Abbey Hardship Letter

[scared001]

hi all

 

please can i have some help?

 

i wrote to abbey re financial hardship and they have sent me a letter today saying that as a 'goodwill' they will send me a cheque for £500 bearing in mind my charges total in excess of £8000 going back to 2001. theyve given me 14 weeks to respond.....

 

they are still going to apply charges as usual after 29 oct. i have closed my account with them, back in april when they took it upon themselves to take my JSA without permission.

 

they close the letter by saying my case remains on hold pending outcome of test case. does this mean i get £500 and thats the end of it or does it mean thats what im getting for now until the case has been resolved?

 

so has anyone experienced this or does anyone have any suggestions as to what action should i should take?

[Alloyz1]

They have to deal with the whole case if its under hardship, as stipulated by the FOS, the payment just adds to culpability.

If you have typed right and it amounts to £8K send them a Statement of Finances proving hardship and a letter similar to below...

 

Date: XXXXXX

 

Dear Sir or Madam

 

Account number: XXXXXXX

 

I refer to default charges applied to my account amounting to [insert total of charges], which I have requested you pay back before the end of the OFT test case as I am currently experiencing financial hardship.

 

I wrote to you on [insert date], making the original request [include if you have already sent a financial statement or delete and I completed a financial statement on [insert date], but I am yet to receive a satisfactory response.

 

As stated in my previous letter I am [enter full details of why you are in financial hardship and the effect is has on your life, for example are you missing mortgage payments, needing to take cash out on a credit card to pay for day to day goods] but I do not think you havetaken this into consideration when looking at my compliant.

 

I am writing to ask that you reconsider my complaint or I intend to take my case to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

I look forward for a full response to this letter within 7 days.[/font]

 

Yours faithfully,

[maroondevo52]

Hi, scared001.

 

I'll move this thread to the Hardship Forum.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[scared001]

thanks all, will respond via the new thread

[maroondevo52]

they close the letter by saying my case remains on hold pending outcome of test case. does this mean i get £500 and thats the end of it or does it mean thats what im getting for now until the case has been resolved?

 

 

They will give you the £500 now, and your total amount claimed will be reduced by this amount when the 'test case' is resolved.

 

I'll have a look around this Forum, see if I can find anything similar.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[scared001]

ive written to abbey a few times and getting nowhere and they keep sending me letters from their DCA in the meantime....

 

not sure what the best letter to send to abbey now is?

[scared001]

thanks scott. so what does someone do, take the money and run or take money and wait for the case? this is all new ground for me!!

[maroondevo52]

Have a good look around this Forum, yourbank gives sound advice

[scared001]

thank you

[scared001]

yourbank, if you happen to be around, id really appreciate some help on what to do now please..

[scared001]

hi everyone

 

does anyone have any further thoughts on this? just wondering what i say to abbey, do i take this money and await the outcome or does this mean their offer is all im gonna be getting, end of!!!

[st8]

This is a smiliar stituation to mine. I received a response from Alliance and Leicester yesterday. They are offering around 10% of my claim and then they will deal with the rest once the test case is over. They have even credited my account with this amount to give me all the more reason to stop.

 

Martin Lewis says this is a common step and you should write back saying that you "acknowledge the money without prejudice" but you only accept this as a partial settlement and not and full and final settle. Say that you will continue with the claim, which includes going to the ombudsman. At this stage you can also mention how much you would be willing to accept as a settlement.

 

That's the advice from Martin Lewis when the a bank goes down this route.

[scared001]

thanks st8, unftly they are sending me a cheque, apparently...

can i still cash this in but send them letter in meantime, any idea of where i might find template to send this off......

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

You should find a suitable letter in here, you might have to edit a bit...........

 

http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/48-bank-templates/139-rejecting-offers-

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[yourbank]

This is a smiliar stituation to mine. I received a response from Alliance and Leicester yesterday. They are offering around 10% of my claim and then they will deal with the rest once the test case is over. They have even credited my account with this amount to give me all the more reason to stop.

 

Martin Lewis says this is a common step and you should write back saying that you "acknowledge the money without prejudice" but you only accept this as a partial settlement and not and full and final settle. Say that you will continue with the claim, which includes going to the ombudsman. At this stage you can also mention how much you would be willing to accept as a settlement.

 

That's the advice from Martin Lewis when the a bank goes down this route.

 

I don't agree with Martin Lewis and I think the Hardship Guide on MSE is unclear(yes I have had words with MSE team) because it is not correct.

The way you argue financial hardship is very simple, a lifestyle event(unemployment, loss of overtime, separation from a partner) lead to charges which took money out of your budget for priority creditors(rent, mortgage, utilities, council tax) leading to debts to these essential outgoings. Whilst you can reclaim every single charge since the account was opened, only the charges since July 2001 are counted for financial hardship purposes. You need to count the charges since the lifestyle event occurred and if that adds up to their offer then the FOS is unlikely to agree with you. If the only argument you have is that it is not 100% of the claim then you are doomed to failure on that approach.

Martin Lewis' guide is not clear enough and leads to rejections of offers unnecessarily. Not sure how many times I keep writing on the reclaims board....."Never reject a hardship offer"

[st8]

I don't agree with Martin Lewis and I think the Hardship Guide on MSE is unclear(yes I have had words with MSE team) because it is not correct.

The way you argue financial hardship is very simple, a lifestyle event(unemployment, loss of overtime, separation from a partner) lead to charges which took money out of your budget for priority creditors(rent, mortgage, utilities, council tax) leading to debts to these essential outgoings. Whilst you can reclaim every single charge since the account was opened, only the charges since July 2001 are counted for financial hardship purposes. You need to count the charges since the lifestyle event occurred and if that adds up to their offer then the FOS is unlikely to agree with you. If the only argument you have is that it is not 100% of the claim then you are doomed to failure on that approach.

Martin Lewis' guide is not clear enough and leads to rejections of offers unnecessarily. Not sure how many times I keep writing on the reclaims board....."Never reject a hardship offer"

 

I'm new to this forum but I do trust what Martin Lewis says. We'll see what response I get back. But their offer conveniently works out at 10% of my claim and does not reflect my mums change in circumstances. Plus, we are willing to risk £130 as we want the full amount or as close to that as possible. £130 isn't good enough.

[scared001]

had a look at the template letters but not sure they are what i need as the letter abbey sent me doesnt say its the full and final offer? theyve just said im getting a good will gesture and the case remains on hold pending OFT outcome.....

[scared001]

just wondering if anyone had any more advice or suggestions re next letter to send to abbey? i still havent cashed the cheque, should i?

[st8]

Not sure if you have read the advice here form moneysavingexpert:

 

Bank Charges Hardship: Reclaim NOW inc template letters...

 

It explains some of the common responses from the banks and yours matches this one:

 

You’re offered a refund, but not the full amount

 

Again it’ll almost certainly be a “goodwill gesture”, but the fact it’s willing to make an offer is good news – the cash till is open. Do remember this is all about negotiation. What are you willing to settle for? How much is it willing to pay out?

 

Consider going back and asking for more, both by phone, eg, saying: “You owe me £1,400, you're offering £1,000, I'll take £1,200." Then write a more formal letter, perhaps detailing the amount of priority debts you have. This can, and has, worked. Banks need to balance the ongoing costs of a claim against simply paying out.

 

If it’s not willing to pay what you’d settle for, there’s a temptation to say to yourself: “Fight the good fight and take ‘em on”. Yet it’s more important to protect your pocket. Let’s say you’re asking for £2,000 back, and are offered £1,200. Don’t think: “I’m £800 short” but that you’ve got £1,200 that was gone forever. Would this cash sort your financial burdens?

 

While it looks likely the law will be resolved in reclaimers’ favour, that’s not 100% certain, so if cash now would be valuable your ultimate decision should be a combination of whether you want the hassle of continuing versus getting the cash. Accepting a partial amount does not mean you forgo rights to the rest though. The FSA waiver has an important clause saying:

 

"if the outcome of the test case produces a result that is more favourable to the complainant, the firm must take all reasonable steps to pay any difference in the amount of compensation actually received by the complainant and that that the complainant would have been entitled if his claim has not been settled by the firm then;" Source: FSA Waiver

 

In plain English, this means if we win then you'll be able to ask for the remainder of your claim at the end of the Test Case and banks must make up the difference.

[yourbank]

I'm new to this forum but I do trust what Martin Lewis says. We'll see what response I get back. But their offer conveniently works out at 10% of my claim and does not reflect my mums change in circumstances. Plus, we are willing to risk £130 as we want the full amount or as close to that as possible. £130 isn't good enough.

My username is NatWestStaffMember on MSE and I have worked very hard to have a full understanding of how financial hardship works. As I stated before, his hardship guide is confusing to be blunt with you.

You have to argue lifestyle event(loss of hours, unemployment, separation from a partner) lead to a drop in income leading to the inability to repay priority creditors(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities) and then charges which lead to arrears. The charges should be current and still have the effect of taking money out of essential outgoings. You can choose the advice of Martin Lewis over mine, that's fine and dandy. I get results and he hardly posts on the forums apart from politicians letters which are meaningless.

[scared001]

i dont see why we still have to argue our case when quite cleary abbey have received the I&E form and also are well aware of my discussions with CCCS. this is money they have unlawfully taken and i intend to take every single penny back, wasnt it bad enough that they took it upon themselves to take my JSA without permission let alone charges and fees dating back 2001...its a disgrace, sorry but i feel very strongly about these bank charges and i am struggling day to day at the moment....i think that martin lewis is doing a good job also....the more readily info we have the better.... us poor people can only but fight our cause....

 

ps:did anyone else get an email from the bbc re fin hardship?