Financial difficulties/hardship case

radek135

hi after receiving an email about the possibilty of still reclaiming my bank charges if you're classed as a hardship case i have decided to go ahead and apply for my charges again. i am currently on income support due to breaking my collarbone 4 months ago , prior to that - due to reasons i wont go into - i was on jobseekers allowance for a while.
the money i am owing to the bank was passed to a debt recovery company who i have to pay every month which is crippling me as i also have to buy food,pay board etc from £120 every fortnight. i am also paying out a loan i took out from 2 years ago. do you think i qualify for hardship as i am seriously having difficulty keeping my head above water?
also can someone please tell me if there is there a template letter specifically for hardship cases? i am not entirely sure what to say when i write to them except can they please deal with my case just now as i think i qualify as hardship case following the recent revelation from the fsa.
thank you in advance for any replies

jd87

So you can get around the stay on bank charge claims if you are experiencing financial 'hardship'. What counts as hardship and what do you need to do to prove it?

Ex-Spendaholic

Its all in Martin's news here:

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

neilied

who makes the decision on whether you are in hardship and are there actual guidelines.

I ask this as although since being made redundant twice last year i have been working from December until now full time, and so has my wife, our circumstances are very different from last year, previously i was quite well paid for my industry (pub/restaurants) with the added live in bonus. However since then my wages are 25% lower my wifes wages have gone from just over £1k per month to just under £800 per month and due to relocating and finding new jobs we also now rent a property and incurr all the usual extras such as council tax, energy costs, plus increases in car and home insurance. So although its fair to say that until now we have been earning above the 'breadline' unfortunately our outgoings have spiralled too.

I am in default on my 2 current accts, 2 credit cards and a loan, we are still months behind paying the council tax although catching up, behind on energy payments. My wife is upto date with a personal loan but sometimes over on the credit card and in arrears with a few store cards.

I pay the rent in full of £600 per month and car insurance and fuel costs plus attempt the gas and electric, all this is more than comes in. My wife pays here loan and credit card plus mobile phone cost and tv license, water rates, council tax, and since falling over the O/D a few months ago also struggling to keep the current acct going due to charges of £215 per month!!!

We have both just sent off for the charge info and are really struggling to keep going, we are trying to keep all the different credit companies and debt companies off our backs but they all seam to want more and so on, playing catchup on rent this month and my wages are set to drop more too!!

Help and advice guys!!! thnx and sorry for the whinge!

Nathan_Spleen

neilied wrote: »

who makes the decision on whether you are in hardship and are there actual guidelines.!

Yes. This is the relevant extract from the FSA's waiver conditions.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Notify/Waiver/pdf/disp_monthly.pdf







Annex 2 – Dealing with complainants in financial difficulty

1. The firm will be sympathetic and positive when considering any financial difficulties claimed by the complainant. Firms will not subject a complainant to harassment or undue pressure when discussing their problems.

2. In making an assessment of financial difficulty the firm will take into account:

a. evidence of changes in lifestyle, including loss of employment; disability; serious illness; imprisonment; relationship breakdown; death of a partner; starting a lower paid job; parental/carer leave; and starting full-time education;

b. evidence of the following events:

1. items repeatedly being returned unpaid due to lack of available funds;
2. failing to make loan repayments or other commitments;
3. discontinuation of regular credits;
4. notification of some form of insolvency or court proceedings;
5. regular requests for increased borrowing or repeated rescheduling of debts;
6. making frequent cash withdrawals on a credit card at a non-promotional rate of interest; and
7. repeatedly exceeding a credit card or overdraft limit without agreement (and, in this regard, where a complainant has incurred over £500 in unauthorised overdraft charges in the previous 12 months, that is to be treated as indicative of financial difficulty).

3. If during the handling of the complaint the firm becomes aware (including by notification from the complainant) that the complainant may be in, or heading towards financial difficulties, the firm will contact the complainant to outline their approach to financial difficulty cases and to encourage the customer to contact the firm if the customer is worried about their position. The firm will also provide signposts to sources of free, independent money advice.

4. The firm will make available to complainants straightforward information in plain English on the firm’s procedures and systems for dealing with customers in financial difficulty.

5. If it becomes clear to the firm that the complainant needs specialist assistance, the complainant will be referred promptly to a specialist team that deals with customers in financial difficulties, if one exists. The firm will give a phone number on all communications that will put the customer in contact with a named person or a team dedicated to dealing with cases of financial difficulty.

6. Where the firm does not have sufficient evidence to assess whether or not the complainant is in fact in financial difficulty, the firm will seek such further relevant information as is reasonably required to make that assessment. In the event that the firm reasonably requires relevant information to be provided by the complainant and the complainant does not provide the requested information within a reasonable period of time, the firm shall not be obliged to treat such a complainant as being in financial difficulty.

The Financial Services Authority 25 The North Colonnade Canary Wharf London E14 5HS, United Kingdom Telephone +44 (0)20 7066 1000 Fax +44 (0)20 7066 1099 Registered as a Limited Company in England and Wales No 1920623. Registered office as above - 12

dorismaud

Hi
I put a reclaim in to my bank for £540 something, they sent me £45. They looked into my account and are satisfied that the fees were raised correctly, but due to my personal circumstances (I applied through the Hardship rules) they agreed to refund me this £45 and have paid it into my account.
I am not amused because I still think the charges were wrong. How do I go about getting this amended? The charges I refer to are Unauthorised OD and review fees(I was charged £25 twice in one month) Anyone know if these are reclaimable?

Sol00

These charges are reclaimable. Did you make it clear on your letter you were claiming for hardship?

sineadgraham

Ok where to start.:o
Have sent away letter for bank charges for £2690. From feb 19th to march 24th i received £640 in bank charges in that period. It wiped my wage out completely and left us starving as we had no money to buy food. It also left us not being able to pay bills. I was threatened with court action by my finance company(car) as i had missed 2 payments as a result of the charges. Explained the situation and came to an agreement.
Was paying back each month what we could afford and haven't had problems since then but it meant that we had to ask family for money to buy some new stuff for our second baby (born in May). for 3 months after the bank charges we virtually had no money to buy food and i was going 3-4 days without food so my son could eat.:oNow im off on Maternity leave i have dropped £500 in wages and we are still struggling to make ends meet.I have went to CAB and asked if i was entitled to any help and basically it was "no, as your husband wages are over the threshold".i explained the current situation and still got no where.My husband gets £1400 a month and that doesnt even cover the bills.My mat allowance and child benefits are also eaten up with bills too so we are penniless after the 1st of each month.We are basically surviving day to day.I went through our finances the other day. And out of £2000 we get a month we are left with approx £60 to get is from the 2nd to the last working day:o.Is it worth my while attempting to get these charges back to due what happened in feb or is it my fault.would the bank even entertain us.i feel as though im letting my kids down.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

princess007

...Im due to go on maternity leave in 6 weeks and my money will drop to £117 per week from £500!! Will this be classed as financial hardship?

My case got to court stage last year and 2 days before the hearing HSBC issued a stay.

Any advise would be appreciated!!

sineadgraham

i posted a reply to this on another thread.
I'm in the same position as you.i went off on maternity leave on the 4th May and enquired as to whether my case could be deemed as Financial Hardship and was told "No" as my husband earn £22000.think it is also dependant on your current financial circumstances.

There will be someone else here who might be able to offer more advice