Hardship cases

[Amethyst]

Re: Hardship cases

Bluebell's Debt Thread Hardship Claim - Page 2 - Legal Beagles

Bluebells debt thread for information

[scoobydoo]

Re: Hardship cases

this was from the old thread OTR as well - some information from A RBOS customer


Well that means one of two things - 1) it makes it harder for them to give a reason for refusal as they have no criteria to measure it against - so the wording of the letter becomes more important or 2) it gives them an opt out as no one can measure whether they are being fair or not .

I guess they are choosing the latter

I have been informed that the following is an extract from RBOS criteria ( but I have not personally checked it.)

Events which may lead to being considered in hardship

Divorce - warranting loss of income
Loss of Job - customer or partner
Reduction in earnings due to unexpected occurrence
Maternity
Increased dependants (more kids/dependant relative)


Customers should not be considered for Financial Hardship just because they have too much to repay. There has to be an additional change in circumstances. In considering suitability consideration must be given to current guidelines from regulatory bodies and also consider reputational risk to the Bank whilst not compromising credit risk.

QUALIFYING CRITERIA

Total house income must be less than 15,000 PA

or - normal house income has suddenly reduced by 50% or more

or - unforeseen outgoings have suddenly increased by 50% or more

These case can be managed by the Collecton Centres for a period of 6 months whereupon the position is reviewed and if no change in circumstances account should be referred to CMS


Personally I think if a letter is drafted carefully we should shift the onus back on the bank to give full reasons why the application has not been considered and give them 14 days to reply ( apparently that is the guidance from the FOS).




I think basically the FSA was guilty of such woolly wording it just send us round in circles.

Is it case that would have been consided hardship by the banks anyway ? Or cases that hardship a caused by the charges - or cases that became hardship cases during the waiver. We need one good case to get a reply from the bank as to why they have resused to help and then an opinion from the FSA or FOS as to whteher they agree.

Travel girl still looks like a good bet to me.

Jan

[Kafka]

Re: Hardship cases

Jan

I think you are talking a lot of sense here. I do recall seeing this guidance myself somewhere also - probably OTR.

I fully support the idea of sending in a carefully-worded hardship letter to make the bank deal with it, or else force their hand to reveal reasons why not. This could be very interesting if we get it right and I'll be happy to help.

BTW - I presume that Travelgirl is ABG?

[scoobydoo]

Re: Hardship cases

yes thats right. She is on a carers holiday but will be back next week . She seems a a genuine case whos situation was definitely worsened by the charges - I read through all the pages on her thread best I could to make the summary . She was lucky to have someone to go to court with her from OTR as she was making herself ill with all the worry. Why Simon got his charges from Abbey and she did not is beyond me. I dont think it ever should have got as far as court. She had problems with her spread sheet and some of the letters - and it looks like she had to take out a loan to repay the debt caused by the charges - and sometimes had no money to live on as her income ws benefits only.

I dont think she has ever had a letter with a full explanation as to why her case has not been filtered out. I suppose as they closed her bank account apparently without her knowing - they are not really bothered.

Jan

[scoobydoo]

Re: Hardship cases

JUST FOUND THIS OTR - GOOD NEWS A&L AT LEAST ARE CONSIDERING HARDSHIP CASES!!!OUTSIDE COURT SYSTEM
Re: Manic v HSBC and now A & L tooooooo
A & L have sent me a form to complete in relation to my income and expenditure on this account. I have done this and sent it back after writing to them constantly during the test case.

It clearly shows that I am in a state of financial hardship!

I will update you when I get a response but dont hold your breath!


manicblondeView Public ProfileSend a private message to manicblondeFind More Posts by manicblonde

25th April 2008, 14:27 #4 (permalink) freakyleaky

freakyleakyView Public ProfileSend a private message to freakyleakyFind More Posts by freakyleaky

Yesterday, 22:32 #5 (permalink) manicblonde

Classic Account Customer

Join Date: Apr 2007

Location: On the Edge.........

Posts: 269

Re: Manic v HSBC and now A & L tooooooo

Hello All

Got a letter offering a sum of near the 700 quid mark on the claim where I am owed about 900 and 150 on the claim where i am owed about 1200!

I Have writtn back and told them there is no way I can accept this as it does not even clear the balance on each account bla bla bla

Got a letter back to say they are looking into the matter again. Will let you know what happens as soon as I have more info

manicblondeView Public ProfileSend a private message to manicblondeFind More Posts by manicblonde

Today, 09:39 #6 (permalink) jansus

Platinum Account Customer

Join Date: Jan 2007

Location: Thame -oxfordshire

Posts: 1,669

Re: Manic v HSBC and now A & L tooooooo

Well done at least they are dealing with your enquiry on a hardship basis.

Can I just ask are you just claiming you are in a difficult fiancial position now or that the charges caused the problems in the frst place ?

It may help others.

[Amethyst]

Re: Hardship cases

brilliant well spotted. be interesting to see what she comes back with.

[EXC]

Re: Hardship cases

Excellent Scoobs

[Dougal16T]

Re: Hardship cases

Good morning all..

I too have a hardship case against HSBC ....it has been ongoing for a long time. FOS absolutely useless!

I'll put some more info here later....Thanks to Jan for directing me to this site!

[COLOR="rgb(0, 100, 0)"]Best wishes[/COLOR]

Dougal (He's the Westie in the picture)
(aka Howard)

ps Remember it's your money you're after!

[jamesrap]

Re: Hardship cases

This is great news.

I am part of a number of forums and I have yet to find someone with the guts to take these banks on with hardship cases. And then publisize it

I will make a note to the bank and send an n244 form into the court should they not comply with the request.

I am happy to say I am known by my first name now in the local county court. After winning every single case I have put in. And I have had a lot.

Will keep you updated

James

[scoobydoo]

Re: Hardship cases

Not all good news yet - even the FOS are still stalling on cases I am afraid. they have just refused travel girls claim for a second time as they say the bank have adhered to the banking code by not chasing for the debt caused by the charges and there is no interest accruing at the moment So in other words they are also still waiting for the final outcome of the case and the waiver review. Lets hope we get some more positive news on the next move very soon - otherwise it is back into battle I think.

[scottishlass]

Re: Hardship cases

don't know if you have seen this yet from OTR

Royal Bank of Scotland - The Consumer Forums

sorry in advance if this doesn't work not good on links
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
RBS Hardship Success - The Consumer Forums

Okay it is the second link

[jax007]

Re: Hardship cases

Is the criteria for hardship cases official now then?

If so, what's the way forward in getting stays lifted on those grounds?

Or indeed, making new claims and getting them through the system without a stay?

jax

[littlesally]

Re: Hardship cases

I didn't realise that until the last few days that the charges being void on benefits do not refer to bank charges.
So far I have helped numerous of my service users reclaim bank charges by quoting this act. Maybe it has worked because they speak with such confidence that the bank think it must be true!
Some have been refused on the phone so have written in. Those that won them back easily were those who wrote in a personal circumstances letter - homeless, no money, needing this money not only to eat but to pay daily for a bed etc.
Anyway, just to say that in my experiance with the benefit/charges it is better not to send official letters. The official ones were nearly always refused until followed by a personal letter.
Sally xx
PS Not one person didn't get their money back!!

[Amethyst]

Re: Hardship cases

Yep I agree with you - personal is always best when pleading poverty. The people who you have helped are in the main in very obvious hardship so of course that does make thier cases more likely to receive some form of consideration.

I do think the banks at floor level are still unsure of the applicability of these acts too. Which can be used to peoples advantage.

[Paule]

Re: Hardship cases

Laura, have you actually sent any letters to the bank requesting your charges back?

I have set up a thread for you Here, so as not to hijack this thread

Laura V Llloyds - Legal Beagles

If you can post your responses on the new thread then it will be easier to help you

PKea