Bank Charges

LAS007

I have just been sent a letter by the Financial Ombudsman rejecting my case of reclaiming bank charges. I was claiming on hardship grounds, I followed all the steps to the letter and was told that I could not do this as and I quote 'there is a lot of false information on the internet'. I have had to take a loan out against my property to clear my debts(FO aware of this). I am a single homeowner...this is totally unfair.
Are we to believe what is written on MSE?

dunstonh

I followed all the steps to the letter and was told that I could not do this as and I quote 'there is a lot of false information on the internet'.

To what letter? And yes, there is lot of false information on the internet.

I have had to take a loan out against my property to clear my debts(FO aware of this).

Which probably indicates that you are not really in financial hardship as someone in hardship would be unlikely to borrow money like that.

Are we to believe what is written on MSE?

Did you use the most recent guidance?
You are aware that since the banks won the court case, the FOS cannot force them to refund. It can only encourage them to look at cases fairly. That typically means only people in current financial hardship get considered and very often its only the last 6-12 months of bank charges that get looked at.

MSE guidance is designed to be simple rather than technical. It wont cover all scenarios.

Wywth

LAS007 wrote: »

I have just been sent a letter by the Financial Ombudsman rejecting my case of reclaiming bank charges. I was claiming on hardship grounds, I followed all the steps to the letter and was told that I could not do this as and I quote 'there is a lot of false information on the internet'. I have had to take a loan out against my property to clear my debts(FO aware of this). I am a single homeowner...this is totally unfair.
Are we to believe what is written on MSE?

How exactly did you explain why you thought you were in financial hardship.
e.g. What happened that suddenly and unexpectantly resulted in a drop in earnings/disposable income?
Did you give details of existing debts with priority lenders?
Doesn't sound like it as it sounds like you took out a consolidation loan to ensure the priority debts (if any) were paid. A debt to a consolidation loan company is not a priority debt, as as dunstonh suggests, if you were in genuine financial hardship it is unlikely you would borrow money like that.

I suggest you post your SoA over on the DFW board and they will help you get out of the debt issues you claim to face. Look forward to reading your post there