Hardship Claim - what happens next?

naitch1980

My mother recently asked to be assessed for a hardship claim, this was being processed when the decision came out last week.

Basically though, she's had a letter asking for her cheque book & maestro and she's been issued a VISA debit card. They've also asked her to cancel all non-essential direct debits, of which she has none, bar sky.

They've said "payments will be decided once these items have been received" or something like that - bear in mind my mother lives 100 miles away, so she was reading the letter out over the phone.

It's mentioned payments a couple of times, but never cleared up whether they're talking payments too or from her.

I've no idea what to do next! My mother is NOT happy about giving up her cheque book because she works full time & on an industrial estate, so can't get to the bank to pay things, so sends cheques in the post.

Any advice would be welcome on what to do next.

naitch1980

Just bumping this in order to keep it fresh.

gerryscot

naitch1980 wrote: »

My mother recently asked to be assessed for a hardship claim, this was being processed when the decision came out last week.

Basically though, she's had a letter asking for her cheque book & maestro and she's been issued a VISA debit card. They've also asked her to cancel all non-essential direct debits, of which she has none, bar sky.

They've said "payments will be decided once these items have been received" or something like that - bear in mind my mother lives 100 miles away, so she was reading the letter out over the phone.

It's mentioned payments a couple of times, but never cleared up whether they're talking payments too or from her.

I've no idea what to do next! My mother is NOT happy about giving up her cheque book because she works full time & on an industrial estate, so can't get to the bank to pay things, so sends cheques in the post.

Any advice would be welcome on what to do next.

Your mother could telephone customer services contact number on the letter and say that she requires a decision as to her hardship claim before she completes the bank recent request to return the items. She could maybe even use the excuse that she wishes to discuss the decision of her hardship claim with her advisor and seek advice before taking any further action.

This will then to enable her decide how to proceed with her claim and hopefully it will also push them for a decision before she has returned her cheque book.

Good luck

Gerry x

natweststaffmember

gerryscot wrote: »

Your mother could telephone customer services contact number on the letter and say that she requires a decision as to her hardship claim before she completes the bank recent request to return the items. She could maybe even use the excuse that she wishes to discuss the decision of her hardship claim with her advisor and seek advice before taking any further action.

This will then to enable her decide how to proceed with her claim and hopefully it will also push them for a decision before she has returned her cheque book.

Good luck

Gerry x

I completely disagree with the advice Gerry. I would also say that Customer Services wouldn't deal with hardship claims either but a specialised team would.

It sounds to me like a classic RBS Group letter. She can go into a branch and have the cards and books destroyed and a not placed on the account. Furthermore, I am not sure Sky is classed as a priority debt so that would have to be cancelled(she can get paper bills and pay when they arrive).
I should state that all bank cards do state that they are the property of the bank so they can be requested back at any time.

gerryscot

natweststaffmember wrote: »

I completely disagree with the advice Gerry. I would also say that Customer Services wouldn't deal with hardship claims either but a specialised team would.

It sounds to me like a classic RBS Group letter. She can go into a branch and have the cards and books destroyed and a not placed on the account. Furthermore, I am not sure Sky is classed as a priority debt so that would have to be cancelled(she can get paper bills and pay when they arrive).
I should state that all bank cards do state that they are the property of the bank so they can be requested back at any time.

Sorry for giving out bad advice. I’m in no way qualified to be advising people. I think I actually suggested that she telephone the number on the letter that was dealing with her hardship claim.

The only help I can give is to share own my personal experiences, which is exactly what I did on this post. I appreciate that your viewing the situation with your bankers hat on and following the normal run of the mill daily banking procedures, therefore in your opinion my suggestions were not an option for the OP.

However, I beg to differ with you on that point as that was exactly the approach that I used to claim Financial Hardship with RBS and HBOS, both claims were successful. :j :money: :beer:

Sometimes in life you need to use a bit of initiative to stand out from the crowd and try a different route.

Regards Gerry

naitch1980

natwestmember:- So what does this letter mean for my mum if it is one of these RBS group letters (she's with natwest, so it seems likely)
As I've stated, she can't get in to her local branch, it is shut on a saturday and she is unable to get to any other branch as her workplace is on an industrial site.
What does "she can have a not placed on her account" mean? Is this jargon or a typo?
Incidentally, to clear the confusion there, I was saying that ALL her direct debits are essential and Sky is her only non-essential DD, not that Sky is her only essential DD. I'm quite aware that Sky is a "luxury"!!

naitch1980

Gerry, thanks for your input, but I'm afraid with the test case having been lost, it seems highly unlikely that she will now get any of the £3k plus interest back even if she does call them up, although i will give her your opinion.

natweststaffmember

gerryscot wrote: »

Sorry for giving out bad advice. I’m in no way qualified to be advising people. I think I actually suggested that she telephone the number on the letter that was dealing with her hardship claim.
It was a misread on my part with regards to the first part of the post. Unfortunately, the lurgy has got me by the whatsanames and is clearly effecting my ability to read.
The only help I can give is to share own my personal experiences, which is exactly what I did on this post. I appreciate that your viewing the situation with your bankers hat on and following the normal run of the mill daily banking procedures, therefore in your opinion my suggestions were not an option for the OP.
My opinion is based on what I have read on the forums and what is a reasonable approach IMHO.
However, I beg to differ with you on that point as that was exactly the approach that I used to claim Financial Hardship with RBS and HBOS, both claims were successful. :j :money: :beer:
I am quite surprised that it did work but if it does then the OP can by all means try it and if it doesn't work as it did for you then perhaps the other approach can be used.
Sometimes in life you need to use a bit of initiative to stand out from the crowd and try a different route.

Regards Gerry

Apologies Gerry and the OP. Worth a try, I guess.

natweststaffmember

naitch1980 wrote: »

natwestmember:- So what does this letter mean for my mum if it is one of these RBS group letters (she's with natwest, so it seems likely)
As I've stated, she can't get in to her local branch, it is shut on a saturday and she is unable to get to any other branch as her workplace is on an industrial site.
What does "she can have a not placed on her account" mean?
It's a type with a missed "e" at the end, ie NOTE rather than NOT.
Is this jargon or a typo?
Incidentally, to clear the confusion there, I was saying that ALL her direct debits are essential and Sky is her only non-essential DD, not that Sky is her only essential DD. I'm quite aware that Sky is a "luxury"!!

I would try Gerry's approach since there is nothing to lose by asking the question because there is always the fall back approach.

naitch1980

Well, my Mum decided to just adhere to the letter and give up, so she sent back her card and her cheque book.
She then wrote to the bank asking them to release her bonds early - only 4 months, so she's not lost much interest - but she had got to the point where all the rest of her savings had been wiped out & she wouldn't have coped for another month without them.
So anyway, we decided to wait until the end of this month for the new letters & we'd take it from there.
Then out of the blue, a letter turns up, offering the full charges, obviously no interest, as a goodwill gesture!
She's disappointed now that she cashed in her bonds early(no idea why, she'll be lucky to have lost £50 interest), as this amount will see her through until she's back on a full wage, but obviously we're all very happy(but slightly baffled) by this result.

I can only assume they had decided to pay her out before the result of the test case and then decided to honour it in spite of their win?

chipbeck

Very Glad to hear it, happy new year for your mum.