Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

[EXC]

The issue of whether a claim from a confirmed hardship case should not be affected by the waiver has often been 'misinterpreted' by the banks . Also, the issue of whether a hardship court claim should remain stayed a has been even more cloudy.

The waiver conditions state that the banks must successfully apply for stays on the vast majority of cases in the County Courts, but not all. If hardship claims do not come under the waiver then logic would suggest that stays sought by the banks - based on the waiver - should not be granted or should be lifted - see bullet point dealing with conditions 10 to 15 in PDF doc below.

I came across some FSA correspondence from last year that unambiguously states that hardship claims are ''not relevant to the waiver''. It may be useful to use this letter to support any hardship claim or stay lift application.

Thanks to PKea for editing the letter.

[Paule]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

PDF attached relating to EXCs post

[shooter]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

Hi PKea
the link won't work I keep getting the message that IE cannot down load the document from LB

[TANZARELLI]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

I can open it now.

[TUTTSI]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

[quote=shooter;75461]Hi PKea
the link won't work I keep getting the message that IE cannot down load the document from LB[/quot

I am getting a Database error.

[EXC]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

The relevant paragraph reads:

Conditions (10) to (15) relate to the handling of complaints by firms during and after resolution of the test case. One important protection is for consumers whose complaints relate to financial hardship. Condition (10) requires firms to ensure that complaints relating to financial hardship ( and others which are not relevant to the waiver) are identified and progressed promptly in compliance with the normal rules and timescales in disputes resolution: Complaints manual of the FSA handbook.

[shooter]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

Thanks EXC

Sorry if this is a stupid question,
BUT,

Does this mean that my Claim against A&L, ( 1st claim against them), should it get as far as court shouldn't be stayed and should proceed as if there wasn't a test case at all?

Thanks
Shooter

[EXC]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

The Disputes Resolution section of the FSA Handbook:

http://fsahandbook.info/FSA/html/handbook/DISP

[Paule]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

Here are the pages for those who can tview the attachement

[EXC]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

Thanks EXC

Sorry if this is a stupid question,
BUT,

Does this mean that my Claim against A&L, ( 1st claim against them), should it get as far as court shouldn't be stayed and should proceed as if there wasn't a test case at all?

Thanks
Shooter

In my view it - and from what the FSA seem to be saying - is that your claim should be unaffected by the test case waiver. What I am qustioning is that if this is the case, a bank shouldn't be applying for a stay on the basis of the pending test case litigation which is what the waiver directly relates to.

[shooter]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

Thanks EXC

OK I'll keep you posted as to what happens if it gets that far.

shooter xx

[Paule]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

I read it as follows
If your claim relates to hardship then they cant log it and forget it due to the test case,
they must do the usual 'we think our charges are fair' letters and give you a final decision in the 8 week timescale (ie normal rules & timescales).
Then after the 8 weeks are up and the bank say their charges are fair, you can go to the FOS, who will stick you in the queue.

So i dont think personally that it means they have to sort hardship claims out, just that they have to go through the normal processes.

PKea

[EXC]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

Indeed PK but the normal proccesses wouldn't include the bank seeking a stay based on the outcome of the test case. If the waiver dosen't apply to a hardship claim it, it shouldn't apply to the test case. The banks have an obligation under the terms of the waiver to seek stays so if a hardship case is ''not relevant'' to the waiver my view is they shouldn't be able to use the test case waiver as a basis for the stay application.

I could be completely wrong and I shall have a look at a few stay applications to see exactly what grounds they are based on.

[Paule]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

The banks normal process wouldn't include court action though, its us, the consumer, who brings about the court action not the bank.

Therefore if a consumer brings a court case against the bank that is not part of the banks normal process, which would be only to investigate the complaint fairly and make a decision.

In all our claims we are setting the timescales, ie prelim then 2 weeks, then lba then 2 weeks then court. Thats OUR timescale and process not the banks.

The banks process is to investigate and respond with a final result within 8 weeks, which is what they used to say on their letters after you sent a prelim in to them.

PKea

[Amethyst]

Re: Confirmation of hardship not appling to waiver.

being annoying sorry

The waiver conditions state that the banks must successfully apply for stays on the vast majority of cases in the County Courts, but not all.

Where does it state that ?