letter from bank (bank charges)

v_tozer

I sent a letter last week to Natwest regarding bank charges and reclaiming them, and also stated that i have debt, advise from this site said banks may pay earlier if you have finacial dificulty.
Well i said due to my debt, its left me out of pocket regarding my bank charges. I got a letter back asking me to fill a form telling them all about my finacial probs and history, it also warned that if they let me have my charges back earlier that they may cancel all my DD, standing orders, cards, CHQ's and may even close my account. Why is this never warned to people before.
My debt is bad but i manage it through payplan and doesn't really effect my everyday life.
Has anyone else had this responce from the banks?
Thanks

mum2one

Its basically big boy tactics to stop you making a claim, if you follow the advice from this site, the 1st thing they recommend is open a parachute account, basically a new account ready, so if your bank gets nasty and closes ur account etc, you are already prepared a new account.

The argument you need to go for is financial difficulty, it may be worth looking at the financial obsbundmen (excuse spelling), site, in a letter back from ur bank, there would be a leaflet with all the details.

At the moment bank charges reclaim are on hold, until the final hearing, but the loophole is financial difficulty, where the courts are think inclined or have to (not sure which way) hear the case.

What the bank will want to know is a SOA statement of affairs, your incomings your outgoings, and you need to show that these charges have left you in a financial mess.

The 1st thing you need to do, is get a new bank account open, this at least puts you in a stronger position, if Natwest close the account, I fully appriciate that it may seem all at once / heavy going, but thats the way that the banks want it to be. At the end of the day one way or another we have all been in a financial mess, and its thanks to this site, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. x

kittyboo18

hello , with natwest do you send it to your local branch or a main address ? thanks

DONAGH_GIRL

hi, i just read ur post and its similar to mine. i also wrote to my bank HSBC to claiim charges. i am currently £260 overdrawn on my current account. so i opned an acct with natwest(cant belive they accepted me). anyway i am in debt with credit cards £12000 and pay through payplan. i am also on income support as im lone parent.i have gone overdrawn several times in past year with hsbc, without permission, but they let me go overdranw then charged me. i totalled it up, £360 in past 9 months they charged me. so im not paying bk this money im overdrawn now, because if they refund my charges it will cover it. anyway i had rsponse form them today. like yourself i stated i was in financial difficulty. reply starts:"you have confused charges in the sens of fees. which the act has no relevancebah blah.
goes on to say i acknowledge ur only income is stae benefits, however u have breahce dbaks terms and conditona and thats why u been charged. blkah blah
we do not agree our charges are unfia.
goes on to mention abotu legal proeccedings with oft. the says sorry we have not been able to respond i ful lnow, but ur comalint has been registerd. then says if i issue a claim to courts they will immmedistely apply for an order to stay your action until resoultion of banks proceedings with oft. goes on to say, they are sorry to hear about my finacial diffciulties and basically they want a completed sof for an overall asessment.
what do i do now?? please help

mum2one

DONAGH_GIRL wrote: »

hi, i just read ur post and its similar to mine. i also wrote to my bank HSBC to claiim charges. i am currently £260 overdrawn on my current account. so i opned an acct with natwest(cant belive they accepted me). anyway i am in debt with credit cards £12000 and pay through payplan. i am also on income support as im lone parent.i have gone overdrawn several times in past year with hsbc, without permission, but they let me go overdranw then charged me. i totalled it up, £360 in past 9 months they charged me. so im not paying bk this money im overdrawn now, because if they refund my charges it will cover it. anyway i had rsponse form them today. like yourself i stated i was in financial difficulty. reply starts:"you have confused charges in the sens of fees. which the act has no relevancebah blah.
goes on to say i acknowledge ur only income is stae benefits, however u have breahce dbaks terms and conditona and thats why u been charged. blkah blah
we do not agree our charges are unfia.
goes on to mention abotu legal proeccedings with oft. the says sorry we have not been able to respond i ful lnow, but ur comalint has been registerd. then says if i issue a claim to courts they will immmedistely apply for an order to stay your action until resoultion of banks proceedings with oft. goes on to say, they are sorry to hear about my finacial diffciulties and basically they want a completed sof for an overall asessment.
what do i do now?? please help

Gd bit is you have the 2nd account up ands running, are you using that for ur benefits to be pd in?
What the beank are saying is , they are baseing your letter as a complaint ot bank charges, based on them being unfair at contractual law, which atthe moment is still going through the systems.

You need to base all your letters on thefact that the charges incurred have left you in financial difficulty, ignore the issue of whether or not they are legal, if you went to court now they weould immediately try to block the case based on that bank charges reclaims are on hold.

You need to write back, with a statement of affairs, your incomeings, ur outgoings, and show that if you (if applicable) u only have a limited amount of money spare.

It may be worth contacting the financial obsbumen as they can point you in the right direction re the charges, presently if the claim can be proved to cause financial difficulty, the court have the power to hear the hearing, which is what banks dont want, as they may have to pay out, hense they will try every tactic possible to block any legal action.

Hope thats helpd a bit x

DONAGH_GIRL

Ok im feelin bit better now, i have done y statment of affairs and it leaves me wiuth £1.00 a month to spare. just when i return it, what should i say ith eltter , and also will they ask for proof of these debts if it went to court
and would they need proff that id been paying them, just becuase i have missed a few payment to some creditors. any wadvice welcome

Edinburghlass_2

You need to read this thread regarding reclaiming because of financial difficulties and as requested by the bank send in your financial details. Should they decide that they won't look at your claim early then you can ask the Financial Ombudsman if they will deal with the bank for you.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=893673