Help Alliance & Leicester Hardship Claim

[sickofmoneyworries]

Hi Everyone

 

I need a little help about 5 months ago I sent a letter to the bank from moneysavingexpert.com to claim financial hardship. This week I have finally recieved the income & expenditure form 5 months later. I have filled this in fully and it is very clear that I do not have enough money to meet my commitments. I split with my partner in April and since then have found it very hard to make ends meet. I am not entitled to any benifits other than the childcare eliment of tax credits for my childcare and children and I believe about £13 for working tax credits a week. I also lost my job in August but luckily I found another job to start on the 5th October. I applied to the local council for housing/council benifit but because I had a job to start and classed as working I wouldn't be entitled to anything!!!! I even applied for a crisis loan to help meet my rent commitments but apparently you can not use the loans for this purpose!!! I am now in arrears with my rent, I have managed to pay my council tax as im too scared not to after my last missed payments a couple of years ago where I had a big burly bailiff with leather gloves threatening to kick my door in and also sitting outside my house all day and ringing me asking when I was leaving for work needless to say I was too scared to leave the house.

My new job pays a lot less than I was being paid previously so my wage has dropped from 19800 to 16300, I have £595 rent to pay £175 Council Tax (i live in a new property and because the house wasn't listed on the land register had to wait several months before I could start paying which is why my payments are a lot more than usual) £215 for my car payment (approved car finance only place I could get credit basically 11000 for a 3000 car) £60 Electric £50 gas £30 water £29 life insurance, I am in arrears with both my gas and electric!!! £70 car insurance (new driver so larger premiums) I daren't miss any car or insurance payments as without the car i couldnt get to work or ferry my boys around to the childminders, school etc. I do have sky at £34 but I am about to the cut the package which you can only do after you have it 6 months and will only be keeping the kids package.(considering I and my boys have no social life we need telly to watch). I am in debt to BT as I have been with sky for since I moved in but apparently BT own the line and I should have been paying them line rental, BT & Sky are now in dispute over who owns the line and in the mean time I have been cut off. If I want my phone back on BT are demanding £300 I have always paid my phone bill on time with sky! In the meantime Alliance & Leicester are still landing me with bank charges which they are taking out of my tax credits/child benifit which in turn means I have to pay the childminder less than I owe her luckily she is very understanding, I have no other means of income until I get paid on the 15th November and havent had a wage since the end of August which was used to pay my bills. I have explained this to Alliance & Leicester but they still refuse to refund the charges. My bank card was then cloned and used fraudulently the culprit managed to get £202 out of my account in 5 seperate payments it has taken alliance & leicestner a month and a half to refund after many frustrating phone calls they said it wasn't fraud as I had dealt with the paticular company previously and I had to try and prove I didnt owe them the money by providing reciepts and evidence (point is why would i have reciepts and evidence for payments that werent authorised to be taken) At the moment I feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall and I am currently trying to live of £30 a week this includes fuel and feeding all 3 of us!!! Is there anywhere I can get help or anything I can do to stop the bank charging me i really am at the end of my tether I have both the boys birthdays next month and I not going to be able to afford to buy them anything and of course then there's christmas makes me feel like a really bad mum when i cant provide for them I have always worked even right up to the day before I was due with my boys have never claimed any benifits, even thought about quitting work all together and being a stay at home mum but apparently I cant do that all i would be eligibile for is £60 a week job seekers and housing benifits seems like I cant win!!!!

 

Any advice from my lengthy post would be greatly appreciatted.

[silverfox1961]

Hi, I really feel for you at the moment.

 

Firstly, get a new bank account with a bank or building society not associated with the Santander Group and transfer all payments in and out to the new bank account.

Alliance and leicester can add as many charges as they want then because once you are mentally ready, we can help get those charges refunded.

 

While waiting for the new account to start, you will need to demand a Right of Appropriation to A+L. This is a letter you take to the bank and tell them that you have first right to any money paid in for specific reasons.(Bills, food)

 

Try re-applying for HB/CTB and ask for it to be backdated (retrospective payment)

 

If you have any credit cards that you could pay reduced payments on, that would help you.

 

The best people to help are the National Debtline:

National Debtline – Free, Confidential Debt Advice – Call 0808 808 4000

 

Also, have a look at Entitled to: Start Calculation

 

Although not entirely accurate, it does give a good idea of what you could be entitled to.

 

 

I'm sorry that you are going through this and I hope that the good people here can help but if I may, can I ask you to paragraph your postings out a little. It's quite difficult to follow when you don't put things in paragraphs.

 

fox

[Nicmac1]

Hello

I would like to ask who she would be able to get another bank account with in her financial situation. I am in the process of asking for my charges back from A&L because i am currently having financial difficulties like the lady above with whom i sympathise because i know how difficult and frustrating it can get. I have tried all the banks mentioned on the parachute account list and all have refused. So catch 22 really.

 

But keep your chin up.....i just have to look at my childrens faces to keep me smiling when all else seems dull.

 

Kind Regards

Nicola

[desperadette]

I can fully sympathise as I too have have an A and L current account and their charges really are extornate!!

 

Every time we go over our agreed overdraft they charge £5 a day! I find it impossible to use their online system - the security is so tight that even I can't get into my account half the time. That's when their website is working of course.

 

They now charge me for putting in less than £500 a month. I have the option of changing to a different account with them but don't know if it will then affect my rights if I want to claim back something later on - assuming that becomes possible. I am hoping that it will still be possible to reclaim bank charges for people in financial hardship.

 

I have had several bank accounts in the past and I have to say that the A and L customer service have been the worst I've ever come across.

Re accounts, I thought the coop were supposed to be sympathetic and help open a basic bank account?

 

Re bank accounts, I am lucky in that I had another account that I migrated back to ( after being sick of seeing most of my wages being taken out in charges by A and L) but I thought the coop were supposed to be good for basic bank accounts. I do hope you can open an account with someone soon. I think it is disgusting that you are in such hardship and they are adding to your problems by taking money out of your account.

 

I hope you will get some good advice from the guys on this forum on how to proceed.

 

Good luck!

[younganfree]

 

They now charge me for putting in less than £500 a month. I have the option of changing to a different account with them but don't know if it will then affect my rights if I want to claim back something later on - assuming that becomes possible. I am hoping that it will still be possible to reclaim bank charges for people in financial hardship.

 

!

 

I think that switching your account with them should not affect any claim you might make in the future, as it would be 'account specific' - in other words you would be claiming the charges they've made to you on this account, and then if necessary any charges they make on the new account.

 

As long as you keep all your statements with the charges and account number/s you should be ok. And probably better off if you aren't receiving extra charges for not funding the account by £500 on a monthly basis.

 

Anyone else suggest differently?

[desperadette]

Thanks Younganfree - yes, I am trying to see if I can pay down the overdraft and actually close this account. Its finding the money to pay off the overdraft but I will get there eventually!

[desperadette]

Hi sickofmoneyworries

 

Hope things are a little better now ? and that you are going to be paid again tomorrow (15th).