Financial hardship online resources 26 April 2010 at 10:13AM in Reclaim bank & credit card charges 26 replies 40.6K views

Former_MSE_Wendy

A few sources have further guidance on financial hardship:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/83/83-financial-difficulties.htm

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/39/financial-difficulty-debits-39.htm

:starmod: If you find any more please post them below but
please keep keep discussion to the discussion thread :starmod:

Premier_2

The Lending Standards Board lending code:

http://www.bba.org.uk/download/6673

In particular, section 9, page 28 has some useful info on financial difficulties

natweststaffmember

http://www.hbeu1.hsbc.com/ukpersonal/budgetexpensescalc/ins.jsp

HSBC Income and Expenditure form(so worth sending it if you are claiming financial hardship BEFORE they ask for one or allegedly send it out)

natweststaffmember

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/pdf/payment_difficulties/Statement_of_means.pdf

Nationwide Income and Expenditure form(see above)

natweststaffmember

https://www1.firstdirect.com/1/2/calculators/monthly-budgeting-form?clear=true

The above is for First Direct.

natweststaffmember

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?t=18427

This is to the legal beagles site that has all the rest of the blank income and expenditure forms(I am NWSM there as well) but as I cannot upload here they are all on the LB site including links I have already posted on here).

natweststaffmember

http://www.britishgasenergytrust.org.uk/how_can_the_trust_help/index.html

The above is hardship funds provided by British Gas/Scottish Gas.

leclerc

This 6 month report was from Citizen's Advice Scotland called "Fully Charged".
http://www.cas.org.uk/fullycharged.aspx

One interesting snippet was this:

"10. There is a common myth that overdraft charges are only incurred by customers that are careless with their money and who lack the budgeting skills needed to stay in the black. Indeed, there is a public perception, often propagated in the media and by banks, that charges are generally levied at shopaholics or big spenders who splash out on goods that they could never afford. This has progressed to a feeling that overdraft charges are somehow fair in that they only target irresponsible spenders, and that to reform bank charges would be unfair on the rest of us.
11. However, a great number of those facing bank charges do so for other reasons such as low income, job loss, mistakes by banks, or problems with benefit payments or direct debits. In the experience of the Scottish CAB, many of these events happen out with the client‟s control, but ultimately lead to the client being overdrawn and incurring multiple charges. These charges can be so high that the client, who is more often than not vulnerable with a low income, has little chance of escaping from the cycle of debt that ensues. In our experience, it is not the case that most clients don‟t learn from the first charge – it is much more likely that high charges and low income make another charge unavoidable.
12. The reasons why clients incur overdraft charges are explored in this chapter under the following headlines: Budgeting problems Redundancy Problems with banks Problems with benefit payments Problems with direct debits"

Premier_2

There still appears to be confusion over what "financial hardship" is considered to be with many people hoping to plead financial hardship on the grounds that money is tight (isn't it always?). Unfortunately as the links above qualify, "financial hardship" means something much more specific when related to banks and lending.

Here's a good article from thisismoney.co.uk. Yes it is a journalistic source, but it does attempt to put the definition of what is considered to be financial hardship into much more simple terms.

Bank customers can only turn to the FOS if overdraft charges are forcing them into severe financial hardship; for example, if they are not able to pay their utility bills due to the charges their bank has levied on them.

The FOS will not consider any bogus claims on this basis: you must be able to prove genuine financial hardship. This is not a loophole through which you can have your case heard when it would otherwise be dismissed. Anecdotal reports suggest the FOS will only look at cases where a person is unable to pay for a roof over their head or to put food on the table. It is that stark.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/savings-and-banking/tips-and-guides/article.html?in_advicepage_id=96&in_article_id=500137&in_page_id=53951

leclerc

Something that we have both been saying for the last 6 months and beyond, even prior to the Supreme Court decision. It is household financial hardship NOT individual financial hardship.
Obviously if you live in a one person household then yes it is individual hardship.
The other issue people should take note of is that their creditors ie mortgage provide, utility provider and even non priority creditors, mobile phone company, cable provider, credit card provider can help customers in financial difficulties.
The lending code, whilst it puts the emphasis on the bank to identify customers also states that customers should try to do things themselves as well.

0411k

if you have already tried to claim bank charges in the past and was rejected and since then you have become financially hard up but also have lost the letters saying your case was rejected do you then need to go through the whole process of reclaiming again??