Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

dexstroyer_2

Morning All,

I held an account with the Natwest from the mid 80's to around 1999/2000

My wife and I had lots of charges from around 1995 to 1999, and ended up switching bank just so we could afford to live. This was the start of our downward spiral, ending up paying our way via the CCCS for the last 4 years, and another 4 or so to go.

My question is, does paying our debts via the CCCS constitute as financial hardship, and if so should we send a SAR to the Natwest.

Little_Mo_70

dexstroyer wrote: »

Morning All,

I held an account with the Natwest from the mid 80's to around 1999/2000

My wife and I had lots of charges from around 1995 to 1999, and ended up switching bank just so we could afford to live. This was the start of our downward spiral, ending up paying our way via the CCCS for the last 4 years, and another 4 or so to go.

My question is, does paying our debts via the CCCS constitute as financial hardship, and if so should we send a SAR to the Natwest.

I don't think it's how you pay your debts, more about why you had them in the first place.

Check out the Ombudsman financial hardship criteria below and see if you qualify. Not sure about claiming 13 years back though. Also, Nat West are notorious refusers.
. You're in financial hardship
Under both standard banking regulations and the Lending Code (an agreement that all major banks have signed up to) banks must treat you fairly and be considerate if you are in financial difficulty.
We have therefore used these criteria as well as guidance from the Ombudsman to try and give some ideas as to what would count as hardship.


You're likely to need several of these criteria to be successful, not just one, and you'll need to give the bank full details on how you've been affected. Check the following guidelines:

• Can't pay for necessities. You're struggling to meet basic necessities, eg, mortgage, council tax, food, utility bills
• Can't pay debts. You're struggling to make loan and credit card repayments
• Income eaten by charges. Your income's being eaten up by repaying charges (eg, you're being asked to pay £50 of charges from a £100 weekly benefit income)
  
  Note: this doesn't specifically cover the deduction of bank charges from your benefits under the Social Security Administration Act 1992, this is an urban myth
• Payments regularly returned. Your payments regularly get returned unpaid as you don't have enough money in your account
• Substantial drop in income. For example, you've lost your job, started a lower paid job, needed to take parental or carers' leave, your partner has died, you've separated from your partner, you've started full time education or you/your partner has been in or gone to prison
• Disability or illness. You've needed to increase spending on something due to a disability or serious illness
• Going bankrupt or into debt management. You're going bankrupt, getting an IVA or Debt Relief Order or are in a debt management plan
• Continually living off credit. You're living off credit and regularly need to increase your credit limit
• Regular credit card cash withdrawals. You are using regular cash withdrawals from credit cards to make ends meet
• Frequently over overdraft limit. You frequently go over your overdraft limit. In earlier incarnations of hardship rules this was explained as having more than £500 of charges a year – so that seems a good benchmark
• Bank charges have hurt your situation. The charges have contributed to making your financial hardship situation materially worse

Sorry I can't get rid of the empty pockets but it's appropriate I suppose!:)

Little_Mo_70

Tina20 wrote: »

I would like to know if there is any point in me attempting to reclaim my bank charges?

Yes I have read all the articles, even the 'am I eligible' section but I'm still confused.

I fell into financial hardship in 2010, meaning I quickly maxed out my overdraft. I'm living off basic income support so not exactly wealthy. I can juuuuuuuust about cover my bills, but I'm never out of my overdraft. Currently about -£1,180 into a £1,200 overdraft. The most I ever have in there is -£900 before bills and living expenses quickly eat it up.

So I have had MANY MANY unarranged overdraft fees over the last year, probably averaging out around 3 or 4 per month. One was a fee for being 97p overdrawn.

Some of them I would say are 'fair'. After all, if I don't have the money then that's my fault that I fell into an unarranged overdraft right? So am I eligible? Is it worth asking them to send me a list of the fees?

I appreciate you get the same questions all the time and it must be dull, but I appreciate any replies thanks

The reasons why you fell into financial hardship in the first place would be taken into account when assessing your complaint. If some or all of the items on the criteria list were the reason then I would say you might have a chance. You have to have a very strong case and be able to prove you can't pay bills, have difficulties paying rent, etc. etc.

If your spending habits were to blame I wouldn't bother. If not, why not have a go. Study the list in the above posting.

RedAndBlue_2

After writing to Natwest to reclaim £3000 worth of charges from between 2002 and 2006 we recently received a letter. They basically said, many times, that we weren't entitled to anything but were going to give us £1100 anyway as a 'gesture of goodwill'. Which seemed oddly nice of them. Should we be pushing them for more? Can the £1100 be retracted? Should we just consider ourselves lucky and take the money?
Thanks

studapples

Please help me Martin , My nan was told by her nat west bank manager that claims for unfair charges had been closed in 2010, is this true????.

amy_lamb

keep getting charges upon charges every month so everytime i get my benefit it gets took so im always without its never ending and it has happend before :mad:

Little_Mo_70

amy_lamb wrote: »

keep getting charges upon charges every month so everytime i get my benefit it gets took so im always without its never ending and it has happend before :mad:

Have you been in to see them to explain your situation, ie: the charges are spiralling out of control and are they able to offer any advice and assistance? Don't leave it to get worse, make an appointment to see manager asap.

Little_Mo_70

studapples wrote: »

Please help me Martin , My nan was told by her nat west bank manager that claims for unfair charges had been closed in 2010, is this true????.

Yes fraid so. Claims may be considered now only for severe financial hardship. Check out details on here.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

vtempo

Hello, I hope I've found the right place to post this question....

I believe my partner has a strong case (under financial hardship criteria) to reclaim bank charges. However, the claim would cover a period of erratic & compulsive expenditure by my partner, who has subsequently been diagnosed with autism (which can make finanical management tricky & lead to compulsive behaviours). My partner thinks his claim wouldn't stand a chance due to this but I am not sure and think it's worth a go. I guess what I'm asking is, do the banks look into your own responsibility for any financial problems when assessing a claim? And if so, how is this likely to affect the claim? Any advice would be very welcome....Many thanks everyone.....:)

Little_Mo_70

vtempo wrote: »

Hello, I hope I've found the right place to post this question....

I believe my partner has a strong case (under financial hardship criteria) to reclaim bank charges. However, the claim would cover a period of erratic & compulsive expenditure by my partner, who has subsequently been diagnosed with autism (which can make finanical management tricky & lead to compulsive behaviours). My partner thinks his claim wouldn't stand a chance due to this but I am not sure and think it's worth a go. I guess what I'm asking is, do the banks look into your own responsibility for any financial problems when assessing a claim? And if so, how is this likely to affect the claim? Any advice would be very welcome....Many thanks everyone.....:)

Yes they certainly do look at the spending habits but if you are open and honest and perhaps supply copy of record of gp diagnosis (from his medical notes - doesn't cost much to obtain a copy from surgery, just a screen print out that says he has this with surgery stamp on) then they might take this into consideration. Also it may help if you are in hardship now too.