Hi,

Need some help, hopefully it will be better than the replies on MSE

I started to go overdrawn with HSBC about 4 years ago,

all small amounts which they would charge for,

it then got to one month where they wanted to charge more than I could afford,

I pleaded with them to not charge me as I would have to move my money

as I would have nothing to buy food etc with.

They still insisted on charging me.

So I moved my wages before they applied the charges and left it around £25 overdrawn from what I remember.

Moving on to last week,

I received a letter and numerous phone calls (despite asking to be contacted by letter only) from MKRR regarding my HSBC debt

which is now £800 with all the charges they have applied.

I asked on MSE if I should send a prove it letter.

I was advised:

'My first port of call would be a ProveIt letter to the DCA.

This should then provide you with an account reference and other information.

I would then ignore them completely, and go via the Bank instead.

Frankly, asking you to pay what amounts to extortionate phantom charges

after such a long period is grounds for a complaint to the OFT on the basis that these charges are unfair.

I have the sort code and account number,

what do I write to HSBC? Or is there another route I need to take?

Regards,

DreamEater

Has this account been assigned (sold) to MKRR ?

Have you received a notice of assignment - or are they simply collecting on behalf of HSBC ?

There are several options, I think. You can have a read of the articles in the link below. One of which is an example of how someone managed to reclaim from Royal Bank of Scotland under the BCOBs rules - Treating you unfairly.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?849-BCOBS-Round-up-Making-your-bank-treat-you-failry

Or you can have a read of the following thread - see if the way in which this cagger approached their bank might help.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?376086&p=4079556#post4079556

This was a cagger who managed to reclaim bank charges by pointing out the unfairness of them.

If you want to establish whether or not, MKRR are indeed the new owners of the debt. Then just amend the letter below where necessary. Send it to MKRR's Head/Registered office. You must send it by Recorded delivery so you know that it has been delivered.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]40051[/ATTACH]

Hi, welcome to CAG, the guys will advise as soon as they can.

There is little point in asking MKRR for a copy of the agreement - as this is an overdraft then there wont be one.

The only thing you could really ask for is a proper accounting of how the amount they are claiming has accrued.

It might be in your interest to send a Subject Access Request to HSBC - this is a request for ALL the information they hold in respect of your financial dealings with them. You should specifically request copies of statements - this will show the account state at the time the charges were made and would give you proper back up when making your claim for the refund of the charges. The SAR will cost you £10.00. They have 40 calendar days to comply.

If you had advised HSBC that you were struggling, then their actions were indeed unfair.

HTH.

You could add the following paragraph to the letter I have attached above, in order to make the point that you will only communicate in writing.. as is your legal right !

Please place on record that it has been my policy for some time now to only communicate in writing

when dealing with my financial affairs from my home, as it is my right to do so under Article 8 of the European

Convention on Human Rights.

Thank you so much for the fast replies,

I just need to add one thing, I have moved since I had this HSBC account, would this be an issue when requesting a SAR?

Hi Dream,

Welcome to CAG. You'll get loads of help here.

Defo look into the BCOBS Rules as Citizen B suggests. I used this with my Halifax OD, and they refunded over £300 in charges, plus changed my 'ultimate reward' account (which was costing me £15 a month) to a basic account and held off adding interest and charges to my maxed OD limit for 6 months which gave me a chance to get rid of it. (plus refunded me the £15. per month they charged since I let them know I was having problems - about four months I think it was

I personally ignored the DCA who Halifax set on me and went straight to the bank.

Good luck, and keep us updated

Up2

Thank you so much for the fast replies,

 

I just need to add one thing, I have moved since I had this HSBC account, would this be an issue when requesting a SAR?

They might ask you to provide identification.. or alternatively ask you to collect from a local branch.

They MUST request any ID info promptly.. Not wait the 40 calendar days and then decide they want more information.

You could preempt their request by confirming that you have moved and ask what further information they would need... although.. how did this new company contact you at your new address ?

Hi, seeking some advice.

A couple of years ago I had some advice from you guys in reference to an £800 debt with HSBC that was being chased by MKRR

I requested the info from HSBC, and after that I heard no more from MKRR so I left it alone.

A few months ago I signed up to Experian, and updated my credit file with my addresses as there was no debt showing on my file,

I was thinking it might have gone..

.. once updated, the debt appeared on my credit file and the letters from MKRR started again,

I filed a dispute with Experian, they returned saying MKRR believed it to be correct so wouldn't remove it.

I then got a letter saying they had loads of returned letters from my address claiming i wasn't living there,

they said this wasn't true and i was to contact them,

i then received another letter, this one is a Final Demand, and it's now being sent to their pre-legal department.

The details are I defaulted on 07/2009, so it would be SB in 5 months..

. What can I do to delay this without acknowledging the debt so it becomes statute barred?

Thanks in advance. DreamEater.

Hi,

What type of debt is this? Loan / Credit Card / Overdraft?

When you say you requested the info, was that a CCA request? (Please note that CCA requests are not valid for overdrafts).

If not then send a CCA request to MKRR, enclose a £1 postal order and send via recorded delivery so you know and can prove that they have received your request.

If you have already sent a CCA request and MKRR have failed to comply, a letter sent reminding them that on XX date you sent a CCA request that they have failed to comply so therefore until such times has MKRR produce a valid CCA you will not be entering into any more correspondence.

Forget the default date, this can be added up to 6 months after a missed payment, what was the date of your last payment?

Go by that date plus one calender month for the first missed payment.

Stigman

Hi Stig, Thanks for the reply,

The debt is for an overdraft.

The info I requested from HSBC was the SAR request to get all my account info,

I didn't contact MKRR and haven't done at any point.

I don't have an exact date to hand of the last payment,

but from what I can remember,

I left the account less than £100 overdrawn (charges)

then more charges were added, taking it to the £800.

It is likely to be quite a long time before 07/2009 that the last payment was made.

Thanks, DreamEater.

You need to find this out, either check your credit file as sometimes they show all of the historical data including payments or balances etc. otherwise you can obtain all of your statements from HSBC by sending a SAR, this costs £10, link to the SAR template is in the top toolbar in green "Library".

The SAR always goes to the Original Creditor.

I would also send MKRR a prove it letter, this then nails them down to providing dates etc.

MKRR are part of the collection arm of MKDP, MKDP are very litigious & do issue claims so to protect yourself incase of any future Claim you do need to act as doing nothing, MKRR's legal department thinks that you are failing to respond so they can obtian a claim by default and are more likely to issue one.

Stigman

Stigman

I have the SAR info at home hopefully so I can dig out payment info tonight.

I've just checked my credit file and the default is registered on 07/2009 and is listed as MKRR, nothing on there for HSBC.

But i have noticed that on historical information for MKRR it shows a payment around 2/3 years ago was registered to my credit file,

i know this is not the case.

DreamEater

I have the SAR info at home hopefully so I can dig out payment info tonight

Excellent news, before doing anything get the last date that you paid into the account, that is the important bit.

Then send the Statute Barred letter, but only if it is a clear 6 years or 5 years if you do live in Scotland.

Do not worry about the ghost payments, that is a DCA trick that has been used time and time again, but you can pin them down to the ghost payments, who made them by what method, what branch etc. etc. & then expose them for the lies which you said they are.

Stigman

Ok, plan of action.

Get the last payment date,

if longer than 6 years send a statue barred letter.

If not send prove it letter to MKRR then a SAR?

Then ask for more help when i have more info?

DreamEater

I have the SAR info at home

plan of action. Get the last payment date, if longer than 6 years send a statue barred letter. If not send prove it letter to MKRR then a SAR? Then ask for more help when i have more info?

You have the SAR so unless you need notes from telephone calls or a dispute where an internal document could aid you then save yourself a tenner and do not bother.

Get the last payment date, if slightly under then send MKRR the prove it letter and let them respond, that should eek out a bit of time until SB date, which will be less than 5 months.

Stigman

Cheers, I shall do that and update when they reply to either letter.

Mucho appreciated DreamEater

One more thing to add.

This account with HSBC was left because they kept putting charges on it that I couldn't afford at the time,

this is why I walked away.

Could I reclaim these charges?

Thanks.

You could yes, but you won't see any of it, it will just be written off the debt they created for you.

Then you will be left with the actual balance owing.

In light of their current activities, I would probably just walk away giving them the two fingered salute.

You have the SAR which should show you what you physically left the bank owing, and you will then be able to see how much of

the unenforceable penalty charges they have added, simply ignore that amount, they'll never be able to convince a DJ that you should pay

these, not when they are in the dock themselves!

The reclaim on Bank Charges ended with a Court Case & as usual a victory for the Current Regime's friends who control the Banks, however their is a piece on this on the MoneySavingExpert with a link to the thisismoney site that says you can if your in financial hardship, it was last updated in May 2014.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-1598441/Reclaiming-bank-charges-How-reclaim-fees.html

Have a read with an open mind but please do not get your hopes up.

Stigman

Yep sorry, I keep forgetting that bit!!!!

It is the financial hardship route to go down, cheers Stig...

threads merged

please keep to one thread.

did you not put in a bcobs complaint abou the charges

as advised from before

if you look at the blue RBS link under BCOBS

if the debt is all penalty charges

then MKDP will be very stupid to issue a claim.

dx

I didn't think bringing up an old thread would be helpful, apologies.

I haven't filed a BCOBS as I was left alone.

Would I be wise to do this?

Or just find the last payment and send a statute barred if over the 6 years?

it is current wisdom not to send an SB letter.

leave your powder dry for if they issue a claimform.

I'd pop a BCOBC complaint in

if only for the sole fact it alerts the OC to 'an issue;'

and thus a dispute

which might prove useful if a claim is issued.

dx

Ok, so conflicting advice here,

obviously, yours is taking in to account the other thread.

Is everyone in agreement that a BCOBC is the way forward to HSBC

and to ignore MKRR until they file a claim?

Why is it current wisdom not to send a SB letter?

Thanks, DreamEater.

no conflict

you need to get the bcobs complaint in

treating you unfairly.

it registers a dispute in your favour

even if it comes to nowt.

there is little point in sending MKDP anything

just invites letter tennis.

if the debt is SB's

then save that for court not tip them off.

dx