re-claiming bank charges via hardship

[Dobby203]

Hi, I'm new to this and was wondering if anyone can help me. I have sent a letter to HSBC to reclaim my bank charges and informed them that I am in financial hardship. They have responded and asked me to complete an income and expenditure form and to ring them on a 0845 number to go through the form. Can anyone advise me as to whether I should ring them as asked or is it better to send it to them as then its in writing.

[Michael Browne]

HSBC is one of the few banks that will assess your finacial hardship claim on the phone, but you can always send a copy as well.

 

Do you have priority debt arrears (rent/mortgage, utilities, council tax)

[BankFodder]

You should just send it to them in writing. They won't be prepared to discuss it with you on the phone. They will just fob you off.

 

However do be aware that hardship applications are almost always a waste of time. They waste your time and divert your energy from the serious business of getting your money back. Hardship applications are probably too late anyway because we expect the Supreme Court to hand down its judgement on bank charges very soonand then it will all be finished bar the shouting.

 

By all means apply for hardship if you want -- but don't hold your breath, don't depend on it for Christmas or anything important.

 

The best thing to do this calculate the bank charges and the interest that they owe you on those bank charges and then put in your claim very quickly -- you should aim on having it with the courts within about seven days

[BankFodder]

Looks like I have crossposted with Michael. I didn't know HSBC will do on the phone. That makes it a bit better. In that case try it, why not.

 

However pretty well everything else I said in my post stands valid

[yourbank]

You should just send it to them in writing. They won't be prepared to discuss it with you on the phone. They will just fob you off.

For reference for the OP:

"The telephone number is 0845 6006423 and is available Monday to Friday - 08:00 to 18:00. This is made clear in our letter and the customer is advised to quote "LCC01" when telephoning so that they can be directed to the correct team."

 

However do be aware that hardship applications are almost always a waste of time. They waste your time and divert your energy from the serious business of getting your money back. Hardship applications are probably too late anyway because we expect the Supreme Court to hand down its judgement on bank charges very soonand then it will all be finished bar the shouting.

Misleading and completely untrue since the Preliminary Issues if the banks appeal fails will lead to the Secondary Issues and it would be a rational decision to continue on the stays as the situation would not be resolved definitively.

By all means apply for hardship if you want -- but don't hold your breath, don't depend on it for Christmas or anything important.

It is meant to alleviate financial hardship and not for Christmas presents or holiday to the Bahamas. Furthermore, as Michael has stated it is there to alleviate the threat of being evicted, jailed or loss of essential items.

The best thing to do this calculate the bank charges and the interest that they owe you on those bank charges and then put in your claim very quickly -- you should aim on having it with the courts within about seven days

 

Again, pointless putting a claim in court as the court will automatically stay the claim and the FSA Waiver clearly has provisions for the resolution of the case and compensation. One day I hope you will take the time to read my informative posts on reclaiming and financial hardship claims on the net.

[BankFodder]

Again, pointless putting a claim in court as the court will automatically stay the claim and the FSA Waiver clearly has provisions for the resolution of the case and compensation. One day I hope you will take the time to read my informative posts on reclaiming and financial hardship claims on the net.

 

Entirely wrong. Even the FOS has recently commented crtically on the low number of hardship cases which are succeeding and suggested that th ebanks are not taking hardship applications seriously or dealing with them correctly.

 

Have a search on this forum and for instance on MoneySavingExpert.com to see what a lottery the hardship provision is, how timeconsuming and intrusive it is and how it tends to become a mere distraction to the serious matter of getting all of your money back.

 

The FSA has made some general statements about making provision for repayment and compensation but only the courts process so far goes anywhere to guaranteeing a proper, just, transparent, principled and rapid outcome.

[yourbank]

Entirely wrong. Even the FOS has recently commented crtically on the low number of hardship cases which are succeeding and suggested that th ebanks are not taking hardship applications seriously or dealing with them correctly.

I would say that the low number of complaints over the application of the FSA Waiver, a lack of understanding on the FSA waiver and furthermore, people who are not in financial hardship going to the FOS without an argument is partly to blame. The issue I think the FSA have and you can look at the dogs site for the advice given previous to that on the application of the waiver is that the firm should state why the claimant is not considered to be in financial hardship. I would say to you that this specific point is very much underplayed and there is little pressure put upon the FSA to get firms to do this. I can argue the point with the FOS and get a win when they do and where there is credible evidence to increase an offer.

 

Have a search on this forum and for instance on MoneySavingExpert.com to see what a lottery the hardship provision is, how time consuming and intrusive it is and how it tends to become a mere distraction to the serious matter of getting all of your money back.

Nonsense, your word are intrusive. On the dogs forum I have most of the income and expenditure forms(including Northern Ireland) from the banks. Financial hardship is about HOUSEHOLD income and expenditure. It is time consuming because as a basic complaint they have 8 weeks to fully respond which is two months. If all available information is supplied then the timescale can drop dramatically down. With the FOS where all information and an argument against the banks' argument is laid down then it should be 12 weeks worst case scenario. As I said earlier, very few firms are specific as to why they are not considered to be in financial hardship which does make it harder but not impossible. I would say as well that people's expectations vary wildly. MSE state that the FOS has never turned down a bank charges complaint under financial hardship which is highly misleading and CAG says "don't bother" which again I think is bad advice. I think when hardship is looked at you also have to look at the whole reclaiming situation ie store cards, credit cards, catalogue accounts to maximise the amount being repaid that is not on hold.

The FSA has made some general statements about making provision for repayment and compensation but only the courts process so far goes anywhere to guaranteeing a proper, just, transparent, principled and rapid outcome.

 

The FSA have got it within the FSA waiver on bank Charges itself. Whilst I would agree with you that it is not a court ordered or supervised you have to look at the reason why it was brought in. The history gives you the details. The courts were overrun with claims and MCOL was in meltdown.

So the FSA waiver states this:

 

"(15) to the extent that sums are ultimately to be paid to complainants in respect of relevant charges complaints that have been stayed, the firm must include in these sums an element of compensation in respect of interest charged to or lost by the customer as a result of being out of money during the stay period;"

 

Since the Court system will decide the fairness issue on the secondary part of the OFT test case it would be ridiculous of someone to suggest that by not putting a court claim in that you are somehow being prejudiced because of not doing so. That is why I have said that going to the courts is a waste of time to be honest.

The settlement of any claim will be across the board and I would envisage an end date, ie a date where the clock stops, specifically on the settlement of existing claims.

However, that perhaps is speculating too much on the Secondary part of the case that has yet to be commenced and certainly would be presuming that next weeks decision is going to go against the banks. We could be surprised still.

[pink_stefy]

Hi, I bank with HSBC and I am not sure if i can re-claim my bank charges. I lost my job back in March and have had no money going in or out of my bank account and my partner (we're not married) is currently paying for everything (i don't receive benefits either) so i think i come under financial hardship (im not altogether sure). Anyway i took a loan out with the money shop and of course there was no money in my account so the cheques bounced so i had to pay and a £25 charge per cheque to the money shop which was £75 plus the orginal loan amount. I also recieved a £25 charge per cheque form HSBC which was another £75 which pushed me into my overdraft which resulted in another £25 charge for being overdrawn so i was £100 overdrawn just because of bank charges made by HSBC. Then due to being overdrawn and no money in my account 2 direct debits bounced before i had a chance to cancel them (which i have now done) resulting in being £160 overdrawn and add the interest onto that i am now £167.37 overdrawn which is all bank charges made by HSBC. I cant pay it as i don't have a job and i receive up to 6 calls a day from them plus a final demand saying that if i don't pay then they will pass it onto debt collectors and it will be on my record for 6 years. I sent an email complaining about the service i received and have received a letter back saying they have investigated and say that all charges are correct and they offer no refund...Do I phone them and apply for financial difficulty and fight the bank charges or are they right in what they say? Really need help because i don't know what do do

Any help in how to take the next step would be really appreciated