Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges article discussion Part II

emmawilding

Hello i am hoping all you experts might be able to give me some advice, have sent a letter to HSBC claiming around £3000 of charges and got the standard letter back to wait until test case is heard, is this the last of it, or is worth taking them to court, and how much is it likely to sot me to do this??? do i ahve to go through financial ombudsman first
Also have sent letters to variuos credit card companies about late fees etc, and they will not refund money as only charging £12 should i go to financial ombudsman or are they right to do this, cheers

Mong-Raa

Hi all,

I recently lost my job and decided that I am probably meeting the "hardship" criteria, so wrote to the bank (HSBC) requesting my improper charges (£747) be refunded. They have replied telling me that they want to review my financial circumstances to verify that I really am suffering hardship and after that verification is complete, they will look into what they can do to help (pffffffffffffft! not charging me might work) but their "focus will be on considering what we may be able to do to assist, not solely considering refunding charges as you have requested".

I'm not sure what to do now. That sounds to me like they aren't going to refund them whether I do this stupid review or not. Where do I go from here?

kittenloz

Hi can anyone help me? we have put in a claim to Natwest as in an IVA (old bank LLoyds,barclays) and they have charged us for going od and dd returns over the last three years. the IVA is failing as circunstances changed dramatically and we thought maybe the 600 from Nw would help. we sent first letter mentioning financial hardship and they have written back asking for all our finances and have said they may switch our account to a basic account, do not have an overdraft with them and dont owe them any money- really scared they will change account as only my wage and dont want work or landlady to know, help what do we do?

emmawilding

Mong-Raa wrote: »

Hi all,

I recently lost my job and decided that I am probably meeting the "hardship" criteria, so wrote to the bank (HSBC) requesting my improper charges (£747) be refunded. They have replied telling me that they want to review my financial circumstances to verify that I really am suffering hardship and after that verification is complete, they will look into what they can do to help (pffffffffffffft! not charging me might work) but their "focus will be on considering what we may be able to do to assist, not solely considering refunding charges as you have requested".

I'm not sure what to do now. That sounds to me like they aren't going to refund them whether I do this stupid review or not. Where do I go from here?

i too filed under financial hardship due to the fact i was on maternity leave, and had accrewed over £500 in chrages over 12 months, they sent me back a leaflet to fill, in, and offered me all kinds of loans to help!!!! never been happy with hsbc! the'r c**p!

esmerellda

emmawilding wrote: »

Hello i am hoping all you experts might be able to give me some advice, have sent a letter to HSBC claiming around £3000 of charges and got the standard letter back to wait until test case is heard, is this the last of it, or is worth taking them to court, and how much is it likely to sot me to do this??? do i ahve to go through financial ombudsman first
Also have sent letters to variuos credit card companies about late fees etc, and they will not refund money as only charging £12 should i go to financial ombudsman or are they right to do this, cheers

I don't think i would go the court route at the moment although you can if you wish. Think it would be about £120 but you can check that on HMCS.gov.uk

The FOS would be free and put you in the queue.

Unless you are in hardship then yep its just a case of getting in the queue.

Credit Card companies you can take to court or go through FOS - court seems to be more successful at getting the FULL amount back.

esmerellda

Mong-Raa wrote: »

Hi all,

I recently lost my job and decided that I am probably meeting the "hardship" criteria, so wrote to the bank (HSBC) requesting my improper charges (£747) be refunded. They have replied telling me that they want to review my financial circumstances to verify that I really am suffering hardship and after that verification is complete, they will look into what they can do to help (pffffffffffffft! not charging me might work) but their "focus will be on considering what we may be able to do to assist, not solely considering refunding charges as you have requested".

I'm not sure what to do now. That sounds to me like they aren't going to refund them whether I do this stupid review or not. Where do I go from here?

Have you completed the forms and evidence and sent it all back to them.

the review, if you are in hardship, can help - they can put a stop on future charges, allow you to repay the overdraft in installments, and/or move you to a basic account to assist you not getting charges in the first place....It doesnt neccessarily mean and refund and probably won't with HSBC unless you are in severe (ie facing repossession) hardship.

esmerellda

kittenloz wrote: »

Hi can anyone help me? we have put in a claim to Natwest as in an IVA (old bank LLoyds,barclays) and they have charged us for going od and dd returns over the last three years. the IVA is failing as circunstances changed dramatically and we thought maybe the 600 from Nw would help. we sent first letter mentioning financial hardship and they have written back asking for all our finances and have said they may switch our account to a basic account, do not have an overdraft with them and dont owe them any money- really scared they will change account as only my wage and dont want work or landlady to know, help what do we do?

Why would it matter to work or your landlady that you have decided to change accounts ?

Send them your Income Expenditure sheet and explain your circumstances and see what help they can offer. Try and avoid extending overdraft or taking loans out.

Have you discussed your IVA with your practioner with regards your change in circumstances ?

kittenloz

thanks - thought the basic account would be detremental to paying bills! have no other overdrafts now or loans and when we discussed with IVA they have now said its not viable - so not sure which route now bancruptsy I think -guess the bank would know then !

esmerellda

Okay who is your IVA with ? and in what way have they said its not viable ? are you discussing this elsewhere on MSE - I think theres a dept for IVAs and Bankruptcy about somewhere.

kittenloz

IVA with dfd- my partner is off looking after our son so now we dont have the extra 650 to pay into the IVA. we have had no contact with dfd for months - just looked at the managing debt pages so will contact the cccs and try talk to a counsellor, dfd have been less than supportive since my partner lost his job would not recomend them.