C.ELLIS Starting again with Natwest HARDSHIP

[butterfly3747]

Hi there,

A few years ago I managed to get £1726.00 from NatWest, but over the years my charges have spiralled out of control and now need to get them back again, i really am in hardship this month they charged me £200, and now i have to borrow money from my parents to pay the rent. With Utilities and bills not being paid and them taking all my tax credits I need to get this started?

 

Q. Where do i find what qualifies for hardship?

Q. Is there a prelim letter with hardship in it?

 

Thanks

Edited December 7, 2008 by butterfly3747

[yourbank]

On my signature should be the FSA Waiver on Bank Charges. The part you need to read is Annex 2 which is, I believe on Page 10. I have to be honest and say I am not sure I can help on question 2 as I am not really familiar with the template letters on bank charges sites today. You can adapt a letter to include a paragraph on hardship. NatWest usually send an Income and Expenditure form for you to complete and that may involve a further phone call clarify some points. Hope that helps.

[butterfly3747]

Got my bank statements last week.

 

i am now deciding whether I should wait for the next £28 charge to come through or just go straight on with the Letter before action? I know most likely i will have more charges to come!

 

What do you think?

 

Total charges so far in the last 2 years to claim back£ 1,201.00

[webbscatering]

Hi there, are you trying to say these **** are taking your benefits as in your Tax Credits:mad:

[butterfly3747]

Right then, the baby is sleeping and i have just finished going through all my charges and using the spreadsheet in the library (great tool by the way)

 

I have printed and finished the letter and all i will do now is send it later by Recorded Delivery.

 

Wish Me Luck

[webbscatering]

OK you said that they are taking your benefit money and there is such a thing called "rights of appropriation",

 

Social Security Administration Act 1992

Miscellaneous

Certain benefit to be inalienable **

 

Here also is the legislation that can be quoted if the benefits that fall within this act apply to you.

187- Subject to the provisions of this Act, every assignment of, or charge on-

(a)benefit as defined in section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

(b)any income-related benefit; or

©child benefit,

and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void; and, on the bankruptcy of the beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors

 

 

post this letter off too:-

 

[your address]

 

 

 

 

[bank name & address]

 

 

 

[date]

 

 

 

RIGHT OF APPROPRIATION

 

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx

 

I am writing to inform you that I am due to have a Tax Credit payment of £xxx paid into my account on xx/xx/xx, and I wish to use my first right of appropriation for this money, for the following purposes;

 

Rent £xx

Utilities bills £xx

Housekeeping money £xx

 

I will withdraw the money on the day that it is deposited for the above use, and I would be grateful if you would ensure that any other payments out of my account do not interfere with this withdrawal.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

[signature]

 

 

[print name]

 

If they respond By Telling you you do not have these rights then this letter must follow:-

 

Bank Address

 

Date

 

Your Address

 

 

CC: LOCAL MP NAME

FSA

 

Dear Sir / madam,

 

 

RE: FORMAL COMPLAINT UNDER THE CONSUMER CREDIT ACT 2006

 

On DATE, I personally delivered the attached letter exercising my common law first right of appropriation in respect of payments in order to maintain my basic living requirements.

 

Instead of accepting this appropriation, your staff refused to abide by my common law rights. The bank has instead appropriated my payments for the purpose of paying an overdraft largely consisting of collection charges.

 

I am aware of the FSA waiver (in respect of the current OFT test case), which expressly requires the bank to consider hardship. I am also aware of the Banking Code, which requires you to behave sympathetically.

 

Please consider this letter a formal complaint under your complaints handling scheme set up under the consumer credit act 2006. I request acknowledgement of this letter in a reasonable timeframe, with a copy of your companies’ complaint procedure.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

xxxx

[butterfly3747]

A few weeks ago i received a letter from Natwest that was thier standard form to fill out about your ins and outs to prove your hardship. Weeks on now, i still had no response and i am slightly kicking myself for not sending it recorded delivery.

 

I have no choice but i'm going to sent the Letter Before Action tomorrow morning.

 

Comments and advice greatly appreciated.

[missdpd]

I would open a new basic bank account away from them and get all your benefits paid into there and have your DD's going out from there as well, that way you will have more control over your money whilst you sort the charges out on this account, after all, if they decide for whatever bizzare reason your case isn't a hardship case, who knows how long it will take them to sort it and what with the stay in place at court it will unlikely be in the immediate future.

 

[butterfly3747]

Hi there,

 

Natwest have written to me and told me they dont think i am suffering hardship.

 

I am now looking for the money claim online template letter, does anyone know where it is?

 

Can i include i charge i haven't received yet?

 

Thanks,

[yourbank]

Hi there,

 

Natwest have written to me and told me they dont think i am suffering hardship.

 

I am now looking for the money claim online template letter, does anyone know where it is?

 

Can i include i charge i haven't received yet?

 

Thanks,

 

What did they send you in the letter? The wording I mean.

[butterfly3747]

Dear Miss Ellis,

 

You recently completed and returned a customer financial form and we have undertaken a review of your financial position in accorance with the requirements of the bankinf colde and the FSA waiver applying to the bank charges complaints.

 

Following our review of the information you have provided and in accordance with these requirements we have determined that you do not fall within the criteria which degine financial hardship. Therefore, at present w will not look to take your case further and review your bank facilities.

 

If your circumstances change or you have additional information you can provide, please do so and we will review your position. You may also wish to contact your local Citizens Advice bureau or another suitable free debt counselling service to obtain further information relating to the options available to you.

 

As we mentioned in our previous letter to youm we acknowledge receipt of your complaint about bank charges, We believe the charges are fair, transparent and lawful. However, as we have previously explained, the bank )along with a bnumber of other banks) has now become involved in legal proceein with the Office of Fair Trading in relation to personal current account charges which will resolve the legal issues regarding the firness and legality of your bank charges.

 

Once the case between the OFT and the bank finishes, we will deal with your complaint as quickly as possible.

 

We are sorry we have not been able to respond in full to your complaint no, but we (together with the FSA and OFT) think it is necessary to reolce the key legal ussues befre we decided how to respond to your complaint.

 

If you do not agree with out conclusions you can refer your case to the financial ombudsman service (FOS). You can finf futhrt information ont he FOS website

 

If you have any other furhter questions or woul like an updat on the latest position regarding proceedings please check our website. Of call us....

 

Your sincerely,

 

Lyn Kirkland

Senior Centre Manager

[bagpuss01]

Does anyone know what your 'surplus funds available' (as worked out on a customer financial statement) needs to be before they actually accept you as a hardship case then? Does it need to be 0 or a negative sum?

 

Funnily enough Natwest charges aren't listed as a monthly expenditure, so I reckon I'll have to put them in the 'other' category.

[yourbank]

Does anyone know what your 'surplus funds available' (as worked out on a customer financial statement) needs to be before they actually accept you as a hardship case then? Does it need to be 0 or a negative sum?

 

Funnily enough Natwest charges aren't listed as a monthly expenditure, so I reckon I'll have to put them in the 'other' category.

You don't include the charges as they are not a regular fixed amount. The question is in terms of income IN income OUT and any arrears on "priority debts". If you have arrears on them then they may payout an interim payment on that basis.

[bagpuss01]

Thank you for that.

 

If you're still there, I am claiming for charges on my joint account and my sole account. I'm assuming my 'income' and 'expenditure' should relate to the individual account I am filling the form out for? For example, my mortgage payments come out of my joint account, so although I have a mortgage - should I only put that as an expenditure on the joint form or declare it as an expenditure on both? Likewise, bills only come out of the joint account... I suppose I'm worried they won't consider both forms together to see my financial situation as a whole. In fact, my husband is claiming on his sole account too, so technically it would be great to consider all three accounts as a household rather than all of them seperately.

 

Does anyone know if they will do this?? I'll staple them together if I have to!

[yourbank]

Thank you for that.

 

If you're still there, I am claiming for charges on my joint account and my sole account. I'm assuming my 'income' and 'expenditure' should relate to the individual account I am filling the form out for? For example, my mortgage payments come out of my joint account, so although I have a mortgage - should I only put that as an expenditure on the joint form or declare it as an expenditure on both? Likewise, bills only come out of the joint account... I suppose I'm worried they won't consider both forms together to see my financial situation as a whole. In fact, my husband is claiming on his sole account too, so technically it would be great to consider all three accounts as a household rather than all of them seperately.

 

Does anyone know if they will do this?? I'll staple them together if I have to!

 

Income and expenditure form should be about household income. If you have arrears notices on "Priority Debts" ie mortgage/rent, utilities, council tax then take a copy of them and include them when you send the form in.

[headoutthesand]

When you write the letter back with the income and expenditure (based on household expenditure and income as yourbank states above) also list the other accounts you and your husband are claiming off and explain your circumstances as a whole.