scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

[scatty]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

Sorry for delay been very rough and low. The money from my son is monthly for as long as he can or until I CAN GET STRAIGHT. No definites but probably for a year. I need to sell my home at some point as is not suitable trouble is a lot of equity already been wiped off due to current market etc but still hope to get a little out of it say ten k . AI just dont kow what to do for the best.
The dmc was a referral made by my bank after talking with their money management re my debts etc. Its Think Money. They do special rates for referrals of course but I WOULD STILL HAVE TO PAY THEM SOMETHING BUT i was worried about going elsewhere as they were a referral etc by my bank who are my biggest creditors.

Dont know how much charges are yet should know in next week but they are about £100 plus non payment on od not sure on cards yet.

[Amethyst]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

ok. they are Gregory Pennington (big debt management company). You'd probably be paying Think Money about £29.50 a month so £95.50 goes to your creditors. I think that it needs looking at again either with them or through CCCS (free) once you have your charges back.

Will adjust spreadsheet to show this,and correct the other bits. It leaves you with quite a big deficit so i really can't see them turning you down for hardship. How much you would get I don't know, halifax may just try cover your monthly deficit for a couple of months.

Will get this done and back up tonight so yu can send it back to halifax tmw.

hope you are feeling a bit better.

[scatty]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

Hi OK Thanks for all your amazing help. I await your adjusted spreadsheet etc .
will check in again in afternoon. x

[Amethyst]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

CFS sheet - you only need to send this page back to halifax

The creditors figures i have assumed a fee of £29.50 then proportional payments to the cards/loans etc. (which should scan with what GP are sending each month)

working on letter now

[Amethyst]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

Dear Sirs

FINANCIAL HARDSHIP / BANK CHARGES

Thank you for your reply to my letter dated (DaTE Of FIRST LeTTER) regarding repayment of unfair bank charges and dealing with my complaint whilst I am suffering from severe financial hardship.

As requested I enclose my current common financial statement for your information.

Following a divorce, I was forced to retire from work early on medical grounds and subsequently my only income consists of DLA/Incapacity benefit and pension. As I am trying to meet my commitments as far as possible, my son has kindly offered to temporarily assist me financially (shown as Other income on my CFS sheet) until I am able to reclaim charges and get things straight. I am looking at selling my property however it has lost a lot of value and the lack of equity means benefits of doing this would be minimal. I am currently awaiting a SOCIAL SERVICES CARE/OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST assessment.

The charges you have taken from me over the past few year come to over £4000, obviously this has not helped my situation and despite being in contact with your money management department and taking a referral to Think Money Debt Management, I continue to find things extremely difficult.

Please consider refunding these charges as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely

Scatty

[Amethyst]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

One more thing you can help me with is the circumstances surrounding Halifax referring you to Gregory Pennington (think money)- Did the money management team specifically refer you to Think Money ? and did they put anything in writing at all ?

[scatty]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

hi thanks for everything I really appreciate it you are truly amazing the help and advice you give is fantastic. Thanks to all of you. Yes the HALIFAX money management did specifically direct/refer me to GP Think Money . Think Money called me at agreed time made with the halifax. I was told they [halifax] may get a fee for it. [ err? making money out of my debts with them?] Yes I have it in writing from GP re it being a referral from Halifax and a reduction in their normal fees. I suppose the reduction thing is good but I WAS SURPRISED TO LEARN ONLY LATER from the Halifax Credit card collections dept [they called re me not paying monthly minimum] that there were companies out there for free etc. When talking with the cc collections I informed them that I was sorting out a dmp with GP and they asked why I wasnt going to payplan etc. I said Halifax had referred me to GP etc. didnt know about free ones etc til that point. Must say the cc collections werent pleased about referral to gp.

[WendyB]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

sorry if I'm confusing things, so just save this for reference later if so. But presumably if you haven't been maing the minimum payments tothe credit card there are charges on there as well? If so you would prob be able to get those back too and possibly fairly quickly. Althogh are these all lumed in together with the total debt to Halifax? Just a thought, might be the next thing on the list after you've sent the hardship letter.

[Amethyst]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

hi thanks for everything I really appreciate it you are truly amazing the help and advice you give is fantastic. Thanks to all of you. Yes the HALIFAX money management did specifically direct/refer me to GP Think Money . Think Money called me at agreed time made with the halifax. I was told they [halifax] may get a fee for it. [ err? making money out of my debts with them?] Yes I have it in writing from GP re it being a referral from Halifax and a reduction in their normal fees. I suppose the reduction thing is good but I WAS SURPRISED TO LEARN ONLY LATER from the Halifax Credit card collections dept [they called re me not paying monthly minimum] that there were companies out there for free etc. When talking with the cc collections I informed them that I was sorting out a dmp with GP and they asked why I wasnt going to payplan etc. I said Halifax had referred me to GP etc. didnt know about free ones etc til that point. Must say the cc collections werent pleased about referral to gp.

Thank you so much - keep a hold of that letter I think that is somewhat naughty of them and I shall have a look into the rules about these kind of referals.

[scatty]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

ok will keep it safe thanks again.

[Amethyst]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

Scatty - what address are you using for halifax ?

(just updating some records on the hardship forum)

[Amethyst]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

Hi Scatty

Hope you are well.

you fancy complaining to the OFT regarding halifax sending you to GP ?
just received this from them

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 (the Act)
Enquiry: Referrals to fee paying debt management companies

Thank you for your further email, further to our response of 4 September 2009.

I am sorry that our earlier response did not address the specific issues you have raised.

As you know, under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (the Act), if a business wishes to be involved in activities relating to consumer credit or hire, including debt collection and debt management, they must have a consumer credit licence. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has duty to enforce the Act, including a duty to monitor the fitness of all traders that hold a consumer credit licence.

You may be interested to note that the OFT has issued guidance to consumer credit licence holders engaged in commercial debt management and also to those in the debt collection industry. The Debt Management Guidance is intended to ensure that debt management companies treat debtors fairly. The Debt Collection Guidance us intended to ensure that debt collectors treat individuals fairly. Non-compliance with the appropriate guidance will call into question the fitness of licence holders and applicants. You can view our guidance at:
www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/cca/debt-management
www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/cca/debt-collection

I have reviewed your query and I am unable to find anything specific in either the Debt Management Guidance or the Debt Collection Guidance which relates to the issue you have raised.

However, although there is no published guidance on this issue, that does not mean that the OFT would not be concerned with such practices. A thorough investigation would need to be conducted into the companies involved and the circumstances surrounding such referrals before we could comment specifically.

If you wish to submit a complaint about a company / companies engaging in activities which you feel should be of concern to the OFT this will be considered along with any other information the OFT holds about the company and we may or may not decide to conduct an investigation.

The OFT will be soon be commencing a compliance review into the Debt Management market. Having our attention drawn to issues such as that highlighted by yourself will inform our research in this area and we would therefore appreciate any further details you may be willing to supply.

I hope the above is helpful and thank you once again for taking the time to write to us about this matter.

Yours sincerely




Nilufar Miah
Enquiries and Reporting Centre
Office of Fair Trading

[scatty]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

hi thanks again I have sent all off cfs etc just wait for response now. re above maybe!! one thing at a time though ! I will keep you posted. Many many thanks back soon. really busy at mo and been very rough well I still am. This all takes a lot of energy and makes me feel rougher etc. Its the using of my arms and hands to deal with paperwork, bending, etc etc it all affects me.

[Amethyst]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

Great let us know what they come back with on the CFS sheet.

Don't worry about the complaint, am in contact with BSCB at the moment about these type of referrals and will let you know what happens.

[scatty]

Re: scatty v Halifax - Hardship Claim

Customer Relations
Halifax
P O Box 548
LEEDS
LS1 1WU

Hiya this is the address I was given to reply re financial hardship with the completed CFS remember however that I complained that I had not RECEIVED AN I&E form from them to complete thus a complaint was lodged with customer realtions but I think all hardship claims have to go via this route. Thanks again I will keep you posted as soon as I HEAR ANYTHING!