay any charges back to customers until if/when the court/house of lords etc rule that they have to, and that even when they agree that someone is in financial hardship, the banks dont have to pay the charges back yet(as above), they only have to process the claim.

the charges reclaiming process at present doesnt seem to be very consistent from bank to bank/outcome to outcome. and even if its ruled that the banks should repay the charges to customers, the length of time it takes banks to pay up will probably vary from bank to bank as well.

but for now i will be trying to get the halifax to up their offer of payment to me, and passing my complaint back to the fos.

Can I ask if you income lowered this year and what reason it got lower?

lawfrodo

my income has been lower since january 2008 as since then i have had less work through the agency i worked for, and i also started working for another agency in may 2008 but have not had much work from them.

but saying that, i have changed jobs and been in and out of work for years as the jobs that i did before agency work were sometimes seasonal etc. if the halifax look at my account history then they will see that i have had periods of no wages, and periods of low wages, etc.

what do you think i could do to try to get the halifax to up their payment offer to me?

thanks for your advice!

natweststaffmember

lawfrodo wrote: »

my income has been lower since january 2008 as since then i have had less work through the agency i worked for, and i also started working for another agency in may 2008 but have not had much work from them.

but saying that, i have changed jobs and been in and out of work for years as the jobs that i did before agency work were sometimes seasonal etc. if the halifax look at my account history then they will see that i have had periods of no wages, and periods of low wages, etc.

what do you think i could do to try to get the halifax to up their payment offer to me?

thanks for your advice!

Simply explain the nature of your work and how the lean periods of work has lead to charges which impacted on your ability to pay priority debts(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities) and caused arrears to build up which remain today.

zigzagzen

- Move your account from the bank before claiming
- Know the hardship waiver better than the bank and use it against them

£2016.93 repaid including £500 compensation from Natwest for the crappy way they handled the claim ... it took nearly a year and they broke the hardship waiver terms again and again after first pretending it did not exist!

I'm not overdrawn any more :money:

Can't wait for the final verdict so I can get the rest of the money they owe me and interest .. which they flat refused to pay.

natweststaffmember

zigzagzen wrote: »

- Move your account from the bank before claiming
- Know the hardship waiver better than the bank and use it against them

£2016.93 repaid including £500 compensation from Natwest for the crappy way they handled the claim ... it took nearly a year and they broke the hardship waiver terms again and again after first pretending it did not exist!

I'm not overdrawn any more :money:

Can't wait for the final verdict so I can get the rest of the money they owe me and interest .. which they flat refused to pay.

Can you give a bit more detail on this one cos it seems quite fascinating?

lawfrodo

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Simply explain the nature of your work and how the lean periods of work has lead to charges which impacted on your ability to pay priority debts(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities) and caused arrears to build up which remain today.

will try that on the phone on monday or tuesday coming, and will send them a letter too about the same thing.

thanks for the advice.