Sympathetic treatment / overdraft

glasgowm148

Flobberchops wrote: »

OP,


Regardless of the "science" you have on your side or your impeccable deductive logic that leads you to the conclusion that you deserve free money, it simply isn't going to happen. The reason is that if the bank upheld your complaint (as opposed to paying you goodwill money) it would create a precedent whereby anybody could be freed from a financial commitment just by claiming that they weren't in the right frame of mind when they originally signed the agreement. Can you start to imagine how disastrous that would be for banks, and any other lender?

"Sorry, I can't pay my car finance this month, and in fact I'd like a rebate on all payments plus the deposit. I had mild Bipolar Disorder when I signed the contract and wasn't thinking straight. I'll be keeping the car though, it would be terrible for my self esteem if you took it away"

Providing they had undiagnosed bipolar, were having a maniac episode - and were diagnosed thereafter. I agree in that situation they should be allowed to exit the contract. While still paying for the miles they've used

Flobberchops wrote: »

"Sorry, Mortgage Provider, I've decided that when I signed the mortgage agreement I was acting under duress as I needed a roof over my head. I see now that I could have lived in an off-grid £5000 Welsh eco-yurt for the last ten years, but this option wasn't made sufficiently clear to me at the point I completed on my detached four-bed. I'd like to have the difference returned to me"

'i decided i was under duress' != diagnosed with a severe brain disorder

Flobberchops wrote: »

I don't see any evidence that your disability made it *impossible* to access your banking, only more difficult. Guess what, buttercup, I have customers come into my bank who are blind, who are deaf, who are in wheelchairs or have such profound manual disability that they can't hold a pen or type in a PIN code.

Who are you to say those conditions are more severe than mine? I'd take any of them except being blind over ADHD. ADHD is much more deabilitating. I also have a manual disability ontop of that which exacerbates my ADHD and gives me mobility issues alongside chronic fatigue. Not really relevant though.

Flobberchops wrote: »

Even if you couldn't come into the branch in person you still have internet banking, telephony or written instructions available to you, and you've demonstrated in this very thread that you're literate and have an internet connection.

I'm good at online things, if they had an email support or live chat yes. My inattentiveness makes phone calls impossible and executive function issues prevented me from writing letters

Flobberchops wrote: »

To be blunt, people with more debilitating conditions than you can manage their accounts; you seem to be under the impression that your ADHD is a Get Out Of Jail Free Card that can be invoked to get your way whenever you want, which I consider something of an insult to those worse off than you who are grafting along and taking full adult responsibility for their actions.

I take full responsibility for my actions now I am diagnosed. Expecting me to build up coping mechanisms for a condition I wasn't even aware I had is nonsense.

JuicyJesus

glasgowm148 wrote: »

Under the Equality Act, (an apparently fair policy has a different impact on you and means you are disadvantaged) - seems to fit pretty well.

There is no "policy" in place though. There's the product you had, and an alternative product you didn't apply for.

The effect of what you want is that banks and others treat people with mental illnesses as having different products from the ones that they actually have, on the presumption that they would have had that product but for their illness. Sorry to say, but that's nonsense.

They're not required by law specifically to have an email contact, but if lack thereof puts me at a disadvantage it does violate the Act...we'll see.

No, it doesn't. You are apparently compus mentis enough to post long screeds on here, and I'd surmise you are thus able to write a letter.

You are on a hiding to nothing.

Submitted another complaint direct to halifax based on this, also emailed citizens advice. Will try Trading Standards direct based on Halifax's response

What exactly is another complaint to Halifax going to do if they've already dealt with your complaint on the exact same grounds? The whole point of FOS is that they deal with complaints in this scenario, leave them to deal with it. Trading Standards are not going to care. They don't deal with banks. Banks are regulated nationally, by the FCA and PRA.

Also how are you somehow able to submit all of these complaints but also incapable of switching your account to a student account? That's something FOS are going to ask - if you are able to submit repeated complaints to Halifax and then escalate them to FOS, if you're able to communicate with them on these grounds, how were you so severely prohibited from communicating with them two years ago that you couldn't switch to a student account (something you yourself call an "admin procedure")?

I mean no offence, but this all really does come across as you trying to use your diagnosis - for which I have every sympathy - as if it means that everyone else should bend over and give you the things you wanted anyway. That is not how things work.

glasgowm148

JuicyJesus wrote: »

There is no "policy" in place though. There's the product you had, and an alternative product you didn't apply for.

The effect of what you want is that banks and others treat people with mental illnesses as having different products from the ones that they actually have, on the presumption that they would have had that product but for their illness. Sorry to say, but that's nonsense.



No, it doesn't. You are apparently compus mentis enough to post long screeds on here, and I'd surmise you are thus able to write a letter.

You are on a hiding to nothing.



What exactly is another complaint to Halifax going to do if they've already dealt with your complaint on the exact same grounds? The whole point of FOS is that they deal with complaints in this scenario, leave them to deal with it. Trading Standards are not going to care. They don't deal with banks. Banks are regulated nationally, by the FCA and PRA.

Also how are you somehow able to submit all of these complaints but also incapable of switching your account to a student account? That's something FOS are going to ask - if you are able to submit repeated complaints to Halifax and then escalate them to FOS, if you're able to communicate with them on these grounds, how were you so severely prohibited from communicating with them two years ago that you couldn't switch to a student account (something you yourself call an "admin procedure")?

I mean no offence, but this all really does come across as you trying to use your diagnosis - for which I have every sympathy - as if it means that everyone else should bend over and give you the things you wanted anyway. That is not how things work.

Because that's how ADHD works.

I don't expect you to know this off the bat. I expect you to think criticially about it and not assume I'm 'lying' about not being able to complete these tasks because I can do other things. That's what ADHD is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhcn1_qsYmg

"when our ADHD symptoms are seen as personality defects it can be hurtful and worse we believe it. it takes a huge toll on our self-esteem and can lead to other conditions like anxiety and depression, and honestly it's really confusing as comiendo Pisco cho puts it it's like being the smartest/stupidest most motivated and laziest person in the room - all at the same time but if we and others understand what our challenges are we can accept them find strategies to help us work through them and more importantly stop beating ourselves up about them so we can focus on more important things like what we're good at and we can stop writing off ourselves or others for being different and start appreciating what that difference can bring to the world"

https://www.additudemag.com/inside-the-add-mind/

"How can someone who is good at paying attention to some activities be unable to pay attention to other tasks that they know are important? When I pose this question to patients with ADHD, most say something like: It's easy! If it's something I'm really interested in, I can pay attention. If it's not interesting to me, I can't, regardless of how much I might want to.

Most people without ADHD respond to this answer with skepticism. That's true for anyone,! they say. Anybody's going to pay better attention to something they're interested in than to something they're not. But when faced with something boring that they know they have to do, those without ADHD can make themselves focus on the task at hand. People with ADHD lack this ability unless they know that the consequences of not paying attention will be immediate and severe."

If I was able to do it, I would've - and not paid thousands in fees. Obviously, why would I not?

JuicyJesus

If I was able to do it, I would've - and not paid thousands in fees. Obviously, why would I not?

To reiterate: your challenge is to convince FOS that you were not able to do this to the point that Halifax should treat you as having done so, while you are also apparently able to deal with repeated complaints over an extended period of time by yourself with no assistance, along with the rest of your finances. Indeed, you also somehow explain why despite having numerous other arrangements with other companies, the only organisation you're concerned about the actions of is the one you've already complained about the fees being "unfair" to and been rejected, and where the remedy you seek is exactly the same as it was before only on different grounds.

Those are the barriers your complaint (or multiple complaints, as it is now) faces. You can either come up with a good rebuttal to these that isn't "but ADHD" - and it has to be a very good rebuttal to justify a total refund of overdraft fees, something that isn't even usually mooted for people in serious financial difficulty) which doesn't - or your complaint will fail. Nobody here appears able to change your mind, and you only seem to want to listen to people who already agree with you (or rather, treat the people who disagree with you as "ignorant"), so I won't bother writing anything more, but suffice to say I can only reiterate that before you go down the route of a potentially costly court action you seek out the advice of a qualified, practising solicitor as to the merits of it and allow the free FOS process to work its way through first.

glasgowm148

JuicyJesus wrote: »

To reiterate: your challenge is to convince FOS that you were not able to do this to the point that Halifax should treat you as having done so, while you are also apparently able to deal with repeated complaints over an extended period of time by yourself with no assistance, along with the rest of your finances. Indeed, you also somehow explain why despite having numerous other arrangements with other companies, the only organisation you're concerned about the actions of is the one you've already complained about the fees being "unfair" to and been rejected, and where the remedy you seek is exactly the same as it was before only on different grounds.

Those are the barriers your complaint (or multiple complaints, as it is now) faces. You can either come up with a good rebuttal to these that isn't "but ADHD" - and it has to be a very good rebuttal to justify a total refund of overdraft fees, which doesn't - or your complaint will fail. Nobody here appears able to change your mind, and you only seem to want to listen to people who already agree with you (or rather, treat the people who disagree with you as "ignorant"), so I won't bother writing anything more, but suffice to say I can only reiterate that before you go down the route of court action you seek out the advice of a qualified, practising solicitor as to the merits of it and allow the FOS process to work its way through first.

It's not about me treating you as ignorant unwarrented. Your actions are literally ignorant by definition. You continue to ignore information about ADHD and write it off because 'I can do other things' which shows a complete lack or willingness to understanding

Don't worry - I'm not daft. Hyperfocus is a great thing and the best course of action is now clear

1st halifax complaint [sympathetic treatment] (denied) > FOS complaint (pending) / citizens advice email (pending) / 2nd halifax complaint [equality act] (pending) [i iz here] > Trading Standards complaint > speak to a lawyer

Each step depends on the outcome of the last, I'll probably reach out to a few more organisations while I'm waiting to hear back.

edit - update: messaged a guy at Monzo I know who has ADHD to see if he has any input
edit - update2: https://i.itsosticky.com/1dukt21.jpg - I monzo

deadendwaterfall

I have a similar disability to the thread author but have always managed to keep my finances under control and go to my nearest branch of Halifax at the earliest possible opportunity when things go wrong. I sometimes feel a bit nervous going into the bank, especially if it involves speaking to the manager, but I just keep telling myself if I don't get them to help me resolve the problem now, it could have much more adverse effects that could cause me much deeper stress than simply feeling nervous about speaking to bank staff further down the line.

glasgowm148

deadendwaterfall wrote: »

I have a similar disability to the thread author but have always managed to keep my finances under control and go to my nearest branch of Halifax at the earliest possible opportunity when things go wrong. I sometimes feel a bit nervous going into the bank, especially if it involves speaking to the manager, but I just keep telling myself if I don't get them to help me resolve the problem now, it could have much more adverse effects that could cause me much deeper stress than simply feeling nervous about speaking to bank staff further down the line.

Which disability is this? I'm not a nervous person. The bit of my brain that goes 'right get up and do the things' just doesn't work - even if I want it to. Also, presumably you've been diagnosed for a while?

mije1983

glasgowm148 wrote: »

Anyway, after speaking to a law student he's adviced to report to trading standards and EHRC .....

and speak to citizens advice

How did it go?

glasgowm148

mije1983 wrote: »

How did it go?

I emailed them of course, didn't actually go in! waiting to hear back. Monzo is going to get back to me by 5pm today with any advice though (:

meer53

Do you use Halifax online banking ? You can text them via this method or Tweet them.