clarification of genuine hardship cases

Freakyleaky

You need to contact the court and find out what is happening with your case. Some courts are aallwing stays and some arn't. The banks solicitors are not asking for stays in some cases.
Once you know whether your case is being stayed you mustapply to the court to have the stay removed. When you apply for removal of stay you can outline your circumstances and put your case across as a case of hardship!

Stokey125

I presume as you have not said so that the court has not ordered a stay in that case until the court says the matter is stayed it still carries on so check with the court as to what the position is

blindlemonbob

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" width="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">I've no indication from the bank or court that a stay is in place.
Thanks for your help guys, I willl contact the courts first thing Monday.

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bradderz

My parner and I started a claim against the HBOS in May for appx £960 and £750 respectively.

They had to be chased for our 6 years worth of statements which we eventually recieved at the beginning of August, after 12 weeks ! ( Telephone HBOS corporate HQ on 0845 6005000, ask to be put through to the Data Suject Access Manager's (Carole Ward's or Deborah Sargent's) mobile !!!!!! It really does work.)

We have now both recieved letters confirming our claims but saying we have to await the outcome of the "test case". They also highlighted the OFT, FSA and FOS positions and furthermore, should we issue a summons they will apply to stay the court case.

Within the last few days I sent them a letter, clearly marked "Financial Hardship" informing them of our dire financial situation-details of which i won't go into, save to say we now have no car and i'm lucky to be alive!!

We have just recieved a response; EXACTLY the same bog standard letter telling us to await the outcome of the test case, etc, etc....

This morning I telephoned HBOS Customer Relations. I informed them that the FSA time limit waiver (allowing them to stall until after the resolution of the "test case") does not apply to people in financial hardship. I also pointed out to them that the HBOS is obliged (under the actual waiver rule itself) to filter out people in situations similar to ours, and that the onus was upon the banks to identify those in financial hardship not -as in our case- to have to remind and chase them ourselves.

The HBOS policy as described by the Cust Relations Rep:
If financial hardship is a factor, the claims are being forwarded to the "legal dept" who are still drawing up a way of dealing with these claims and as such there are currently 2 options they are toying with:
1/ To settle as before (pre the 27/7 announcement).
2/ Another course of action to settle the dispute.

The above is a re-cap of our conversation, and Yes, i'm afraid it can't get any more vague than that.

As a positive note to end on, she did apparantly append notes to our files and said she would immediately hand deliver them to the "legal dept" for processing.

A last but important point on the waiver. If financial hardship is a factor, the FSA EXCLUDES you from this waiver, meaning that the banks have to deal with your complaint within the time period set out by the FSA, and if they don't, you still have the right to approach the FOS to complain in exactly the same way as before the 27/7 announcement. Also, if the bank doesn't listen or is being awkward report them to the FSA (the people who sanctioned the waiver) as they are continaully monitoring the situation and will revoke the waiver should it come to light that the banks aren't sticking to the waiver rules.

If you're in financial trouble let the bank who you are complaining to know, don't delay !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll keep you all updated at every twist and turn.

Good luck everyone.

stopwatch

Hi

Today rang FOS who passed me to the OFT who passed me to FSA who passed me back to the FOS (Magic Roundabout) they have advised me to also write to my bank stating a 'FINANCIAL HARDSHIP' case due to my wife and I both receiving long-term Incapacity Benefit and my wife High Rate Disability.

No doubt it will go the same way as yours i.e. delaying tactics, but I was wondering did you use a template letter or did you write one yourself, FOS have not given me any details as to what to write in the letter so I am at a bit of a loss. Could you possibly advise me at all.

Many Thanks

Dave

bradderz

Hi Dave,
There is no template as far as i could gather so dratfed a letter up myself and faxed it to them.
On your letter be sure to head it in large and bold print "FINANCIAL HARDSHIP" and include the sentence " The waiver that allows the (YOUR BANK) <your bank="">to suspend claims does not apply to people in financial hardship, and I/we consider that my/our situation falls into this category".

In any case, if you are suffering financial hardship and the bank refuses to help, you can still further your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) as before 27/07.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2007/090.shtml

It's a relatively long document so when on the web page, press "CTRL" + "F" - a "find" box should appear. Type in "hardship" and read all the occurences within the document.

Hope this helps.
GL</your>

bradderz

It might also be worthwhile reading this :http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=269424

It's about charges being taken from benefits, I don't know if it's appropriate to your circumstance but worth a look.

:-)

Ambertron

IMPORTANT: I apologise in advance for appearing to moan about things, I'm just keen to get things back on track and start living life to the full again.

I am having real financial difficulty and need help.

I consider that I'm having 'Financial Hardship' but what is financial hardship exactly. I was too late to ask for bank charges back. The last 2 years have been bad as I was ill and off work for around 10 months. My income appears not to cover my bills. I'm getting bank charges every month and it only will take one or two extra charges in a month and I will be in a irrecoverable position (recent £39 for failure of a £9 direct debit!). Me and my wife and child have over £10000 in debt with a loan and credit cards (which are covering discrepancies in my monthly bills) We ended up extending the loan because of bank charges (bad idea probably).

I really need to de-stress and get a holiday I've had one proper holiday lasting two days in the last 13 years. My health really needs these debts removed.

We really need to get our lives back. Can anyone give advice? Can I still reclaim bank charges? What are reasonable living expenses?

Thank you

eveL8

I am currently experiencing 'financial hardship' to the point where my bank - HSBC - has called me and asked me to pay my overdraft off with my credit card . I submitted a claim for bank charges to my bank before the OFT decision and have not received any response from them at all. Can anyone suggest what action to take to continue with my claim due to my financial circumstances? I can't find any template letters for this situation and have not been able to contact the CAB for advice as the lines are always busy - please help!

lalababy

Hi,

I know it is easier said than done to not worry. but the calmer you are the better you will be able to deal with stuff.

My partner and I found ourselves in the same position and really the only advice i could give you was what we did and just sold everything in sight of value. any old clothing, any old toys etc. If you do it through ebay, you then have the opportunity to specify where you want the money to go too. Cheques for items means you can show the banks you are trying really hard to put money into the account regularly.
If you do not have a computer, your local library will allow you to log on for an hour a week for each person so if you get sorted out with what to add, you can be in and out in that hour.

I worked for four hours in a public loos cleaning for a bit extra money. clean elderly peoples windows for half the price of the windowcleaners for them, half in my pocket is better than none in my pocket!!!! washed cars with the little one. It is only for a little while and when you have your feet above water and are wiser, you can pay everything and buy things over.

It is difficult to help advise you because i do not really know your working circumstances etc but i would say to you that whilst depression is a terrible thing, it is a major problem in debt too. it stops obvious choices and decisions from being wise decisions. if the pressure gets too much, go for a walk and clear your head. not just psycho babble!!!! it really helps to sort you out.

if you have credit cards, it mnay be worth while applying for the charges as they will still take the cases while the banks are on hold.

Check through the forums, i have found a lot of friendly people with fab advice and even happier to help out.

And lastly, remember to keep strong the things you have that they can not take back, your family.