HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

[catinahat]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Hi guys,
after firing off a letter (thanks for your help with kickstarting that Tutts:-) to the CEO of Smile bank, I have still heard nothing from the bank since. Been checking my email every day too and even re sent email the following day. Its been about a week now. What do you think is a 'respectable' time to wait for any correspondance? Given they're supposed to sort these hardship complaints within an 8 week time frame and my complaint was officially logged as October 19 (?) 2009; that makes it 4 months... should I continue waiting or send a snotty letter? CatXXX

[Amethyst]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Snotty sounds good

[Tools]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

And maybe a little more mucus towards the FSA by way of a complaint about the way you have been dealt with by Smile.

[TUTTSI]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

I am surprised tbvh that the CEO's department has not responded. Did you give them your phone number? account details?? and address?

Can you phone customer services tomorrow and ask them for his/her correct email address in case the one I had was incorrect.

If that was the correct email addy then send a 2nd one mark it urgent and say it is the 2nd request.

I will take aloo on th FSA register to see if they have any other details and will post up if I find anything.

Regards
Tuttsi xx

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/firmMainSearch.do This is the FSA register take a look here to see if there is any other information?

Hi guys,
after firing off a letter (thanks for your help with kickstarting that Tutts:-) to the CEO of Smile bank, I have still heard nothing from the bank since. Been checking my email every day too and even re sent email the following day. Its been about a week now. What do you think is a 'respectable' time to wait for any correspondance? Given they're supposed to sort these hardship complaints within an 8 week time frame and my complaint was officially logged as October 19 (?) 2009; that makes it 4 months... should I continue waiting or send a snotty letter? CatXXX

[catinahat]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

[QUOTE=TUTTSI;150643]I am surprised tbvh that the CEO's department has not responded. Did you give them your phone number? account details?? and address?

Can you phone customer services tomorrow and ask them for his/her correct email address in case the one I had was incorrect.

If that was the correct email addy then send a 2nd one mark it urgent and say it is the 2nd request.

Iim pretty sure the email was correct Tutts, as usually, if it isn't, the email would be returned. I'll fire it off again (3rd time lucky) Yup, I included all my details, name, address, account number etc.
Thanks again for that. CatXXX
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------

And maybe a little more mucus towards the FSA by way of a complaint about the way you have been dealt with by Smile.

I have a 12 year old lad, so plenty of expertise at 'snotty' lol ;-)) XXX

[charitynjw]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

"I have a 12 year old lad,......."

Unleash a 12 yr old on them? - I'd save the big guns for later! lol

[catinahat]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Haha, Charity,

Yup, he's growing like a bamboo shoot too and getting better and better at Martial Aerts too... I would not like to have that child unleashed on me!!! XXX (Maybe I'll wait till he's black belt and full of cold! ;-) X

[TUTTSI]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Hi Cat

I have done some more research and found this article. Therefore, try resending your email to david.anderson@................. at whatever the previous email address was. This way and hopefully you will be going straight to the horses mouth.

December 26 2008
Co-operative Financial Services Chief Executive David Anderson says the business is in good shape to see out the current recession without the need for additional capital from the Government.

[catinahat]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Hi Tutts,

thanks for that updated info re. Co-op email addy. For anyone else who needs to contact co-op/Smile internet bank, the exact address for David Anderson is: david.anderson@co-operative.coop

I had a couple of failure delivery notices on account of one little full stop between the Co and Op... More successful result with 'coop'. How pedantic can email be?!!! lol
Thanks again Tutts. X

[catinahat]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Hi Guys,
The Cat in the hat comes back! Apologies for my absence; but a couple of weeks after I posted last on here about the Co-Op bank charges fiasco, I had a brain aneurysm and stroke. (Feb 28 2010 the first one). This put the kybosh on my battle head for a while and in between trying to recover, fighting the bank for reclaiming my charges under hardship rules, the DWP decided to make life even more interesting by ceasing my benefits on the grounds that I was 'fit to work', so I then had an appeal and tribunal to prepare for.

In all of that time, there were still letters going back and forth to co-op bank updating them of the fact that the hardship issues were still unresolved and getting harder still. Copies of medical docs sent in, letters from DWP about my appeal (which it turned out they had 'illegally moved me from I.S. to ESA so all of the arguments about the 'fitness to work' and the assessment with ASOS, were invalid... no pun intended)

Anyway, the upshot is that 2010 went from bad to worse; got taken to court and fined £200 for non-payment of TV license when a DD was returned when my benefits had ceased... (I'd been in hospital when the money stopped so didnt find out until I was discharged), ended up having another aneurysm in May 2010, in June, our house got broken into and robbed, and because my contents insurance had lapsed (result of the above and extortionate bank charges!) we had no cover.) Then in August, my long-term fella died very suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack. I was in and out of hospital 8 more times in the years of 2010/2011.

All throughout this time the co-op were running rings around me with regards to these charges and I suppose eventually, I got worn down and it was costing me fortunes in Royal Mail special delivery costs. Not to mention what it was costing in stress!

Just last month, I got a letter from them. I could not believe the audacity! I suppose they must've figured they were 'home and clear' and that sufficient time had elapsed for them to pursue ME for charges. When I left them and changed my bank, the charges had snowballed to a sum of £1145.50. All of this was accrued through their rolling charges and none of it was actual money I'd spent. Anyway, last month, they wrote to me demanding I repay this money, yet a couple of day later, I got another letter saying they'd sold the debt onto Lowells a debt collection agency. Since then, every few days I've been getting hassle letters from Lowells saying to get in touch and make arrangements to pay, or else they will take me to court etc.

Incensed isnt the word! Anyway, after I'd calmed down enough to think straight, I decided to fight fire with fire. Since the bank's last letter in 2011 I believe, was another out and out rejection of my claim, also, it made no mention of the FOS interestingly, I decided that it was time to approach the Ombudsman for help. It hasn't been easy finding all the old documents from 2009 to the present, but I managed to get the most important ones I think. The upshot is that I've now asked the FOS for their help, as I understand that claims can still be made if you were incapacitated at any time and were unable to meet the deadlines owing to health/disability. I've now also had to a cardiac monitor implanted device as they think I have a heart arrhythmia. So I figured all of these things must surely qualify as being allowed some lassitude with respect to the time frames and applying 'out of time'. I've just posted a 'war and peace' sized dossier to the FOS asking for their help and detailing the history of all the shenanigans with the smile co-op unethical bank! So, we shall see. I feel cautiously optiomistic that this may be a way of getting some redress, so I'll let you know.

Looking back on my posts, I see that many of you here on the forum were a huge help with advising me etc on this situation. Please forgive my lack of communication from Feb 2010 until now. The stroke had an adverse affect on my short-term memory/concentration and its been quite difficult to focus at times (still is sometimes). Anyway, just thought i'd let you know that the ' inahat' is back and fighting! Slowly and surely recovering and very much back on fighting form! hello again and thanks to my ol' pals on this forum... watch this space...;-) CatXXX

[TUTTSI]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Hi Catinahat
I was sorry to learn of your sudden illness and how these things happen so very quickly. Hopefully, you are back to fight and hope that you will win and that the bank will be made to repay as they had not followed the lending code. Ensure that anything that you send to the bank or FOS includes as much information as you can.

Remind me again was there any PPI mixed up with your account as if their were you may have been entitled to have received compensation whilst you were sick, this is just a thought....

Good luck hun and keep us posted. xxx

[catinahat]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Hi Tutts,
funnily enough, yes, there was a PPI with this account, which I hadn't even realised until going through the 'archives' again. I'm presuming it was a PPI, it was a document which essentially provided insurance cover against sickness/disability. To be honest I didnt even realise I had it until a few days ago when I was compiling the documents to send to the FOS.
My Dad has worked for Lloyd's for some years and had a quick look; he reckons that like many of these things, it was a 'mis-sold' PPI as I'd have had no way of actually being able to claim against it, as I was already disabled when I first opened the account with them and they were aware that my income was solely state benefits... hence, I wouldn't have been able to claim for unemployment through ill health etc.

Just digressing slightly but... Looking back on my posts from Feb 2010, Its interesting how much my 'grey matter' kept freezing up, in retrospect... gotta wonder if that was a result of the aneurysm or vice-versa?

Anyway, I wonder if its better to tackle the PPI thing once the FOS have responded as to whether they can help or not? I suppose experience has made me very wary of this bank and their lack of sorting anything in any fair or timely fashion... just don't want to confuse issues or have one problem (or rather attempts to sort it) to be detrimental to another... (if that makes sense?)

PS The bank never mentioned the fact I had the PPI nor was there ever any suggestion that I should try to claim off it... I believe I must've had that when first opening the account back in 2000, but completely forgot about it... Hope youre keeping well Tuttsi? Glad to see the forum is going as strong as ever:-) Xxx

[leclerc]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Catinahat, (it's old nattie but new name ).

You may have to start the process again but you've had ONE HELL of a rough ride and a case that is in my opinion potentially arguable(I need to revisit this thread and do my homework again to be certain). Welcome back and let's revisit that process again but the updated stuff is also proof of continual hardship until such a point as you were back on your feet. We will help you again.

[catinahat]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Thanks Nattie,

I know you all helped massively last time. When I've looked on the FOS rules about timeframes etc, they say that a complaint should be lodged within a certain time, however, if a person was unable to do so because of incapacity due to health or disability, they will allow leeway. I'm hoping that the fact I was in hospital 8 times since february 2010 will be reason enough to not have to start from scratch. Until I hear from FOS, there's no way of knowing how things are likely to go. I've had another letter from the debt collection agency, but I suppose they will have no way of knowing the history of the 'debt' they bought off the Co-Op bank, so for them, its just business. I do wonder if its worth writing to them? Catx

[TUTTSI]

Re: HELP! What Now? Hardship conclusion?

Thanks for your post Catinahat I too have been very ill, and again it was extremely sudden, I was diagnosed with a blood Cancer, the symptoms started last May and I was not diagnosed correctly until beginning of July when I started my treatment. The main part of my treatment is now finalised and the latest results showed I still have a small amount of cancer at a very low level %.

With the PPI if it was mi-sold and you were unable to have claimed whilst you were ill because of your disability, you should I feel write to the Co-Op advising them that you were mis-sold your PPI, because to take this aspect of the claim forwards to the FOS you have to have first written to your bank advising them that they miss-sold your PPI and that you must request they repay you together with interest as set out by the FSA guidlines. The person that can help you with PPI and getting the right amount of interest is Bill-K so when you have written to the bank and you get a response I will ask Bill to take a look at their answer. If you go to the web site for the Co-Op their maybe a link to claiming mis-sold PPI on line or to download.

This will not stop you taking your other claim forwards to the FOS for them to adjudicate on whether or not they were entitled to take your benefits by adding huge amount of charges to your account and of course Nattie is the best one for help in this matter.

I look forward to hearing some good and positive news soon. xx

Hi Tutts,
funnily enough, yes, there was a PPI with this account, which I hadn't even realised until going through the 'archives' again. I'm presuming it was a PPI, it was a document which essentially provided insurance cover against sickness/disability. To be honest I didnt even realise I had it until a few days ago when I was compiling the documents to send to the FOS.
My Dad has worked for Lloyd's for some years and had a quick look; he reckons that like many of these things, it was a 'mis-sold' PPI as I'd have had no way of actually being able to claim against it, as I was already disabled when I first opened the account with them and they were aware that my income was solely state benefits... hence, I wouldn't have been able to claim for unemployment through ill health etc.

Just digressing slightly but... Looking back on my posts from Feb 2010, Its interesting how much my 'grey matter' kept freezing up, in retrospect... gotta wonder if that was a result of the aneurysm or vice-versa?

Anyway, I wonder if its better to tackle the PPI thing once the FOS have responded as to whether they can help or not? I suppose experience has made me very wary of this bank and their lack of sorting anything in any fair or timely fashion... just don't want to confuse issues or have one problem (or rather attempts to sort it) to be detrimental to another... (if that makes sense?)

PS The bank never mentioned the fact I had the PPI nor was there ever any suggestion that I should try to claim off it... I believe I must've had that when first opening the account back in 2000, but completely forgot about it... Hope youre keeping well Tuttsi? Glad to see the forum is going as strong as ever:-) Xxx