I've been refused payment, help and advise required.

wozyh

Hi all,

Im claiming my bank charges back due to financial hardship. I've been out of work since just before the new year and as a consqequece im living on state benefits i.e. job seekers allowance of £65 per week. I put in my claim for financial hardship around February of this year.

Anyway, to cut a long story sort, Yorkshire Bank (or Clydsdale Bank) finally managed to phone me on Monday with regards to bringing my claim to completion. Beforehand, YB wrote to me and advised me to compile a list of my monthly income and expenditures so they would be able to assess my hardship.

Basically, below is my full monthly income and expenditure. Please note im currently living with my mother in her council house, she is too ill to work. Due to me living with her and claiming JSA she has to pay a small amount of rent and council tax. She is reluctantly letting me stay with her as I have no where else to go.

Monthly Income £256

Expenditures £120 towards rent and bills
£35 minimum payment on credit card
£7 interest on overdraft
£26.40 bus fares

Total: £188.40

Less from Income: £67.60
amount per week: £16.90**

**Basically I am left with £17 per week for basic living expenses such as food. My parents are regulary helping me out by buying me groceries when i get really short.

My personal debts are as follows:

£1530 Barclays Credit Card
£525 Overdraft (which I am into right to the bottom, hence the interest)
£660 Tax Bill, to be paid by Jan 2010

I explained all the above to the YB adviser, and mentioned that I am only able to pay the minimum payment each month on my credit card and that I am relying on parents to help with basic living needs such as food.

The adviser asked me numerous different questions, to which I replied honestly. One of the things I remember been asked was if I was in hardship prior to been out of work. I wasn't, and I explained I am only claiming hardship because I am out of work and struggling to manage.

Anyway, I received a letter the following morning after the telephone call. The letter acknowledged I was in financial hardship, but explained I would not be getting reimbursed with my bank charges because there had been no additonal bank charges since I originally claimed hardship.

Obviously i'm dissapointed with this decision, so I phoned the claims adviser back and expressed my dissapointment. The lady explained to me that there is nothing she can do, and that my circumstances do not fit the criteria for reimbursment.

I am wondering if there is any thing further I could do to be able to get them to re-assess my situation?

I have since remembered that I have had late payment credit card charges since my claim for hardship was submitted. This was a few months ago, and unfortuantely I forgot all about these until yesterday (after my decision had been made). And I have accidentlly gone over my overdraft yesterday (the day I received my decision), but this was because of a switch card payment that has come out very late. Im over by £1.92.

I think I am gonna ring back the claims adviser and explain about the credit card charges and been overdrawn. Although, I think it might not be to any prevail as I guess once they have assessed your case it is then permanently closed.

Any advice on what my next step should be, or should I just accept it and move on?

Thanks.

esmerellda

basically i think they are looking at this part of the waiver guidance issued on 19th march this year.

V) firms to provide a range of measures to support customers and to treat them positively and sympathetically
nb2)firms are also refered to sections 14.2 and 14.3 of the guidance to the banking code.
these might include: help and guidance about dealing with fd and avoiding charges; suspending collections and recovery activity; suspending accrual of further interest and charges; consideration of a refund of charges, in particular where the charges may have added to the FD during, or immediately before, the period of FD. The rationale for why a particular level of refund has been given should be documented and clearly explained to the complainant.

From your IE info (thank you for posting it) I don't think you would be considered as in hardship. So I would get your claim ready to go into court, as you will be exempt from court Fees, and leave it there until the test case conclusion gathering 8% PA interest.(claim everything from july 2001)

Do you still use the account with YB ? ie is that where the overdraft is ? If so you can leave it there and start fresh with a new account or post office card account (as you are mainly living cash anyway) and arange repayment of that debt without yb having control over your money.

What have you done so far about your barclays debt & tax bill ? have you contacted them to tell them of the circumstances, asked them to freeze interest and charges(barclays anyway) and offered a minimal monthly payment until things improve ?


can you give a bit more detail on the tax bill too.

wozyh

Hi esmerellda, thanks for replying.

In response to what you've said:

So I would get your claim ready to go into court, as you will be exempt from court Fees, and leave it there until the test case conclusion gathering 8% PA interest.(claim everything from july 2001)

Do you mean take it to the small claims court? PS - I am owed a total of £952 in charges, I didn't bother to add on interest charges when I originally made my claim (I didn't wanna push the boat out too far). Is it possible to now amend the claim and add on PA interest?

Do you still use the account with YB ? ie is that where the overdraft is ? If so you can leave it there and start fresh with a new account or post office card account (as you are mainly living cash anyway) and arange repayment of that debt without yb having control over your money.

Yes I still use the account with YB and it is my primary account, it's also the account where the overdraft is. I do have a spare current account with Natwest, which I have never used.

What have you done so far about your barclays debt & tax bill ? have you contacted them to tell them of the circumstances, asked them to freeze interest and charges(barclays anyway) and offered a minimal monthly payment until things improve ?

I havn't contacted Barclays re. the credit card debt, although a customer adviser did kind of collar me (whilst I was paying the minimum payment over the counter) and he explained that it would take around 15 years to pay off the card if I continued paying the MP. He suggested a personal loan, although I declined and informed him I was unemployed and receiving JSA. He didn't mention anything about the possibility of interest payments being frozen when customers are in hardship.

can you give a bit more detail on the tax bill too.

I was self employed for 6 months last year. The tax bill is from self assessment for the 08/09 tax year, it is income tax and class 4 national insurance. The dead line for it to be paid is late January 2010.

Anyway, I suppose I havn't been completely honest and disclosed all my circumstances. Since I originally claimed hardship (In February) there has been a bereavement in my family and I am being handed down £2000. It's bitter sweet really, but never the less it's lifted a bit of a weight off my shoulders.

Im gonna use the money to clear my credit card debt of £1500 and use the remainding £500 to clear the majority of my tax bill. Once this is done the only debts i'll have left will be the £525 overdraft and the remainding £160 of tax bill.

I've also decided to go to Uni in September and have a clean break, seen as though my debts will have more or less been eliminated.

The overdraft with YB will just have to stay - although Im gonna look into opening up a student account with an interest free overdraft, and use the overdraft from this to pay off the YB overdraft .
Re. the remainding £160 of tax bill, I will just have to scrape it together from somewhere.

Obviously YB don't know I'm inheriting a small amount of money, so I just carried on as normal with the claim. If I got the £1000, then all my debts would have been paid off.

natweststaffmember

The case at county court will be stayed pending the conclusion of the OFT test case.

esmerellda

Did the £2000 go into your YB account?

anyway yes the case will be stayed - I don't think you have a case for hardship as things stand currently although I understand things are tight.

Re

Do you still use the account with YB ? ie is that where the overdraft is ? If so you can leave it there and start fresh with a new account or post office card account (as you are mainly living cash anyway) and arange repayment of that debt without yb having control over your money.

Yes I still use the account with YB and it is my primary account, it's also the account where the overdraft is. I do have a spare current account with Natwest, which I have never used.

Start using Natwest instead. Leave the OD with YB and write and tell them its in dispute. Don't go getting an OD with natwest to pay off YB OD (never quite happens then it just builds up and up and up till you're in real poop)


aka

This is just a suggestion and you are perfectly entitled to withold any payment until the outcome of the test case if your debt is outweighed by the charges complaint. This may save you having to deal with defaults being placed on your credit record, debts being passed to debt collection agents and court claims against you - all of which you can fight against, however prevention is better than cure is it not?

Quote:
Dear Sir or Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxx

I am writing with regards to the alleged outstanding debt owing on my account. You will be aware that I consider the debt to be in dispute as the majority/whole of this sum is made up of disputed charges and interest charged thereon.

This dispute was notified to you in a letter dated xx/xx/xxxx (copy attached) (add any other action you have taken thus far with regards your claim for charges)

In your letter dated xx/xx/xxxx you have informed me the amount outstanding on the account is £xxxx.xx . The amount I calculate you have taken in unlawful charges and interest on those charges is £xxxx.xx. In addition I am claiming from you a sum of compensatory interest equal to 8% per annum which brings the total disputed amount to £xxxx.xx .

I have no intention of reneging on any part of this account which may be legitimately incurred debt and as I understand the issues surrounding the dispute are currently pending determination in the House of Lords and with the Office of Fair Trading, as a gesture of goodwill I would like to arrange with you to keep this debt on hold until the outcome of that case. Therefore I propose that you place a hold on further charges and interest being added to the account and that you accept an interim repayment plan.

I propose I make payments to you of £xx per calendar month, the first payment is enclosed, until such time as the dispute is resolved. Once this dispute has been resolved, if in my favour, you will continue processing my complaint, and if in your favour we will review repayment arrangements for the alleged debt. To be clear I currently dispute whether this sum or any is actually owed to your company and I am simply offering a reasonable solution in the interim whilst the dispute is considered.

I would like to make you aware of The Office of Fair Trading Code of Guidance in which it states: putting pressure on debtors or third parties is considered to be oppressive This includes: Ignoring disputes about whether money is owed and refusing to freeze action if the debt is in dispute.

I therefore hope to receive your full co-operation in this matter and would like to request a written response to that effect.

Yours Sincerely



Your Name
_________________

Re this part

What have you done so far about your barclays debt & tax bill ? have you contacted them to tell them of the circumstances, asked them to freeze interest and charges(barclays anyway) and offered a minimal monthly payment until things improve ?

I havn't contacted Barclays re. the credit card debt, although a customer adviser did kind of collar me (whilst I was paying the minimum payment over the counter) and he explained that it would take around 15 years to pay off the card if I continued paying the MP. He suggested a personal loan, although I declined and informed him I was unemployed and receiving JSA. He didn't mention anything about the possibility of interest payments being frozen when customers are in hardship.

If you are struggling then you can ask them to freeze the debt and accept a repayment plan on it. Not guaranteed they wont pass it to collectors/default you but I think they have to give you 3 months now which would help you sort yourself out a bit.

can you give a bit more detail on the tax bill too.

I was self employed for 6 months last year. The tax bill is from self assessment for the 08/09 tax year, it is income tax and class 4 national insurance. The dead line for it to be paid is late January 2010.

CONTACT THEM, and keep contacting them.tell them you are on JSA etc and can you come to a payment arrangement (work out what you can afford monthly be it £10 or £50) and ask the question.

They don't just let things ride and you cant rely on a bank charge refund so try and sort everything as if there might be nothing coming from the bank charges at all. Then its more of a bonus if/when it comes and not quite so stressful.