Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

[robot101]

Hi,

This is my first post so hello all I hope you can help. (Deep breath) Well, I made my original claim for chargess back in april 2009 and was sent the standard wait for test case letter from Natwest. After the result of the test case I sent a further letter explaining that i was in financial harship. Natwest asked for a financial statement to be completed which i done and I also provided proof of debts. I provided all of this and was in turn told i did not qualify as a hardship case.
Following this reply i decided to take my case to the FOS and so was again asked for another financial statement from natwest. 2 weeks ago I received a letter from natwest saying that they now accept my position of financial hardship and that they would send me out a new card for my account and to destroy the old one.
A few days letter i received a letter from the FOS who said that they believed that natwest had done everything they could to help and that they were not obliged to do anything further than stop interest and put a hold on charges. The FOS has said that if i want to contest this i should get in touch with them by the 13th May wirth any new evidence i can provide.

My question: As my case has been accepted as a position of hardship should i expect an offer from natwest or is stopping interest and charges the best i can hope for at this late stage?

Thanks for reading hope you can help.

Robot101

[TUTTSI]

Re: Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

Hi and welcome to Legal Beagles.

The banks even under the FSA waiver rules for hardship which has now been lifted, they did not have to repay anything, but did have to look at your case sypathetically and help where they could. I presume that the change of the account meant that you did not pay any further charges? or what was the purpose of them giving you a new card?

We are currently looking at ways forward since the Test case and this is still being reviewed.

Has your situation worsened since?

Tuttsi

[robot101]

Re: Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

Hi Tutsi,

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes the new card means that i will no longer get any charges or interest placed on the account and as i understand it this will be reviewed quartely or every 6 months. My situation has not got any worse but it hasnt really improved much either. What natwest have offered so far is better than nothing and will go some way to helping however, when i spoke to the Natwest collection team last week in glasgow they stated that an additional offer would be sent once they had received my old current account card.I have not had this in writing or received anything yet so am wondering if this is still true.

I understand that they are not obliged to do anything further to help but The information im getting from the FOS and Natwest is a bit conflicting.

Thanks again

robot101

[TUTTSI]

Re: Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

Well the FOS told me I had no case and Abbey paid 60% of my claim under hardship - which was during the FSA waiver.

Can you phone them back and ask them to confirm that in writing.

Let us know how you get on.

Tuttsi

[robot101]

Re: Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

Hi Tuttsi,

An update on what is happening with my claim. After several phone calls and chasing up, today i finally received written confirmation of an offer from natwest. I dont have a scanner so cant upload the letter but basically they are offering a refund of £95.00 the charges for the last 6 months.

In the letter it states that this is an 'exceptional offer' and something I have to say I do not agree with as charges from natwest over the last 6 years amount to about £3,000. It says in the letter that I have 60 days to respond and that if i believe they have failed to address the problem/complainy to contact them.

I have to be honest I am not happy with their offer but I am not sure what my options are now. Is it a case of writing more letters and negotiating a better offer, taking them to court (which I can't afford to do) or going back to the OFT who have already said they are satisfied with the lengths that natwest have gone to, to help my situation? Or do I just accept the offer because it is the best I am going to get?

Hope you can help and advise.

Robot101

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

Hi Tuttsi,

An update on what is happening with my claim. After several phone calls and chasing up, today i finally received written confirmation of an offer from natwest. I dont have a scanner so cant upload the letter but basically they are offering a refund of £95.00 the charges for the last 6 months.
It is irrelevant what the amount being offered against the amount offered.
issue 83 - complaints involving consumers who are in financial difficulties
The above explains that in case study 5.

In the letter it states that this is an 'exceptional offer' and something I have to say I do not agree with as charges from natwest over the last 6 years amount to about £3,000. It says in the letter that I have 60 days to respond and that if i believe they have failed to address the problem/complainy to contact them.
What are the charges you have incurred in the last 6 months?
How has the charges worsened your financial hardship on priority debts(mortgage/rent, utilities, council tax)?

I have to be honest I am not happy with their offer but I am not sure what my options are now. Is it a case of writing more letters and negotiating a better offer, taking them to court (which I can't afford to do) or going back to the OFT who have already said they are satisfied with the lengths that natwest have gone to, to help my situation? Or do I just accept the offer because it is the best I am going to get?

Hope you can help and advise.

Robot101

Do you still bank with them? Do you still have priority debt arrears or are they being paid off?

[TUTTSI]

Re: Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

Hi Robot

Unfortunately, now that the FSA waiver on hardship claims has been lifted the banks from what I undersatnd only have to look sympathetically at your predicament. So far they have given you a different account, one where you wont incur further charges + a small refund of 6 months charges.

Maybe they have only gone back 6 months as maybe that is when your hardship kicked in?

Please confirm the exact cause of your hardship?

How many months / years have you been incurring charges and what is the total of charges?

Was this the cause of your hardship or was there another cause?

Did you complete and income and expenditure schedule?

Did you send in evidences of your hardship?

You can of course complain and ask for more but unless you have exceptionate grounds you may not get anywhere.

Tuttsi

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

http://www.lendingstandardsboard.org...endingcode.pdf

The above is what they should do. The hardship provisions are based on them from page 20, section 9. You should make yourself familiar with them.

[robot101]

Re: Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

Hi Guys,

I put in my original claim for charges in april 2009. I requested statements for last 6 years, addeded up the charges which came to just under £3,000.00 and put in a request, natwest responded by sending a letter explaining all claims were on hold until the result of the test case. I followed this up with a hardship claim in september 2009 which after looking at various information online decided I may be considered for, natwest requested a financial statement which i completed and returned accompanied with evidence. Natwest responded saying they did not consider me to be in hardship which is when I took my case to the FOS.

The FOS looked into the case for me, this resulted in another financial statement request from natwest. Again I gathered the evidence and sent it out to the FOS.

The reason for my hardship over the lasst 6 years has been a combination of a recurring illness, periods of unemployment, and most recently starting a lower paid job.

Today, i received a letter offering the last 6 month charges back which amount to £95.00.


Although my first documented claim for hardship with natwest was in september 2009, 8 months ago, they have only offered me my charges back for the last 6 months.

So far Natwest have done the following for me.

Given me a new cash card which does not have a cheque guarentee facility on it to prevent charges.

Stopped any future charges being added to account

Stopped interest on overdraft facility

They have not given me a new account and have not put forward or suggested any repayment plan as yet.

Natwest ex staff member: looking at case study 5 there are some similarities with my own case the only difference being that I have suffered periods of illness which has reduced my income on occassion over the last 6 years that has made it difficult to keep up.

I think I may be way over my head on this one. and am seriously considering taking the offer. I have a simple cash only account set up with another bank my wages are still going into natwest at present.

Sorry about the long jumbled reply. I hope this all makes sense.

Robot

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Hardship Aknowledged But No Offer

My personal opinion based on all those factors is that the offer that you have from NatWest is fair, since the charges have been stopped with interest(that should mean that you can reduce the overall balance outstanding while not making your financial hardship worse). Personally, I would get the payment(I mean the payments you have coming in rather than the refund) sent to the new account and then either transfer online or simply pay in a fixed amount each month into the NatWest account.