Bank Charges Test Case Article discussion

natweststaffmember

Worried_in_Kent wrote: »

Can anyone help me please?

A couple of years ago, before the hold was put on reclaiming, my husband and I tried to reclaim our bank charges from the previous 6 years. They totalled thousands of pounds. We sent letters to HSBC asking for repayment - only to receive identical reply letters telling us that they wouldn't be paying us back, and 'while we are sure this is not the response you wanted' we should take it up with the Financial Ombudsman if we didn't like their answer. We were in a lot of debt, and were terrified at the time they'd close our accounts and require imediate repayment of credit card debts - at the time, they could get away with closing accounts as revenge on people who tried to claim back charges and were doing so quite a bit. Also, at the time, help for going to the Ombudsman wasn't terribly complete - we didn't know how to proceed, and thought we'd have to pay to bring in a lawyer, which we didn't have the money to do - so we didn't proceed. We figured we 'd never get our money back and tried to put it out of our minds. But nowadays things have changed, online help is more complete and as I understand it, closing our accounts as revenge or demanding we immediately pay back our credit card debts is not something the bank is allowed to do.

Now you've waded through my tale of woe (cheers for sticking with me), can anyone tell me where to go from here? Should I start the whole process again, sending HSBC a letter asking for my charges from 2001-2007 back and allowing it to wait in line there? Or should I, despite the break of several years in between the last response from the bank, continue on to the Ombudsman and allow my claim to wait in their hands?

Our debt has dogged us for years, and we were yet another couple screwed over by redundancies and unemployment when the financial crisis hit, but now we're both earning again! Thing is, if we could get back the money HSBC owe us, we'd be about half as in debt (with them) as we are currently are.

So, experts and friends, please advise me, what should I do?

You can go back to July 2001 on bank charges.
Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage./rent, council tax, utilities)?
Do you have any credit card charges as well in the last 6 years(they're reclaimable and easier than bank charges at the moment)?

Worried_in_Kent

Priority debt arrears? Just overdrafts and credit card balances. I'm positive we would have some credit card charges but we're talking tiny, tiny ones, all of the notable of the charges came from overdrafts from University.

Also, I called up the Ombudsman and asked them about it, they said that I should check the original letter from the bank, and see whether the bank defined a 6 month period from the date of the letter by which I must have referred my case to the Ombudsman. If so, we would have to have received the letter from HSBC in the 6 months before the 'hold' on the Ombudsman dealing with reclaim cases in order to get them to look at it wihtout deciding it's our fault we didn't take it further.

Of course, having moved house several times since we received the letters they are nowhere to be seen. Secondly, I know we requested our statements in March of 2006, and I sent the letter a week or so after that, so we don't fall in the 6 month category.

So, I think our situation is as stands: attempt to find the letter (again,) and see if they've defined a 6 month period, which they most probably have done. If so, accept that there was nothing we could do bearing in mind we had no way at the time to take it further. Or, find the letter they sent us again, if we're lucky and they didn't put a time limit on it, refer it to the Ombudsman. Anyone know of a third option, just in case the letter is never, ever found?

And yes, I know how foolish I should be feeling right now, and I am.

Ex-Banker_2

Hi all

Long story short, despite the fact my only income is from benefits (which only just cover my rent and bills), the Ombudsman in their infinite wisdom have decided that they will not proceed with my complaint, apparently because I've not incurred any charges since I became unemployed (despite the fact that my nearly £3k overdraft is made up almost entirely of charges!). The exceptionally condescending letter also 'suggested' that I contact the same bank regarding the arrears on my personal loan, whose balance is less than the amount the bank owes me in charges!
Has anybody else had this experience, and if so is there anything else I can do? Obviously I'm going to appeal the decision, but is there any specific definition of 'hardship' etc that I can use?
Cheers in advance for any help........

Ex-Banker_2

Gfara - I got exactly the same response (although it was BOS rather than Halifax). I thought nobody got turned down at FOS stage if they were in genuine hardship? The letter I got was also of very poor tone and full of errors, and didn't actually make much sense (reading literally it appeared to say that because I was in arrears on a loan they wouldn't take my case further).

laalaa41

They cant get the staff :rotfl:
The first adjudicator I spoke to was VERY condescending and it took some effort not to tell him off for his tone. Ive since spoken to a new one who sounds much nicer. Still no response though and Ive emailed him twice telling him the extent of my total lack of money to live on and Ive begun to get into arrears with a couple of things too.

L

Ex-Banker wrote: »

Gfara - I got exactly the same response (although it was BOS rather than Halifax). I thought nobody got turned down at FOS stage if they were in genuine hardship? The letter I got was also of very poor tone and full of errors, and didn't actually make much sense (reading literally it appeared to say that because I was in arrears on a loan they wouldn't take my case further).

natweststaffmember

Ex-Banker wrote: »

Hi all

Long story short, despite the fact my only income is from benefits (which only just cover my rent and bills), the Ombudsman in their infinite wisdom have decided that they will not proceed with my complaint, apparently because I've not incurred any charges since I became unemployed (despite the fact that my nearly £3k overdraft is made up almost entirely of charges!). The exceptionally condescending letter also 'suggested' that I contact the same bank regarding the arrears on my personal loan, whose balance is less than the amount the bank owes me in charges!
Has anybody else had this experience, and if so is there anything else I can do? Obviously I'm going to appeal the decision, but is there any specific definition of 'hardship' etc that I can use?
Cheers in advance for any help........

From what the FOS has written I would agree with their decision on the hardship decision. The way financial hardship works is that a lifestlye event, ie unemployment leads to less income and then priority debts(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities) and the charges then eat into your available budget to pay them.
The bank loan is a non priority debt since the ultimate sanction is not loss of home, liberty or essential utilities.
If you have not received bank charges since you became unemployed then I don't have a way to argue the point.

bagpuss27

Im hoping I'm in the right place for this, its getting late so brain is a bit fuzzled! I am at the end of my tether with my bank and the charges. I've tried discussing situation over the phone but as ever seem indifferent, I want to go down the charges reclaiming route, but their website that any reclaims are on hold. Can I still go through the letter process as described, knowing I will get a standard we are not dealing with it response?
Also I did a claims recharge three years ago on an account now closed. They made an offer that was swallowed into the account, which I made a note of, and I still have all the details and the spreadsheet etc. I think I sent a letter before action, but could not afford the court thing at the time. Is it too late to try again? If so how do I go about it? Its with the same bank as above

natweststaffmember

bagpuss27 wrote: »

Im hoping I'm in the right place for this, its getting late so brain is a bit fuzzled! I am at the end of my tether with my bank and the charges. I've tried discussing situation over the phone but as ever seem indifferent, I want to go down the charges reclaiming route, but their website that any reclaims are on hold. Can I still go through the letter process as described, knowing I will get a standard we are not dealing with it response?
Also I did a claims recharge three years ago on an account now closed. They made an offer that was swallowed into the account, which I made a note of, and I still have all the details and the spreadsheet etc. I think I sent a letter before action, but could not afford the court thing at the time. Is it too late to try again? If so how do I go about it? Its with the same bank as above

It is not too late but you need to deduct any refund against the amount owed if you were paid.

bagpuss27

Ok I'm glad I still have that information to hand. Do I have to start again with the same standard letters as before, knowing full well that Abbey have put all refund cases on hold?

gfara

Funny isn't it - BoS own Halifax