Bank Charges Financial Hardship Success Stories

natweststaffmember

lawfrodo wrote: »

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.

Tuesday definitely cos of the bank holiday tomorrow

zigzagzen

natweststaffmember wrote: »

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

Sure.

Started last November with an hour on the phone trying to speak to someone who knew about financial hardship waiver claims. Eventually put through to a rabid dog in "the collections centre".

This guy was abusive, bullying, told me the bank would not pay me a penny, threatened to hang up on me and eventually spoke to a supervisor who told him the address where I had to write to for a hardship form. It was traumatising after an hour fruitlessly trying to find the right help. He gave me the incorrect address.

I complained about him and insisted they listen to the call. I received an abject apology stating he was "a new recruit and further training needs had been identified". Yeah .. like a head and mouth transplant.

Realising that dealing with the corporate machine was going to be a hellish nightmare I decided to go through my branch. As an ex-banker and stock broker we used to have a saying, "if you owe the bank £1,000 THEY have YOU by the *****, but if you owe them £1,000,000 then YOU have THEM by the *****".

Not wanting to try and arrange a one million pound overdraft I did the next best thing. I took away the incoming money to my account and moved all incomings and outgoings to a new bank.

Then in January I left the account £1 under the overdraft limit - as my claim exceeded the overdraft. Immediately I phoned my branch, told them I was making a hardship claim and that all interest and charges were to be withheld immediately and that I would fax them all the proof documents they needed.

I faxed my branch 31 pages of letter and supporting documents proving my status under several points named in the hardship waiver. This included personal documents released under a specific waiver not too be copied, scanned or digitally stored but used solely for the purpose of deciding this claim of financial hardship and then to be destroyed. They lost them.

Before they lost them they did arrange for a financial hardship form to be sent.

The bank then wrote twice stating they had fully examined my claim and refused to repay any charges with standard letters making no reference to the hardship waiver I was claiming under. I had not yet returned the form.

One of the letters was from the very helpful woman at my Branch who first I spoke to and had previously claimed her own bank charges back successfully and to whom I had addressed my original claim and documents.

I telephoned her to ask what it was about as I had not even completed the form. She was unaware of the letter and so I faxed her a copy. She had been in Florida when she signed and posted it to me. Clever girl.

When she enquired she came back on the phone rather embarrassed saying I had to speak to Edinburgh about it all. Clearly someone had made a booboo and she was told to stay out.

So now I am speaking to the highest complaints escalation department and they put me on to a single point of contact - something the waiver specifies. Now things start getting better. Every bank must give a single point of contact to all hardship claimants. If they don't they are breaking the terms of the waiver. They must also clearly and honestly communicate with you. Sending letters that pretend a hardship waiver does not exist broke this part of the waiver.

My first ransom demand is that they repay all charges levied since I wrote to them in January and all interest and that they write to both Experian and Equifax to amend my credit record and state these were bank errors.

Agreed .... and done the next day

Next we come to the charges. I claimed a lot more than the £1,268 they have offered and paid me - and I will get the rest plus interest in time. I argued this was not enough and that unless the amount was upped to at least clear my overdraft I wasn't playing ball.

They were not forthcoming.

I telephoned the banking Ombudsman who was very interested in the shabby way the bank handled these affairs. They pretty much asked me to stop talking to the bank so they could do them over.

Not being interested in the bank being done over, I just want my financial situation remedied. But now I have leverage.

Once my single point of contact was advised the Ombudsman wanted me to stop talking to her because of the mess they made of things the bank decided it would look at compensating me instead

And that is where the extra £500 comes from.

It left me £12 in credit but as my account is still with the collections department I am subject to no bank charges and no interest, still with an £1,800 limit. I have been given a choice of keeping the account where it is until the test case is over or moving it back to my branch. This is not a hard decision. An interest free and charge free £1,800 overdraft will do me nicely thanks Already using it.

ZZZ

natweststaffmember

zigzagzen wrote: »

Sure.

Started last November with an hour on the phone trying to speak to someone who knew about financial hardship waiver claims. Eventually put through to a rabid dog in "the collections centre".
Tell me about it, I worked for NatWest and dealing with collections can sometimes be like dealing with Jeckyl and Hyde depending who you spoke to.
This guy was abusive, bullying, told me the bank would not pay me a penny, threatened to hang up on me and eventually spoke to a supervisor who told him the address where I had to write to for a hardship form. It was traumatising after an hour fruitlessly trying to find the right help. He gave me the incorrect address.
That doesn't come as a surprise to be honest.
I complained about him and insisted they listen to the call. I received an abject apology stating he was "a new recruit and further training needs had been identified". Yeah .. like a head and mouth transplant.
I was told that Collections calls were not recorded at a time a few years ago.
Realising that dealing with the corporate machine was going to be a hellish nightmare I decided to go through my branch. As an ex-banker and stock broker we used to have a saying, "if you owe the bank £1,000 THEY have YOU by the *****, but if you owe them £1,000,000 then YOU have THEM by the *****".
Love the phrase and you are completely correct.
Not wanting to try and arrange a one million pound overdraft I did the next best thing. I took away the incoming money to my account and moved all incomings and outgoings to a new bank.

Then in January I left the account £1 under the overdraft limit - as my claim exceeded the overdraft. Immediately I phoned my branch, told them I was making a hardship claim and that all interest and charges were to be withheld immediately and that I would fax them all the proof documents they needed.
That is not specified in the FSA Waiver so can I ask you to explain where that comes from?
I faxed my branch 31 pages of letter and supporting documents proving my status under several points named in the hardship waiver. This included personal documents released under a specific waiver not too be copied, scanned or digitally stored but used solely for the purpose of deciding this claim of financial hardship and then to be destroyed. They lost them.
Branches have to send all paperwork to Edinburgh who deal with financial hardship cases.
Before they lost them they did arrange for a financial hardship form to be sent.
Quite surprised that they did this bit.
The bank then wrote twice stating they had fully examined my claim and refused to repay any charges with standard letters making no reference to the hardship waiver I was claiming under. I had not yet returned the form.

One of the letters was from the very helpful woman at my Branch who first I spoke to and had previously claimed her own bank charges back successfully and to whom I had addressed my original claim and documents.

I telephoned her to ask what it was about as I had not even completed the form. She was unaware of the letter and so I faxed her a copy. She had been in Florida when she signed and posted it to me. Clever girl.

When she enquired she came back on the phone rather embarrassed saying I had to speak to Edinburgh about it all. Clearly someone had made a booboo and she was told to stay out.
This doesn't surprise me since Edinburgh is where all claims are dealt with.
So now I am speaking to the highest complaints escalation department and they put me on to a single point of contact - something the waiver specifies.
I don't think it does specify a single point of contact....can you give me the point in the waiver(yes I do know it quite well but it is not that specific AFAIK)
Now things start getting better. Every bank must give a single point of contact to all hardship claimants. If they don't they are breaking the terms of the waiver.
Where in the waiver is this? But I would agree although trying to coax it out of some banks is difficult(NatWest were surprisingly better than most).
They must also clearly and honestly communicate with you. Sending letters that pretend a hardship waiver does not exist broke this part of the waiver.
I hope you complained to the central waivers team at the FSA.
My first ransom demand is that they repay all charges levied since I wrote to them in January and all interest and that they write to both Experian and Equifax to amend my credit record and state these were bank errors.
It's technically not a bank error since any refund would be made as a GOGW and not as a bank error or liability but I do see the logic in what you wrote to them
Agreed .... and done the next day

Next we come to the charges. I claimed a lot more than the £1,268 they have offered and paid me - and I will get the rest plus interest in time. I argued this was not enough and that unless the amount was upped to at least clear my overdraft I wasn't playing ball.

They were not forthcoming.

I telephoned the banking Ombudsman who was very interested in the shabby way the bank handled these affairs. They pretty much asked me to stop talking to the bank so they could do them over.

Not being interested in the bank being done over, I just want my financial situation remedied. But now I have leverage.

Once my single point of contact was advised the Ombudsman wanted me to stop talking to her because of the mess they made of things the bank decided it would look at compensating me instead

And that is where the extra £500 comes from.

It left me £12 in credit but as my account is still with the collections department I am subject to no bank charges and no interest, still with an £1,800 limit. I have been given a choice of keeping the account where it is until the test case is over or moving it back to my branch. This is not a hard decision. An interest free and charge free £1,800 overdraft will do me nicely thanks Already using it.
This may seem odd but I can't believe they agreed to no interest or charges until the conclusion of the OFT test case issues.
ZZZ

See above, you have me more intrigued by your approach.

natweststaffmember

Oh, of course Anex 2 part 5:
"5.
If it becomes clear to the firm that the complainant needs specialist assistance, the complainant will be referred promptly to a specialist team that deals with customers in financial difficulties, if one exists. The firm will give a phone number on all communications that will put the customer in contact with a named person or a team dedicated to dealing with cases of financial difficulty"

zigzagzen

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Oh, of course Anex 2 part 5:
"5.
If it becomes clear to the firm that the complainant needs specialist assistance, the complainant will be referred promptly to a specialist team that deals with customers in financial difficulties, if one exists. The firm will give a phone number on all communications that will put the customer in contact with a named person or a team dedicated to dealing with cases of financial difficulty"

Beat me to it. LOL

Where did my claim they refund everything that accumulated since I first wrote come from .... Balls .. and knowing they would do it because they had already agreed it was a complete mess. edit: oh but they tried of getting out of it by saying they would pay it off with the charges refund .... so I said "do it now then or you won't get my baking business". It was important because they messed up a credit record I had been repairing. For the first time in my adult life BT wanted a £50 deposit from me when i took out a phone line.

It amounted to £231 and put me within my limit by £47 - some money someone mistakenly paid in and I finally accessed!

They are a bit scared of me now I think .. that's why they are being very nice. VIP debtor :money:

ZZZ

sally205

Hello.

Halifax (ex Bank of Scotland)
2 accounts
Claimed £9,500


Am new on here. Have recently gone through the claim process following and using the guidelines/letters on the site.

Finally, on Friday I phoned the Halifax and was told by a staff member that a letter has been sent out to me. The letter says that on one account they are offering me £2,200 (£8k claimed) and on the other account they have offered me £28 (£1,200 claimed). Clearly this is ridiculous, if it was the other way around it would be a different case!

I am just wondering... I could really do with any money right now (mortgage arrears, council tax arrears + other debts) so can I accept this in partial payment and carry on with the process? If i do not accept this offer can they remove it and i end up with nothing? I am going to go back and say i will accept a higher offer, say around £5k.

It is bizarre because there seems to be no consistency - why do some people claim x and get y (in some cases more than their claim) and others claim y and get x (much lower). Are there any Halifax workers that know the formula/criteria that they work too?

Anyway, i wanted to post this because it looks fairly encouraging and I just wanted to say to everybody else if you are thinking of claiming, do it!

If anybody has any experience/thoughts on this i would appreciate your recommendations.

Thanks.

natweststaffmember

sally205 wrote: »

Hello.

Halifax (ex Bank of Scotland)
2 accounts
Claimed £9,500


Am new on here. Have recently gone through the claim process following and using the guidelines/letters on the site.

Finally, on Friday I phoned the Halifax and was told by a staff member that a letter has been sent out to me. The letter says that on one account they are offering me £2,200 (£8k claimed) and on the other account they have offered me £28 (£1,200 claimed). Clearly this is ridiculous, if it was the other way around it would be a different case!

I am just wondering... I could really do with any money right now (mortgage arrears, council tax arrears + other debts) so can I accept this in partial payment and carry on with the process? If i do not accept this offer can they remove it and i end up with nothing? I am going to go back and say i will accept a higher offer, say around £5k.
Accept and negotiate but you have to remember that you have to argue it with the use of the FSA Waiver, so a lifestyle event caused a lowering of income leading to charges and to priority debt arrears. Argue the fact on priority debt arrears amounts and if they do not agree ask them for a final response letter and we can work on it to the FOS if we can.
It is bizarre because there seems to be no consistency - why do some people claim x and get y (in some cases more than their claim) and others claim y and get x (much lower). Are there any Halifax workers that know the formula/criteria that they work too?
On an annonymous forum and without seeing the income and expenditure form, not even I have a clue how some posters get a payout and others do not.
Anyway, i wanted to post this because it looks fairly encouraging and I just wanted to say to everybody else if you are thinking of claiming, do it!

If anybody has any experience/thoughts on this i would appreciate your recommendations.

Thanks.

I have added some thought and I agree with you, if you do not ask the question then you do not get the response.

sally205

Thank you.

I will speak to them tomorrow, bank holiday today so probably pointless trying + I do not have my letter in hand at the moment but I will take your advice and let you know the outcome.

Many thanks.

sickNtired

hi all,
ive just printed off my letter requesting a breakdown of my bank charges. Im really worried though, i have been made redundant twice this year, and now i am claiming jobseekers allowance for the first time in my life and need to claim back my charges under hardship, but i bank with lloyds tsb and it seems from this forum that they are the ones who are refusing to pay out under hardship, my question is this, is there really any point in me going down this road with them?

natweststaffmember

sickNtired wrote: »

hi all,
ive just printed off my letter requesting a breakdown of my bank charges. Im really worried though, i have been made redundant twice this year, and now i am claiming jobseekers allowance for the first time in my life and need to claim back my charges under hardship, but i bank with lloyds tsb and it seems from this forum that they are the ones who are refusing to pay out under hardship, my question is this, is there really any point in me going down this road with them?

Don't be put off by what is on the forum. Start the process and we will hopefully have more information for you soon.