Hi guys, it's been over 18 months since my last post here. I'm really interested to know if much has changed at all in terms of people being awarded with their charges back? I filed this with the courts a long time ago, I have simply not head anything. I know that PPI is the hot topic nowadays but would love to know if anyone has any updates of any bank charge successes? That would be incredible. Thanks in advance for your help

It's definitely worth doing! I will get to work on this and make a new thread about it. FYI in the past I've managed to reclaim a full amount of £1400 from hsbc, I have a further case with hsbc which has been stayed for £500. My Credit score is knackered anyway lol but why and how could this actually affect my credit file?

Brilliant, thanks Bazooka!! To your knowledge have there been many successful hardship or reclaim cases recently with santander? Cheers

Cool Thanks guys! I think that the santander account in question may in fact be closed. So what I need to do now is - find out the initial overdrawn amount (approx £30) - repay that to santander - Ask them to cancel the charges due to being in financial hardship - ignore any correspondence from moorcroft Am I on the right lines here? I really appreciate your time helping out cheers

Hi No I haven't paid the amount back which I "borrowed" . Are you saying that if I just pay that initial amount back the whole thing will go away? The letter I got from Moorcroft was: ________________________________________________________________________________ IMPORTANT INFORMATION - POSSIBLE LITIGATION To prevent the above possible action please send payment before 01/10/11 or Telephone xxxxxxxxxx immediately If you do not contact us following receipt of this letter we may have no alternative other than to recommend to our client that solicitors issue legal action against you which may follow. Please note if legal action is necessary and if the solicitors instructed are successful in judgment the your debt may increase as follows. current balance £422.17 Solicitors costs £50.00 Court fees: £30.00 Solicitors costs for entering judgement (by default) £25.00 TOTAL DEBT if judgement is obtained £527.17 Please do contact us now. Neither we nor our client want court proceedings to be issued and it is still possible for you to avoid this by agreeing a repayment plan that you can afford and maintain. AJ MARTIN Debt recovery manager ______________________________________________________________ I will not phone them again - they did ask me to complete an income and expenditure and post it to them. What would be my best course of action here? many thanks

Hello CAG! How are you all? I've got an issue with my old santander current account that I really could use your help on. Essentially what has happened - I had an unauthorized overdraft of approx £30 which began to earn approx £100 in charges every month. I stopped using this account and set up a new account with barclays. I didn't really dispute the santander charges at the time and made an arrangement to pay them back at £5 pcm which would also keep the bank charges at bay- however due to my own financial circumstances and a failed business I was unable to pay this for a couple of months in a row. Due to my own laziness/ disorganization I neglected to contact santander to let them know that I was having problems with the repayments and as you can imagine the charges kept piling on to the tune of £422!! Now the debt has been sent to moorcroft debt recovery and I have been contacted by them and asked to either make a payment or demonstrate my income and expenditure to show that I am in hardship. Do I have any real grounds to fight this now? I'd be really interested to know if I have any choice with this at all. Is there any real point in going to the ombudsman or to court nowadays ? In the interest of full disclosure I am waiting to see if I can claim job seekers allowance. OFF TOPIC: I just wanted to add as well how shocking the job market is at the moment - I've got 2 degrees and was formerly an M.D and I can't seem to find anything other than commission only sales roles - Sorry guys, just getting frustrated

Hi Guys, It's been a while. I'm really interested to know if there have been any updates with the banks at all that would help me with my case? Any advice or imparting of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks

Thanks, So is everyone just playing the waiting game again till something might happen? Is no one now pursuing the financial difficulty angle with any success?

Hello fellow cag members, I've been a member here since about 2006-07 and have already had one successful case with bank charges a few years back where I was refunded £1100 thanks to the great support on these forums. Since then I put in another claim to hsbc for a further £500 in bank charges to be refunded which got stayed by the courts back in 2008 and then of course there was the ruling by the courts where all bank charges cases got struck out. Since I heard about that, I just gave up on the case. I never really thought about it again... Until now, as I understand that the only possible way to move forward is if you can state that you're in financial hardship. And currently : - I have been unemployed for 12 weeks - I have approximately £14k of bad consumer debt outstanding - I have a poor credit rating - No assets or savings - Currently living off JSA and my girlfriends nhs nurse salary - living beyond our means each month to survive I really need to know: 1. Would the above qualify me to go forward for financial hardship? 2. If so What would be my next step? 3. I believe that the majority of FD cases are still being dismissed, but I'm interested to know what is significant about the successful FD claims? I spoke with the small claims court today and got them to change my house address (as I had moved since filling the claim) They are also sending me an N244 form and a fee remission form (so I don't have to pay the £75 due to being on JSA) Any Help or advice on this is greatly appreciated. As well as examples of financial difficulty success stories and links to letter templates are all welcome. Thanks very much, I really do value all of your time, help and expertise.

Hi, how’s it going? I have a question regarding Credit Rating/ Score repair that I would really appreciate your help with. Just over a year ago now I became disheartened and decided to leave my (£25k per annum) full time job in surveying to pursue a full time degree in my passion: Business management and Entrepreneurship. Everything went well with the transition into academics (although I am now a broke student); my other half has been very, very supportive financially, I got the maximum student loan I could and I also got a part time job without too much trouble. However I still have the responsibility to repay: Natwest personal loan (£12k) Natwest overdraft (£1200) HSBC overdraft (£450) Alliance & Leicester overdraft (£1300) I then contacted the Consumer Credit Counselling service whom advised me to make offers of minimum payments to my creditors. All of my debts were then eventually passed on to collection agencies Fortunately for me all of the collection agencies have been very reasonable and accepted offers of (£1) minimum payments and I have been paying them every month for the last year. FYI Natwest’s collection agency has made me an offer to clear my £12k personal loan debt with a payment of just £7,000! Which if I was in the position to– I would happily take them up on the offer. As a result of the minimum payments I believe that my credit score and rating is dire and at the age of 25 it won’t be long till I start thinking about things like buying a house or getting car finance etc. So I’d really appreciate your practical advice on… How I can improve my credit rating and score? Do I have to pay the total balance of my debts to improve my credit rating? Would you advise paying off my total debts before starting a business (even though I am currently paying under £20pcm to service my debts)? Thanks, I look forward to reading your responses

Any more updates at all guys - I havent heard anything from hsbc yet or on the news. Please let me know - Really could use the money back as I'm unemployed and in financial hardship! Bad times Thanks everyone

I don't suppose there's been any updates since march has there? That refund would be a god send right now!! Please let me know All the best Phil

Has there been any further developments with hardship cases since I posted last December? I've been unemployed since January and well and truly broke- That refund would be a god send right now! Any info would be appreciated Thanks very much

Hello NatWest Forum, I would really appreciate your help with my current situation with Natwest. I have a Personal Loan with Natwest with an outstanding £12k debt I also have a current account with a £1250 overdraft. Due to a recent change in my financial circumstances (leaving a full time career in order to persue a Degree) I am in financial hardship and am unable to afford the monthly repayments on my personal loan. I sought advice from the consumer credit counseling service charity (cccs) and they have advised me to completely switch bank accounts (leaving the NatWest account overdrawn) and make token payments of £1 per month (the minimum legal acceptable amount) to Natwest. Over the course of the last few months I have incurred several bank charges (approx £150 - £200) which I would like to be refunded. Please can you advise me on the best course of action in order to get these charges refunded. FYI: I have absolutely no income whatsoever paid into any NatWest account, I now bank with Alliance and Leicester. My old NatWest account and loan have effectively been abandoned with the exception of making monthly token £1 payments. FYI: I am currently in the process of having my second reclaim case against hsbc Stayed. And have had one successful hsbc reclaim for £1132 refunded to me in May 2007 I look forward to hearing from you all Thanks Phil

amazing! lol I am actually tempted to send that. Does anyone have details of a succesful hardship case letter? Are hsbc actually paying out for hardship cases at all? thanks

I'm currently sorting out a debt management plan with CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Service - Charity). During my Phone Consultation with them, I mentioned that I was in the process of claiming my charges back from HSBC, however my case has been stayed. The Counseller said that in some cases - people who have proved that they are in Financial Hardship (i.e me) have been successful in reclaiming their charges from the bank. Please can you advise me on how to proceed with my claim now that I have found myself in financial Hardship. Thanks for you help

Hi, as I posted above my case has been stayed by the court. However in light of the recent court hearing (in which I believe the banks actually lost), I'm interested to know what effect this has on my situation? And most importantly what do I now have to do to reclaim my money?!? Can someone please advise me on what to do? Thanks Phil

I recieved an ORDER from the court yesterday saying that my claim is stayed now untill further order. So I take it that now I just have to wait for the final decision of the test case untill anything happens. Or is there anything proactive that I can do to help my case in the meantime?

Hi Thanks for the AQ help. I just filled it in, attached the draft directions and submitted it to the court this lunch time cheers

Thanks to everyone who's replied so far. I really appreciate it. My AQ has just turned up today and has to be submitted to the court by 05/05/08 Do you have any advice or tips for completing one of these? Cheers

Ok so are a lot of hsbc cases getting stayed currently? If my case does get stayed - will my case get seen to quickly (as a priority) after the test case?

Sorry for being dumb: I assume ''stayed'' means the hearing will be stalled untill there is an outcome from the test case? Is that correct?

Ok so Basically I'm looking at 28 days before they file a defence. Then I get a court date set. And best case scenario hsbc settle before the court date? Is this correct? cheers

Ok so yesterday I submitted 2 copies of my completed N1 form at the stoke on trent county court, with schedule 1, schedule 2 and photocopies of the bank statements where the charges occur + £45 court fee. What happens next - How long should it take before I hear anything back? thanks

I sent the LBA off to hsbc a few weeks back and they responded quite quickly with what looks like a very standard letter saying that they believe their charges are fair and not unenforceable (there was no cheque attached either) So I take it the next step is the Particulars of claim - N1 - hard copy version?