Hardship and FOS

[zootscoot]

The Financial Ombudsman will still process claims where people are suffering from hardship. Furthermore they have considered and settled cases where a claim has been started in the courts but the case has been stayed.

 

If you are suffering from hardship and have started the process you should make sure your bank is aware that you are suffering from hardship. If you are about to do your preliminary letter you should point out in that letter that you are suffering from financial hardship and therefore the bank has a duty under the FSA waiver agreement to process your claim. Give a brief outline of your circumstances and provide evidence if required.

 

If your bank refuses to process your claim you should report them immediately to the FSA. This is a clear breach of the waiver agreement and the FSA are currently reviewing the waiver. The more evidence they have of the banks abusing the waiver the more likely the FSA will lift the waiver.

 

If the bank processes your claim they should write to you within 8 weeks telling you of the outcome of their enquiry. If the result is unsatisfactory you can then take your complaint to the Ombudsman.

 

The waiver agreement does not apply to the courts. The FSA does not have the power to compel the courts to do anything. Thus the courts are not obliged to lift stays on the grounds of hardship, although, they are obliged to consider cases on the individual merits and some courts may be persuaded to lift stays where a stay would cause hardship.

[jailbird]

Nice one Zoot.

 

I have just sent a email to the CEO of HSBC saying the exact same thing although the FOS have already taken my case and asked them to investiage under the Hardship Rule. I also have had my case stayed at Court . I have attached documentation to support so will now wait to see if I get a reply.

 

Chris:)

[zootscoot]

Good to hear from you again Chris.

 

Hope you hear something soon

[jansus]

there is an announcement on the site today about gathering info on hardhship cases

 

jan

[trollstar]

thankyou so much for this info

i went straight to FOS (mostly cos i'd not even heard of CAG till last week)

will keep you posted

[trollstar]

ok further update (still talkin to myself?)

just recieved a letter from Nationwide acknowledging the FOS complaint letter, NW state their 8 weeks exspires 17 jan 08

in the mean time they ask that i fill in a ' income and expenditure form'

i'll assume this is standard? and i should fill it out? and enclose a covering letter stating my case?

should i still get S.A.R - (Subject Access Request)? see other thread, all i've done so far is call FOS

anything else?

p s to MOD's if i reposted this too many times, please delete those incorrectly placed

[banofi]

you should point out in that letter that you are suffering from financial hardship and therefore the bank has a duty under the FSA waiver agreement to process your claim.

 

Anywhere I can copy & quote the waiver agreement in my letter to Alliance & Leicester? They already refused to pay out even though I sent them details of my debt management plan and filled out an income & expenditure form.

[foofighter66]

hi

I've read about the hardship thing, and no-one seems to explain or say what exactly the grounds for hardship is.

I've had a nightmare with Barclays, and just recieved a letter saying about how claims are suspended due to case etc.

I'm a single mum of 2, was working 4hrs per week,

(all i'm allowed, unless I do 16hrs with child tax credit thing, and would end up £15 better off each week, working for less than £1 an hour basically, lol thats another thread methinks)

but now rely on benefits to survive, no help from kids dad either. I went overdrawn by £7.82 just after xmas, bills, DD, etc. and its had a complete snowball effect, they added £30, then a week later another £60 and so on. As I get £110.00PER WEEK for myself and 2 kids I ended up losing 2 weeks money in charges, and they're now demanding I pay a further £147.00 as my DD and bills were not covered and again gets another charge plonked on top. I'm behind with my water and gas, and of course xmas stuff I got via catalogues and stuff. I have contact debt agency and they said offer £10per week to each creditor, which leaves me £30per week to live on and pay gas, electric etc. I has also read a few times that if your on benefits you can't go through the small claims court.......anyone with any help would be gratefully recieved.

[HENRYLECHAT]

ZOOTSCOOT,

 

May I ask why if the Banks are waiting for the OFT to adjudicate are they still stealing bank charges?

It seems an absolute ridiculous set up, I alone have had £180 stolen this week.

They should NOT be allowed to have it both ways, i.e. NOT settle fairly and TAKE charges.

I would have thought they should have been asked to stop until the OFT settled on an amount

[JOSH_IOU]

I have asked Lloyds TSB's solictors to lift the stay that is in place on the grounds of hardship. And under the banking code acordingly.

 

However they say there position stands and they would advise there client that the best course of action would be to keep the stay in place.

 

What doI do should i go staight to court?

[jansus]

Hardship cases should continued to be referred to FOS as per terms of the waiver

 

Also wait for the CC on 6/7th July for more guidance

 

Annoyed from caerphilly - A &L has a good letter to try as well

 

lSuccess at A and L via hardship case route

[RedVixen]

Quick question

 

I sent my prelim letter to Lloyds as part of a huge 4 point complaint more than 8 weeks ago and have had no response - does this mean the FOS may take it up - as 2 parts of the same letter are PPI related and the FOS is taking them on I will be sending the complete Complaint including teh charges bit to the FOS and asking them to consider that as a separate complaint anyyway

[yourbank]

Quick question

 

I sent my prelim letter to Lloyds as part of a huge 4 point complaint more than 8 weeks ago and have had no response - does this mean the FOS may take it up - as 2 parts of the same letter are PPI related and the FOS is taking them on I will be sending the complete Complaint including teh charges bit to the FOS and asking them to consider that as a separate complaint anyyway

My personal opinion is that PPI and bank charges claims should be split up for two reasons. (1) Bank Charges could be claimed is subject to the OFT test case and that the method of approaching the bank with a Hardship case is slightly different to PPI. (2) simply becuase the likelyhood is that two completely separate teams would deal with PPI and Bank Charges.

Saying that, no response after 8 weeks gives you cause to go to the FOS. With regards to Financial Hardship please see my signature for the FSA Waiver on Bank Charges PAGE 11, is about financial hardship. I would expect them to send you out an income and expenditure form to complete as part of the FSA waiver. I am sure the PPI guys can comment on what happens with that side of the claim, which I am unable to do.

[RedVixen]

Thanks Yourbank

 

They are split anyway my current FOS reference is for PPI I will only be sending the banks charges stuff as it was part of the last letter I sent to Lloyds

 

I suspect even the PPI bit will be split as there are two very distinct issues in there for different loans

 

The Charges bit was the standard template letter with the bit stating that I thought I would fall outside of the waiver on hardship grounds which they have failed to respond to - it all went to one person who then farmed it out to two different departments I have confirmation of this. I will ring the FOS before I send it all off to see if they will raise a second complaint for the charges

 

I will now try to find one of your posts that isn't a quick reply as your signiture isn't on the above post - just like the link to my PPI thrtead isn't on mine

[yourbank]

try my profile. Apologies, but I have signature switched off, because it can sometimes be more distracting that the actual words that are said in the post. Apologies.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Notify/Waiver/pdf/disp_monthly.pdf

Have included the link in this post.

[RedVixen]

Thanks I found it on your profile - just been reading some other interesting stuff - at the moment they have been persuing debt collecting activity on teh overdraft which is entirely charges I am trying to work out how that leaves it if I send a LBA now as if I am reading it right even on those grounds they may have breached the conditions of the stay

[loz]

I wish I'd realised about the hardship angle a year or so ago, when A+L were continuing to screw me for charges and my claim was stayed by the court. My case (at the time) met some of the criteria, namely repeatedly returned payments and repeatedly exceeding my limit. The FSA's threshold of incurring over £500 in 12 months is interesting, since A+L took £1324 off me in only 9 months. They eventually closed my account, for which I went to the FOS.

 

Can I make any use of the hardship angle? My thread is here:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/alliance-leicester/116021-loz-l-direct-debit-2.html

 

Cheers

Loz

[johnsosu]

I'm so confused now. I've read so many websites and forums that I'm not that much wiser. My case with HSBC for just under £2k has been stayed since last August. I now have mortgage arrears of £5k and assume I would qualify to have the stay lifted under hardship? I have downloaded a form N244 but don't know how to answer the questions i.e. do I want a hearing, do I have an draft order or summary application of facts. Should I approach the FOC or apply to the court to have the stay lifted? Under the circumstances, the fastest route is preferable.

[rosieglo1]

Have just been through this process and so far only got HSBC to refund 1 month charges of £150, they also not agree I am suffering financial hardship after taking out £200 per month for a year from my benefit and pension income which leaves me owing rent and their credit card payments! I pointed out one of their staff suggested raising cash from the credit card - bad advice - and have been pressured from HSBC credit card to up payments even though they had hardship case in front of them. What are they playing at!!!!Won a refund charges case against them in 2006 and to hear them on the phone today you would think I was the one who had robbed the bank!! You gotta laugh!

[yourbank]

Have just been through this process and so far only got HSBC to refund 1 month charges of £150, they also not agree I am suffering financial hardship after taking out £200 per month for a year from my benefit and pension income which leaves me owing rent and their credit card payments! I pointed out one of their staff suggested raising cash from the credit card - bad advice - and have been pressured from HSBC credit card to up payments even though they had hardship case in front of them. What are they playing at!!!!Won a refund charges case against them in 2006 and to hear them on the phone today you would think I was the one who had robbed the bank!! You gotta laugh!

 

Is your rent arrears higher than the £150 they are refunding? If it is, I would probably press for more on that basis.

[mailmannz]

Does anyone have the address to complain to the FSA about banks not meeting their waiver obligations?

 

Ive sent in all the paper work, gone through it with HSBC and after 2 months got a reply to my final warning letter saying I gotta send in all the paper work before they will look at my hardship case!

 

These guys are taking the p1ss big time!

 

Regards

 

Mailman

[MARTIN3030]

You need to complain to the OFT.

You can do this online from their website.

 

Here is the link to email

 

 

enquiries@oft.gsi.gov.uk.

[landy_alert]

Does anyone have the address to complain to the FSA about banks not meeting their waiver obligations?

 

Ive sent in all the paper work, gone through it with HSBC and after 2 months got a reply to my final warning letter saying I gotta send in all the paper work before they will look at my hardship case!

 

These guys are taking the p1ss big time!

 

Regards

 

Mailman

 

Hi Mailman:)

 

I wrote to -

 

The Waivers Team

The Financial Services Authority

25 The North Colonnade

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5HS

 

My complaint was about LTSB breaching the terms of the waiver regarding hardship. The FSA responded saying that the information contained in my complaint would be 'considered from a regulatory point of view only, and not with any view to resolve your complaint against LTSB.'

 

They also stated that - 'A copy of your letter..........has been passed to the department responsible for granting waivers and monitoring firms' compliance with the waiver and associated conditions for its consideration.'

 

Hope this helps!

 

Regards,

 

Landy x

[MARTIN3030]

Good info Landy-I wasnt aware of this.Green blob for you too.

[jamesheart]

Good News.