clarification of genuine hardship cases

Tozer

Totally agree with KrissKross. It is a total misinterpretation of the law and I'm getting pretty fed up with the same question being asked daily.

bengal-stripe

krisskross wrote: »

I honestly believe this is one urban myth that MSE is responsible for.

The 'grassy knoll' of MSE, perhaps?

56sharon67

sorry if this question is bugging some of you, but I am totally new to this site so I just asked a question that was of interest to me.

krisskross

56sharon67 wrote: »

sorry if this question is bugging some of you, but I am totally new to this site so I just asked a question that was of interest to me.

Fair enough, and quite honestly I wasn't bothered by your question. It was the misleading answer. There is however a search facilty that would bring up posts and threads pertinent to your question. As Tozer says it comes up on an almost daily basis.

Xzane

We shall find out 2moz i supose?

dainowel

Believe it or not my bank the Nationwide had taken some £1380 off me for returned direct debits and made it very difficult for me to manage my household as I am also a single parent with three children.

Just recently I discovered that there is some law that says that banks cannot apply charges to money that is paid by way of benefits/job seekers allowance. Up till then I had been chasing the Nationwide for my money back like every one else without success because of the OFT case.

When I rang them and told them that I was on benefits through disability their attitude changed and I received a full refund in about 48 hours.

They did not compensate me for the hardship I suffered though as their bank charges each month ensured that there were no extras and my family had to go without this or that quite often.

As I was disabled through no fault of my own should I chase the bank for compensation or does the fact that the Nationwide have refunded their charges in full preclude any atempt to pursue them for compensation?

kate_foster

Hi
I recently sent a letter to barclays bank claiming back 8 overdraft charges from last july august and setember.
as i am on pension credit i mentioned to the bank that according to the social security administrations act 1992 s 187 that they are not allowed to take charges from my account therefore they should reimberse me.
this is the reply
i regret this legislation and s187 in particular has been commonly misinterpreted. where the law refers to 'change' this is meant as in the sense'to assign an asset' rather than 'to incur a fee. the true meaning of this section therefore, is that benefits cannot be used as security or assigned to a third party.

now who is right? is it martin lewis or is it the bank?
in anticipation katie;)

Orford

The bank, unfortunately this is one thing MSE has got wrong

borgbaiter

hi

yes that doesnt apply but the normal reclaim process does or may depending on the final outcome of the OFT case.

Borgbaiter

Raikiri

Hello everyone,

I've recently started to reclaim my bank charges from NatWest. I got the statements etc and sent off my template letter from this site to NatWest asking them to repay my charges. I'm in receipt of the benefit JSA. So I thought I would go ahead and try my luck now regardless of the test case etc. See said letter below which was sent on 22/4/2008;

<quote=me><quote>
</quote></quote=me>

Customer Service Response Unit
The Cornerstone
60 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 9WF

Dear Sir or Madam,

Re. Account number:

I am writing to request that you repay all the default charges that have been applied to my account during the past six years from the date of this letter. I do not believe these charges reflect the true cost to NatWest of going into unauthorised overdraft.

The charges total £, plus as I believe I have been unlawfully deprived of the money I have calculated £ interest at the statutory rate, the amount the court will award.

I therefore ask that you repay me the full amount of £. I have attached a full schedule of the charges and interest with this document.

I request that you deal with my case now rather than once the test case has ended as I rely on means tested benefits for my income and the Social Security Administration Act 1992 says that charges should not be taken from income related benefits, as this has been set by the government as the minimum amount of money someone needs to live on.

I look forward for a full response to this letter within 14 days.

Yours faithfully,

<quote=me><quote>


Now just today I got back a letter from NatWest stating the following;


</quote></quote=me>

<quote=me><quote>
23/04/2008
Dear Mr X;

We acknowledge receipt of your complaint about bank charges. We believe that your complaint concerns the level, fairness or lawfulness of the charges.

It would be our normal approach to resolve your complaint through our internal complaints process as quickly as possible. However, the bank (along with a number of other banks) has now become involed in legal proceedings with the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") in relation to personal current account charges which we believe will resolve the legal issues regarding the fairness and legality of your bank charges.

Until the determination of the legal issues in the above proceedings, we have asked the Financial Services Authority ("FSA") to suspend the normal timetable for dealing with bank charges complaints, and the FSA has agreed to this request subject to conditions that protect your rights.

However, we note that you have also indicated that you consider yourself to be in a position of finalcial hardship. In order for us to understand and review the full extent of your funalcial position, please complete, sign and return the attached "Custormer Financial Statement Form" together with an explantion of the circumstances leading to your inablity to meet your commitments.

Following the receipt of a signed and completed form, we will review your overall financial position. If we determine that your case can be considered as financial hardship we will take it forward in line with our Hardship policy. This aims to help you avoid futrther debt and to assist you recover from your hardship. In doing so we will review your existing banking facilities which may involve:-

</quote></quote=me>

• Opening a new account or changing your account to a type with no lending facilities attached
• Cancellation of non-essential Direct Debits and Standing Orders on your account - essential Direct Debits and Stand Orders can be reset up on the new account if necessary (eg mortagae, rent, council tax, utility bills etc)
• Return and cancellations of cheque guarantee cards/Switch cards - a Cash card can be issued on the new account
• Return and cancellation of cheque books
• Income to be diverted to any new accounts opened

• A Mututally agreed monthly sum would be set up on a standing order from the new account to any debt on the existing account.

In addition to this, we recommend that you also contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or another suitable debt counselling service to obtain further information reltating to options available to you.

If you have any questions of wish to discuss any of the above with one of our members of staff, please call us on 0845 3030 456. Lines are open 9.00am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday or 9.00am - 1.00pm Saturday.

Yours sincerely,

Customer Response Services Unit

Now, I'm fairly confussed... At first it seems to be the standard fare letter about the test case but goes on into a speil about hardship. I never claimed hardship in the first place. I just stated that I was getting JSA so that they should deal with my case now rather than later (like it says in the template letter) because of the whole test case thing going on. Perhaps it could be a conflict of dates? I sent the letter off before finding out about the 24th judgement.

My first thought is to write back to them saying that I've never claimed I was on hardship with another copy of the letter I sent the first time. Try to explain to them that I want them to deal with the case now and not claim hardship. (I'm actually ok hardship wise)

ANY advice and help would be greatly appreciated since I'm not sure what to do here. Thanks in advanced~
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