Report Bank Charges successes and failures

dunstonh

Harleyquinn wrote: »

I wrote letters to my bank before Christmas and they phoned this week to say that their charges are fair and I'm not nor have I been in financial hardship, even though they left me in financial hardship, in unauthorised overdrafts, unable to buy food, pay bills, etc. I was also unsuccessful in claiming back my £17/m Platinum account fee that I dont remember signing up to (they said I did it through online banking in 2012; what 20 year old needs a Platinum account?!) nor do I need it. All in all, both men I spoke to treated me like crap and left me in tears and I'm extremely disappointed with the result!

Good luck to anyone claiming charges back and I hope you get a more positve result than me!

If you mention unfair in your letter to them then you are nearly always going to get a rejection as the court case about unfair charges was won by the banks back in 2009.

If you are not in current financial hardship then you cannot use the current financial hardship method.

So, in those respects, a rejection was the likely outcome.

As for packaged bank charges, this thread is not about those. So, I wont cover them here.

Harleyquinn

I am in financial hardship lol and that is very obvious from my bank statements

tomtontom

Harleyquinn wrote: »

I am in financial hardship lol and that is very obvious from my bank statements

The bank will look at your spending habits and assess accordingly. Someone that runs a car, has pets and multiple Apple products is unlikely to meet their definition of financial hardship.

Harleyquinn

tomtontom wrote: »

The bank will look at your spending habits and assess accordingly. Someone that runs a car, has pets and multiple Apple products is unlikely to meet their definition of financial hardship.

Slightly rude there Little back story here, I have bipolar disorder, went undiagnosed for quite a while and a part of my disorder spending/overspending. I applied for CC's, store accounts, bought my macbook on credit etc when I was very unwell. So don't bother judging, you know nothing. And I need my car. It is my lifeline. I was in hardship before I was unwell, not that that matters.
All I did was tell my experience which was the point of this thread. I didn't ask the likes of you to judge me.:(

tomtontom

Harleyquinn wrote: »

Slightly rude there Little back story here, I have bipolar disorder, went undiagnosed for quite a while and a part of my disorder spending/overspending. I applied for CC's, store accounts, bought my macbook on credit etc when I was very unwell. So don't bother judging, you know nothing. And I need my car. It is my lifeline. I was in hardship before I was unwell, not that that matters.
All I did was tell my experience which was the point of this thread. I didn't ask the likes of you to judge me.:(

I'm stating facts, that is how the bank assesses your claim - if you spend on frivolities then you are not deemed to be in hardship.

Perhaps you could sell the Macbook, iphone etc to pay towards your debt? Much cheaper alternatives are available.

Harleyquinn

I know people who have much worse spending habits than I and they were successful in their claims, just saying. And all I said was that I was disappointed, I didn't ask for anyone's opinions :rotfl:

I need my macbook for uni and my phone is not exactly worth anything. I'm doing what I can to change my situation.

dunstonh

Harleyquinn wrote: »

I am in financial hardship lol and that is very obvious from my bank statements

Your consumer spending put you in hardship and you are unlikely to be in hardship. There are things we dont know but we do know the following

1 - You live with parents (so no utilities to be paid, no food and no housing costs)
2 - you are a smoker. So, you are finding the money for that.
3 - you have a range of store card debts and loans for consumer items (Argos, Very, Barclays for laptop). None of those are high priority debts and they all exist because of consumer purchases.
4 - you have a £41pm mobile phone contract. That is excessive.

None of these things going unpaid is going to see you lose the roof over your head or prevent your children from being fed (you have none). Hardship means hardship. it doesnt mean unable to pay for excessive consumer spending.

I sympathise with your situation but it is not hardship. Consumer debt can go into debt recovery and debt management schemes.

tomtontom

Harleyquinn wrote: »

I know people who have much worse spending habits than I and they were successful in their claims, just saying. And all I said was that I was disappointed, I didn't ask for anyone's opinions :rotfl:

I need my macbook for uni and my phone is not exactly worth anything. I'm doing what I can to change my situation.

We're offering advice, explaining why your claim has been declined.

If you want help choosing a cheaper laptop ask on the Techies board. In particular look at reconditioned ones which come with a warranty - there are some real bargains to be had.

Difficult to believe an iphone 5 is not worth anything. Have a look on ebay or one of the recycling sites for an idea of how much you may get for it.

Harleyquinn

I see your point, but as I said all I did was share my story as is the point of this thread! Not to have people tell me about my life lol

My purchases are NOT the cause for my hardship for I was in a worse postition before when I lived alone and had to try and live off £100 a week while trying paying bills which is where the storecards and credit cards came in to play.

I no longer smoke, I can do nothing about my contract until I can cancel and I signed a contract for £20 a month they changed my contract price and allowance without my consent, i contribute to the household.

But surely £120 of charges in a month (which is what i pay most months) is excessive and certainly above what Bank of Scotland say the most they will take off a person in a month.

So let's all just move on and forget I ever posted anything.

Harleyquinn

tomtontom wrote: »

We're offering advice, explaining why your claim has been declined.

If you want help choosing a cheaper laptop ask on the Techies board. In particular look at reconditioned ones which come with a warranty - there are some real bargains to be had.

Difficult to believe an iphone 5 is not worth anything. Have a look on ebay or one of the recycling sites for an idea of how much you may get for it.

would selling my mac not be a little counter productive? It's over a year old, I'm still paying it off? If I sell at best I'll get £500 so from that I'll still have to buy a new laptop and still be paying off what I've got? I looked into selling it before.

The camera is smashed on the front, and the screen has a huge crack on it, the sleep button doesn't work lol I got offered £25 for it so I'm better off keeping it