FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

[Jester]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

Update 4th July

The FSA in concerned about the length of time the test case is taking and is putting pressure on the banks to resolve the issue faster.

Like the banks care about that ? They are still coining it in while this continues to rumble onward without any realistic sign of conclusion. This will go all the way to the House Of Lords - who will back the Banks 'cos I would imagine a good proportion of them are shareholders or on the boards of one or more of those High Street Pirates !!

[shooter]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

Hi Amethyst

is there any new news on this and how its going to affect claims?

[Amethyst]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

Theres not sadly - maybe on the 26th July

Interestingly the £500 per annum figure comes up again in the PCA report - as 1.4 million consumers do get charged over £500 a year it put an awful lot of people in the hardship category for the purposes of the waiver....so will be interesting once those discussions are public.

Personally i cant see that £500 per annum being used as a definitive definition of hardship, but we shall see.

[deemac]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

Ive just had just over £500 wiped off by Natwest after sending them a dispute letter and then ringing FOS who wrote to them on my behalf
They closed my account but i'm not too worried about that!

[enaid]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

Ive just had just over £500 wiped off by Natwest after sending them a dispute letter and then ringing FOS who wrote to them on my behalf
They closed my account but i'm not too worried about that!

Well done Deemac, was the £500 mostly charges to your account?
Having your account closed has proabably done you a favour tbh. Enaid x

[scottishlass]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

Well done Deemac:clap2:

could you possibly give a bit more detail, as it could help others thank you

[Amethyst]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

The Banks and the FOS will have to go back to normal procedure when dealing with claims.

The courts don't HAVE to stay anyone at the moment its been their choice - they aren't bound by the waiver. But they would have better guidance. And people in the system can try again for lifts of stay to have their cases heard quoting the changes of the waiver.

If they did introduce a £500 thing in banks and FOS then I could see the banks 'accidentally misinterpreting it' and just refunding complainants with £500 and saying thats all you are allowed, or something devious and underhand.

1.4 million is a lot of people, probably only a couple percent actually reclaim the charges.

So apart from 'considering' more cases, I cant see it would make a huge difference. It won't mean automatic payout to those people no.

[grimbell]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

Hi

I have just had a complaint against A&L dealt with by the FOS. It was for closure of the account without notice AND £1500 in charges.

I won the account closure bit but the FOS wouldn't agree the charges under hardship because A&L had already refunded £500 last year and they said that A&L had done enough to comply with the banking code but the complaint is on hold until after the court case.

Thought this may be of interest.

[deemac]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

Well done Deemac, was the £500 mostly charges to your account?
Having your account closed has proabably done you a favour tbh. Enaid x

Yes the amount was mostly charges + a £50 overdraft and £42 they insisted be carried over from my husbands account as he was overdrawn

The charges started back last October when a d/d bounced because my Incapapacity Benefit was paid by giro instead of the usual bank transfer

When i initially rang Natwest about it they said tough luck, but they were made to eat their words when the FOS wrote to them

One interesting thing thought is that the bloke at FOS said that the banks were quite within their rights to close accounts but he was mistaken right?

Havent the banks been penalised for retaliatory closures?

[enaid]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

One interesting thing thought is that the bloke at FOS said that the banks were quite within their rights to close accounts but he was mistaken right?

No he wasn't mistaken they can close your account, it will not be because you have claimed your charges back though. It will be because the bank say the relationship has broken down.

[scoobydoo]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

I agree there is doubt about the £500.00 p.a charges figure being used. I can not really see the logic in this. There are all sorts of different people who incurr bank charges and many different reasons. There may be cases where a person is fairly well off and may just incurr charges through bad money management and to be honest does not really expect to claim them back. In other words in the scheme of things the customer does not find the £500 charges difficult to absorb. So how is this hardship or financial dfficulty?

However to someone who say relies on incapacity benefit as their only income , even £200.00 worth of charges could be devastating and hard to recover from.

As stated above the FOS in the begining and even in some cases now is intervening and the charges are refunded - and yet in others they are just checking that the bank are acting within the banking code and not chasing debts caused by the charges or adding further charges or interest during the waiver. It is very confusing .

I still think at the moment it is worth any customer identifying themselves as a "hardship" case and complaining to the FOS if no joy The charges may not be refunded- or as above they may be - and if not hopefully these customers should be at the top of the list for action when a decision is actually made.

[Amethyst]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

Yep I agree totally with scoobs - the only reports we have on this are from Which (they'd heard something vague) and RBS.....I expect there will be a lot more to it that simply over £500 a year in charges.

[travelgirl]

Re: FSA meets with Banks to discuss Hardship conditions - 2nd July

hello all i have read this thread with interest.
my case is with abbey & fos, please you are welcome to see my thread travelgirl hardship
in there i have put all my correspondence in which the fos has said i come under the grounds on hardship they are now waiting an update from me regarding there last letter to me you can see this on the last page of my thread the fos are now waiting on a responce from me to be honest i really dont know what to put in a letter to them in answer to there letter
tyvm in advance for reading
thankyou
travelgirl