Hi Hazel I know you said that the CAB have said that you are not a hardship case. Did they define that as being under the FSA waiver rules or just their opinion, there is a difference. If you are strugling with debts and owe loads and you are currently in arrears with say, mortgage/rent Abbey are actually paying out 65% of the claim at present under the presnt FSA waiver rules. Abbey's legal dept did ask if I wanted a chq sent or paid into my account, so I guess you could say you want it sent to you and then you can bank it wherever you want, somewhere where it will help you with your present predicament. I understand your case is presently stayed by the court, if this is the course you would like to take this further let me know and I will help you further. This can be applied to all the banks not just Abbey. My own case with Abbey was stayed and I have recently been given a 65% interim payment which was really helpfull. Quite a lot of peeps have now had the same result and I do not see why you would not be able to receive this as well. Regards Tuttsi xx

1.Income and expenditure sheet. 2.Documentary evidences ie court summon's, statement from your rent/mortgage company showing that you are in arrears, council tax, electricty and gas arrears etc....as much evidences as you can to substatiate your claim. 3.Include in your letter why you believe you should be considered a hardship case ie in my case my hubby had a couple of emergency operations and we fell into serious arrears leading to a suspended possession order and behind with paying household bills. You have to spell out exactly why you feel that you have good grounds under the present FSA waiver rules on hardship. 4.An up to date spreadie of charges and interest. Use your court reference and send it to: Ronan Coyle, Abbey National PLC, Location Code TS6 D03, Abbey National House, 2 Triton Square, Regent Park, London NW1 3AN Tel:

Alex, that is a good question. I am going to query it now that the money has cleared. I have tried 65% on various combinations and cannot quite make it fit. At a guess I think it maybe 65% of the original claim with the charges that I put into court last year as that seems to be near to the figure although it does not match exactly and they certainly have not included the court fees. It was always my intentions to write anyway and ask them for a breakdown of how they calculted it. You know it is a strange thing they do not want to put this in writing it is all done over the phone. Good luck with your claim tuttsi xx

Thanks Zaffie for giving me more insight into your daughters hardship. I only want to help and not to hinder and was only trying to understand exactly where your daughter was at, which I think you can fully understand. Sometimes another angle to reach the end result can be a bonus. Whilst I have been sucessful with Abbey we still have a couple of claims that we awaiting decisions on including HSBC on the hardship. Whether you take my advice or others is for you and your daughter to decide. HSBC are extremely dificult to get the hardship through but with a little persevence you may get lucky. Regards Tuttsi xx

Zaffie have you sent all evidences surrounding the hardship and a letter explaining. If you phone the customer services number ask them for the contact details. I do hope you get somewhere very soon. Fingers crossed for you. Regards Tuttsi xx

Hi Zaffie, I am also sorry to hear about your daughters plight with HSBC. I agree with Johnny that HSBC are not playing ball and that it is parmount that she opens a new account immediately for for benefits. IMHO, in order to make a hardship claim with HSBC you definately need to send them an income and expenses summary, all evidences of hardship, a statement of charges and compensatory interest together with a nice letter advising them why you fall under the FSA waiver rules for financial hardship. Basically as much info as you can throw in will help your case. I also believe this route is quicker than the court route as you will have to supply all of this at a latter stage and your claim could get stayed along with the majority of cases in the court system at the moment. I did this with my Abbey claim and have just been paid out and I also know someone else with First Direct which is part of HSBC who has also had his hardship claim paid. Under the hardship rules the banks only have to look sympathetically at claims it is not written in stone that they have to pay out. So at this stage being nice and appeal to their better nature would be more prudent. If after you have done this and HSBC do not play ball the you have 2 options, one to complain to the CEO of HSBC on the grounds that they have not looked sypathetically at the claim and secondly a complaint to the FSA and FOS. I wish your daughter all the best and if there is anything further I can help with just shout. Tuttsi xx

Hi RDM, Although I am not up on all the chenagagans of your HSBC Mortgage. What I do know (speaking from experience) there is the Cheltenham & Gloucester v Norgan well known court case where you could try and get the remaining outstanding arrears spread over the remaining term of your mortgage. It may not though stop them obtaining a suspended mortgage order, thus ensuring that that you keep up the repayments. My suggestionnis that you go to the Citizens Advice or a law centre when they offer free advice to write on your behalf to get this matter sorted. All the best Tuttsi

Hiya Tilly, Browsing through, if you are making a claim against Abbey you may be able to include your hardship. So when you do the pre-lim you can also include all the evidences for your claim. Abbey have just paid me 65% of my claim on the new FSA waiver rules. If you need any help just shout. Good Luck Tuttsi xx

Snikki, how do you know it was repossessed! Where was the car taken from! Drive or road. Have you reported this theft to the police! Tuttsi

Hiya Determindator Long time time talk... how goes. Not sure that I can make this meet in St Albans as I have a lot on arround this time. Maybe we can catch up soon. Tuttsi xx

Hiya Sallysas I am not sure with compound intest where a claim has not already been in the court system and stayed. Is you claim with Abbey or Co-op! Not knowing all your circumstances, could it be that you may qualify for exemption with the courts for filing your N1. I can only tell you I was helped on another site to a very high standard of expertese and this has enabled me and many others to obtain our interim payments now rather than wait by sending everything nicely packaged. Compounded contractual interest is something that I know some peeps are working on now with a court case on Friday which is now awaiting the judgement from the Judge in 1/2 weeks time. The POC etc all have to be very well presented as the oposing bank will send a barister to fight it. One of the main arguments for CCI is Sempra v Inland Revenue. You have to know your ground to fully argue this efficiently in court. In the mean time you can go for compensatory interest which seems to cover whatever interest rate you want to use. My Abbey claim irronocally was contractual interest - I used the rate I was charged at the time of each charge and yes they paid 65% of that and had not argued about that. Sally if there is anything I can help you with you can PM me or post here so that I can help you as much as I can. I know what it is like when you just do not have the knowledge to see something through. I also believe that genuine hardship cases should be considered by all the banks not just the banks that are currently involvbed in the OFT test case. Regards Tuttsi xx

Hi Andy I had a thought after I posted that Co-op I do not believe are not participating in the OFT test case. That should not exclude them from either settling a claim on hardship or otherwise and I agree that if their letter is a final no no, then a complaint to both the FOS and FSA sent with all the evidences that has been sent to Co-op on which they have refused. Another thought which I favour first is that the CEO of the Co-op may remedy this situation if it were bought to his/hers attention, especially if they were made aware that they were contravening the FSA waiver rules. Perhaps this info had not been filtered through to the relevant departments and the CEO would certainly not want to be fined or ridiculed by the FSA or FOS for non compliance. I would IMHO give a 7 days letter to the CEO advising them of the intentions to make a serious complaint to both FOS and FSA if they do not consider hardship claims. Tutts xx.

Hi Andrew I have just received an interim payment of 65% of my Abbey hardship claim, my claim will not be predudiced as a result of the OFT test case and therefore should the OFT win I will be able to get the balance.I followed this route my claim was paid out in under 4 weeks. The best way to claim under the FSA waiver rules is to complete an income and expenses - joint if you have a partner, All evidences of your hardship, this can be arrears on mortgage/rent, debts, court actions, medical.... etc. A spreaddie of all your charges and interest (compensatory 8%) A letter explaining your hardship and enclosing all evidences and documentations as above. The more info you can provide the better chance you have of your bank giving a sypathetic cnsideration to your claim under the FSA waiver rules. Tuttsi

Me too! All the best Tuttsi xx

You should complete the forms and also supply and send together with all evidences to support your claim with a polite letter explaining why you consider that you have a financial hardship claim. To be honest I cannot understand why you feel that you do not have to prove your situation. If you were going for a loan or a mortgage you would have to supply evidences. The more information you supply in support of your claim the better the chance you have of receiving a sypathetic response. Do not forget the OFT test case is not over yet and our only hope of getting anything from the banks is to appeal to their better nature and under the FSA waiver rules. Tuttsi

Hi Murda When did you submit your hardship claim! What did you send with it in way of evidences! Tuttsi

I did and have had a 65% payout under the hardship rules and it will not prejudice my balance of my claim which has been stayed by the court. Tuttsi xx

It is usual, if you read my posts above, I recomend that this is all sent at the same time as the initial letter to speed matters along. Complete as soon as possible because they will dismiss claims where claimants delay returning requested items. Good luck Tuttsi xx

Hi everyone Abbey deposited the money in my account today.... thank you Abbey. Tuttsi xx

The quicker you send them your hardship claim the better IMHO Tuttsi xx

Hi Andy These are the FSA waiver hardship rules, you should have a good read and if you fall into the at least one or more you should be able to make a claim providing you can show the evidences to support your claim. 1. You will need to complete and income and expenses summary. 2. You need to complete an up todate spready of charges and interest. 3. A letter outlining why you consider that you come under genuine hardship. 4. Enclose all evidences including any medical letters, rent/mortgage/council tax/electricity/gas etc arrears and evidences of income. 5. If you have not already done a pre-lim letter you can do a combined letter with the hardship including 1-4 above and send to customers services with your account number. Basically as much info as you can give them will speed up them coming to an early decision. I have now heard of at least 5 cases with Abbey that has has positive desisions in the last few days and Abbey seem to be the leaders in agreeing the genuine hardship cases. From what you have already said you may well come under the hardship. Good luck Tuttsi xx 1. The firm will be sympathetic and positive when considering any financial difficulties claimed by the complainant. Firms will not subject a complainant to harassment or undue pressure when discussing their problems. 2. In making an assessment of financial difficulty the firm will take into account: a. evidence of changes in lifestyle, including loss of employment; disability; serious illness; imprisonment; relationship breakdown; death of a partner; starting a lower paid job; parental/carer leave; and starting full-time education; b. evidence of the following events: i. items repeatedly being returned unpaid due to lack of available funds; ii. failing to make loan repayments or other commitments; iii. discontinuation of regular credits; iv. notification of some form of insolvency or court proceedings; v. regular requests for increased borrowing or repeated rescheduling of debts; vi. making frequent cash withdrawals on a credit card at a non-promotional rate of interest; and vii. repeatedly exceeding a credit card or overdraft limit without agreement (and, in this regard, where a complainant has incurred over £500 in unauthorised overdraft charges in the previous 12 months, that is to be treated as indicative of financial difficulty). 3. If during the handling of the complaint the firm becomes aware (including by notification from the complainant) that the complainant may be in, or heading towards financial difficulties, the firm will contact the complainant to outline their approach to financial difficulty cases and to encourage the customer to contact the firm if the customer is worried about their position. The firm will also provide signposts to sources of free, independent money advice. 4. The firm will make available to complainants straightforward information in plain English on the firm’s procedures and systems for dealing with customers in financial difficulty. 5. If it becomes clear to the firm that the complainant needs specialist assistance, the complainant will be referred promptly to a specialist team that deals with customers in financial difficulties, if one exists. The firm will give a phone number on all communications that will put the customer in contact with a named person or a team dedicated to dealing with cases of financial difficulty. 6. Where the firm does not have sufficient evidence to assess whether or not the complainant is in fact in financial difficulty, the firm will seek such further relevant information as is reasonably required to make that assessment. In the event that the firm reasonably requires relevant information to be provided by the complainant and the complainant does not provide the requested information within a reasonable period of time, the firm shall not be obliged to treat such a complainant as being in financial difficulty.

Angela, I just thought I would let you know that I checked my account this afternoon and the money has been deposited. All the Best Tuttsi xx

Hi Flubdub My court case against Abbey was stayed by the courts when the OFT test case started and has remained stayed until after the conclusion of the test case. The remainer of the 35% of my claim will be paid hopfully at the conclusion of the OFT test case as Abbey have said that this has not prejudiced my claim. So technichally I have had money on account. tuttsi xx

Hi Angela Firstly congratulations, I am really delighted for you. I did ask Ronan from Abbey Legal Dept when he phoned me last Friday but he said that was the max and it was not going to prejudice the rest of my claim after the OFT Test case if it goes our way. There were no strings attached either so I felt I should take it as the money would be very usefull to ensure that our property is not repossessed. Tuttsi xx

Hiya Mac, Wishing you all the best with your claim - you have worked very hard on this. Tuttsi xx