Hi, I’m new here. Can anyone answer these questions? 1) Is all your JSA stopped when you are sanctioned, or is only a percentage of it stopped? 2) If after being sanctioned you go on hardship payments, do you still have to be available for work? 3) And if you do still have to be available for work, can you be further sanctioned while on hardship payments? I’ve just started getting JSA and have not been sanctioned, but the above questions have occurred to me.

Hi, I have a friend (no really) who has debt problems which are being added to I believe by the charges levied on her account. She had a basic account with no overdraft facility although she did keep going overdrawn and hence accrued charges, these have snowballed as happens and resulted in the account being closed. The thing is she is on benefits which the bank are obviously aware of and as soon as the benefits are credited they have been swallowed by charges adding to the debt problems she has. I have tried finding posts on here but dont seem to be finding what I need so can anyone point me in the direction of reclaiming charges under hardship rules if this is possible. would it be prudent to send an SAR or is this likely to be a dead duck ? I am in the process of collecting all the info that I can. Cheers

Hello, I posted on Saturday a letter to Santander reclaiming over 2 k of bank fees (template from this site) . It contained a paragraph in which you say what has happened - lot of death in my family and lost biz too. It was a very painful letter to write. (I kept it just a paragraph). Today they texted me they had been trying to call me and to call back. I hadn't answered since I am avoiding calls from anyone (not in a good place). I feel sick. Do I have to talk to them? I don't think I am strong enough to hold it together on a call (now my keyboard is wet). Kicking myself.

Hi... just a quickie, please; I'm asking for a friend who is struglling with bills, etc., and has been charged bank fees amounting to almost £4k over the past 6 years... I'm wondering if they would have a case in asking for those fees to be reimbursed? It's Barclays, and some of the fees were levied at a time when the customer was in receipt of housing benefit. They are now working but struggling on a very low income. Any advice would be gratfully received. TB

Hello dear friends after another charges added by HSBC to my account ive decided to look around what i can do to reclaim those charges. Lucky enought had acces to online statements for last 72 months (HSBC) so i done my home work. Total charges added to my bank account over last few years : 2009 - 25 2010 - 850 2011 - 995 2012 - 726 2013 - 495 2014 - 434 2015 - 188 so total 3713 pounds in bank charges. I went thrue few topics regarding bank charges and reclaiming them and i decided to go ahead. I had few times conversation with bank asking them if we can do something to stop those charges without any help from bank. What ive done so far : 1. Prepared letter using Your template requesting bank charges to be paid back to my account under hardship 2. prepared schedule of all bank charges from jan 2010 till now both letters will be send out to HSBC. My first question should i adress those letters to branch, head office or any other department of HSBC? will keep you inform about outcome. Thank You

I signed on just this past Tuesday and today I checked my bank account and find that my JSA payment has not been issued. I am wondering as to why my work coach did not tell me at the time I signed on, as, surely there must have been some information on the system to say that it had been stopped ??? And why did he allow me to sign on if that is the case ???

Hello everyone, From last 5 years I am in financial difficulties due to my work hours were reduced and I am unable to find a new job. I have in total 7500 in credit cards and overdraft. I have been paying everything on time inducing some charges to my bank for going over the limit etc and paid last month £45 charges to my bank. This month now they are going to charge me £95. Last month I contacted all my lenders and asked them for a reduce payment plan due to financial difficulties and they all agreed to it and accepted my plan. When 4 days ago I asked My bank Santander to freeze all charges and also do not charge me £95 this month as it would left me with no money for buying food and fuel for my driving job but they did not responded me at all. My charges are due on 14th and I am bit worried about it. What can I do to next? Please help Best regards, Epman

I worked in a pub for 3 years and 7 months and I was sacked for misconduct in November 2015 and UC imposed me with a high level 91 day sanction (which I was told by the CAB would be extremely difficult to overturn as a reconsider was refused) I got an advanced Payment from universal credit on 8th December 2015, and I was due my first payment on the 13th January this year until I was given a 82-91 day sanction (so not a penny for 3 months) I was advised by the CAB I may be able to get a hardship payment but only from what was the first payment due date this Wednesday, I just wander what I could do/say to help with getting a hardship? Any questions I'll respond asap Edit: Iv been borrowing money as Iv had no money but there is only so far I can go with that

I was wondering whether someone might be able to help me. I put in a request for my previous 6 years of statements in order to claim my bank charges back in 2009. I still have the statements and would like to put in a claim as I still fit the category of 'financial hardship'. However, I was wondering if these statements can still be used as proof of charges as after speaking to them today, the bank currently has no records of my account (they only keep 6 years). I also have over 150 pages to send (!) will this be accepted? I closed the account down around 2009. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking for some advice about paying back an overpayment. I am currently getting esa support. What is the amount the dwp can take of each week/fortnight. They are going to take just under £60 a fortnight. I phoned the debt Management number and the person i spoke to was very rude. I was very polite and said to him that i cant manage that amount. He said theres nothing i could say or do and they will be taking that amount whether i like it or not.He also said what hardships did i have. wasnt sure what he meant by that. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

Afternoon, I've been in a bit of a spot recently, lost my job, had to re-arrange my mortage to interest only or risk losing my house, defaulted on my one credit card, missing paying bills every month, I think you guys get the picture but the last year or so has been financial hell for me. My credit report is a sea of red Anyway I'll concentrate just on the Barclays account here. I've had an account with Barclays for around 20-25 years and I have most of the statements which I've started to dump info from into an Excel spreadsheet. I have a question if anyone would be so kind as to help, 1) I've dug a folder from around 1998 onwards and logged charges that include Unauthorised overdraft fees Additions fees Transaction charges for insufficient funds in account Personal overdraft usage fees Overdraft interest charges Paid referral fees Items returned fees Reserve usage fees I'm missing a few statements here and there so will SAR Barclays today to get the missing information. Naturally I'm awful at administoring my personal finances or should I say I was awful until a few ago when I stumbled across this place. My question is this, what are my chances of recouping any of the above fees and if so over what period. The Additions fees which are small are already over a thousand pounds and I still have another 5 years of statements to go through. I hope I don't come across as a chancer who is trying to claw back money for services that I used. I have a deep loathing of Barclays as they have me by the short 'n curlies since I live in their 'reserve' paying close to £100/month for the privalige of doing so. I never asked for the Additions accounts, I frequently popped into my local branch on occasions to speak about the horrendous charges but was always told that I was on the best package for my current situation, surely this was misleading to say the least? I've read the BCOBS stuff in this section but am still a little confused as to what my next move should be once I've completed my spreadsheet and write to Barclays asking for ermmm, some money back please?

I am willing to help a friend out in claiming back all charges under Financial Hardship from HSBC. She has over £1200 in charges from 2007. I have read lots of info from the forum but needed to clarify some things before sending the letter to the bank. My friend just came off IVA in 2013 and she has a mortgage she is currently paying from her HSBC current account and makes a high monthly payment leaving her to use up her overdraft every month. Can I claim from 2009 (6yrs back) ? Can I use the same spreadsheet used in calculating Credit card charges ? Can she add interest at 29.9% to the charges? Can she do her Income and Expenditure on a sheet of paper with a pen or is there a particular form ? I would appreciate your prompt reply. Thank you

Hello Everyone, I hope this has gone in the right thread Im really hoping for some great advice here, - Although i'm confident i will receive it, Im writing on behalf of my sister. Here is some background information which will help picture our crisis. My sister is 27, a qualified staff nurse, caring, loving and kind.She has fibromyalgia a chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder When she first started nursing she was put on HDU a high dependency ward, A highly stressful ward when first qualified. In time my sister became depressed and was put on anti-depressants, But also moved wards to somewhere she was happier.She was on these for 5 years, In between this she had a long term boyfriend, Whom she loved very much and was her one and only boyfriend so never knew any different. He cheated on her 3 times She found out and left him, Then when she was at a low ebb he wore her down and begged for forgiveness, This went on for a year until she finally gave in. Whilst they had been apart he had found another girlfriend who became pregnant, My sister accepted the child and they were ok for around a year or so, Until she read through his emails and found out he had been messaging and meeting tran-sexuals. This obviously devastated her, she questioned his sexuality and couldnt understand what was wrong with her. She had to go for all the sexual health tests, saying thats she felt dirty and that no one would ever want a relationship with her again as he had passed herepes on to her. In November 2014 she was signed off sick due to the fibromyalgia and trauma she had just suffered. She was put on Sertraline antidepressants. as well as this she was also take Amitriptyline, for pain( but is also used as an antidepressant) Zopiclone as she had trouble sleeping, gabapentin a painkiller used for the nervous system, and Diazepam. 2 months ago she came out in an angry rash on her face, She went up to A and E with my mum, Whilst waiting to be seen she fainted, and banged her head that hard she was knocked unconcious. Her mental state has since got gradually worse and we now have the crisis team coming out regular with a physiatrist who has now diagnosed her with hypomania, and was very close to being sectioned if it hadnt have been that my parents are both at home every day. Her mood fluctuates between aggressive, emotinal and manic, She often wanders off without telling anyone and is a danger to herself, She is very confused and cannot be left alone. You cannot have a conversation with her because they are so random you cannot make head nor tail of them. She is still off work now and it has been 7 months. She is too poorly to go back to work but The hospital are pushing and pushing and now has a final meeting on the 22nd june for a final outcome as to what it to happen, My parents have not told my sister this yet, but she wouldnt be well enough to attend this anyway. Her sick pay has now reduced to £81 a week and she cannot afford to live. She has a large amount of outgoings that need to be paid for, She is still living at home with my parents but they are both self employed with very little income coming in to this house. My parents outgoings are around £1,200 a month and my sisters the same. Here are my sisters outgoings Credit card with Barclaycard £160 a month-* Due at the end of June Credit card with Halifax - £130 a month Overdue by 2 weeks car finance payment £110 ( Due the next fortnight, Taken over 4 years with Black horse. 1 year owned. Gap insurance for the car and service plans £60 due around the next fortnight Phone bill 02 £40 month RCN ( royal college of nursing payment ) £20 monthly Due in the next fortnight Tesco bank Loan £300 Due in the next fortnight Halifax bank Loan £300 Due in the next fortnight Overdraft £1,200 Santander So in a nutshell If you could help with the below questions i would be so grateful, As i really want to help my parents and sister but im not sure where to start. 1: What rights does my sister have with regards to her job as a nurse? Can the NHS sack her? 2: What can be done about the incurring payments due to be paid with credit cards, loans, finance etc can be done? I really appreciate your time taking to read this and any help would be so gratefully received. If i have missed any information out that would be needed please ask.

I meet all the criteria for financial hardship (checked the Moneysavingexpert advice on this) and have been absolutely crippled by Barclays charging me £3 a day or nearly £100 a month on my account since they changed the rules. I have also suffered from charges piling up on my account to form the overdraft that is the basis for those £3 a day charges. I sent them an SAR, got my documents and duly sent off an email to Barclays Head Office following personalized templates from here asking them to stop all further charges and refund me those for the past four and a half years I have been in hardship. They turned me down flat, stating: Under the Lending Code (section 9) and Banking Conduct of Business Sourcebook (Section 5.1.4), Barclays does have a duty to treat customers in financial difficulties positively and sympathetically. Any such obligations on Barclays where financial hardship has been shown are guided by these codes and rules. However, I would advise that neither of these, nor the Banking Code which proceeded them require Barclays to refund charges or suspend the application of them when someone is suffering from financial difficulties. Having reviewed your account I can see that all charges have been applied correctly in accordance with the terms and conditions of your account therefore I would be unable to offer a refund. However, I have arranged for our Financial Assistance team to review your account and they are keen to have a full discussion with you to ascertain you current position including your current income and expenditure. The Financial Assistance would then be in a better position to look at more permanent solutions to your current position and they have several potential solutions that may assist you ; if agreeable I can arrange for a member of our Financial Assistance team to call you at a time which is convenient to you. I'm sure the 'Financial Assistance team' are no such thing... Where do I go from here?

I recently wrote to Hsbc to reclaim all my bank charges for the past 6 years and I got a letter from them requesting income and expenditure in other to consider for financial hardship. How do i go about this ? Will I have to prove to that I had gone through the hardship from when they have incurred the charges (6yrs ago) or does it have to be presently ? They advised that I call them within two weeks of the letter to provide my income n exp. I would appreciate your urgent reply .

this government is getting worse. http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/11579910.Charity_urges_Government_to_rethink_hardship_fund_axe_which_could_hit_16_000_Bradford_families/

Hi guys, I am trying to claim my bank charges back (I think about £3000 worth over past five years) I have sent them a letter asking for the records of bank charges back 6 years and I sent them the £10 cheque. I have had no reply in one whole week.... Can they really get away with ignoring customers??? Please help

I,m wanting to put in a claim to my bank,for a hardship claim. I am on ESA,and the charges I have incurred have really made things very nearly impossible for me. How do I go about this though? Any advice would be gratefully received.

I have recently contacted Nationwide regarding getting my bank charges refunded over the last 6 years, £760, they have written back to me asking me to complete an Income and expenditure form for myself and for my partner. I didn't include my partner in my letter as this is not a joint bank account, from my understanding I didn't think I was obliged to fill out a form of this kind unless a court has ordered it. If I do not complete this form, will it affect my situation? Thanks

Good evening, I am hoping someone may be able to advise me on what is becoming a very difficult situation. I apologise in advance for the long post but I need to explain the background for it to make sense. I have always wanted to be a pilot and following many years of hard work, I was offered a conditional job as a private jet pilot with NetJets Europe in 2008 on their cadet pilot programme. The condition was that i successfully completed the pilot training course at Oxford Aviation Academy. I would then be taken on full-time within 3 months of finishing the course on a salary of around £50k. At the time, the only bank offering budding pilots a loan to do this course was HSBC and they worked closely with the flying school to ensure that all the successful applicants (who were not fortunate enough to have a spare £68,000) - were directed through their doors in order to take out a loan. There were two products offered by HSBC- self sponsored and sponsored. If you applied to the flying school with no job offer and with the intention of finishing the course and then sending out your CV you were classed as self-sponsored and you could borrow £50,000 over 10 years with no payments until 3 months after finishing the training. If you had a job offer from NetJets like I did then you were classed as sponsored and they tailored a product specifically for this. You could borrow £60,000 but only over 6 years as the salary was high in comparison to the mainstream pilot jobs with RyanAir for example. So £60,000 over 6 years it was and my business plan was submitted. This business plan contained three outcomes.... 1) I complete the course successfully, get the job and repay the loan. 2) I suffer a medical condition out of my control and lose my medical - Insurance was in place to cover this. 3) I fail the course and cannot take the job - I would return to the world of sales until I could afford to successfully finish the failed sections and apply for a mainstream pilot job. What actually happened could not have been planned for... Half way through our training course in May 2009 (and after the recession hit), we were told that NetJets could not honour their initial commitment of taking us on within 3 months of finishing the course as business had dipped. Instead they would give us two options, leave with small lump sum and continue the training course as a "self-sponsored" student or they would put us on a long term leave contract where we would be paid a stepped down salary and we would be taken on within 3 years. During this time we did not have to keep our flying licenses current as they would provide re-training and we had to seek written permission to work elsewhere in another flying job. I opted for long term leave and immediately contacted HSBC to notify them. Despite telling me (at the time they were selling me the loan) that they had a good understanding of the aviation market and could be flexible to accommodate unforeseen circumstances, they said it was far too early to do anything about it and to contact them 1-month prior to payments starting!! Payments were due to start in June 2010 at £979 per month and my first contact was made in May 2009 to notify them of what was happening. Not wanting to leave it until the last minute, I contacted them again in November 2009 and February 2010 to be told the same - wait until 1 month prior. I had requested that they stretch the terms of the loan from 6 years to 10 years like the self sponsored students which would make the payments manageable and was told this should be fine but couldn't be looked at until 1 month prior. When I contacted them in May 2010 as requested, they decided they needed time to look into it and suggested that I defer my payments for a further 6 months to start in December 2010! - it was again mentioned that extending the terms shouldn't be an issue. despite agreeing to defer for another 6 months, they tried to take the first payment in June and then admitted an error followed by a refund which left a yellow mark on my credit file that remains to this day. I then heard nothing until October when a lady called to check I was ready to start making payments at £979 in December. I told her that I was awaiting them to look into extending the terms and no, I wouldn't be in a position to start payments as my salary was only a fraction of what it was meant to be had I been working full-time. She advised me that there was no way the bank could extend terms, it would never have been an option and the bank have helped as much as they can by agreeing to defer payments for a further 6 months!!! - This was their request not mine! The debate went on for several months, I started payments at the full amount but continued to explain that I would end up in financial hardship should they not help me. In the end I was advised by the bank to fall into arrears by 1 month in order for collections team to get involved as they had more power to assist me. This seemed ridiculous so I contacted the Ombudsman. They agreed with the bank and advised me to do the same.. . fall behind 1 month and let the collections team help me. Collections agreed to freeze my arrears and let me pay a reduced amount for 12 months but this didn't help as my reduced salary would be for up to 3 years. This was the most they could do apparently. I was now a month in arrears, two yellow marks on my credit file and facing the prospect of payments returning to £979 at a time when my salary was being stepped down. In the following months I was fortunate enough to receive a small amount of inheritance from a family member which enabled me to pay the arrears and get back on track as I was now in my final year and would return to work in June 2013 on full salary. Then in June, days before I should have returned to work, I was made redundant. Leaving me with £35,000 left to pay HSBC, lapsed licences which would cost at least another £5,000 to resurrect and therefore no chance of finding another flying job. I have struggled over the last 12 months and managed to keep my payments going by starting my own business but growing a new business with no money is extremely difficult therefore I have slowly drifted back into the realms of financial hardship with nothing left in my overdrafts. Having got nowhere with the bank the first time round and even less joy from the financial ombudsman, I wondered if anyone could suggest anything else to try? The loan is secured on my parents house so you can imagine the stress and worry I have at the moment. Sorry for the long winded post but without the background, it wouldn't make any sense. Kind regards Richard

Had a VERY upsetting afternoon. I suffer from Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's Disease. Quite common but only been diagnosed a short time and still trying to get medication correct. I was a Carer for my mum for 10 years but I have now lost my home due to her having to go into a home. I am currently with friends and on benefits. I have many problems which I won't go into here. Because of this, last Jan or Feb, by luck I spoke to someone at HSBC about excessive charges which some got refunded and others didn't. He set a plan in place whereby, because of my long term situation, they were not to charge me overdraft charges. I had to phone every 3 months to reset the plan as they could only do it at 3 months at a time. This seemed to go well until one girl raked me over the coals asking me many questions about my expenditure and that she wanted me to cut out my spending. A few weeks later I got sent a new debit card. I knew nothing about the old one being lost, as I thought so phoned the bank. To cut a long story short she had, unbeknownst to me, cancelled my debit card which was contactless and sent me a non-contactless one and on further investigation had cut my spending limit per day from £100,000 to £10,000. Now I can't afford to spend either but the customer adviser told me to complain. I did and they apologised and gave me £50 compensation for the trouble. EDIT forgot to say here, I was "punished" for being poor by having the contactless thing taken away - I couldn't really care less but it's the principle. So, re-setting the plan with the bank worked well til today. It took 2 1/2 hours of them asking me very invasive questions about things I had purchased upon my account, wanting to know what was wrong with me and when I would be working again and making me feel like I was lying and probably a criminal. "You bought something from Amazon, what was that for?" Do I have to go through this discriminatory behaviour every time I renew this plan? They tell me I do because for some reason they don't want to look at incoming and outgoing and see my position hasn't changed. I am not a wimp but this has left me very upset and distressed. What can I do and who should I contact please?

Just looking for some advice. On Monday, I have been awarded hardship as I have been sanctioned from my Job Seekers, anyway I signed on today and when I got back, I have just rang benefits office up to see if hardship payment as been sent out and got told by advisor that no hardship payment as been sent out yet. Does anyone know when I can expect hardship payment to go in my bank account?

Hello! I have a graduate account with Natwest. My overdraft is £1600, I know very silly of me but then it's offered to a student with no money it's very tempting! After uni I was unemployed for a year, Natwest were pretty awful. I have NO direct debits active on my account. I've been charged £36 a go everytime I go past my unarranged overdraft (out of my job seekers money). Thing is, I only take money out when it's says it's available on my online banking app. It's pretty annoying to get charged when I take money out which is apparently available only to find out it's not. 2 months ago my balance was -£1588 so I withdrew £10 from a cash point and think no more of it. I visited tesco earlier in the day and spent money, which apparently was pending and didnt come out until 2 days later, leaving my account as £1608. Natwest charged me £96 for this as I had no way of paying back into my account to make it level again for a couple of weeks. I've been unemployed since university but I've recently found employment which I start next week. I've opened an account with barclays and plan to get my wages paid into that, then every payday pay a bit towards my natwest overdraft. I'v sent a letter complaining about them charging me, and charging me when my account was already past the overdraft limit and received this reply. Is this a good reply to them or is it worth me chasing it some more? Is there anyway I could close the account and set up a payment plan with Natwest? £2385.99 of charges in 9 years is pretty disgusting and even getting the £92 back would be great. Letter in attachments, Thank you for your help

I am 80 years old with mortgage arrears, council tax arrears and a maxed out credit card. Plus, I am behind with my gas and electricity payments. If I don't qualify for hardship, then I don't know who does. Is it worth the time and effort making a hardship application with Lloyds Bank? If it is worth it, then can I claim back to 2006 or only 6 years? Is there a good template letter available? worth a go, then I want to get cracking. I think they have robbed me of £600 or so all told, solely through charges on unpaid direct debits and standing orders, so as well as the money really helping me now I don't think they ever should have taken it in the first place. As far as I can make out, their system just 'autopooped' me letters based on nothing more than computer entries. The letters don't serve any purpose either, as I have never in my life not been informed by a company that didn't get their money. The banks should just stay out of it and mind their own business where unpaid direct debits and standing orders are concerned. It has to be one of the biggest charge cons going. Any advice greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi, My ex-wife has a lloydstsb trustcard and finds herself unable to keep up the monthly payments. Does anyone have the address where she needs to send the claim? Is it the head office? Thanks