Hardship claim for charges (inc business)

[piesky]

Hi all, I am very new to this and need a little help and assistance. I have a number of bank accounts with NatWest both business (sole trader) and personal. I also have a number of bank loans (4 - one of which is secured with Natwest) and credit cards (4 in total). All of these have incurred substantial unfair charges over the years and due to current difficulties in my financial circumstances, I want to relcaim all my charges.

To-date, I have obtained a list of the charges going back six years on the two personal accounts (using online banking) I don't know how to work out the interest charges on these though. Is there a really good excel spreadsheet I can use?(charges on these two alone come to £5,500) I have sent CCA requests to a couple of banks and am awaiting answers to these and will be sending out more this weekend - constricted by funds on doing them all at the same time. Two of the small (non limited) bank accounts are in joint names with my other half so we have had to send a written request to NatWest to use online banking. Once this is setup, we hopefully will be able to access our bank statements online. Question here: Can we only claim back for the last six years or can we go back further?.

Any help and suggestions here most appreciated. I have a few other issues that need resolution but will post these once we have a dialogue going.

Regards

Piesky

[Amy]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

It sounds to me like you're right on top of things, well done.

Here is the spreadsheet for s.69 statutory interest. http://legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?t=4776

Yes, you can go back further than 6 years.

[piesky]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

Thanks for your help Amy. The online statements only go back 6 years. Will I need to SAR Natwest? How far back can I claim? The accounts have been held with Natwest for 18 years.

[Amy]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

If you only have 6 years of statements then yes, you will need to send an SAR if you think they will have charges on them and they must provide you with all the information they hold on you.

You can claim from whenever you could reasonably have been expected to know that the charges were unlawfully taken from your account. Tuttsi is currently claiming back 18 years http://legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?t=3966

[piesky]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

Thanks Amy. There does seem to be alot of conflicting info regards reclaims. Some people are suggesting that I can only go back six years and every day that passes without submitting the claim, then you lose a day from when that claim could have been backdated to.

[Amy]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

Ah well you see, don't listen to them. We're much better than those other sites.

[piesky]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

That was definately my impression on the first visit. There seems to be alot of knowledge here.
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Amy, would it be better to wait on Natwest replying to the SAR, sending all the info and then submitting the claim? or could I submit a hardship case claim for the initial 6 years of charges and interest and then reclaim again for those charges in previous years?

[TUTTSI]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

Hi Piesky

We are currently claiming 18+ years from Halifax on bank charges.

But before we took a court claim we sent them all our hardship details which they acknowledge that we are under financial hardship.

With the help of some peeps with a great deal of knowledge on this site a POC was done and we are currently waiting for the defence!

Whatever help you need one of the team will endeavour to assist you.

[piesky]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

Thanks Tuttsi, it all seems a little daunting at present and I want to get it right from the start and not give the impression to the banks that I don't know what I am doing - as, no-doubt, they would take advantage of this.

[Budgie]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

That was definately my impression on the first visit. There seems to be alot of knowledge here.
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Amy, would it be better to wait on Natwest replying to the SAR, sending all the info and then submitting the claim? or could I submit a hardship case claim for the initial 6 years of charges and interest and then reclaim again for those charges in previous years?

To utilise the FSA waiver you really need to have a claim in the pipeline. So yep, prepare your preliminary letter, requesting a refund of your charges and in the same letter request that your claim is looked into on the grounds of your financial hardship. You can tell them the total of charges you are seeking then to repay based on the statements that you currently have in your possession and say that the claim value will increase once you receive copies of your earlier statements dating back to when the account was first opened in 1901 !!

At the same time send off your SAR and make sure you state in this that you require them to send you all information that they hold about you dating back to when the account was first opened.

Just use the standard template letters on the site and adapt them to suit your particular requirements.

Have a go at doing this yourself and feel free to post the drafts up on here if you would like them checked before you send them off.

Budgie

[piesky]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

Thanks Budgie, I will.

[piesky]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

Hello all. Well it is now five months since submitting my claim to natwest under the hardship rules on both mine and my OH's personal accounts. My account had charges for last years years amounting to £3800 (Not including interest) and my OH has £2,400 (not including interest.

We have had various correspondence from NatWest including requests for proof of outstanding debts, etc and they have now finally approved a repayment on both our accounts.

We have both recieved goodwill gesture offers of: £2600 on my account (£1200 less than charges and NO INTEREST) and £2300 on my OH's account (£100 less than charges and again NO INTEREST).

Bearing in mind that my account charges reclaim was made up of the following:

£3800 - Charges (six years)
£7,353 - Compound interest
Interest paid on Penalties - £682.83
Compound Interest on Interest - £992.93

Total - £12,827.84

OR Intead of Compound Interest, Statutory Interest at 8%

Stat Interest - £1045.99
8% Int on interest - £161.57

Total - £5689.85

My OH's Charges made up from:

Charges - £2300
Compound Interest - £3179
Int on Penalties - £417
Int on Penalty Interest - £318

Total Claim - £6283

OR Using Statutory 8% Interest:

8% Interest on Charges - 484.22
8% 0n Penalties - 77.93

Total Reclaim - £2760

My question is do we accept the offer and what would be the next move as they have not paid the full amount or any interest?

I rang the department who sent out the offer from Edinburgh and a lady told me that this would be in full and final settlement. Is this correct?

It is great that we have both been offered back our charges but we would have liked the whole amounts with interest as it is only fair and equitable.

Any help or advice here would be most appreciated.

By the way, we also have four other business accounts 1 open, 3 closed) we are claiming on. The total of all six account charges is just under £18,000 and with compound interest added, this amounts to Just over £50,000.

[Amethyst]

Re: Hardship claim for charges


My question is do we accept the offer and what would be the next move as they have not paid the full amount or any interest?
I rang the department who sent out the offer from Edinburgh and a lady told me that this would be in full and final settlement. Is this correct?


A payment now under hardship rule will not include an element of interest and will usually be a % of your claim or enough to cover the imediate hardship.....no it can't be in full and final - it has to be an interim payment and the remainder of your claim stays on hold until the conclusion of the test case...will get the waiver terms for you to quote back at them


Here

(16)
if the firm attempts to resolve a relevant charges complaint after 27 July 2007:
(a)
the firm must not seek agreement from the complainant that the resolution is in full and final settlement of the matter;
(b)
in relation to such complaints, if the outcome of the test case produces a result that is more favourable to the complainant, the firm must take all reasonable steps to pay any difference in the amount of compensation actually received by the complainant and that that the complainant would have been entitled if his claim has not been settled by the firm then; and
(c)
the firm must explain the implications of its approach and commitment;

and moved you to the hardship forum (have left a permanent redirect in natwest tho so you shouldnt lose the thread but should be more visible here)

[piesky]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

Thanks Amethyst.
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If I accept their offer, how should I word the letter to NatWest? Also, how do I proceed with the remainder of the claim plus interest (bearing in mind the mis-information I was given over the telephone regarding 'Full and Final settlement)?

Thanks

Piesky
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Sorry, one more question. My OH's claim (apart from interest) is virtually 100% being offered. Does this then prevent them from paying any further interest at some time in the future when and if the banks do pay back all charges to their customers.

[Amethyst]

Re: Hardship claim for charges

interest will continue to accrue on the parts of the charges and interest on those charges that hasnt been repaid....basically after test case you'd enter the interim payment as a credit on the date it was received. I don't think it needs be any more complex than that. It is a partial settlement so the claim stands in tact, just showing that partial payment.

Response to Natwest wise something like..... thanks for offer would like to accept this as an interim payment and i understand the remainder of my claim will remain on hold until the outcome of the tes case oft v abbey&ors. I am sure you are aware that you are unable to ask me to accept this as full and final, as was suggested on the telephone with one of your customer service operatives, and refer you to the waiver (quote that bit I pasted in my last post). I look forward to receiving the payment by (details of how you want paying)..love piesky xx

just to remind them...

and well done btw its a nice offer especially on your OH's account