Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

[sarafaye]

Hi
It's taken a while for me to post this on behalf of my Daughter. She has a 3 yr old who just underwent heart surgery so this of course took precedence over everything.

I started a claim for her re Lloyds which has just been struck out as she failed to enclose documentary proof of benefits which should have accompanied her AQ. The court has said she can fill out an N244 to request an order for the claim to be reinstated.

I have since been reading lots on here regarding benefits/hardship etc, so when requesting the claim to be reinstated, is it possible also to send in an amended particulars of claim? My Daughter receives income support, carers allowance for her Son and child tax/child benefit.

Apologies for all these questions, just another couple.....
When writing to inform the bank re the benefits/claim does the letter go to the branch itself or to registered address or to the solicitors?

Many thanks
sara

[Amethyst]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

Hi Sara

Her claim being struck out - was this because she claimed an exemption from fees (EX160 form) but didn't include the evidence ? Therefore she hasnt paid anything ? thus isnt losing out by not continuing with this claim.... if thats right then it might be wise for her to put her claim in through the Financial Ombusdman Service - as opposed to the stress of using the court process - and the uncertainty of whether her claim will end up being stayed.

The claim hasnt been stayed - so if you wanted to stay with the courts system then you could do a fully amended Particulars with that N244 form.

I'll have a word with someone who is a bit more up on the Financial Ombudsman service route of reclaiming the charges under hardship and see if she can advise you further.

Talk soon hun

Sharon
xx

[sarafaye]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

Hello and thank you for your reply. I have just spoken to my Daughter who says she had a letter from the banks solicitors saying they would be requesting a stay, obviously before the claim was struck out.

She had previously submitted proof of income when issuing the N1 claim form, received an AQ which she returned. Since having heard nothing at all from anyone since,she rang the court last week to learn it had been struck out in October, she did not realise she had to provide further evidence to cover the AQ fee.

She didn't put anything regarding benefits on her original particulars of claim.

Many thanks
sara

[Tempty]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

hi Sarafaye
it's deffinatly worth submitting an amended POC with benefit details, with the N244. as it's not going to cost her anything.... don't forget to include an EX160 form and evidence of benefits.

I had made the very same mistake on my own claim... in fact it was the mistake that was my undoing in the end. I had amended the amount on my claim.... but I had never mentioned in my POC that a large proportion of my claim had been taken from benefits and was therefore covered by the social security acts and tax credits acts.

I would recommend doing both!
amend your poc aswell as going down the FOC route.... keeps all your bases covered

[iancognito]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

Sara

The court route is going to be a bit hit and miss until the test case is sorted, I think Tempty's case confirms this and you if you are to continue with this route she's best placed to advise.

May be worth doing a claim to the FOS either concurrently or instead, have you mentioned benefits or hardship to the bank? They do seem to be coming round slowly to the hardship idea although we have yet to see any significant results.

If you wish to pursue this route, shout back and we'll sort out a personalised complaint for you.

[sarafaye]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

Hello and many thanks for your replies,it's very much appreciated.
I had mentioned to my daughter it might be best approaching the bank with a decent letter and the FOS. She is in quite a mess and even her land line phone has been disconnected as of yesterday. I will of course be paying this for her tomorrow,as at the moment it's her life line.

It's been quite a stressful year for her so far especially being a single Mum, and she normally copes very well. Her case is not too disimilar to yours tempty,insofar as the bank increased the borrowing in order to cover the charges each month. Again,the bank was well aware that her income was entirely made up of benefits.

She has now set up a new bank account and with nothing going through Lloyds account,they continue to place charges on the account for non payment of the loan. They refused to let her cancel the Direct Debit for that.

I spent ages reading your thread Tempty, I wish you well with your efforts.

Many thanks
Sara

[iancognito]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

The fact that she now has a different account does put a slightly different slant on things as the FOS will only deal with cases where the charges are currently causing hardship.

Is she still paying her loan repayments into the bank? whether they are taking this in charges or not, she has to make these payments if possible and keep proof she has paid it in, if she can't afford it, she needs to write to the bank with a reduced offer of repayments, the Citizens Advice Bureau will help her to do this.

Then, once that is done and dusted and agreed, they can wait until the test case - so can your daughter, she always has the defence of unlawful charges if they take her to court for the money, which is basically probably all charges anyway.

Sorry I can't give you better news but I'm not going to give you false hopes of a speedy resolution.

[sarafaye]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately,she is not making the loan payments,as far as I know she has missed the last three. She set up her new account in September when she issued her claim. This was around the time her Son went into hospital, she has since started to receive the carers allowance for him.

What would be the best route to take now? Complete an N244 to ask for her claim to be reinstated and amend her particulars of claim?

many thanks for your help
Sara

[thephoenix]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

In light of your daughter using another account, I feel as though proving hardship for the charges would be difficult, as the money she now receives is not being taken by the banks in charges.
Therefore the benefits are all hers. Unless I've misread something.

I personally would do as iancognito suggests, contact the bank and negotiate a reduced payment for the loan, that will at least stop them submitting the D/D which is incurring charges.
Once this is done then submit the charges complaint to the FOS and include that your daughter had no other choice than to open another account to stabilize her finances.

[sarafaye]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

Thank you all for your comments/advice.
I will prepare a letter for the bank - my daughter has no access to a pc herself. Then I will submit the charges complaint via the FOS.

Thanks all again for reading this, I'm grateful. To be honest, after reading lots of various posts I was getting a bit confused and stuck for giving her the best route to take.

Sara

[scoobydoo]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

Just to let you know another case with A&L has been offered full refund of charges after appealing on hardship basis . Threatened FOS and it seemed to work

Jan

[thephoenix]

Re: Help/advice needed please re benefit claim

Just to let you know another case with A&L has been offered full refund of charges after appealing on hardship basis . Threatened FOS and it seemed to work

Jan

ahhh nice one, hope others banks catch the bug

thanks jan :kiss: