Bank charges reclaiming- how much?

carolinosourus

Hi everyone,

This is a brief outline of what happened to me:

I was unemployed for a month at the beginning of last year but was still having to pay rent etc, I had just split up with my boyfriend who I was basically having to support, I was living in London during the week and supporting myself for the week, then I would go home to see him at the weekend and was buying him a weeks worth of food and putting petrol in his car etc, so that really hit me financially. I then took a lower-paid job but still had the same outgoings, plus travelling costs during the week which I didn't have before as I could walk to work with my previous job.

I went over my overdraft limit a few months in a row and was charged, I didn't receive any letters as I was signed up for online banking and was far too scared to check my online banking, when I did there were no warnings about being charged. I didn't notice until I was going over previous statements online and noticed that I'd been charged £150 for 2 months, then £75 the next month, then £25 the next month.

I called up and made a huge fuss, obviously if I hadn't been charged every time I went over my limit I wouldn't have gone over the next time etc. HSBC actually refunded me £100 as a "good-will gesture" but I'm not happy with that and so have been trying to take it further. I went down the financial hardship route as I was unemployed then took a lower-paid job but they didn't want to know.

I'm now going to go down the Financial Ombudsman route, but how much should I claim for? The full £400 or just £300 as I was refunded £100? And should I claim for interest? I'm still really struggling now due to this and was really really unhappy when I found out, I stopped eating for quite a while as I didn't really see an end to it. I know that this is nothing compared to some peoples situations but it still really upset me, especially with HSBC not seeming to understand that I had had no communication from them, they kept saying that I should have received letters, when I said I hadn't and could they send me copies, it all went a bit quiet from them!

Any advice, that would be great

natweststaffmember

Ok, this is a tough one really. On the basis of what you have said, quite honestly, you seem to have simply overspent money rather than some cases where people are being charged and the charges are causing the hardship. My personal opinion is that you do not stand a chance under financial hardship.
Do you have any priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities?
What is your current situation since the past is past re the ex bf?