Hardship case - Nationwide refusal

[FrustratedofDorset]

I submitted the hardship information over the telephone and have received a letter telling me that as the charges were levied prior to our current 'hardship' situation, they will not consider the case. We are behind with our mortgage and council tax and have an IVA set up to pay other debts. What can we do now? The £8,000 in charges would come in pretty handy right now!

[yourbank]

I submitted the hardship information over the telephone and have received a letter telling me that as the charges were levied prior to our current 'hardship' situation, they will not consider the case. We are behind with our mortgage and council tax and have an IVA set up to pay other debts. What can we do now? The £8,000 in charges would come in pretty handy right now!

 

Nationwide will only payout charges that have been caused since the hardship begun. With the mortgage payment and council tax arrears, are there any payment plans to repay the arrears?

 

Is the £8000 since 27th July 2001 which for hardship claims is the cut of point?

[FrustratedofDorset]

That's what they've said. Is that the same with every institution? I can understand their reasoning, but it's annoying just the same.

 

We do have arrangements in place to repay the council tax and mortgage arrears. It'll take about 3 years to recover from a 5 month spell of unemployment!

 

The £8000 in charges and interest have all been incurred since 27th July 2001.

[yourbank]

That's what they've said. Is that the same with every institution? I can understand their reasoning, but it's annoying just the same.

 

We do have arrangements in place to repay the council tax and mortgage arrears. It'll take about 3 years to recover from a 5 month spell of unemployment!

 

The £8000 in charges and interest have all been incurred since 27th July 2001.

In that case I do understand them refusing the hardship claim.

[indebtstudent]

So how did you get £8000 in charges if you weren't in hardsip?

 

I'm not taking cheap shots just trying to see if there is an angle here.

[yourbank]

So how did you get £8000 in charges if you weren't in hardsip?

 

I'm not taking cheap shots just trying to see if there is an angle here.

As there are repayment plans in place then there is disposable income, ie if my normal payments add up to a minus then I shouldn't have any funds to pay off arrears.

Financial hardship is not about necessarily the totality of the charges but the current financial situation.

I'll explain, if I incurred loads and loads of charges 2 or 3 years ago but have slowly but surely got a better paid job and the last 6 months I have had a few blips leading to arrears and I arrange to pay additional money each month to clear those arrears, I am not necessarily in financial hardship today.

Does that make sense, indebt?

[indebtstudent]

I understand now, thanks for explaining that.

 

I still think it stinks though, the FOS apply a similar interpretation, net result banks sits on vast sums of money and the little guy gets screwed.

 

I think any definition of hardship that ignores these kind of sums needs a little work, but what can I expect with this country.

 

Ok rant over, my thinking was presumably the OP was in hardship when the charges were levid, otherwise there wouldn't be such an amount involved.

 

There is a disposable income NOW, but the charges levied then (assuming there was hardship then) would having a negative impact on the credit rating and the budget if there is an outstanding balance.

 

So essentially the position is that timing of the test case is the most important issue which basically seems wrong to me.

 

Putting it another way I believe an impartial observer would conclde that anyone getting over £500 in bank charges in a year is likely to be experiencing financial hardship.

 

 

The problem here is that the 'rules' are poorly defined and nobody is really bothered about enforcing them to protect the customer, much like the banking industry's approach to complaints in general :~0

[yourbank]

indebt, I actually don't agree with that element of the hardship waiver. The £500.00 over 12 months means that, with RBS Group, you can have 2 charges a month and 2 months off which means under that definition, it is a huge umbrella of non hardship cases that can be included in that figure.

I should add that my interpretation is in view of understanding how the FOS deal with Hardship applications.

[indebtstudent]

Ok lets say two thousand then, I picked that figure at random.

 

Putting it another way would you say somebody incurring that amount in charges has stable finances?

 

BTW hows the new life going? I've noticed myself feeling at ease every since I left my Nationwide hell

[Jamesx81x]

Nationwide said same to me too but where in FSA waiver does it state the charges have to have caused hardship since the waiver bagan?

 

It doesnt, it simply states current financial hardship and lists circumstances as to what they beleive this to be.

 

Pathetic excuse by Nationwide but does the FSA tell them they are talking crap? No just let them get away with it

[yourbank]

Nationwide said same to me too but where in FSA waiver does it state the charges have to have caused hardship since the waiver bagan?

 

here - additional guidance sent to firms 19th march 2009

 

V) firms to provide a range of measures to support customers and to treat them positively and sympathetically

nb2)firms are also refered to sections 14.2 and 14.3 of the guidance to the banking code.

these might include: help and guidance about dealing with fd and avoiding charges; suspending collections and recovery activity; suspending accrual of further interest and charges; consideration of a refund of charges, in particular where the charges may have added to the FD during, or immediately before, the period of FD. The rationale for why a particular level of refund has been given should be documented and clearly explained to the complainant.

[Jamesx81x]

Thanks yourbank

 

Still does not say the charges had to cause your Hardship just merely consideration is to be given if they have added to the hardship.

[indebtstudent]

I'm betting after considering the claim they will say no. Just a wild shot in the dark

[greendollar]

I've been refused by Nationwide even though my I rely on benefits,have a debt management plan with the CAB and had to rely on food parcels from them due to the fact Nationwide kept taking money out in charges then charging me for being overdrawn because of the charges they took out making me overdrawn.....b****ds.To top it all they then lie about responding in the 8 week time-frame.Complaint now with the FOS.

[grenadier2]

I have also been refused by Nationwide who stated that the reason that I was in financial hardship was my own mismanagement of my account and that I should cancel all direct debits. Also because I was able to pay my priority debts such as mortgage and utilities I was not in real hardship and my loan and credit card were not a priority debt therefore I had excess income! They have totally ignored the reason that I am in hardship that I lost my job and am now in a lower paid job!

[indebtstudent]

The FOS themselves state the banks aren't taking hardship claims seriously so I hope this will mean your complaint with them is successful. Hearing some of the refusls I do wonder what constitutes hardship in thier world.

[yourbank]

The FOS themselves state the banks aren't taking hardship claims seriously so I hope this will mean your complaint with them is successful. Hearing some of the refusls I do wonder what constitutes hardship in thier world.

To give Nationwide their dues, they are probably the best in terms of their reasons for saying no and are very much concise and precise. Unfortunately the rest are pretty poor with giving people the reason for rejection.