Financial Hardship but Barclays say NO ! **WON HARDSHIP REFUND**

[sonia79]

Hi does any one know what barclays Think is financial hardship! I sent my exspenditure form back to them the end of feb, i have been sent a letter on friday saying i'm not in financial hardship in there eyes,i am 6 months behind with my council tax, behind with a loan thats 7k and behind on most of my bills, i also have had bounced cheques(bills) comming out of my account since jan and constantly up to my limit,i dont work but my husband does and this is all i can think of as why they think i'm not, i have now photocopied my council tax bill and other threating debt letters and wrote a letter to barclays askin them to look at my case again, has anyone had this happen to them?

[slick132]

Hi Sonia and welcome to CAG.

 

I've started you a thread for your case, to avoid hijacking other threads.

 

When they replied, did Barclays state that this was their "Final Response".

 

Did you include your husband's figures on your I&E schedule.

 

When you get B's final response, you can refer the matter to the FOS/FSA to see if they can intervene.

[rory32]

The banks decision on you not being in sufficient financial hardship is not the final decision. The FOS or a court can overrule them. If the bank have actually given you a response you can go straight to the FOS who will look at your claim.

 

Have the bank asked you for further information or have they already made their decision?

 

If the FOS agree you have hardship status they will make a recomendation to the bank on whether they should refund the charges.

 

The hardship criteria the Financial Ombudsman Service would use is the Financial Services Authority waiver guidance. These are the definitions of financial hardship as suggested by the FSA in the updated Waiver.

 

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.

 

[sonia79]

Yeah barclays did say it was there final response, i did include my husband to! I think i will get intouch with fos, Thanks i will keep you informed.x

[slick132]

I think that's your best way forward, although it will take a while as the FOS give the bank ages to respond.

 

[heidi1974]

hi i have gone for my charges from barclays bank, but still waiting to hear. i sent a statement of bills ect, i posted mine to the bank where i live. i have also gone for my charges with alliance and they are not having any of it, all they have done is gave me £50.00 as a good will gesture. and told me if i was not happy to go to the financial ombudsman what i have done today. they are sending me a form to fill in, also have got to photo copy the letters alliance have sent me. its a joke if you are in hardship they should give you your money back but the ombudsman did say that i could not get the full amount, if they only offer me half the fees can i reclaim the other half if we win at court. ??? i only work part time and my husband is out of work so i think that is hardship.

[sonia79]

Hi, phoned the bank again earlier( thought i would give it one last go) b4 contacting fos, the women i spoke to was really nice and helpful (not like the one i spoke to previous)and she has told me 2 phone back in a couple of days and they should have my bills that i have sent to them showing them that i really was struggling , so hopefully fingers croosed they might do something.

[heidi1974]

i have sent all that to, arrears of bills and mortgage and so on but alliance are not botherd, but im still waiting to hear from barclays, its only been a few day so hope to hear from them this week. all the best let us no what happens. x x

[yourbank]

Just to wish you both good luck for an interim payment on FH. Will be watching with interest.

[sonia79]

Hi just a quick update with my claim, after speakin to barclays to tell them i have sent everyrhing in, she said they properbly wont do anything, so i phoned fos and they sent a letter to barclays a couple of days later askin them to have another look at my hardship claim,that was about weds last wk, i have been phoning barclays everyday since(properbly got really fed up with me)spoke to some really helpful people and some unhelpful one too, anyway fri the women i spoke said to me do u think there is anything u have forgot to but in i said i might of forgot to put my sons nursery fees in, and also my husband had a pay cut in dec, and in feb 07, me and my husband got made redundunt from the same company i was on maternity leave, but my husband was out of work for 8 months, so she put all this in,On top of that i said my washing machine has just packed up and i am takin my kids clothes to my mums to wash them, and cant afford to repair it,phoned them yeaterday they said they would get someone to call me no one did so i phoned again 2day and the women i spoke to said they have got all of my paper work now and letter off fos and have put me down as financial hardship, and wrote to me on 30th march, she said that she dont know what the letters says anyway she reckons i will get it 2morrow.and it could be an offer so hopefully it is..

[sonia79]

Spoke to barclays this morning, the customer service lady told me there has been a letter sent out to me, she said they are going to pay me and to exspect a payment into my account this wk, she couldnt tell me how much i was getting, so hopefully it will be good my claim is nearly 5k..

 

Will post and let you know how much i get.

[slick132]

Hi Sonia,

 

Fingers crosed for a good result.

 

Let us know what they've done for you.

[sonia79]

:pWon:p

 

 

Got £2970 out of nearly 5k, I believe if you are in severe hardship and you can prove it you will get something, i just kept pestering barclays phoneing every other day and it has paid off.

 

Goodluck to everyone else trying to claim:oops:

[yourbank]

Fantastic result Sonia. Glad you went after them like a Rottweiler

[slick132]

Well done Sonia.

 

I'm really pleased for you. Spend it wisely and lets hope it's not too long before you get the rest back !!