Financial difficulties/hardship case

student_digs

ok, basically, i've been using the template letters to reclaim £291 in charges from halifax. i got a full summary of the charges and wrote back asking them to consider my case now, as opposed to pending the outcome of the test case as i was starting uni in september and that was the reason for my financial difficulties.

they replied saying they'd looked over my account and could see no evidence of financial difficulties (despite me working part time and always being in the red) they proceeded to send me a lengthy reply asking me to fill in a load of forms detailing my income/outgoings etc.

my question is, is this just a time-buying tool? or are they hoping i'll get bored and bottle it?

incidently, i ignored the pointless forms and filled in the template letter threatening court action regardless and sent it off first class recorded this morning.

my main question is, did i do right? and what will happen as a result of this?

many thanks

BDJ

regularsaver1

did you have a student bank account then?

Superheavy

Not sure on this one to be honest with you, but I think if they're reviewing your a/c prior to you actually going to university they probably won't see that much evidence of financial hardship there, if as you mention you've been working a part time job.

I imagine their definition of financial hardship is being right on the o/d limit every month...rather than just being in the red. If you detail the expenses etc of going to uni, that should be a strong argument IMO.

charlieandolivia

Hi Everyone, What a fantastic site!! I am after some advice... my claim for bank charges is currently on hold wit Barclays bank.. and after seeing Mr Lewis (geniussss!!:money: ) on GMTV the other week, I wrote to them claiming finacial hardhip.. as I am not working (on maternity leave), am in debt, constantly overdrawn in the £££'s and still getting charges.. paying shopping and basic utilities from credit card... and in a mess... so could they deal with my case now.

Anway, I thought this was brilliant and it would be heard straight away... WHO WAS I KIDDIN... :mad:

They wrote back and said that they can provide assistance by means of extension to overdraft, debt advice blah blah blah... but the media have misrepresented what people have said about Financial Hardhip.. therefore they will not look at my claim until after the court case has settled...

Did Mr Lewis get it wrong?? I dont understand... Very confusing stuff!! Any advice would be HUGELY APPRECIATED, and any suggestions of what to say back to Barclays...

THANK YOU

cowbopper

Im trying to apply for the financial hardship thing with Halifax.
It does exist, but i cant see it being an easy fight to win.

I can only imagine that the banks will say no automatically, in the same way they generally say No to refunding their bank charges in the first place. It's just another stalling tactic.

Send another letter explaining you dont agree with their decision, and that if they refuse to acknowledge your claim for financial hardship you will refer your case on to the Financial ombudsman. Check the article on reclaiming, where Martin has talked about the FSA terms on Financial hardship.

charlieandolivia

Thanks Cowbopper, I will send them another letter.

lauraocal

Hi can anyone help me?
I have been charged £76 by natwest for two transfers i setup from my account into my savings account.
They aren't willing to refund these charges and I've asked them to deal with this as a financial hardship case, of which they wont.
They say I dont quallify as my debts aren't with them.
They basically told me to call the fsa and get my information correct and call them back as "natwest are not doing financial hardship cases"
All I need are links or numbers I can call to be able to call them back and state my case better.
I know I do qualify, unless as they say as its not debt with them they dont need to look into it.

xjennyc123x

Hi, I've been reading about trying to claim charges back and have seen something about hardship rules, and have seen it in a post but it was for Lloyds TSB.
I am with Abbey and last month they took 240 pounds in bank charges from my account for direct debits not being paid, then today I noticed another 200 pounds missing from my account, which I dont remember being told about and no direct debits have been unpaid this month, they are basically charging me again for their previous charges making me go over my overdraft as there was no money in to pay for them.:mad: I am really struggling at the moment as I am not working and they have taken for the past 2 months basically about 50 pounds a week!
any help from anyone would be much appreciated )

Nathan_Spleen

xjennyc123x wrote: »

Hi, I've been reading about trying to claim charges back and have seen something about hardship rules, and have seen it in a post but it was for Lloyds TSB.
I am with Abbey and last month they took 240 pounds in bank charges from my account for direct debits not being paid, then today I noticed another 200 pounds missing from my account, which I dont remember being told about and no direct debits have been unpaid this month, they are basically charging me again for their previous charges making me go over my overdraft as there was no money in to pay for them.:mad: I am really struggling at the moment as I am not working and they have taken for the past 2 months basically about 50 pounds a week!
any help from anyone would be much appreciated )

The hardship conditions are explained under the heading
Dealing with complainants in financial difficulty - annex 2 here: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Notify/Waiver/pdf/disp_monthly.pdf

nicola1312

I have been reading on the site about still being able to claim your charges if you are in financial difficutly. I believe that this may apply to me, as I am unable to make my minimum payments on my credit cards and am overdrawn more than I am not.
Has anybody claimed using this case and how did it all work?