This topic was closed on 10 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 2019-03-08. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

Did this come off in the end? I am having to do this over phone at moment as they don't much respond to emails or letters!!

Found email address for CEO office [email protected] and got both an email and call from complaints team within couple hrs they would try and get it looked into in next 24hrs .. Watch this space!

Thanks, I couldn't email virgin as email add I was given over the phone bounced back! Does anyone have one that works?!

Hi there, just looking for advice before I try to take on the delightful virgin media, I have heard they are tricky! Last week i checked my credit report with experian and equifax before I apply for a mortgage. I was surprised to see virgin media on there for my internet contract, I didn't realise they could record data with CRAs for your internet service but I suppose it makes some sense as I had 12month fixed contract. In any event, I was concerned they have recorded 3 late payments entries against me earlier this year and have now been told this will hinder my mortgage app as they are within the last 12months! What i am cross about is that virgin media failed twice to set up my direct debit properly which meant I fell behind with payments! The first time, they took the wrong amount out of my bank account on a direct debit, I had to file an indemnity claim with my bank and Virgin told me to cancel the direct debit and set it back up again! I went to set it back up again a couple of weeks later and this time they wrote down the wrong sort code so the direct debit was never set up correctly! What resulted was late payment fees galore, I had some of these refunded but it seems unbeknown to me they had still marked late payments with the CRAs! What makes me doubly cross is when I settled the account finally a few months later determined to leave them all together . . They talked me stupidly into moving the internet with them to my new address and taking out a new 12month agreement which we are now halfway through, paying on direct debit without drama! I feel so mad I want to ring to cancel the whole thing with them tomorrow! I tried to call them to discuss the whole thing when it materialised on Friday but was on the phone to not terribly helpful agents in India who accepted virgin had made mistakes but refused to remove the late payment markers. Eventually one mildly sensible American agent agreed it should be looked into and gave me an email address for consumer underwriting services... I sent an email that bounced back as a wrong address!! I have now written in to complaints team and raised dispute with experian and equifax . . Any similar experiences or further advice ?? Is there an ombudsman or regulator I can defer to if no satisfactory response?? Thanks S

Gutted, I am going to try my luck anyway with complaints procedure and ombudsman etc. I think I may have an argument as they did not even acknowledge my payment plan even though they invited me to make one with them which I did. A default must be designed for someone not making any effort to pay? Additionally having looked at the information commissioner guidance on defaults I may have an argument given there lack of communication re whether or not my payments are satisfactory? I think also they don't have to provide a regular default notice if I have read everything correctly and a simple final demand letter is sufficient for an overdraft... still they need to comply with the guidance I think??!

I should add original overdraft £830 not &130! Typo sorry!! Tired and stressed!!

Hi there, I am back on here for advice after long absence.. The cag forum was fab years ago helping me with the thorn in my side of HSBC!! I left Hsbc around 2009/2010. I had number of debt woes but with help and consumer credit counselling service have been solvent for a number of years now.. However I recently tho obtained my credit file prior to making a mortgage application, only to find a rogue default placed by HSBC! Given passage of time and various address moves I have lost all my old paperwork including account numbers. After 1.5 hrs yesterday and couple of cross letters this week I have finally got to bottom of this but need advice what to do next.. In short, on October 2009 HSBC said they were removing overdraft of £830 in 30days. I had to repay in full or give repayment proposals. It seems by 29th October 2009 I paid £150 and agreed repayment with their collections team at rate of £100 per month. Sadly it looks like I must have agreed this over phone as no apparent paper trail. Hsbc confirm however I continued to make repayments at this rate for next 5 months. However they decided to issue a "final demand" letter in March 2009, seemingly ignoring the repayment plan and giving me 18 days to respond!! THANKFULLY there IS a paper trail of my response WITHIN the 18 days, where essentially I confirm my payment plan in place and that I have not been told it's unacceptable! I continue to make repayments.. By this stage there is only approx £300 of original debt left! HSBC never respond to my last letter which they confirmed. Instead, they pass this to metropolitan in April 2010 and and marked me as "default" to credit agencies. They appear to have completely ignored the repayment plan put in place with both their own collections team at outset and indeed ignored my letter outlining the plan in response to their final demand. All of which seems grossly unfair! Incidentally I satisfied the account with metropolitan who have marked it satisfied by December 2010 HSBC have said they have raised a complaint and will "investigate" ... I don't trust that will be much good. Is there Anything else anyone suggests I do? I am desperate for all the old paperwork as I have none of it, I am very stressed as the default is a bar to my mortgage app. I am already teeing up ombudsman and information commissioner complaints and have marked disputes with experian etc All ideas welcome!!

hi andrew and thanx for comments! If the copy agreement materialises i will check it for sure!! Keep ya'll posted

there was no previous default (although i only checked about a year ago!) but it was marked as arrangement to pay ... i dont know if it still says that on credit file as i pay over the standard repayments now as i have been trying to get rid more quickly... I suppose potentially they could then default me if i stopped paying on basis of their non compliance with my request? Anyway.. am jumping the gun.. I sent first letter off so will see if i have any response ...

Thanks very much! I am sending off a letter today... I sense i will have something of a battle though as even if they have lost the paperwork i have acknowledged the debt to them by making repayments for past 4 years... It would be hard surely for me to then suddenly cease paying and challenge enforceability? Would it affect my credit rating if i did as well (altho credit rating is already bad n only just starting to repair itself from passage of time!)

Thanks for this, I think mine is a fixed sum credit?? It was unsecured loan from northern rock.. ?? Do you mean that if they do not provide then it is legally unenforseable even in court ( your post says enforceable!) I will get that first letter off.. i am particularly concerned as not sure even as to the accuracy of the outstanding balance and havent got the original agreement anywhere as it is a debt that is now about 4/5 years old!

Hello ... Wondering if there are any thoughts on this... I watched a panorama programme last night which talked about how it is possible to get unsecured debt written off due to banks being slack with their paperwork.. I have been debt busting for 4 years.. a few years back i got in to terrible debt (27k) and with help of CCCS and by working hard at it i am now down to a mere 9k:) and the majority of that is an unsecured loan from northern rock! I am interested to know whether there are ways to get it written off (that dont involve IVAs/bankruptcy etc as dont need or want that route) by checking on their paper trail etc.. Notably i dont actually have a copy of my original loan agreement etc! If so- what (if any) are the implications of doing so? I have paid them almost half of it back ... there is only the last 8k to go... and anyway to speed it up would be fabulous:lol:! At moment i am just paying back extra installments on top of the monthly payments ... Any ideas as this is fresh territory for me

Ombudsman complaint forms submitted yesterday! Will let you know once i receive updates!!

thanks! i have now resurrected my old link and put copy of letter sent to HSBC about it today.. ombudsman complaint on this now underway!

letter sent to HSBC today... I write further to your letter of 5th February 2007 I have repeatedly advised you in letters and telephone calls (dating back to 4th August 2006), that I will be paying these monies back by way of instalments and your records will indicate that I have consistently made payments of £50 per month to account number XXXXXXXXXX. I therefore ask you to desist from writing and requesting cheques for the full amount, as it is an unreasonable request and one which I simply cannot comply with. I further advise you that I have now filed a complaint with the Ombudsman about your retaliatory closure of both of my bank accounts in this matter. When I have sought to ask HSBC to justify the decision behind the closures they have simply written that it was a “commercial decision”. In my opinion it is clear that HSBC closed my accounts subsequent to complaints I made about bank charges in May and June 2006 and I am making a claim for compensation for their actions in this regard. I note in your final response letter of 4th October, you referred to the fact that any decision in relation to account closures is outside the jurisdiction of the ombudsman. I seek to draw your attention to the recent Financial Ombudsman Service decision against Alliance & Leicester on this very matter. Alliance & Leicester were fined by the Ombudsman for retaliatory bank account closure after complaints were made by another customer about unlawful bank charges. “[the customer] should not be prevented from bringing a legitimate complaint by the threat of having his account closed; nor do I consider it fair or reasonable of Alliance & Leicester to respond to [the customers] complaint about charges by closing the account. Alliance & Leicester appears to me to have used the closure of the account as a retaliatory or punitive measure"” In my opinion the closure of my bank accounts was retaliatory and punitive, HSBC have never sought to deny this in any previous correspondence and HSBC now continue to act in a punitive and retaliatory manner by harassing me for full payment of my overdraft.

can you send me link for full FOS decision as i would like to quote it in letter to HSBC today advising them am going to ombudsman...

right... I am resurrecting this thread!!! NEW UPDATE!! Basically i got the £275 charges back from HSBC through the ombudsman at end September after filing the complaint. The ombudsman also confirmed to me it does cost HSBC £375 for each complaint they received... hoorah on that point!! Well anyway .. in relation to the account closure, ombudsman advised i needed to wait for final response letter before they could look into this.. I did get a final response letter in October from HSBC who had hastily started to investigate my complaint as they were aware i had threatened them with ombudsman again.... However the letter said that they were still closing my accounts for "commercial decision" and that any complaint i had about it was outside ombudsman jurisdiction !!! :o I therefore took them (foolishly) at their word... and didnt pursue it further !! this is i have now found out to be untrue!! I came on the site the other day to check out what has been happening and saw an announcement that All & leices were fined for retaliatory account closure !! So i have decided to pursue my complaint again and refer straight to ombudsman today as i am still in time !! WILL KEEP YOU POSTED FOR SURE ...

Hey thats great thanks, should i be asking for compensation and if so. how much?? I am going to file my complaint today as i did get final response letter (which said it was outside jurisdiction of ombudsman) at end october.. i am still in time i think (its 6 months?) and i will set up my own thread.. or i may just resurrect my old one from last year so people can see the history!!!!

HI, i am very interested in this, a few months ago i posted up about this same topic.. i was furious as i had my account closed by HSBC after complaining and getting refund of my back charges. They wrote and said that they were closing my account for a "commercial decision" subsequently and I wrote several letters of complaint to them. I threatened them with obmbudsman and the bank then reviewed matter but wrote back and said they would not change their decision and the ombudsman had no jurisdiction over account closure so i did not pursue it further. I have since been harassed by back to repay entire o'raft at once which i £900 on the account (i have just been paying £50 month)... shall i proceed to complain to ombudsman now?? I hope i am still in time too... Sarrah K

Yeah i really hope it does not get that far as a CCJ could harm my career!

thanks this is very helpful! I will PM about it soon, but be on monday as am up to eyeballs today and leaving work early! I have not even had a letter in response only a vague phone call! Let me know how IC case goes, thx

hey folks.. my thread here has been a little dead for a while so i am posting an update.. Well as you may recall the ombudsman advised me to file 2 separate complaints- one re: bank charges and one re: closure (the latter which they cant investigate yet as they say i still need a final letter from HSBC!). Thye have now started an investigation in relation to a further £275 worth of charges applied to my account by HSBC in the last 3 months since my first refund and apparently my case has been allocated to the case work department... so wil see what happens there. In relation to my ongoing battele over the accoutn closure.. well i now safely have a visa electron :-| account with alliance & leicester and my wages & bill payments are going from there now. HSBC have virtually ignored 4 letters i have sent on the closure and telephone calls i have made so am just hasseling them so they refer me to the ombudsman so they can finally start an investigation. HSBC last week wrote & demanded i sent a cheque for £1200 for o/drafts on account (of which £275 is made up of the unlawful charges!!) and this is despite fact i had already written saying i only owe £900 and this will be repaid by £50 installments and i have already set up a direct debit iin this respect.. so the battle is ongoing, any tips would be helpful! x

HI folks.. i am returning to my hijacked thread.. I have heard absolutely nothing from Vodaphone since i issued my stat notice and so am unsure quite where i go from here?? any suggestions?? !! I need to find like 2 hours to read through my thread at some point!!