Halifax overdraft - financial hardship claim

[andy87]

Hi everyone, first time poster here!

 

Between 2009 and 2010, halifax charged me £532 in unpaid item and unarranged overdraft fees plus average £50 interest per month. At the time I was a student on a very low income (my parents were not in a situation where they could help me financially) and struggled to pay the charges. I looked back and there was a £35 charge to spend £4 at tesco

 

I also think they were irresponsible in giving a £5k overdraft to a student on a low income.

 

I wrote to them this week stressing financial hardship at the time and they sent a letter back offering me £62. Their point was basically that they incur fees returning items, they notified me of the fees at them time and that the overdraft would have been risk assessed!

 

The letter said this was a full and final settlement without admitting liability, and if I don't reply within 8 weeks, they will close their file.

 

Should I accept this offer or do you think I can take this to the FOS?

 

Thanks for any help

[Sare Heid]

Hi andy87,

 

Personally i'd never accept first response, especially when they've offered something which is probably a lot less than they know they should.

 

You might consider calculating the interest due to you on top of all these charges and add that to your claim, they might sit up and take some notice then.

 

You'll get a lot of good advice and support here, hopefully more experienced members will be along soon.

 

Best of luck.

 

SH