Halifax hardship claim - any advice?

[tmbr09]

Hi all,

 

I'm sooooo angry and not sure where i stand so any advice would be really really appreciated!

I went through the bank charges process last year and had to escalate it as a hardship claim.

Due to the length of time it took a reslove it came out at the same time the banks were successful in test case. AS a result I got a letter the very next day from the Ombudsman ruling in favour of the bank but that the original offer of £998 still stood.

I then contacted Halifax in January this year to take this - I simply couldnt afford to hold off any longer despite wanting to. Only now have they done anything to release this payment.

They sent me a form to sign which asked if i wanted the money credited to my halifax account (which is in arrears) or payment via cheque.

Due to my financial status I opted for cheque payment in order to pay off priority bills first.

Havng not heard anything again i just rung Halifax and they have decided to credit my bank account despite the option i chose for having a cheque payment.

They say they can do this as they are reducing my debt and its the agreement they have with the Ombudsman service (noone told me that!) - fine i get that but other than reduce a non priority bill I thought the whole point was to refund the payment for me to alliveate hardship. Also anyone i know who has gone through this has had a refund paid to them despite being in debt.

 

I'm so stressed and I know it sounds silly as my halifax debt is reduced but that money would of gone to pay priority bills which suffered in the first place as a result of continual charging.

 

I was going to go back to the Ombudsman but wanted some neutral advice first.

 

Please if anyone has any advice /comments???

[rebel11]

I think a complaint to the FOS is the way to go. The whole idea of a hardship payment is that it gives you funds to alliveate that hardship.

Not for the bank to reduce the balance on your account.