Hi guys

I need some advice on how to handle a situation regarding charges being applied to a HSBC credit card.

The card account was opened in 1998 with Midland Bank.

The card has a £500 credit limit and a payment has never been missed on on it

- I have always made the minimum payment by Direct Debit.

However, it has been incurring a £12 overlimit charge for some time.

As I wasn't receiving paper statements, and I didn't receive a single letter or notification about any over-limit, the situation was allowed to develop unknowingly.

It went on for a year two before I became properly aware, then it took me a while longer to get my butt in gear and try to sort it out. I guess I was confident that I'd get any charges refunded, and being busy with other things in life, I probably took too long really to get a handle on it.

Currently, the account balance is over £800 - with £12 being added each month.

I have maintained making payments via DD each and every month.

I messaged HSBC from my online banking around October last year to query the charges and also request statements going back prior to the date that is available online, so that I could view the transaction history.

They fobbed me off and requested that I contact the "Collections Team".

Only recently did I finally phone HSBC to deal with the matter.

After over an hour on the phone, being passed around through various departments, it turns out that the over-limit situation first occurred in May 2012 due to a Sky TV payment! That's £144 per year plus interest being added to the account for nearly six years.

Something in my mind is telling me that I made a payment to put the account back under the limit, but the charge and interest that was later added to the account put it back over (I may be wrong with this, but will need the statements to confirm one way or the other).

On that call, I requested that all charges be refunded to my account, plus compound interest.

I was informed that this was only possible after the relevant people conducted an investigation.

As part of this process, they would provide copies of the requested statements, apparently.

They were also supposed to write to me within five days to inform me that the request was being processed.

I did ask why I've never been written to regarding the ongoing over-limit situation, or even about the account generally.

The reply was that I had been written to "once".

I have no recollection of ever receiving a single letter so I asked what the letter was about

- they stated that it was to inform me that "making the minimum payments would take much longer to clear the account". Hmmm.....

That phone call was nearly three weeks ago and I've yet to hear anything, so I think they've had long enough.

I want to now push ahead with trying to claim these charges and interest back.

How would you advise I proceed?

I will seek out the statements this week so that I can get a fuller picture of what's gone on, but how should I then push HSBC for a refund of the charges.

Should I first write a formal letter of complaint and request the refund, followed by a Letter Before Claim?

I fully intent to issue a claim against them if they do not comply, albeit I'm not too well versed on how to angle the claim at the moment, by I'll address that later if necessary.

Thanks,

Sham

sar them

Ok, cheers DX - I'll get that moving tomorrow.

I only want the information relating to this particular credit card account - not my current account, etc.

Should I therefore request all statements since, for example, January 2012 and also a copy of the credit agreement?

why not get everything

you never know how useful it could be before it hits the shredder

Fair point!

credit card ex Midland Bank??? send a CCA1974 request with a £1.00 Postal order ? I would suggest, as well, if they have an agreement then I would eat my hat (if I had one)!

I sent the SAR off on the 8th March - was received on 12th March.

Today, I spoke to the bank on another matter which then led to the subject of the credit card in question.

This time I was speaking to UK based customer support and got more sense.

I queried a few of the early transactions and, as stated above, I did in fact make a manual payment to return the card balance to below the agreed limit.

I then cancelled the the Sky subscription that had put it over in the first place and didn't spend a penny more on the card since.

I was content that the 'minimum' payment would be made by DD every month and just left it alone.

Unknown to me at the time, after I'd put it into good standing, the interest and a £12 charge put it back over again.

Most likely the minimum payment took it back under again - only just - and then interest and the overlimit fee took it back over and it's been like that ever since. Month after month.

They guy said he's issued new statements going back to early 2012, so I should have these soon.

He was lost for answers when I questioned why I had not received a single letter (in post or via email) about the matter (happy to profit?)

- his comms log proved what I was saying.

Is it acceptable that they can make a charge when it was interest and charges that put me over in the first place?

I know it's a side issue, but I'd be interested to have some views.

I reckon the total I'll be owed on this is around £1,500.

Does that sound about right based on £12 a month for six years at 20%?

probably a good chance

await the info

is this still on your credit file ...I doubt it

I've been making minimum payments on it each and every month without fail for the past six years - so, yes it should be on my credit file. The problem being, they've also been applying a £12 fee to it each and every month for the past six years too. I kept paying out of principle, because I knew the day would come where I would contest the charges.

would have been statute barred by now if you'd not wasted you money.

but i'd take this all the way to court pers

FOS are useless on charges reclaiming.

never side with customers

CISHEET is the one you want.

Thanks DX. I didn't actually know the account was "overlimit" for a long time after it entered that position. Then it took me another while to actually get around to tackling it.

If I had paid a little bit more with the manual payment to leave the balance at say £480 instead of £490 (limit is £500), I'd never have been in this position and the card would have been paid off long ago.

I reckon they'd have gone down the court route themselves if I'd just stopped paying, so would probably never have got as far as SB anyway.

Listening to the guy on the phone today, I could tell he knew they were on dodgy ground. He even gave me back £100 current account charges (due to a different issue). So, hopefully they'll be open to persuasion once I have the full figures to hand.

I'll keep you posted.

P.S. What is CISHEET?

OC's don't do court

they'd sell it on

Hi DX

I've received the statements from HSBC. They show that my recollection noted above isn't strictly accurate. Back in 2012 the card limit was exceeded by the TV subscription a number of times. While I had DD set up to make minimum payments, it only debited x% of the balance each month - pretty standard. I did make a number of manual payments to put the account back under, but the TV payments kept putting me over. Therefore, the point about the charge & monthly interest putting me over isn't correct. Eventually, I kept the TV subscription going for a few more months and then cancelled it.

Nevertheless, they've been charging me £12 a month for near enough the full period of six years (save for a handful of months early on). However, it doesn't actually look like they are applying interest on the charges - does that seem about right. I'll give you an example: Card limit is £500, but the account balance is £800. They've been applying between £9.80 and £10.80 per month interest, based on "interest on standard balance of 1.671% - 21.9% APR" (same applied when the balance was around £500).

But..... am I correct in thinking that interest can still be claimed back by me on the following basis? On the back of the statements, it states that payments will be used to pay off interest & charges first. This is clearly what's happening. Therefore, the 'purchases' element of the balance never, and won't reduce as it stands. I'm now paying interest on £500 when the balance would undoubtedly be clear by now, but for the £12 charges and higher amount of interest.

I don't fully know how to explain the 'system' in simple terms, but should I even be trying? Would you advise simply totalling up all the £12 charges plus compound interest (plus stat interest?) and hit them with a formal request for a refund? They can then argue the toss over the amount.

Thanks!

use the cisheet!

Compound Interest Sheet - I get you!

Thanks DX

I've had a response to my SAR. It only contains information regards to a HFC loan I took out to cover a "interest free for 6 months" purchase I made 10 years ago. I had completely forgotten about this, but considering I've got numerous financial products with HSBC, I was surprised to receive only this.

Is this a typical fob-off, or is it normal for SARs to result in information coming through in batches? I've never done one before, so am not sure what to expect from it.

Thanks!

Await the full time

Good news! I've had all but £100 or so refunded to me, as a gesture of goodwill - the difference being the % rate they've applied compared to mine. I'm happy enough with that, all things considered.

For the benefit of others, I emailed a firm letter of request along with the CI Sheet to them. It had the desired effect, albeit their letter back was the usual "you are responsible for monitoring your account and keeping it within the agreed limit" and "we're within our rights to apply charges" nonsense.

Thanks for your help DX. You're one of life's heroes!

Well done Sham...thread title amended

Andy

Thanks Andy!

Just one final update on this - HSBC also closed the account. It's disappeared from my online banking. Cheeky!!

At least they're consistent - they didn't send a letter to notify me about the closure/termination. I also didn't receive a single letter from them for nearly six years, when the account was over limit and incurring monthly charges.