Off to court I go

NUFCnutter

I recently wrote to my bank asking for the charges to be refunded to me, using the templates from the site. I have received this back and would like to know what to do now.

"We acknowledge receipt of your complaint about bank charges.

If my understanding of the position is correct in addition to disputing the legality of the level of charges passed to you account you allege that the bank has unlawfully deducted charges from your account in contravention of S187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1982. It is your belief that the levying off bank fees amounts to an unlawful 'charger' on the benefits that you receive from the state.

As you will appreciate given the nature of your allegation it has been necessary for the matter to be referred to the bank's legal advisers. Their considered view is that your argument is wrong as a matter of construction of the Act.

They state:

"you have confused 'charges' in the sense of fees, to which the Act has no relevance and 'charges' in the sense of a proprietary right attaching to benefits to which the Act relates, but which the levying of fees on overdrafts does not create."

I acknowledge that the only source of income into the account is derived from state benefits, however your account is governed by the bank's stipulated terms and conditions and by conducting your account as you have then charges have been deducted from your account.

You have mentioned that you are presently in financial difficulties and we are sorry to hear that.

We would like to help by carrying out a review of your individual circumstances with you and as part of the review we will be able to verify that you are suffering financial hardship.

Subject to that verification, we will explore with you what we may be able to do to assist. This will include considering whether some or all of your current debt could be rescheduled or whether alternative borrowing arrangements could be put in place. The fact that you have incurred overdraft charges and are claiming a refund of those charges will form part of our overall assessment of your circumstances (as will all other relevant factors) but our focus will be on considering what we may be able to do to assist, not solely considering refunding charges as you have requested. "

My question is this. What the heck are they saying and what do I do now.

Thanks

nickmack

NUF!!!!ter wrote: »

My question is this. What the heck are they saying and what do I do now.

Did you allege that the bank has unlawfully deducted charges from your account in contravention of S187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1982?

If you are suffering hardship, you should provide the details they ask for so they can assess your circumstances.

NUFCnutter

nickmack wrote: »

Did you allege that the bank has unlawfully deducted charges from your account in contravention of S187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1982?

If you are suffering hardship, you should provide the details they ask for so they can assess your circumstances.

I just used the letter that Martin has on the site. I had never heard of the S187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1982 before they wrote back to me.

nickmack

NUF!!!!ter wrote: »

I just used the letter that Martin has on the site. I had never heard of the S187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1982 before they wrote back to me.

Sounds like they're getting confused then. You may want to tell them you didn't mention the Social Security Administration Act when you write back to them.

I take it you did include the section on hardship in your letter, so as I said above, if you wish to have them consider this, you need to provide your financial information.

NUFCnutter

I am happy to do that. Shame they didn't offer this help when I first started having problems in september when my partner left. Dispite me being upfront with them and explaining my situation they have never offered any advice or help.

So are they basically saying they wont refund the charges at the moment?

nickmack

NUF!!!!ter wrote: »

I am happy to do that. Shame they didn't offer this help when I first started having problems in september when my partner left. Dispite me being upfront with them and explaining my situation they have never offered any advice or help.

So are they basically saying they wont refund the charges at the moment?

Pretty much. Don't let them sidetrack you if they offer loans, or 'restructuring of debts'. Although, this may help your situation, it's usually a way to benefit them by ensuring you can replay all your debt (inckuding the charges). Your letter was concerned with reclaiming charges, so this is what you're looking for.

If they admit you are suffering hardship, they must continue to look at your claim for charges. You can involve the FOS if you are not satisfied with their handling of your claim.

NUFCnutter

Well I phoned them, and basically they denied all knowledge of the waiver from the FSA not applying to hardship cases. They also tried to put me through to the credit card department to see if I could get my limit increased, and when I said I didn't want that, they put me on hold and then put me through to the loans department. I politely told the girl there that I didn't want a loan and she told me that there was nothing they could do to help.

NUFCnutter

Are the majority of people who are now taking the banks to court doing this because of financial hardship cases. I am now sending HSBC the second letter and am quite willing to take this to court, because I have told them since october about the financial difficulties I am having.

NUFCnutter

I am going to send the "threatening with court" letter today. The bank have basically fobbed me off.

NUFCnutter

I sent my second letter, threatening court because of hardship to HSBC last wednesday (11th June). I am wondering if I is worth me offering to settle for the charges less interest so that it doesn't need to go to court. Will they be receptive to that offer?

Incisor

NUF!!!!ter wrote: »

I sent my second letter, threatening court because of hardship to HSBC last wednesday (11th June). I am wondering if I is worth me offering to settle for the charges less interest so that it doesn't need to go to court. Will they be receptive to that offer?

Doubt it. Having threatened court, you can accept any offer they make, or see it through to court, but if you back off, they will see you as a soft touch and they will do very little for you.