Has your bank (esp Lloyds) ignored your hardship claim?

esmerellda

A standard HSBC letter and I assume it comes from the time when MSE template letters incorrectly had a part in about the social security act and tax credit act and inalienability (which as HSBC correctly state doesnt apply to bank charges).

I agree with Nattie on the hardship front, simply claiming benefits is not in itself an automatic hardship.

hershon27

The Halifax have been very difficult and Im not really getting anywhere with them. I am disabled, we have 3 children and my husband gave up his job to be my carer. We live on benefits unfortunatly and despite jigging and rejigging finance life is very hard going at the moment. The £300 we would like back form The Halifax would help us out a lot. However despite my letters, and sending a couple of financial statements whcich shows that our outgoings are usually bigger than our incomings they 'see no evidence of financial hardship', according to their letter.

Does anyone now for certain how long this is going to take to get sorted once and for all and when we can expect a final final ruling?

astevens4

If you are sufficiently in distress then why not consider taking it to court - write to the banks informing them that you will begin legal proceedings in 7 days unless they refund.
When the 7 days are up go INTO your local court (do NOT do the online one - doing it online means you have to pay the court fees regardless of circumstances), and submit your claim along with the relevant documentation showing that you qualify for court fee's exemption, and all the relevant papers etc (can all be found on HMCS website).

The banks will inevitably apply for a stay, HOWEVER when they do you are able to apply to the judge to have the syat set aside on your case, as you are suffering undue hardship.

NOW the judge may or may not agree with you, BUT its better than shouting at a call centre and getting nowhere fast or applying via the FOS where the current timescales are inexcess of a year.

It will also show the banks you are deadly serious, and may even lead to an offer, simply to not rock the boat while the appeal is in process.

(p.s. ive been in the "stay" queue since 07 as well - mine was stayed 2 DAYS before the hearing was due!!)

Tony

esmerellda

I wouldnt recommend taking a claim to court based on hardship. It is not for the court to decide and could end up being costly. Stays will not be lifted due to hardship - the hardship exemption to the waiver is not a legal position at all. It is simply guidance to the banks to consider complaints about charges whilst the test case is ongoing and the legal position is being clarified.

The FOS do not have timescales of a year for hardship cases.

pbell

I have used the feedback form re Lloyds TSB. Is this the same as posting on the forum? Please excuse my ignorance. Philippa

scoey2009

I must say I am hacked off with the way that banks are hiding behind the "test case" when you are putting a hardship case through.

Both Lloyds and Intellegent finance have made this so difficult for me and I am currently out of work... Any help you can give / pressure you can apply on the Lloyds group will be gladly received by me.

I'm currently been charged by IF on an unauthorised overdraft and cannot pay the money back as i'm not working. All i'm asking for is for them to refund my charges so I can get back into the black. Its not happening though!!! Grrrrr

g-unit_2

My claim with Lloyds has been going on over 12 months. I went down the hardship route and Lloyd have never sent me any forms to complete or contacted me about the claim. All I have received is the standard refusal letters due to claims being on hold.
The FSA looked into my claim and were told by LLoyds that they do not feel I am in hardship as I am repaying a loan to Lloyds and have not defaulted on this. The FSA agreed with Lloyds and I have now appealled againt this. Hasn't stopped Lloyds sending me threatening letters about going overdrawn, which I wouldn't have been if they had not charged me so much.
Refused direct debit ? LLoyds charged me £300 on two seperate occassions and £250 on another. Someone is not playing fair and LLoydsTSB seem to have the FSA on their side.

xhosa9

I spent months on this with cahoot only for them to say that they would refund half of the money I was claiming but they wouldn't refund it to me but take it off what I owed them which means it helps me not a jot with my current hardship problems. I am now having to renegotiate all me debts to get out of hardship again. Whole thing seems to be going backwards...

MSE_Martin

Just a quick thank you - we're swamped with over 100 case studies now - but it means the issue is definitely a real one!

natweststaffmember

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Just a quick thank you - we're swamped with over 100 case studies now - but it means the issue is definitely a real one!

Martin, I am sure you will use due diligence but please please do cos the more cases of clear breaches of the FSA Waiver the better. I have quoted my recent FOI request re complaint data and it clearly shows that not enough people are complaining(18 complaints in the last 12 months up to July 2009--MSE Wendy has a copy of so I hope you will have seen it)
The main issues that I see here are:
1) Data Retention: only 6 years worth of statements
2) Lack of clear final response letter outlining a decline(which is really important on here when you are trying to see if there is room for manoevre for the FOS who take ages due to a lack of info.
3) The issues of offering a loan to clear already existing arrears(HSBC a classic example of "managed loans"). I'm not a fan of extra debt to cover existing debt.