Bank Charges Financial Hardship Success Stories

A question about : Bank Charges Financial Hardship Success Stories

Please report your financial hardship successes here, if possible in the following format:

Bank:
Amount Reclaimed:
Amount they paid:
How long did it take:
The story: (just a few sentences, please include how far you went eg did you just write to your bank or did you use the financial ombudsman)

Please don't use this thread for general discussion on reclaiming bank charges use this thread instead

Best answers:

• Just wanted to share that I had successfully received a full offer of £98 after requesting my overdraft excess fee's back a little over 2 weeks ago, this isn't the first time I claimed back the charges from Halifax either but I was a little surprised as I expected to get the standard letter about putting everything on hold until 2009 (my partner asked for a total of £345 from HSBC and they wanted him to fill out expenditure forms but would not do anything even after this, stating early 2009 as the earliest they could look at refunding anything for him), I did however claim under hardship but I didn't have to fill any other paper work out to get all my charges back.
  I know its only a small amount but £98 is a lot for us as I only work part time due to looking after my daughter and this really helps so I just wanted to let people know that its still possible to get something with relatively no hassle so don't let the legal battle put you off.
• I support a single mum who has a bi-polar illness, a claim went in for bank charges several months ago, they refused, so we wrote again claiming hardship, again they refused, at this time all claims where frozen due to court case so we did nothing. 8 weeks ago a letter arrived asking for an income/expenditure form to be filled out, did this and another letter arrived saying no. Then out of the blue a letter arrived offering Ј1,900+ this is approx 95% of the amount claimed. she is over the moon and has accepted the offer. so dont give up hope. we never phoned did everything by letter.
  I would like to thank everyone on this forum for all advice, template letters etc
• well, i always came to this thread to read about the latest results, it always picked me up a bit, gave me that extra bit of hope that someday i might get a result also..I always thought, it would be everybody else adding their results in here, and not me..well, it does make you think that, especially after waiting so long....anyway....today i got my offer from the halifax, i claimed Ј900, got offered Ј1059.......so thanx to martin lewis, you are a diamond, and well done and thanx to all those on here , and those yet to come and add an entry....... time for a few beers now.......cheers all
• I would just like to add, that I went down the financial hardship route, so if you are given a common finacial statement form to fill in, fill it in as true as you can...what have you got to lose
• Hi
  Just want to say a HUGE thankyou for the advice to reclaim charges as have just received all of and more than claimed!!!
  halifax
  claimed 1045
  paid 1518
  So I guess I missed some when I wrote the letter, have had huge drop in household income so claim was against hardship, but without this site wouldn't have had a clue and the template worked.
  thanks again
• just wanted to let you all know that this morning i have spoke with the halifax
  and they have reviewed my financial hardship claim and have agreed to pay back my bank charges! the guy i spoke to was very helpful, he has informed me that a letter has gone out to me on fri 15th stating that they have agreed to pay me Ј5700 (my initial claim was for Ј4970)he even read out to me the content of the letter and that when i recieve the letter which should be tomorrow (or when royal mail get their finger out ) i need to sign the acceptance form and the money should be in my account within 14 days.he did point out though that because i have arrears with them on a credit card and
  mortgage these arrears would be paid off first and then i will recieve the difference.
  so, for all of you out there going through re claims , dont give in ,there is light at the end of the tunnel .
  also can i just say a big thank you to all the people who work on legalbeagles and moneysavingexpert because without them i wouldnt have had a clue on how to re claim
  from one very happy bunny(will be even happier once the money is in my account)
• Halifax - charges were Ј466 plus interest, they agreed to pay all the charges, just not the interest which I was happy with!
  Had to go through the hardship line with them to get anywhere through
  Cheers MSE!!
• Bank: Lloyds TSBAmount Reclaimed: Ј1400Amount they paid: Ј1400I used the template letters on the website and they paid up after sending the 2 letters, I was so impressed I did it on the joint account as well and got Ј440 back from that one. I have just done the credit card and had a letter saying they would pay the full amount Ј432 which includes interest. I am still awaiting the payment. Thanks a lot Martin have saved me a fortune.
• Bank: Halifax
  Claimed: Ј2295
  Received: Ј2295
  The Story
  Had 2 Halifax accounts paid out on grounds of financial hardship. Then I decided to claim on this one. Instantly got the - go away there is a court case letter. Phoned them and said if you thought I was in financial difficulties with the other 2 then I must be with this 1 please review.
  Got a letter offering me Ј1295. Phoned them up asking what my options were with the rest. Was told they had offered me a full 6 years charges and I wouldn't be getting more. I told them it wasn't the full 6 years charges. Seems calculation errors had occurred.
  Got a call today to say they had sorted it and were paying the full amount.
  Good luck to everyone with their claims.
• BANK: Halifax
  RECLAIMING: Ј2700
  AMOUNT RECIEVED: Ј2700
  Recieved a letter from HALIFAX on Saturday offering Ј2000
  Rang them today saying if full amount isnt paid a letter will go to the courts!!
  And guess what?
  5 mins later get a phone call offering the full amount
  A BIG THANKS FOR EVERYONES HELP ON MSE ESPECIALLY Sol00
  YOUR AN ANGEL
  Thanks again everyone and remember fight the good fight!!
  Think ill go to the pub later to celebrate!!
  DRINKS ARE ON ME!!
• so far to date:
  PERSONAL LOAN ppi ccld + refund approx Ј3240 jly 08
  current a/c no 1 bank charges refund Ј265 aug 08
  current a/c no2 bank charges Ј1056 jly 07
  aa credit card interest+ late payment fees Ј77 jun 08
  halifax c/card interest+late payment fees Ј872 jun 08
  aa loan early settlment repayment Ј55 jun 08
  aa loan [ sent refund with no request by me]
  current a/c no 2 all the way to court claim paid up with 5 days to hearing
  halifax refused all the rest so l then involved the FOS who agreed in my favour for all of them
  all the above have have reduced my debts by Ј5565
  now total debts Ј 18000 all on dmp with CCCS
  none of which due to spending irresponsibly just lifes c**p that hits you
  when you least expect it [no one is immune trust me }:rolleyes: your life can change in an instant ........ mine did
  NEVER TAKE NO as a final answer from any financial organisation take it all the way to the FOS if they say no, then no it is ...but dont give up till you get that far
  thanks to this site and all the help on the forums ,id never had done it .... im not out of the woods yet but thanks to the results ive had l do not have to sell my home any more to resovle things
  im one happy bunny !!!!!!!!!!!!
• Just got an offer of just over Ј2k to settle my bank charges with Halifax.....am sooooo happy
• Seems, from reading this thread, that Halifax are doing well with reviewing the hardship cases at the moment.
  I went freelance earlier this year and took a big drop in income while I am building my business. I had applied for my charges to be reviewed last year and then obviously the test case started so I thought I would hear nothing more. I then got a letter from Halifax saying that if I was a hardship case, they could review my circumstances. I sent a statement of financial affairs back to them approximately 6 weeks ago and this morning was offered Ј2224, to be reviewed again when the test case concludes.
  I am absolutely over the moon as I really need this money at the moment and I thought there was no way Halifax would pay.
  Good luck to everyone and fingers crossed the test case has a positive outcome for the people and not the corporate giants!
• Bank: Halifax PLC
  Amount Reclaimed:Ј544
  Amount they paid:Ј544
  The story:
  Had a halifax student account (im still student). They charged me Ј544 over the space of 1 year due to going over my agreed overdraft limit by Ј5! They charged me for letters, phone calls, everything. I paid it back over time. However, they sent me a letter telling me my overdraft had being removed and sent to a debt collectors becuase i didnt pay fast enough! so i filled out a hardship form and they paid every penny back. im still waiting for the cheque. i'll bite the postmans hand off. I begin paying my over draft back next month. really happy apart from that, but they need to be stopped!
  
• Bank: Halifax PLC
  Amount Reclaimed:Ј544
  Amount they paid:Ј544
  The story:
  Had a halifax student account (im still student). They charged me Ј544 over the space of 1 year due to going over my agreed overdraft limit by Ј5! They charged me for letters, phone calls, everything. I paid it back over time. However, they sent me a letter telling me my overdraft had being removed and sent to a debt collectors becuase i didnt pay fast enough! so i filled out a hardship form and they paid every penny back. im still waiting for the cheque. i'll bite the postmans hand off. I begin paying my over draft back next month. really happy apart from that, but they need to be stopped!
  
• Bank: Halifax
  Claimed: Ј1575
  Received: Ј1900
  Yipppeeeeeeee
  
• hi all well here is the day i get to post my story, yes ive had my offer, claimed 4009.00 and offer 4294.00 well pleased, so good luck to all who are fighting halifax, cheers martin and all for your replies to my threads
• Bank: Natwest PLC
  Amount Reclaimed:Ј2,470
  Amount they paid:Ј2,470
  The story:
  After 6 weeks roughly, 2 letters and a fax later we got everything we paid in charges back from Natwest, we claimed hardship and faxed an arrears letter to their complaints department. Result!
• Bank: Halifax
  Amount Reclaimed: Ј350
  Amount they paid: Ј350
  The story:
  I was new to this bank, I was used to natwest just not allowing any money to go from my account to the debit card and used to getting delined if there was no money in my account. I had to leave natwest as I am heading for bankrupcy so I opened a Halifax account.
  So it was a masive shock when I came to realise I had gove over my overdraft limit by Ј35. Not just in one go, but with no less then10 separate debit transactions each for items around Ј1 (food) and no more then Ј5 (gym class).
  I am uwaged. I lost my job and don't have a high income. I think this strongly helped me reclaim the money I did get back.
  I originally wrote a letterof complaint to them which they declined and said basicly the charges were there for a reason. I tred to call up, sveral times and plead with them- I literally didn't have enough to eat let alone pay my travel or phone bills, if they took the money as it was actually more money then I get in an entire month and I was already struggling going from a job with an income to state benefits and debt repayments.
  They did take the money from me, they allowed a month in which time I borrowed the money from a credit card (dumb but I had no money to eat!) and now have that to deal with. But thats a separate story.
  I have today, after 2 months had a letter from Halifax to say they would like to pay me back the money they took from me, all of it, and asked me to sign a form in order for them to pay the money into my account which would happen within the next 14 days after they had the letter back.
  When I did get the lettr it appeared the Ombudsman had been involved-I had't asked for this so I am not sure if it was as I made a ormal written complaint or this is just the general process.
  I am extrmely extremely grateful to MSE for providing me with the tools and the information to do this and to get a result! I now feel so relieved! its a huge weight off my mid to know I can now pay the credit card back all of the money I spent, the interest was not paid but I wasn't expecting it to be.