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Response from First Direct - what now???
brokegirl68
Posts: 5 Forumite
Years ago hubbie and I had an account with First Direct. We had an overdraft of 2.5k. I got made redundnant and as you know things happen and we struggled keeping within payments. They kept charging us fees. We have been paying money back to them and now owe about 1.5k.
I got a statement from FD and they had charged us £1800 in overdraft fees etc.
Wrote to them saying that at the time we were in financial hardship and basically the fees they were charging (some months it was £400!!) put us in a position of even more hardship.
Now had a response...."You have mentioned you are currently in financial difficulties; however I note that you have not paid a fee on your account for over 2 years. Indeed your accounts ceased to be operational in February 2010. As such, you do not qualify for a refund of fees under the definition of financial hardship as defined in the Lending Code".
Where do I go from here? We haven't had a charge on our account because it had to be closed because we couldn't afford to pay them - especially the charges.
Any advice?
I got a statement from FD and they had charged us £1800 in overdraft fees etc.
Wrote to them saying that at the time we were in financial hardship and basically the fees they were charging (some months it was £400!!) put us in a position of even more hardship.
Now had a response...."You have mentioned you are currently in financial difficulties; however I note that you have not paid a fee on your account for over 2 years. Indeed your accounts ceased to be operational in February 2010. As such, you do not qualify for a refund of fees under the definition of financial hardship as defined in the Lending Code".
Where do I go from here? We haven't had a charge on our account because it had to be closed because we couldn't afford to pay them - especially the charges.
Any advice?
0
Comments
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Where do I go from here?
I think you have misunderstood hardship criteria. It is CURRENT financial hardship. Not historical. If you are not currently in hardship then you cannot use the hardship criteria.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
brokegirl68 wrote: »Years ago hubbie and I had an account with First Direct. We had an overdraft of 2.5k. I got made redundnant and as you know things happen and we struggled keeping within payments. They kept charging us fees. We have been paying money back to them and now owe about 1.5k.
I got a statement from FD and they had charged us £1800 in overdraft fees etc.
Wrote to them saying that at the time we were in financial hardship and basically the fees they were charging (some months it was £400!!) put us in a position of even more hardship.
Now had a response...."You have mentioned you are currently in financial difficulties; however I note that you have not paid a fee on your account for over 2 years. Indeed your accounts ceased to be operational in February 2010. As such, you do not qualify for a refund of fees under the definition of financial hardship as defined in the Lending Code".
Where do I go from here? We haven't had a charge on our account because it had to be closed because we couldn't afford to pay them - especially the charges.
Any advice?
Post your SoA over on the Debt Free Wannabe board; I'm sure the MSE'ers over there will then help you going forward
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