jules2008 hardship claims - success through FOS

[jules2008]

Hi thanks

where do i begin????

started having problems when split from partner got on downward spiral of bank charges sometimes £250 per month which gave me more problems. Now i do not go 1 mth without charges:tinysmile_cry_t:

Anyway put in a claim through an online company wish i had done it myself now but there you go. (but have put in a claim with lloyds tsb which i am doing myself) :tinysmile_grin_t: it is now on hold due to test case.

more recently have written to ombudsman complaining especially in light of new info on hardship cases.

had to go to court for repossesion on 19th August 2008 managed to hold them off but still have to repay arrears. Irony being that my mortgage is with Birmingham midshires which is part of halifax ( bank of scotland) who i have my bank charge claim with. i did mention to judge that i have a court case pending for this but he just laughed in my face. They can take me to court for money owed but i cant where is the justice in that. He pointed out that because i am in arrears technically they can make me pay the whole of my mortgage but i still think that the reason for my arrears is partly the fault of the bank so ??????????

anyway i am now putting it in the hands of ombudsman and i have sent evidence of possession order plus council tax arrears and proof that i have had over £500 worth of charges over the last 12 mnths which i believe more than qualifies me for a hardship case.
Also complaining about the way the bank has dealt with my case to date as i have had no advice eg stopping bank charges on my account even though they are aware of my current financial situation.

I am so happy that i have found this site and i know that i am not fighting the fight on my own as no-one i speak to has ever had this happen to them. (good for them) and they dont understand how i could be in such a position obviously it is my fault for not managing my finances properly.

Also would like to say i have had a bank account since i was 16 yrs old and never had any problems till recently and boy do i notice the way they treat you differently once you go into the red. I have been reduced to a basic bank account no overdraft no cheque book and a visa electron card. boo hoo
Where as before they could not wait to offer me money etc so to get me in more debt. Also they should remember that we are customers and they would not have a bank without the likes of us joe bloggs putting money into our accounts weekly etc and if we are not happy they should do something about it. (what happened to the customer is always right) they should remember this.
As for the credit crunch they are still making a hell of alot of money just not as much as they usually do so i have no sympathies there.
I bet this xmas they will all get massive bonuses as usual and not a thought for people struggling and why would they?

anyway feel much better for getting all that off my chest. lol

[Amethyst]

no-one i speak to has ever had this happen to them.

you would be suprised

Thank you for posting - will move your thread to the hardship section later on (will leave a link for you so you can find it lol)


The claim you have in at the moment is for Halifax or BOS ? How much is that for and whats the status with this company u used to do it for you ? Any fees for pulling out etc ?

Also where are you at with the lloyds one ? just on hold in the court system ?

I think with the posession order you do have a case for hardship and you might, especially with halifax, have a chance of a sooner refund than going through FOS.

and which account do you use now ?

If you fancy doing an Income Expenditure list to give a better idea of your circumstances theres a spreadsheet to help in the library. If you keep it approximate you can post it up on your thread, try and include all of your debts. You'll need it to send to halifax/lloyds too so will be really useful.

[scoobydoo]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

You have come to the right place.

You do sound as if you meet the new criteria to be considered under the hardship waiver conditions.

When you have posted the information requested we can formulate a plan of action.

the minimum you should be aiming for is a freeze on further charges and interest.

The banks are still not obliged to repay the charges ( although some are making offers) but if your property is at risk that is what you should be pushing for .

( have a look at threads by Jester)

Can I ask if you were not receiving charges each month, on your current income can you maintain your normal mortage payment and other outgoings?

Are you on a repayment mortgage at the moment?

scooby

[jules2008]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

Thank you so much for your replies.

To answer your questions my claim is with the Halifax that is who i bank with at the moment i do have an account with lloyds tsb but i dont use it now as i am paying off overdraft plus a loan with them.
i only have a basic account with the halifax no cheque book or overdraft facility and i only have a visa electron card.

my mortgage is with birmingham midshires which is a part of the halifax who are owned by bank of scotland. my mortgage is interest only.

I am using a company called Robertson Holbrook Ltd to claim bank charges for the halifax i thought i would need help as it is such a vast amount currently i rekon it is about £10k but i am still gettin bank charges on a mthly basis not as many as i have cancelled alot of my direct debits including my mortgage and council tax etc (which means i will end up paying more as a result as you get discounts for dds) but still better than getting charged for it by the bank. my court case with the halifax is on hold and i am only just writing to the lloyds tsb to get a statement of bank charges for the last 6 years so that is in very early stages and i will do that one myself.
can i still get the lloyds tsb to look at my case as a hardship case even though i have not used my account for about 3 yrs and dont have a mortgage with them or anything?

I dont know if i can get out of the contract with Robertson Holbrook but they have done bugger all so far to get me my money back maybe that is a bit unfair perhaps their hands are tied but i am going through the FOS now as i am not happy with the way the bank has dealth with my complaint they could of done alot more and they havent.

am i right that the FOS will contact the bank on my behalf and get an explanation from them and then they will have to come to an agreement? i do realise this may not mean a refund of my money( that they have legally stolen off of me) but because they knew about my financial situation and did nothing to help when they could of led to me nearly having my house re-possesed i am rightfully not happy about any of this at all. will this be settled out of court as i am going down the hardship route as i am aware from the new info that they are not settling things in court at the mo until they decide the best way of doing things. I hope that through the FOS i can come to some sort of agreement with the bank as i believe it would help it they paid me a lump sum of what they owe me in bank charges then i could pay off my mortgage arrears, council tax arrears and other debts incrued because of the bank charges.

Apparently they should have a dept dealing with hardship cases and should be filtering them through even whilst the test cast is going on and this is clearly not happening with alot of the banks and that is what i am complaining about. It could of saved them taking me to court etc and made things alot easier.

Also by reading the blogs i have found out that they have been taking my benefits to pay for bank charges i do work but i get family working tax credit which i rely on to pay my bills etc so is this classed as a benefit?
i do have a dependant a son who is 12 and two cats (one of whom is getting treatment from the vets for a rare eye condition) and some weeks i have had to go without food etc because the bank have taken money from my account at one point i had £250 coming out of my account i would like to see anyone being able to cope with this i couldnt and hence the debt and repossession and loans just to survive etc
i have not bought any clothes since this all began and have to rely on my parents at xmas and birthdays for clothes for myself and my son. I do try and treat myself occassional but this is very rare and i know that i will have to suffer for it.

i must say to help myself i do rent a room out in my house but this is not guaranteed and i dont always have a lodger in my house but it is a good way of getting extra income and can help at times.

do you think i have done the right thing going through the FOS as i did write to the halifax claiming hardship and they have so far not recognised this saying they dont have enough information well is more than £500 bank charges in the last 12 mnths , a repossession order on my house and a bailiff for council tax enough info for them. i really feel like suing them for the stress they have caused me and the inconvenience which has effected my ability to work and has resulted in loss of earnings does anyone else feel like that. i know i would have to prove it but that is what i really feel like doing right now that would really open pandoras box for them wouldnt it?.

anyway will do the expenditure sheet in the library like you suggest as i think this will come in handy for the future.

another thing that i feel did not help my situation was i was paying non priority debts not realising that i could just offer them £1 eg credit cards and becuase i was paying them minium payments each month this was making it difficult to pay my priority debts mortgage and council tax so hopefully this will now make a difference.

[jules2008]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

quick rundown of income/ expenditure will do a proper one later on

income
tax credits £650
employment £1000
child benefit £80
room rental(not guaranteed) £360

outgoings and debts

mortgage arrears £2500 paying back £40 per mnth on top of mortage
mortgage £650
£ 40
total £690

council tax £140
£ 20 council tax arrears arrangement
total £160

council tax arrears £1500

loan (£1500) £170



other debts

lloyds tsb overdraft plus loan £5,000 paying back £1 (note got a bank charge claim with them not sure how much at mo but this will obviously come off debt.)
credit card barclaycard £1,500 paying back £1

debenhams store card £350 pay minimum payment £12
*****log book loans £500
(have to pay them £35 per month or they could take my car) but does not seem to ever go down i paid them £180 last month for example as well as paying them regular payments and they rekon i still owe them £500 i seriously need help with this as i think what they are doing is illegal. ***** note to anyone reading this do not ever ever take out a loan with log book loans they are sharks with real teeth.
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*note loan is £15,000 not £1500 and it is a secured loan

[Amethyst]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

*****log book loans £500
(have to pay them £35 per month or they could take my car) but does not seem to ever go down i paid them £180 last month for example as well as paying them regular payments and they rekon i still owe them £500 i seriously need help with this as i think what they are doing is illegal. ***** note to anyone reading this do not ever ever take out a loan with log book loans they are sharks with real teeth

Yep theres a lot of people about with problems with logbook loans. Have you had a statement of account off them recently showing how the loan is just stacking up, and do you have a copy of your credit agreement with them ?


The £15k loan that you are paying £170 a month on - who is that with?


Council Tax Baillifs/Arrears - you have that in order paying £20 a month off of £1500 ?


You have done well on the lloyds overdraft if they agreed to £1, and barclaycard - well done. What agreement did you make with those?

sounds like you are well on top of things - just keep the mortgage and co tax payments at the very top of your list for payments.


If Lloyds have agreed for you to pay £1 then they are very much aware of the hardship you are in. How much do you estimate the charges on that to be ?


So basically we need to write a letter to Halifax asking them to refund you as a hardship case ?

Lloyds you are SAR'ing.

Look at logbookloans.

[jules2008]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

hello

state of play is have already written to FOS regarding Halifax as i have contacted halifax bank asking them to consider me as hardship case and they have replied saying they dont believe i am a hardship case so i have taken it one step further already i hope this is the right thing to do?

i do believe that judging from what i have read on this fantastic website that the banks are happy to just ignore hardship cases only in a few rare circumstances do they seem to win through. Even if it does go to court the courts are staying cases until the test case so the only hope is to go through FOS and complain bout the way banks are not filtering through hard ship cases properly.

Another thing i am concerned about is best to do this sooner than later because what if the courts rule that charges are unfair and set a standard of say £12 like they have with credit cards then the banks may only have to pay back the remainder. this could be a reality so i really want to push my case through.

also if i win my case can i then get my credit rating changed as a result of this?

also another reason for my problems with mortgage was my fixed rate ended and that meant my mortgage payments for a time went from £650 to £850 i went into arrears which meant my mortgage company would not look at a better rate for me until i was 3 mnths clear of arrears which meant further problems. it has now been reduced £750 per mnth but still they are not giving me a better rate mortgage because of my arrears.
also i was advised to change my bank account this is what i did from the lloyds tsb when i was having problems with them to the halifax but this infact made matters worse as all my direct debits where not getting paid and took time switching banks so i would not advise this to people.everyone says to me why dont i change banks but i think they are missing the point that all banks have these charges so what would i gain from doing so???????

i am seriously thinking of not having a bank account and am looking into the alternatives because of what has happened to me. anyone got any ideas? as soon as i get paid i will take the money out of my account and then i will know exactly where my money is going but then i would have to take at least a couple of days off to pay my bills etc so i really cnt see this happening and i think that is what the banks rely on to be honest.

another thing which is really awful is i used my sons savings to help me out when i was in dire straights this is what i feel most terrible about and would love to get back my charges so that i can put the money back into his account for his future and also that is another reason i am doing all this for my son.
i have an interest only mortgage so i still have to pay the outstanding balance in 18 yrs time but i am hoping that my circumstances may change in the meantime and when my son is old enough he can help out with the mortgage and it will become his eventually anyway. As it may become difficult in the future for people to get mortgages who knows, so the only reason i am keeping this house is for my son.

i rekon to date i am owed £20k by the halifax and £2k by the lloyds tsb(will have an update on these figures next week) so getting this money back would be a great help to me. but because of the sum involved i think the Halifax are not going to be very forth coming and they will try to dig their heels in as much as possible.

have done my income expenditure sheet do you need to see it? as i dont want to post it on here

[jules2008]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

**the secured loan of £15k is with bright finance the apr is very high and apparently this is due to the fact i was lucky to get this loan in view of the credit crunch
so this company are definately making money out of this situation but to be fair they have been very good and even reduced my monthly payment over a longer period once i had been with them for 6 mnths
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Can I ask if you were not receiving charges each month, on your current income can you maintain your normal mortage payment and other outgoings?

obviously not having charges on my account each month greatly helps with maintaining my mortgage and other priority payments but it is touch and go to be honest and sometimes i have to hold off peter to pay paul very much a juggling act at present.
plus looked at my I/ E sheet and the only way i actually have any monies left is if i rent a room out in my home, and this is not always possilble.

[scoobydoo]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

To be honest I dont think there is a probem with going to the Halifax and the FOS at the same time - the FOS are probaly snowed under at the moment because of the new guidelines for hadship cases.

Dont know anything about companies dealing with the claim on your behalf - do you have the original agreement with Robertson Holbrook you could post up?

I would have a good read of Jesters thread and see how he worded his letter in respect of the new guidlines i.e put in your personal details against each section.

e.g - I am again identifying myself to you as a hardship case under the new guidlines issued by the FSA. I do not accept that you do not have enough evidence to consider my case .

My problems were caused by a dramatic drop in income caused by a seperation and since that time I have not been able to recover.


Go through the points covered by the waiver



finish off with something like:

I would point out that my case is urgent as there is a strong possibilty that my property will be re-possessed

I enclose an income and expenditure sheet.( presume you leave off the lodger?)

You very early reply would be appreciated


Have a go at the letter and then we can go from there.
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You could also enclose a copy of the court order in respect of the mortgage.

Also sorry if you have said this, but with the halifax - how much is charges and how much interest?


Also with the FOS you can call them to try and push things along . Would normally say keep everything in writing but calling the FOS has sometimes worked in the past so worth a try.

[jules2008]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

ok thank you very much for your help so far much appreciated.

i have looked at jesters thread in detail like you have suggested and it is very helpful.

i will contact halifax as you have advised and see what they say using letter from jesters thread.

at the last count i am owed 15k by halifax but that was at jan 2007 which is currently stayed. I will get an up to date figure tomorrow i will have to look at bank statements which lukily i have online and calculate an approx figure but surely they will have to do a calculation themselves i presume as could get it wrong.
will have to contact robertson holbrook re: contract but i am pretty sure i will not be able to get out of it at this stage as they have done work on my behalf.

Although if i manage to get halifax to settle they will not be aware of it straight away and plus that will be from my efforts not theirs so dont know. i will cross that bridge when i come to it because i believe the banks pay the customer anyway not the company who may be dealing with it then it is up to the company to invoice me so i may only pay them for work done up to date the case was stayed.

anyway i rekon judging by the amount of charges i have had since jan 07 that i am owed at least 20k possibly more and considering i have only had the account for 3 years i think you would agree that this is a considerable amount of monies.

Also doing a claim against lloyds but that is very early stages i am writing to them to get a calculation of how much bank charges they have charged me over 6 years and i am doing this myself so no company to pay. then i will write to them with hardship case letter also and see what happens.

Thank you again for your help and i feel like i will really get somewhere now with this.

i will shut up now until i have heard from the halifax and lloyds tsb regarding jester hardship letter that i will be sending.



are you watching depatches channel 4 by the way dont miss it
why banks never loose

[scoobydoo]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

Hi yes I did watch dispatches - thought it could have been even more hard hitting to be honest . Also the visiting of offices to see the CEO was obviously a waste of time as they would never see someone on spec. for security reasons - but I suppose it made a point.

Reference post above - draft your letter and we will have a look at it and also let us know the exact amount of charges and which spread sheet you have used to calculate the interest and at what rate.

[jules2008]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

ok here is a draft of the letter i am sending to the halifax and FOS i hope that someone can take a look at it and tell me if it is ok.

it is the one from Jesters thread, which is totally brilliant by the way i have thanked him 1000 x.

if this does not put a rocket up their arse nothing will.lol

jules 2008



Halifax plc
Head street
Colchester
Essex
25th August 2008




Dear Sir or Madam:
FOS Reference Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As you are no doubt aware, in the light of the ongoing test case hearing between the Office Of Fair Trading (hereby referred to as the OFT) and the leading high street banks regarding the fairness or otherwise of the bank charging regime, the FSA has today announced a new waiver to be put in place. The waiver will supercede the previous one issued in July 2007 and is not due to expire until January 2009.
Upon reading the conditions of the new waiver, I was extremely interested in the FSA’s definition of what constitutes Financial Hardship and believe I qualify for your assistance under these new guidelines. Given that the Royal Bank of Scotland issued court proceedings against me to repossess my home.
Therefore, I would like to bring to your attention the FSA’s definition of Financial Hardship and why I believe I qualify to have my claim against Halifax dealt with on this basis.
The new FSA Waiver defines Financial Hardship in the following terms:
2. In making an assessment of financial difficulty the firm will take into account:

a. evidence of changes in lifestyle, including loss of employment; disability; serious illness; imprisonment; relationship breakdown; death of a partner; starting a lower paid job; parental/carer leave; and starting full-time education;
I have been having financial difficulties since the breakdown of my relationship 3 yrs ago and have not yet to date been able to recover. Also the fact that I am self employed which means no guarantee of income. ( Eg if I am ill or my dependant is ill)
b. evidence of the following events:
i. items repeatedly being returned unpaid due to lack of available funds;
Halifax have plenty of evidence of this being the case, as I now have a basic account due to my financial circumstances which means no overdraft no cheque book and a visa electron card.
ii. failing to make loan repayments or other commitments;
My finances were being handled by a debt management company Byron and Keeley but more recently since advice from the CAB I have written to the company’s involved but I am still on a management plan which is being reviewed currently and I have stated I can only afford to pay my non-priority debts £1 a mnth. Furthermore, I am are struggling to meet my mortgage payments, let alone find the money to actually live on. (changed mortgage to interest only to help keep my payments to a minimum each mnth)
Halifax (the RBS Group) issued court proceedings against me to repossess my home. I went to court in Colchester and the repossession order was suspended but because of the bank charges I am still finding making monthly payments difficult. Before it came to the court senario I had a counselor from the rbs group visit me in my home to discuss matters and I made them aware that I had a current dispute with the Halifax, and because of this plus the fixed rate coming to an end are the causes for my current arrears situation. This fell on deaf ears and RBS still took me to court for repossession which I find incredible since I explained my circumstances to those involved.
Quote from Pm Gordon Brown
Banks should be lienient with customers at this difficult time in regards to mortgage difficulties.


iii. discontinuation of regular credits;
All of our credits cards have been discontinued and are in the hands of the Debt Management Company
iv. notification of some form of insolvency or court proceedings;
As indicated above, I am subject to court proceedings with the RBS Group who are seeking to repossess my home. I have enclosed a copy of this with this letter. The sum of money I am claiming in unfair bank charges from Halifax is approx £15,000. This sum of money would enable me to pay my mortgage arrears plus other debts aquired by my financial situation.
Also I have council tax arrears (have included evidence of this with this letter)
v. regular requests for increased borrowing or repeated rescheduling of debts;
That my finances are being handled by the Debt Management Company is surely evidence that i have had to reschedule my debts.
Also I took out a consolidation loan at the beginning of this year which I have had to review payments to them also which means reduced payment each month over a longer period of time. Which is evidence of further borrowing.
vii. repeatedly exceeding a credit card or overdraft limit without agreement (and, in this regard, where a complainant has incurred over £500 in unauthorised overdraft charges in the previous 12 months, that is to be treated as indicative of financial difficulty).
Halifax withdrew my current account facilities including any overdraft facility and I now I only have a basic account.
However, the mere fact that I have a claim for Unfair Bank Charges totalling £15,000 (this is by no means an up to date figure) proves that I have been incurring charges of more than £500 per annum.
As you can see, I am in severe financial hardship. I have very little income ( I am a single parent with a dependant child 12 yrs old) and the very realistic possibility that I could become homeless to add to my problems should I fail to be able to meet my monthly mortgage payments plus agreed arrears payment.
All I ask is that you re-examine my case with yourselves. you are a large financial organisation with considerable funds available to fight a long drawn-out battle with the OFT. The current situation with the new Waiver being put in place means that we are unlikely to see any resolution in the Bank Charges Test case between the OFT and the leading banks before the end of 2008. In my current situation, I cannot afford the luxury of waiting that long for such a resolution. If you were to refund the £15k approx in Bank Charges that I believe were unfairly taken from my bank account over the course of the last 6 years , my outlook would improve significantly. Whilst it would not be a long term solution, it would certainly assist me in my battle to keep my home from being repossessed and give me some breathing space to keep up my mortgage payments which will enable me to become financially able to meet my commitments.

I would also like to make you aware I have written to the FOS and they will probably be contacting you in the near future. I would like to resolve these issues without going to court (I have a court date which has been stayed currently) and I believe that this can be achieved.

Your assistance in resolving this matter would be gratefully received. I therefore respectfully ask you formally for this assistance.


Yours truly






Jules


Encs
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***has someone got the exact quote from the PM***

stuck that in for good measure
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
*update*

also trying to get a copy of original agreement from Robertson Holbrook who are dealing with my halifax case.

have written to Lloyds tsb to get an update on my bank charges for last 6 years cost £10

plus need to get updated figure for halifax that means trawling through all my bank statements from jan 07 to present day.
current claim for charges £15k up to jan 07 when i first made my claim so have to calculate anything from this date i believe. may not be accurate as my maths is appalling.

sending letter of hardship once it has been looked at and approved by a beagle of considerable experience.

[Paule]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

Jules

I have removed your personal details from the letter you have posted
Just in case you wondered where bits had gone.

[jules2008]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

thank you for that see where would i be without you guys.

[scoobydoo]

Re: jules2008 hardship claims

ok here is a draft of the letter i am sending to the halifax and FOS i hope that someone can take a look at it and tell me if it is ok.

it is the one from Jesters thread, which is totally brilliant by the way i have thanked him 1000 x.

if this does not put a rocket up their arse nothing will.lol

jules 2008



Halifax plc
Head street
Colchester
Essex
25th August 2008




Dear Sir or Madam:
FOS Reference Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As you are no doubt aware, in the light of the ongoing test case hearing between the Office Of Fair Trading (hereby referred to as the OFT) and the leading high street banks regarding the fairness or otherwise of the bank charging regime, the FSA has today announced a new waiver to be put in place. The waiver will supercede the previous one issued in July 2007 and is not due to expire until January 2009.
Upon reading the conditions of the new waiver, I was extremely interested in the FSA’s definition of what constitutes Financial Hardship and believe I qualify for your assistance under these new guidelines.
I would especially like to point out I am at present under extreme pressure due to a suspended possession order by RBS and would like you to consider my case urgently.
I am sure you are aware of FSA’s definition of Financial Hardship and below I list the reasons why I believe qualify to have my claim against Halifax dealt with on this basis.
The new FSA Waiver defines Financial Hardship in the following terms:
2. In making an assessment of financial difficulty the firm will take into account:

a. evidence of changes in lifestyle, including loss of employment; disability; serious illness; imprisonment; relationship breakdown; death of a partner; starting a lower paid job; parental/carer leave; and starting full-time education;

I have been having financial difficulties since the breakdown of my relationship 3 yrs ago and have not yet to date been able to recover. Also the fact that I am self employed which means no guarantee of income. ( Eg if I am ill or my dependant is ill)

b. evidence of the following events:
i. items repeatedly being returned unpaid due to lack of available funds;

Halifax have plenty of evidence of this being the case, as I now have a basic account due to my financial circumstances which means no overdraft no cheque book and a visa electron card.

ii. failing to make loan repayments or other commitments;

I am on a management plan which is being reviewed currently and I have stated I can only afford to pay my non-priority debts £1 a mnth. Furthermore, I am are struggling to meet my mortgage payments, which is now on an interest only basis.Halifax (the RBS Group) have issued court proceedings against me to repossess my home. The repossession order was suspended but because of the bank charges I am still finding making monthly payments difficult.
.


iii. discontinuation of regular credits;
All of our credits cards have been discontinued and are in the hands of the Debt Management Company

v. notification of some form of insolvency or court proceedings;
See above - documentation enclosed
Also I have council tax arrears (have included evidence of this with this letter)

v. regular requests for increased borrowing or repeated rescheduling of debts;
I took out a consolidation loan at the beginning of this year which I have had to review payments to them also which means reduced payment each month over a longer period of time. Which is evidence of further borrowing.

vii. repeatedly exceeding a credit card or overdraft limit without agreement (and, in this regard, where a complainant has incurred over £500 in unauthorised overdraft charges in the previous 12 months, that is to be treated as indicative of financial difficulty).
Halifax withdrew my current account facilities including any overdraft facility and I now I only have a basic account.
However, the mere fact that I have a claim for Unfair Bank Charges totalling £15,000 (this is by no means an up to date figure) proves that I have been incurring charges of more than £500 per annum.

As you can see, I am in severe financial hardship. I have very little income ( I am a single parent with a dependant child 12 yrs old) and the very realistic possibility that I could become homeless to add to my problems should I fail to be able to meet my monthly mortgage payments plus agreed arrears payment.
All I ask is that you re-examine my case with yourselves. you are a large financial organisation with considerable funds available to fight a long drawn-out battle with the OFT. The current situation with the new Waiver being put in place means that we are unlikely to see any resolution in the Bank Charges Test case between the OFT and the leading banks before the end of 2008. In my current situation, I cannot afford the luxury of waiting that long for such a resolution. If you were to refund the £15k approx in Bank Charges that I believe were unfairly taken from my bank account over the course of the last 6 years , my outlook would improve significantly. Whilst it would not be a long term solution, it would certainly assist me in my battle to keep my home from being repossessed and give me some breathing space to keep up my mortgage payments which will enable me to become financially able to meet my commitments.

I would also like to make you aware I have written to the FOS and they will probably be contacting you in the near future. I would like to resolve these issues without going to court (I have a court date which has been stayed currently) and I believe that this can be achieved.

Your assistance in resolving this matter would be gratefully received. I therefore respectfully ask you formally for this assistance.


Yours truly






Jules


Encs
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***has someone got the exact quote from the PM***

stuck that in for good measure
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*update*

also trying to get a copy of original agreement from Robertson Holbrook who are dealing with my halifax case.

have written to Lloyds tsb to get an update on my bank charges for last 6 years cost £10

plus need to get updated figure for halifax that means trawling through all my bank statements from jan 07 to present day.
current claim for charges £15k up to jan 07 when i first made my claim so have to calculate anything from this date i believe. may not be accurate as my maths is appalling.

sending letter of hardship once it has been looked at and approved by a beagle of considerable experience.

Just a first quick look

I would keep this short and to the point - we can elaborate if they ask for further details.