Thread: newbie needs help with hardship letter!

hello all!

I should have joined this forum when i first submitted my small claims to the court against Abbey for £3500 (incl interest) but with a newborn and a teenager I guess I'm a little scatty right now!

Anyway, my case has been put on stop, awaiting the outcome of the test case but I want to have my case heard sooner as I have and am suffering financial hardship.

The charges made against my account with abbey were all made whilst I was in receipt of either Income Support or Working Tax Credit & Housing Benefit. As a result I am in arrears with Council Tax and Rent plus a personal loan.

(Also my abbey account is now closed as I moved to Woolwich - now Barclays a few years ago - and incidentally don't get ANY charges with them - which just proves how the Banks spiral you further and further into debt.)

My current situation is that I am on maternity leave (SMP) with Working Tax Credit and Housing/Council Tax benefit and raising two children on my own.

I've read the skeleton letter in templates but am still confused on how to put forward my hardship case.

Do I need to outline all of the above (including how I no longer get charged once I bailed out from the abbey?)

Any help would be appreciated as I've got a couple of days to submit my request for stay left.

Thanks one and all!

Jo..

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Hi JO

You would need to prove the hardship, so i would start with getting an income and expenditure sheet ready, also with some help here, get the Skeleton arguments typed up ready. It looks like you will have no issues proving hardship looking at your post. I see others are lookng at your post too, so i will come back later to check on you as well.

Uk

ok - am getting the skeleton letter together now - plus income/expenditure sheet.


thanks!

have sent application to lift the stay today! thanks for the advice - i'll keep you all updated on the outcome via this thread!

I will get your thread here moved to Abbey, so others can help in that forum. You will get more assistance there.

Uk

Application for removal of stay.

I am contacting Abbey National PLC,
For a removal of stay with Blackpool county court on the grounds of hardship.
As you are aware I have taken the steps at blackpool county courts in which have had a stay put on my claim I have tried to settle with abbey as directed by the court district Judge Law but without settlement being offered I am now writing to you on the grounds of hardship and hopefully we can get a lift of stay between you and myself.
Benefits are set to a minimum
To cover basic requirements, to live on. The bank Abbey has caused a lot of hardship for me by ways of struggling to live on what little was left for me abbey continued to take these charges from my bank account out of my DLA, SDA, Mobility (DWP) wrongfully debited these charges was taken out of my benefits paid in by the DWP.
Abbey deprived me of my basic living essentials there were times I couldn’t afford to by xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, this may seem to you stupid at not being able to buy them but when times are hard we have to do and manage the best way we can and if that means going without then so be it.
I am only because of little that was left for me as I had to try and buy very little food and other items gas electic for my metre, I found myself having to use toilet/kitchen paper even to the extent to cut hand towels so I could use for my monthlies as I couldn’t even afford the price of them which is a few pounds that few pounds could get me bread potatoes milk tea and whatever else to make it last for me.
Living on SDA, DLA, Mobility Benefits And my husband getting incapacity benefit low rate for ill health, this is the only income we had in which we had to try and manage on these as well as pay our mortgage at that time.

Some of the embarrassing hardship that has been caused the Government did not take into account that the extravagant bank charges, which reflect a disproportionate burden on those who are in, recite of benefits.

My husband lost his job due to ill health chronic sciatica, groin pain, which the pain goes in his legs, we were let down by payment protection after a year which then led us to having to sell our home to sell your house and rent it back because of the arrears we owed, due to the hardship of charges being taken and having to sort out what to pay and what to get with little money that was coming in.
I have found it very difficult being disabled me having health. Problems

We have had to take a loan out from greenwoods to help us in which had abbey had not taken


these charges we would not have had to suffer.

I hope you will be able to come to an agreement with me otherwise if I do not hear from you within 7 days of this dated letter I shall be contacting the courts.



Yours sincerely

is this letter alright for abbey and court do i remove anything or add more thvm for helping
abg
vbrep_register("1153772")

Hi all!

You'll all be pleased to hear that I have been granted a Lift of Stay to take place on 16th November at Woolwich county court! They are allowing 15minutes for the case!

Is it likely that I will hear from Abbey prior to the court date for settlement?

I'm getting all my paperwork together, including every statement, proof of my debts, income etc... is there anything else I should gather?

Any further advice much appreciated!

Jo

Hi Lula,

It would appear that it is an "Application to Lift Stay". (oh well - at least it's a step in the right direction!)

Does this mean that this is an opportunity to prove that I am in financial hardship for the Court to consider Lifting the Stay?

As I said - I can show my Income/Outgoings plus my credit report, debts etc. Plus I can show that I don't get any Bank charges since leaving Abbey (as they were basically charges on charges every month, leading to a downward spiral).

Any further advice would be appreciated!

Thanks x

H, I am in the same position as you and my hearing is listed for 1st Nov.
I am not sure exactly what info to take to court and I am franticaly hoping that someone will advise shortly.
I did send in with my application proof of my hardship, ie statement of arrears with our mortgage compamy and letter of thrm intending to reprocess the house. But I did not send a financial statement as I was not told about that. I did however, write a letter of complaint to the FSA and fos as Abbey are in breach of the waiver agreement.
DS

i think i'm going to take proof of my income/expenditure/debts and explain that i need to raise cash for nursery care to enable me to return to work in new year, keep car on road to get to work plus show that Abbey have been giving me the runaround since march & not even asked questions about their other mystery withdrawals from my account (that were NOT standard charges) & that the charges deducted came straight from my benefits & how the charges impacted me getting into debt. hopefully that will be enough for them to pull the case forward. i hope it goes ok for you... will check your posts now to see if you've had any responses.
thanks! Jo