Looking for any advice at all

Bobarella

Hollie1984 wrote: »

Thank you for the reply.

Unfortunately I don't really have any family any more. My brother lives in Australia and mom passed away in 2002. Dad is still here but is into his 70's and barely has much more money than myself.

I do regularly visit food banks. I make an effort to go at least once per month and the people there are really helpful and friendly.
There are also those type of places where I live, sometimes I volunteer in them on Sundays, but the reward is solely the feeling of helping others - not financial.

sorry to hear you don't have much support to lean on from family. I moved out at 16 myself and although I don't have the problems you've mentioned, don't have the support that others seem to enjoy. It can feel very hard at times. I am glad you have already found the food banks to be helpful, it's people like you that deserve their assistance.
I agree with what the others have said. Don't ask don't get. I really hope that they are behaving legally regarding charging you if it is benefits they are taking away. If not it should be easy enough to find out. The ombudsman are there for cases were banks and other financial institutions don't behave lawfully.
Let us know how you get on challenging them.
bob

fatbelly

sourcrates wrote: »

Ask for two years of charges to be refunded, remember, don't ask, don't get !!!

Write to them, don't message or phone them, a letter packs a much more powerful punch, Good luck with it,

Always worth having a go

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges

Then it seems that you will need a new basic bank account

If you have to walk away from Santander as you cannot get charges refunded, then it will just be a non-priority debt.

Have you got other debts?

angelaf_3

Look to see if you have a Christians Against Poverty debt centre in your area https://capuk.org/ they will help with more than just your overdraft. They are recommended by Martin and you don't have to be a Christian to be helped.
What about CAB or MIND etc. I hope you get help soon. as a disabled person I can totally empathise with your situation regarding work.

Hollie1984

Just a little update...

I contacted them on the 3rd, basically explaining my situation as I did in my original post here.
I didn't get a response, but on Saturday the 9th I got a letter through the post saying that they had tried to contact me several times without any luck.
So I contacted them again after the weekend was over on the Monday and relayed this info.

Unfortunately I no longer have a mobile phone. I have a contract for phone and internet which is a base of £35.00 per month, but because I was struggling for money last month I was forced to sell the phone. I still have to pay the contract but I only have a sim card now, not a phone.
I think they had tried to contact me via phone and so obviously could not reach me.

After updating my message on the 10th I got a reply on the 11th, which gave me a phone number to ring. So I had to walk to a payphone and make the call. However, they gave me the wrong number initially so had to be redirected after being on hold for 10 minutes.
When I got connected to the other number I was on hold for 1 hour 10 minutes before anybody answered, I felt like hanging up after half an hour but I'm not in a position to give up at the moment, plus I walked for 20 minutes to find a working payphone.
I eventually got put through to somebody and he was very helpful. We worked out a budget - which was kind of awkward because there were people around and I don't like to talk about money with anyone - but as I said above, I can't afford to be fussy at the moment, pun intended.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be a surplus in my finances after everything had been counted - an amount which he said was £60 per month. So consequently he could not offer me any refund or indeed freezing of the monthly charges. However, he did say that because the charge had already been taken from my account that morning and I wasn't due to get any money for 6 days that there would be additional charges to be added next month of £36 (£6 per day), he said that I should ignore that and it will be refunded. So essentially I got the charge to be postponed 6 days - which I'll take.

However, after walking home I was trying to think how I could have any surplus at all. I record all of my phone conversations (an old habit born out of being lied to by Barclaycard a few years ago) so went over his calculations again:

All I get in the world is £670 per month (combination of incapacity and housing benefit).

From that I have to pay the following things each month:
Rent: £400 (£270 left)
Council tax: £50 (£220 left)
Electric: £80 (£140 left)
Food: £60 (£80 left) - he actually said what I pay on food per month is way below what I should be paying for 1 person. I guess I am used to living on a certain amount though.
Public transport: £10 (£70 left)
Phone & Internet: £35 (£35 left)
Credit card minimum payment: £15 (£20 left)
Santander overdraft charge: £28 - £31

As you can see I need £11 extra per month just to exist. The only area I have maneuverability in is the food expenses but the guy on the phone said 1 person should be spending at least £115 per month on food/household items, whereas I only spend £60, I'd need to spend at most £49 per month just to break even.

You can see how difficult it might be to live like this, which is why I have been forced to look for jobs - in spite of my condition.

I'll update with any new info.

patman99

You should always raise the amount to have to pay for things like food to the maximum.

Have you made sure that you are claiming all the benfits you can ?.

Also, as you have a mental health issue, you are classed as a vulnerable adult and have protection in Law, so it might be worth trying to get a caseworker assigned to you who can then help you to deal with things like this.

Bobarella

Sorry they are still not making it easy for you hollie. Good on you for being so on top of all your workings out though. As you say you should already have more to live on. Really hope you can work something out.

fatbelly

Every council has a different council tax support scheme these days but paying £50 per month seems high for someone on incapacity benefit. Can you check you are getting the right council tax support and whether they have a hardship scheme

Santander are still not treating you 'positively and sympathetically' by charging £6 per day - I still think it is worth complaining (in writing) and/or leaving them to start a new account elsewhere. You need to be spending money on food - not contributing to your bank's profits.

When_the_going_gets_tough

Hollie can I suggest you get some help both for your debt and benefits from the CAB or a welfare rights organisation. They can check your benefits situation. Do you claim PIP or DLA? If so there may be scope for claiming working tax credit along with part time earnings of over 16 hours per week. There is also the possibility of permitted work. This is a complex area and you really need someone good to work it all out for you. With regard to your debts the financial statement you worked out with the bank doesn't seem right at all to nme - again a proper financial statement submitted by a debt advice service would help. I know all these services are stretched and do very in quality but I think it is worth perseveing until someone can review yiur situation throughly. What is available does depend where you live - larger cities have more resources but also more need. Good luck with your search - you sound a very resourceful person

sourcrates

fatbelly wrote: »

Every council has a different council tax support scheme these days but paying £50 per month seems high for someone on incapacity benefit. Can you check you are getting the right council tax support and whether they have a hardship scheme

Santander are still not treating you 'positively and sympathetically' by charging £6 per day - I still think it is worth complaining (in writing) and/or leaving them to start a new account elsewhere. You need to be spending money on food - not contributing to your bank's profits.

Agreed, you need to put all this in writing to them, then if they still refuse to be reasonable, complain to the financial ombudsman.

You can be fobbed off on the phone, plus it's difficult to remember things in the space of a phone call, complaints are always best in writing, I would say you would recieve a much more positive response, as you will have written conformation of what's been discussed.