Charges whilst on benefits

[***inca***]

Thought I would post about this as it brought a smile to my face yesterday morning.

 

HSBC wrote to me telling me they were going to be slapping onto my account a £25.00 charge for the reversal of a cheque as it would have taken me £30.00 overdrawn.

 

At the moment I am on JSA and that £25.00 is a massive amount to me, especially with it being Christmas and all.

 

I thought that I had nothing to lose by sending them the 'charges whilst on benefits' letter (although I did make a few changes, as there's a few spelling mistakes in it etc) and sent it off recorded right away.

 

I heard nothing from them... not a dicky bird!

 

Money was due to come out yesterday morning, I rang up and they haven't taken it!

 

HSBC 0 - Inca 1

 

If you are on benefits and they do slap a charge on, please send that letter!!!

 

:D:D

[Castlebest]

Well done Inca, congratulations on your victory and thank you for posting your result .

 

It just shows with the right knowledge even the little man / lady in the street can make these big organisations listen.

 

I'm sure you will be an inspiration to others in the comming months.

 

Pete

[magnum33]

Hello

 

Does anyone know where I can find the 'charges whilst on benefits' template on this forum ?

 

Thanks

[Audreygreeneyes]

There have been several reported cases of Banks taking charges from accounts that have benefits paid into them by DWP and Social security.thus leaving them with little or no money.

Here is a template letter to take or send to the bank to address this.

It is important to let the bank have this BEFORE you expect to have funds paid in by DWP or the Inland revenue.

A new letter should be sent for each payment that you expect to be protected,customise as required by adding the benefit/type of payment.

 

 

 

 

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)

[Audreygreeneyes]

that was posted byu martin a while ago.....just change the tax credit if it is not that to what it is ie jsa , housing benefit or what ever benefit

[***inca***]

That's not the letter I sent. Will post mine here in a second.

 

I didn't tell them what I use my money for, they have no right to know that.

 

Dear Sir/Madam

Unpaid Item Charge Account Number: (enter this line as appropriate)

I am in receipt of your letter stating that you are to apply charges of £25.00 to my account on 19th December 2008 due to the reversal of a cheque.

 

The social security act1992 states that banks may not take charges from any benefits that a person needs to live on. I have been in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance since October 2008. Job Seekers Allowance is a basic living allowance.

Therefore I am asking you to please remove the impending charge on my account.

I reserve the right to commence further my grievance to the financial ombudsmen service without any further notice should you fail to comply.

 

 

Yours faithfully

[Audreygreeneyes]

inca I was only posting a copy of a letter Martin had done, magnum was looking for a template, that was all I could find.....

 

I did not say he had to tell them, I was just posting a copy of the letter in the hope he andothers might A find it helpfull and B given them some idea of what to say..

[tiredandangry]

hi hope you don't mind me commenting but, what gets me is the banks don't tell you about right of approppriation. Surely they should be providing this sort of information making it easily accessible for everybody. Yes I know this sounds naive. However especially for disabled people like myself surely they have a duty to make it easy for us to use this service? Otherwise aren't they breaking the law?

[johnnymitch]

Hi t and a

 

At one time I would have said that this was a naive conception. However, in the light of the new FSA guidelines on treating customers fairly, I would say that the banks should be giving this information as a matter of course before making arbitrary deductions from accounts ........

 

Treating customers fairly

 

IMHO, when an intention to recover charges is notified , as it should be, that notification should include advice on how a debtor can object to these charges being made .........

 

Then again , maybe I'm becoming naive .........

[tiredandangry]

Thanks Jonny.

 

No I don't think so, I think, certainly in my case (and quite a few others on this site) they are in breach of the services part of the disabled discrimination act. Problem is I'm too poorly to chase it up at the moment. I suspect they should also be helping us to set up right of appropriation and provide us help when we are making a complaint.

[bekki-c]

Hi, I had a few bank charges a couple of years ago when I was in receipt of JSA. I am also currently claiming JSA. I sent the letter to the bank stating that it was illegal for them to take these charges whilst on benefits.

I recieved a letter from the bank today saying that as I was charged fee's and not charges it doesn't apply to the social security act.

Does anyone have any advice on what I should do?!

[johnnymitch]

Hi becci -c welcome to the forum

 

First of all , could I ask you to open your own thread on this (using the 'NEW THREAD ' button at the top or bottom left of the main page of the HSBC forum and copy and paste your query into it .. that way you'll get advice specific to you .... not mixed up with anyone else's .

 

However my first reaction would be to tell you to get your JSA paid into another account completely unconnected with HSBC so they can't plunder it at their leisure ........

 

That should give you breathing space to work out how much they've had off you in their so -called 'fees' and set about claiming some back ..

 

I'll keep an eye out for your thread ,but you'll alweays get an answer from someone on here - not necessarily me ..... so don't give up ..... you'll get plenty of help