Report Bank Charges successes and failures

berkshirelady

well, I'm pleased, but also confused. been doing battle with Lloyds TSB to get them to recognise financial hardship for more than 2 years. I made a complaint last year which was rejected by Lloyds and also by FoS - after several months FOS referred me to the FSA.

I've been on a DMP via CCCS for 14 months and Lloyds have been a nightmare. They keep asking for updated budgets, which CCCS have always sent, but haven't been registered against my accounts for weeks, sometimes months. LLoyds have then cancelled the DMP, applied charges and I've had to start all over again. I finally snapped when I discovered that they'd applied unauthorised overdraft charges to an account that was well under the OD limit. They then rejected my DMP renewal by alleging I'd withdrawn money from the account, when I haven't used it in more than 2 years. Turns out the alleged 'withdrawal' was the charges that shouldn't have been applied in the first place.

So I made another complaint. This time, Lloyds accepted the complaint very quickly, and within 2 weeks they refunded charges going back to when I first approached them 2 years ago!

I'm pleased about this as I have been refunded more than £900 worth of charges, but I am confused as to why my previous complaint was rejected, as both complaints have been essentially about the same problem - Lloyds ignoring 3rd party debt advisors and piling charges on to accounts, even though both Citizens Advice and CCCS said I met the criteria for financial hardship. and my previous complaint covered some of the period that I have just received the refund for.

The conclusion I've draw from all of this is a) the 'system' is a complete mess, and b) keep plugging away at it.

I've just got to hope that when my DMP comes up for renewal in January, Lloyds pull their finger out and register the documents from CCCS in a timely fashion. If not, I'll have to complain again!

emptypocketskt

Bank: HSBC
Amount: £1469.00

i am feeling really fed up at the moment.
after following martins advice i sent a letter of complaint to my bank asking them to pay back all the charges 15th september under finacial hardship,they replied within days saying that they were not going to pay them back and that was that,simples.

so off to the ombusman i went,i was sure it would return in my favour as in the last 12 months i have recieved £512 worth of charges,am on a lower income as i am on maternity leave(which also means an extra mouth to feed)and am constantly living off of my overdraft...it seems not

i recieved a letter today from the adjusticator looking at my case basically saying it doesnt reccomend my case be upheld and i should contact my bank to fill out an income/expenditure form which apparently i originally refused to do??!!i dont want them to get away with this and i want my case to stay open...where do i go from here if anywhere??? please help....

Premier_2

emptypocketskt wrote: »

...i recieved a letter today from the adjusticator looking at my case basically saying it doesnt reccomend my case be upheld and i should contact my bank to fill out an income/expenditure form which apparently i originally refused to do??!!i dont want them to get away with this and i want my case to stay open...where do i go from here if anywhere??? please help....

The bank arn't 'getting away' with anything as they are under no obligation to refund any bank charges even if you do proove financial hardship.

Having said that, if you wish to continue with your claim for financial hardship, I would suggest you take the advice given; the bank will not be able to consider your situation fully without those details.

Don't get yourself in a state about the particulars; the fact is you haven't provided the bank with the details they will need to consider your complaint fully. Why that was is not really important, and, if pursued, could prove a distraction to the fundamentals of what you are hoping to achieve.

Keep focussed and good luck

emptypocketskt

thanks for your help.
i have used martins template to ask the fo to look into my case again and have requested an i/e form from my bank,i know they arent obliged to refund me anything but i really hope i get something even if it isnt alot it will be a small victory and alot of satisfaction for me!!

Natally

Bank: Natwest
Reclaimed: £19,000
Amount Repaid: £10,080

We (I did the letter on behalf of my husband) sent the original letter in 2009 and were immediately put on hold awaiting the Court outcome. Following the judgement we like everyone else received a letter saying no monies would be refunded. We continued with our claim under the financial hardship rules. On our second letter we were offered £5,000 which we rejected. We persisted and with our third letter the offer was upped to £10,080 which we accepted and the monies were paid two weeks later. This was for a business bank account where following both some personal issues and the economic climate, my husband was sometimes clobbered with bank charges of up to £700 per month. This was exacerbated by badly managed relationship management by the bank which we insisted they should be accountable for. If you have a strong case make sure you list everything, fully explaining all the circumtances and this should hopefully stand you in good stead.

Alpine_Star

Natally wrote: »

Bank: Natwest
Reclaimed: £19,000
Amount Repaid: £10,080

We (I did the letter on behalf of my husband) sent the original letter in 2009 and were immediately put on hold awaiting the Court outcome. Following the judgement we like everyone else received a letter saying no monies would be refunded. We continued with our claim under the financial hardship rules. On our second letter we were offered £5,000 which we rejected. We persisted and with our third letter the offer was upped to £10,080 which we accepted and the monies were paid two weeks later. This was for a business bank account where following both some personal issues and the economic climate, my husband was sometimes clobbered with bank charges of up to £700 per month. This was exacerbated by badly managed relationship management by the bank which we insisted they should be accountable for. If you have a strong case make sure you list everything, fully explaining all the circumtances and this should hopefully stand you in good stead.

Very well done, particularly as it was a business account.

poohbear59

NataIly, well done on managing to reclaim so much. Stories like yours are needed to encourage people to keep on trying.

I posted DS's letter to the Ombudsman on Thursday. He is claiming £880 from Halifax. It is crippling me and DH as we are making £50 a month payments on his behalf. It was the only way they would agree to stop the £250 a month charges on what was less then £2 over his agreed overdraft. His outgoings are more than his income so hope they will look at his claim on financial hardship grounds.

As well as all DS's statements I was also able to sent a transcript of a conversation that he had with the bank where they told him the account was on hold and all he had to do was pay off the £100 and then he could close the account as he was no longer using it as his main current account. Fingers crossed that this time we will have some success.

paulthedude34

hi all after trying to claim under the hardship rule against lloyds sh..e tsb the obdusman rules in the banks favour in june of this year i am now alot worse off after being made redundant and still lloyds keep applying more charges to which are more than i get jsa is ther any way i can appeal atainst the obdusmans ruling please help thanks

Newtoallthis_2

paulthedude34 wrote: »

hi all after trying to claim under the hardship rule against lloyds sh..e tsb the obdusman rules in the banks favour in june of this year i am now alot worse off after being made redundant and still lloyds keep applying more charges to which are more than i get jsa is ther any way i can appeal atainst the obdusmans ruling please help thanks

Ring TSB - ask to speak to the customer support unit - If the only income you have is jsa then they should agree you meet hardship on the phone after a quick I+E. You would then be eligible for their control a/c free of charge for 6 mths which will from the 02/12/10 cap a/c charges at interest + a new £5pm overdraft usage fee. (No daily fees, returned item charges). If you then request to have a complaint raised re historic charges under your just confirmed hardsip situation, they would be able to confirm a complaint reference number on the phone and pass the details across to their concerns team to get back in touch within 5 working days.
I don't know what the outcome would be, but at least this will stop any further charges building for you.

Premier_2

Newtoallthis wrote: »

Ring TSB - ask to speak to the customer support unit - If the only income you have is jsa then they should agree you meet hardship on the phone after a quick I+E. You would then be eligible for their control a/c free of charge for 6 mths which will from the 02/12/10 cap a/c charges at interest + a new £5pm overdraft usage fee. (No daily fees, returned item charges). If you then request to have a complaint raised re historic charges under your just confirmed hardsip situation, they would be able to confirm a complaint reference number on the phone and pass the details across to their concerns team to get back in touch within 5 working days.
I don't know what the outcome would be, but at least this will stop any further charges building for you.

As I understand the poster, the bank has already rejected the claim of genuine financial hardship and this has been upheld by the FOS.

I suggest the poster refers to the sticky thread on financial hardship online resources as being on jobseekers does not necessarily imply a claim based on financial hardship is upheld.

Remember also that even if a claim of financial hardship is agreed, the bank are not obliged to repay even 1p in charges accrued.