1,125,853 complaints on hold with the banks under the FSA waiver

[Amethyst]

Re: 1,125,853 complaints on hold with the banks under the FSA waiver

FOS would.

We see lots of people on various sites proclaiming 'why should i give my bank my ie sheet its private i don't want them knowing what i'm doing' - have to say my first reaction to people like this is well you're not in hardship are you.

Hardship isnt a way around the waiver. The situation with hardship should continue and improve after the test case even if the banks ''win''. If charges are contributing to hardship then things need sorting out with the banking arrangements to stop it happening.

I'm pleased so many people been given hardship status as it means they may be getting a bit of help, not necessarily financially, but I think the process of 'claiming hardship' does make people who otherwise would keep heads in sand and struggle on actually look at their finances and make changes to improve the situation.

Of those 90,000 probably over half havent given information to enable the banks to assess the situation. Be interesting to find out actually, it is a big issue and the banks were told in 19th March letter to chase people for their IE, and try assess firstly from the customers account history etc.

Actually will find that bit, does show it is quite a big problem.

I)firms to use their own records where available (eg. account activity and existing borrowing), to consider intially if the customer might be experiencing FD

only when this cannot be determined will it be appropriate for a firm to gather more information ie. issue an Income Expenditure form (''IE form'') FSA accepts that in a majority of cases it will be necessary to issue an IE form in particular before considering/rejecting a claim of FD.
nb. firms are also refered to 14.4 and 14.5 of guidance to the banking code.

II)if an IE form is issued the firm to provide a reasonable period of time before issuing a closure letter to the customer which should clearly explain the reason why the firm has not accepted the customer is not in FD and that the firm will reopen the case should the customer subsequently return the IE form

III)where an IE form is returned it is to be reviewed by adequately trained and experienced staff to assess if the customermight be experiencing fd and the extent of the problem. staff should be able to interpret information to make an informed judgement which is clearly documented and in line with internal policy and guidance (including considering if a customer may have under declaared their outgoings) an appropriate course of action should be taken dependant on the extent of the problem IE. some customers may only require guidance on what to do, others may require more immediate action.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: 1,125,853 complaints on hold with the banks under the FSA waiver

Do you think that Income and expenditure forms should be readily accessable in bank branches so that people who want to realistically look at their finances have easy access to them?

Hmmm, will have a look on the bank websites for I&E forms...

[Amethyst]

Re: 1,125,853 complaints on hold with the banks under the FSA waiver

Yep - as per the type of account & reviews we discussed the other day.

[enaid]

Re: 1,125,853 complaints on hold with the banks under the FSA waiver

We see lots of people on various sites proclaiming 'why should i give my bank my ie sheet its private i don't want them knowing what i'm doing' - have to say my first reaction to people like this is well you're not in hardship are you. In my opinion this has attributed to the problems people are now experiencing, they have (I think as most of us, if we owned up) have not been totally frank about their financial situation when applying for loans etc

Do you think that Income and expenditure forms should be readily accessable in bank
branches so that people who want to realistically look at their finances have easy access too them? This being the other half of the problem, the financial institutions have not (for reasons we are now finding out) bothered to really examine people's financial situations enough and give them scope for any misfortune they may have. Oh apart from selling them PPI, which as we are now finding out is pretty much useless and overpriced in most cases.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: 1,125,853 complaints on hold with the banks under the FSA waiver

PPI not sold these days but life insurance is on loans so we may have the next big thing...

[Amethyst]

Re: 1,125,853 complaints on hold with the banks under the FSA waiver

More than 1m bank charge claims on hold | This is Money

nice of them to catch up ---> Bank Charges Hardship Claimants falling at first hurdle