Report Bank Charges successes and failures

hopkins_21

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?
Read the bit under the post with the link on which is about the lending code. Remember the bank does not have to offer 100% of the charges even if you are in financial hardship. Please read all of the Lending code section 9 a few times cos even I get surprised on stuff with it.

Hi yes i do, i let natwest and the Finalcial ombudsman know this.
I have sent so many letters proving my debts iv lost count!

I know i wont get the full amount back but i was hopeing for more then £108! and concidering this is only for the charges that they put on my account whilst i have been claiming i did not think this was good enough.
Theres still the matter of the charges over the last 4 years.

I am wondering would it be a better idear if i contact Natwest and try to do a deal with them, i do not think the person who is dealing with my case at the Financial Ombudsman is doing any good.
When i was on the phone to her i got the impression that she could not care less.

natweststaffmember

hopkins_21 wrote: »

Hi yes i do, i let natwest and the Finalcial ombudsman know this.
I have sent so many letters proving my debts iv lost count!

I know i wont get the full amount back but i was hopeing for more then £108! and concidering this is only for the charges that they put on my account whilst i have been claiming i did not think this was good enough.
Theres still the matter of the charges over the last 4 years.

I am wondering would it be a better idear if i contact Natwest and try to do a deal with them, i do not think the person who is dealing with my case at the Financial Ombudsman is doing any good.
When i was on the phone to her i got the impression that she could not care less.

Have you read the lending code a few times?

ring_4

Hi Natweststaffmember, thank you for your reply, the reason why I went into the DMP is because I was up to my neck in credit cards, however, I always paid the minimum payment and very rarely had a late payment fee, at the end of the month when I got hit with the bank charges this left be in bother with the bank rather than the credit card companies as I went over my overdraft, I was being paid around £900 a month and my direct debits where £880 a month so therefore I lived off the credit cards each month, so as you can see getting hit with £20 -£40 charges put me over my overdraft. When I went to the bank for help they said they couldn't help me so as you can imagine I was in a bit of a state and I found the last resort was to go to the DMP after a friend recommended them and I have been with them ever since so I have had no bank charges

still none the wiser!!!! lol

corntav

help needed. natwest
just recieved a letter from natwest offering partial refund,
claimed £793
offer £138
has anyone got any info on what to do next as i dont feel its enough, do i phone them and try to negoitate or go to the ombusdmen, as iam now in an iva and need every penny possible.

natweststaffmember

corntav wrote: »

help needed. natwest
just recieved a letter from natwest offering partial refund,
claimed £793
offer £138
has anyone got any info on what to do next as i dont feel its enough, do i phone them and try to negoitate or go to the ombusdmen, as iam now in an iva and need every penny possible.

Read the lending code link is below these words and read all of it a few times. The issue is when the charges became more than the income you had coming in and when the charges went out. Accept the amount but ask for more if you can argue your financial hardship started earlier than the time the charges started.

toffe

Reclaim amount: £3,600

Financial hardship: Accepted

Offered: Nil

After first asking to be considered for financial hardship in september 2008 after losing my main source of income it has taken me 19 months and three appeals against rejection to get natwest to acknowledge my financial hardship.

It was during this 19 month period that the majority of the amount i am reclaiming was added to my account in charges yet despite finally accepting that i am a financial hardship case they are still not offering me any refund of charges.

since it is my argument that natwest should not have taken 19 months to acknowledge my hardship and they should have done what they have now finally done, that is accept my hardship and agree to freeze interest and charges, back in september 2008 i am going to appeal their offer (or lack of) once with them directly then proceed to the ombudsman if they will not budge.

Natwest have behaved disgracefully, when i first asked to be considered financial hardship back in 2008 i only had £200 of charges which i was not asking to be returned, in fact i made reasonable offer to repay them within 1 month if natwest agreed not to add any further charges, had they accepted this offer my account would never have got into the state it is now, natwest are now still demanding i pay them £2,000 (all charges) despite my financial harship being accepted.

The fight continues, it really shouldn't be this hard for people in financial hardship to get fair treatment from banks. I don't remember it taking 19 months and 3 rejections before those incompetant scumbags were given billions of our tax money to bail them out of imminent collapse.

natweststaffmember

toffe wrote: »

Reclaim amount: £3,600

Financial hardship: Accepted

Offered: Nil

After first asking to be considered for financial hardship in september 2008 after losing my main source of income it has taken me 19 months and three appeals against rejection to get natwest to acknowledge my financial hardship.

It was during this 19 month period that the majority of the amount i am reclaiming was added to my account in charges yet despite finally accepting that i am a financial hardship case they are still not offering me any refund of charges.

since it is my argument that natwest should not have taken 19 months to acknowledge my hardship and they should have done what they have now finally done, that is accept my hardship and agree to freeze interest and charges, back in september 2008 i am going to appeal their offer (or lack of) once with them directly then proceed to the ombudsman if they will not budge.

Natwest have behaved disgracefully, when i first asked to be considered financial hardship back in 2008 i only had £200 of charges which i was not asking to be returned, in fact i made reasonable offer to repay them within 1 month if natwest agreed not to add any further charges, had they accepted this offer my account would never have got into the state it is now, natwest are now still demanding i pay them £2,000 (all charges) despite my financial harship being accepted.
What did NatWest offer at the time and since then?
Do you still use the NatWest account?
Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?
The fight continues, it really shouldn't be this hard for people in financial hardship to get fair treatment from banks. I don't remember it taking 19 months and 3 rejections before those incompetant scumbags were given billions of our tax money to bail them out of imminent collapse.

If you read my signature that is the current financial hardship criteria. If you have left the account to keep accruing charges then it is difficult to argue the point. What exactly have they said or what have they offered because they do not have to refund 100% of the charges under financial hardship nor do they have to refund even 1p under financial hardship. Need more information at the moment.

toffe

i did not just leave the account to accrue charges i asked natwest to freeze charges and acknowledge my financial hardship when i first started to experience financial hardship 19 months ago. at this point there was around £200 of oustandanding charges on the account which had to be paid.

I was actually proposing to repay the charges to natwest at this point if they could just freeze any further interest and charges and acknowledge my hardship.

Natwest never assessed my situation or asked me to fillout a S.O.A at this point but declared i was not in financial hardship and so continued to charge me.

my account got upto £500 above it's overdraft because of charges, i contacted natwest again, offered to pay half of this in a lump sum and enter into into an agreement to clear the rest weekly, again on the condition that natwest at leat assess me for financial hardship and consider freezing any further interest and charges. Natwest took my lump sum but refused to consider me for financial hardship.

the charges continue to accrue at a faster rate than i can repay.

I find some info on this and other sites about hardship and this time i write and formally request that natwest consider freezing interest and charges on the account as i am in finacial hardship.

I finally get a reply, my account is around £800 over the overdraft limit again by this time, natwest request i fill out a S.O.A, i do, it shows i have arrears etc and am £900 a month short of meeting my reasonable living expenses.

Amazingly i get template letter back telling me that i do not qualify as financial hardship. this whole process takes 2 months or so and the charges are increasing every month.

i appeal their decsion, i'm told my case is being looked at again by a senior manager.

Nearly 3 months pass before i get the same template letter telling me i am not in financial hardship. We are over £1,000 above my overdraft now and i can not repay this as natwest want it all in one lump sum or nothing.

I appeal again, (most would have given up by now i'm sure) but thuis time i copy the lending code section 9 into the letter and spell out exactly how and why i feel that almost every definition of what is to be taken as indicative of financial hardship applied to me and how/why i feel natwest should have recognised my financial hardship even without me bringing it to their attention and how i feel they have failed to act in accordance with section 9 of the lending code in failing to identify, acknowledge and address my financial difficulty.

this time though i'm asking for the charges to be waived and some that i paid be returned (total comes to £3,600) as i feel that my financial hardship should have been acknowledged earlier and action should have been taken by natwest to limit the accrual of charges, such as accepting my very fair and reasonable offer of a half lump sum repayment and weekly repayments for the remainder in return for freezing interest back when there was only £500 of charges due.

If they had done that i would not have incured the charges, this is the basis on which i am requesting a refund of charges, noting to do with the fairness and level of charges which they keep harping on about to me.

So, natwest reply to this final appeal and it looks promising, after three attempts and 19 months (there was along break between the second refusal and the second appeal as i nearly gave up) natwest accept that despite their previous two refusals i am indeed in financial hardship. the letter says someone from another department will contact me about my request for the return of some of the charges.

I get the response the offer is a big fat zero. i think it's time for the ombudsman to make a decision.

ring_4

Hi Natweststaffmember, thank you for last your reply, the reason why I went into the DMP is because I was up to my neck in credit cards, however, I always paid the minimum payment and very rarely had a late payment fee, at the end of the month when I got hit with the bank charges this left be in bother with the bank rather than the credit card companies as I went over my overdraft, I was being paid around £900 a month and my direct debits where £880 a month so therefore I lived off the credit cards each month, so as you can see getting hit with £20 -£40 charges put me over my overdraft. When I went to the bank for help they said they couldn't help me so as you can imagine I was in a bit of a state and I found the last resort was to go to the DMP after a friend recommended them and I have been with them ever since so I have had no bank charges

natweststaffmember

ring wrote: »

Hi Natweststaffmember, thank you for last your reply, the reason why I went into the DMP is because I was up to my neck in credit cards, however, I always paid the minimum payment and very rarely had a late payment fee, at the end of the month when I got hit with the bank charges this left be in bother with the bank rather than the credit card companies as I went over my overdraft, I was being paid around £900 a month and my direct debits where £880 a month so therefore I lived off the credit cards each month, so as you can see getting hit with £20 -£40 charges put me over my overdraft. When I went to the bank for help they said they couldn't help me so as you can imagine I was in a bit of a state and I found the last resort was to go to the DMP after a friend recommended them and I have been with them ever since so I have had no bank charges

The problem is going to be arguing financial hardship from 2004-2006 albeit the bank didn't help or said they were unable to do so. If they have already given their final response then I think the FOS might be worth a second opinion but it is a tough one based on Financial hardship rather than legal arguments to be honest.