Halifax On Going

TheOne

I have a current account with Halifax. About a year or so ago, I got a big loan from them to pay off my debts. At the time they didn't ask any questions about my income or outgoings or go through any sort of budget to see whether I could afford to pay it. I was all going OK, but then Christmas came along and I started paying for everything on credit card. Went a bit O/D and after several months I soon got to the limit of my overdraft (my current O/D limit is over £500) , went over it once so they charged me £35, a month later went O/D again with one or 2 direct debits still due, and they charged moe some more and it just sprialled from there, and they just keep charging me and more and more and have now ended up having to pay several bills by credit card, a couple have got missed, an insurance policy I had got cancelled because I couln't pay it and still the charges mount up.
Think I can qualify for financial hardship?

natweststaffmember

Ihatehalifax wrote: »

Yes I do have charges on my credit card/catalogue accounts and had to take a payment plan on my mortgage where we agreed with the lender we would pay £300 less per month for 3 months but we used that money to live rather than pay off debt.

And with regards to your comment about the call centre staff not having attitude - some of them do have an attitude I have spoken to enough of them. Some are nice and helpful though so they are not all bad.

Look attitude is a personal perspective and can be based on many many factors and I have worked in a call centre and a branch so I know both ends of the stick. However, I do think you should try and claim the credit card and catalogue account charges back since they are a lot easier to start with and should reduce your overall debts

natweststaffmember

TheOne wrote: »

I have a current account with Halifax. About a year or so ago, I got a big loan from them to pay off my debts. At the time they didn't ask any questions about my income or outgoings or go through any sort of budget to see whether I could afford to pay it. I was all going OK, but then Christmas came along and I started paying for everything on credit card. Went a bit O/D and after several months I soon got to the limit of my overdraft (my current O/D limit is over £500) , went over it once so they charged me £35, a month later went O/D again with one or 2 direct debits still due, and they charged moe some more and it just sprialled from there, and they just keep charging me and more and more and have now ended up having to pay several bills by credit card, a couple have got missed, an insurance policy I had got cancelled because I couln't pay it and still the charges mount up.
Think I can qualify for financial hardship?

Again, same question, do you have credit card charges?
Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?

TheOne

Yes I do have mortgage / rent arrears, and some utilities are now not going through.

natweststaffmember

TheOne wrote: »

Yes I do have mortgage / rent arrears, and some utilities are now not going through.

Then start your claim today
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges-hardship

TheOne

Just to clarify, this is how I would answer the questions in the financial hardship article:

Are items repeatedly being returned unpaid due to lack of available funds?
Yes

Are you failing to make loan repayments or other commitments?
Yes

Is there a discontinuation of regular credits?
Translation: Do you no longer have money coming in, or regular income, such as when you lose your job?
No

Is there a notification of some form of insolvency or court proceedings?
No

Are there regular requests for increased borrowing or repeated rescheduling of debts?
Translation: Are you living off credit, struggling to repay it and regularly needing to increase credit limits? Or do you have a special debt payment plan in place with lenders as you can’t afford repayments at the usual rate?
Yes

Do you make frequent credit card cash withdrawals at non-promotional rates?
Yes

Do you repeatedly exceed your credit card or overdraft limit without agreement?
Yes

natweststaffmember

The next question then is how did the bank charges begin? If there has been no change in your circumstances then how did the cycle of bank charges begin?