Thanks Lateralus. We have now sent 3 nudge letters with breakdowns. The latest is Recorded Delivery and also by Fax so we have a fax receipt. I think hubby was worried as he owes the bank his overdraft still and they are busy adding charges to that as it's unpaid until they pay up, despite the fact he said he'd pay when this was settled as they owe him more than he owes them! Guess they want all of their money back when they pay out! ;-) We both so appreciate this site. I'm not overly active in replying to other people's posts (don't think I know enough yet to advise others!) but read a lot with interest. Thank you for your continued support and help.

The wording also says "If you contact us to discuss your overdraft requirements we may be able to help you reduce your fees or suggest more suitable ways of borrowing". Isn't that so nice and kind of them? They can actually reduce our fees! So, in that case, why don't they actually DO that instead of offering it! Last statement also came with a "Fair Fees" policy stating "The Arrangement Fee you are being advised of today is payable because you have made more than one overdraft request over the last six month". Oddly enough, I know he's getting old but not THAT old , hubby doesn't remember requesting any additional overdraft at all. In fact, if they hadn't added so many fees, he wouldn't be in this situation at all. ;-)

Thanks Pete. It's a worry that other people have started claims later and already had settlements. My neice wrote to HSBC branch direct twice and got over £2,000 payout within 10 days! It makes you think they know something about you that you don't realise yourself! We are worrying that hubby will be the 'one' to go the full court route and lose :o

They now call it an "Arrangement Fee" and charge £50 a time. I did notice the wording on hubby's last statement and asked if he'd 'arranged' an even bigger overdraft and to pay them again for it. He seemed slightly miffed...wonder why? ;-)

Does anyone know about the 1980 Limitations Act allowing you to claim beyond the 6 years? I've heard about this but wonder if anyone has a link to the section of the act applicable?

No, you're not misreading. I just like to get everything prepared in case someone says it's 'out of time' or some such thing. Guess I'm being a bit over eager. One thing though. My hubby helped someone else who had this problem with HSBC also. He wrote the letters, got the same court date as us, same time, same court (says something don't you think?!) and he's had an offer already from them today! We have not even had an acknowledgment from DG. Hubby got bank statement through today and they're still adding charges to it despite the fact he told them he was doing this and would not deal with them anymore. Panic!!!!! Can anyone advise?

Folks, slightly bigger panic happening now. Still nothing from DG. Not even an acknowledgment of the letters. Going to prepare Court bundle next week. Bit concerned. Anyone had them leave it this late? Having a horrid feeling they'll make the first appearance for this case

Very interesting Don't you just love how the courts are getting so fed up with these banks! Another letter winging it's way to DG as Lattie suggested. Thank you.

Folks, looking for a bit of advice here. Since posting originally, haven't had any offer from DG. I know a lot of people seem to have had these quite quickly but so far my hubby hasn't even had an acknowledgement. He wrote on 18th April and to date diddly-squat! Do you think that this will go to Court or is it just that they are so inundated? I know many other people on this site have had offers in the early stages but he's had no correspondence with them at all - having said that, he won't entertain calling them up and discussing over the phone as he says he's had enough of HSBC to last him a lifetime and has no intention of having any correspondence that he cannot later refer to (ie. letter only really). I can't blame him. Having once called up and ended up in the call centre in India, he was told by the phone-jockey that "you have a good income and really should learn to manage your money better. The bank has been most magnanimous in allowing you to go over your overdraft and charging so little for it". I know what I'd have told that person but he was more polite...just! I look forward to any advice the folk here can give. Thank you.

I never thought of it like that before - the court charging for something they aren't having to process or do any real work on! Classy I do hope everyone is right and we get an offer. My hubby has closed his account (well, he still owes overdraft but said he'll pay that back when we gets the cheque from them and officially shut the account then - has moved his money to another bank!). We were both scared if he let his salary go in they'd take it all and close the account anyway with the action he's taking. I wonder if he's still racking up charges We did send a Recorded Delivery letter to them saying no payments were to be made from the account and all DD and S/O payees had been advised of new details. They wrote back and said they would not stop all payments! Can you believe that? As there is no money in the account, nothing can be paid surely...No wonder people have such huge debts with HSBC acting that way.

Thanks Nettg. The £100 was the Allocation fee for the small claims track that the court requested. It had to be paid by 30th April so posted it to them quickly! My hubby came up with an definition of the acronym HSBC - Horrendous So*ding Bank Charges ...did make me laugh

Thanks Kate. It's always a concern that you'll be the first in that court that the bank decides to turn up to! Here's hoping for a letter from DG before the date. We have all the bundle information ready anyway (most of it we used when making the claim!). Great to see all the support on this site. It really cheers you up and let's you know you're not alone.

Hello everyone This is my first post. I have been reading with much interest about all the cases going on against HSBC and therefore kinda pushed my husband into claiming all his bank charges back from them. I hope he'll thank me for it in the end but basically I'm doing it for him and want to make sure everything I've done is right as I've just had a mild panic as I notice many people sent copies of the charges they have claimed to the court, HSBC and DG. I didn't get him to do that until this week (along with one of your wonderful letters saying sure DG would like to avoid going to court, etc). Here is a quick breakdown of what's happened so far (hubby did all the phone calls :grin:): 1. 11th Feb 07 - Letter to HSBC requesting all charges returned. Total was £2,498.75 plus interest of £377.57 (used your lovely online form for calculating that) amounting to £2,876.32. Gave them 14 days. 2. 20th Feb 07 - Letter to HSBC reminding them they had less than 7 days to reply and what the claim was for. 3. 21st Feb 07 - Received letter from Colin Langdale saying he will investigate the matter and respond. 4. Tried to call Colin Langdale repeatedly and fed up being left on hold. Tried a final time on 7th Mar 07 and was left on hold for 32 minutes and still not got through. Tried to reach own branch in Staines and number directed to a call centre in Malta where no-one could help. Issued MCOL for charges, interest and £120 fees now coming to £2,996.32. Also charging 63p per day in interest from this point until settlement. 5. Received Notice of Issue and copy of Claim Form saying it was issued on 8th Mar 07 and would be deemed to have been served on 13th March. HSBC had until 27th Mar 07 to reply. 6. Letter from HSBC, Colin Langdale again, on 16 Mar 07 saying not fully completed his investigations, would have a full response by 14 Apr 07. 7. Acknowledgment of Service by DG dated 16 Mar 07. Intend to defend all of the claim. 8. Watched MCOL and on 11th April hit the Judgment button and it all went through!!:grin: 9. Notice of Judgment Rejected came through the post a few days later, dated 11th Apr 07 saying "case status is set" . 10. Notice of Transfer of Proceedings dated 11th Apr 07 arrived saying a defence to this claim has been filed. Transferred to Guildford County Court. The filing of an Allocation Questionnaire was dispensed with unless District Judge at the court orders otherwise. Defence from DG was: "1. The Claimants account is governed by the Defendants personal and/or business banking terms and conditions. 2. Pursuant to the Defendants terms and conditions the Defendant is entitled to make a charge for its services as set out in the Defendants price list, including an overdraft review fee for considering whether to provide and providing and overdraft. (their spelling mistake! :grin:..lots of '?' instead of apostrophies too!) 3. The Defendant denies that the charges applied to the Claimants account amount to penalties at common law and/or unfair contract terms for the purposes of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (UTCCRs). 4. The charges applied to the Claimants account are reasonable and are properly and fully disclosed in the Defendants terms and conditions and published price list. The charges represent the contractually agreed price for the services provided and the UTCCRs are not applicable to them; alternatively, they are not unfair contrary to the UTCCRs. Further, the charges are not default charges and, accordingly, cannot amount to a penalty. 5. Save as set out above, each and every allegation made by the Claimant is denied. For the reasons set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief." 11. Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track from Guildford County Court received, dated 17 Apr 07 with hearing date of 10.30am on 14th June 2007. Bundles to be sent to both sides at least 14 days beforehand. 12. Letter to DG Solicitors, 18th Apr 07, quoting claim number, court date, etc, (letter that you suggest) stating "..mindful of the vast number of claims..." and asking for £2,996.32 + £100 Allocation Fee plus interest at £27.09 totalling £3,123.41 to be paid by cheque in full and final settlement. 13. Tried to call DG but no response. Hubby refused to leave a message on their voicemail. So, minor panic...ok, MAJOR PANIC...do you think hubby will get any kind of offer or will he end up going to court? I'm so encouraged by all the support and help everyone on this forum has given each other that I thought I'd join and see if I've done the right thing for my fella. Like most people here, a lot of his charges built up by going over his overdraft and being charged penalty fees on top of one another, often £100-200 per month when it would have cost them nothing for him to go about £20 over his overdraft to pay the Direct Debit in the first place rather than than charge £25 refusal fee and £30 for going over the overdraft! They also let him go over it a number of times, paying the amounts then charging him £10 for 'misuse of card' then bumping the charges on top after a few days!! Any advice/help anyone can give I would very much appreciate. Sorry for such a long-winded first post....phew.... I put the post here as Louis kindly said he'd get a PM to move it for me today but I accidentally put it into the welcome slot - goes to show how my brain is non-functioning right now! Sorry folks but I wanted to get response from other HSBC-ers for my hubby a.s.a.p.

Thanks again Louis. I feel so daft!

Thanks Louis! I feel better already I have posted this in the wrong bit though. Will it be moved to the right HSBC section?

Hello everyone This is my first post. I have been reading with much interest about all the cases going on against HSBC and therefore kinda pushed my husband into claiming all his bank charges back from them. I hope he'll thank me for it in the end but basically I'm doing it for him and want to make sure everything I've done is right as I've just had a mild panic as I notice many people sent copies of the charges they have claimed to the court, HSBC and DG. I didn't get him to do that until this week (along with one of your wonderful letters saying sure DG would like to avoid going to court, etc). Here is a quick breakdown of what's happened so far (hubby did all the phone calls ): 1. 11th Feb 07 - Letter to HSBC requesting all charges returned. Total was £2,498.75 plus interest of £377.57 (used your lovely online form for calculating that) amounting to £2,876.32. Gave them 14 days. 2. 20th Feb 07 - Letter to HSBC reminding them they had less than 7 days to reply and what the claim was for. 3. 21st Feb 07 - Received letter from Colin Langdale saying he will investigate the matter and respond. 4. Tried to call Colin Langdale repeatedly and fed up being left on hold. Tried a final time on 7th Mar 07 and was left on hold for 32 minutes and still not got through. Tried to reach own branch in Staines and number directed to a call centre in Malta where no-one could help. Issued MCOL for charges, interest and £120 fees now coming to £2,996.32. Also charging 63p per day in interest from this point until settlement. 5. Received Notice of Issue and copy of Claim Form saying it was issued on 8th Mar 07 and would be deemed to have been served on 13th March. HSBC had until 27th Mar 07 to reply. 6. Letter from HSBC, Colin Langdale again, on 16 Mar 07 saying not fully completed his investigations, would have a full response by 14 Apr 07. 7. Acknowledgment of Service by DG dated 16 Mar 07. Intend to defend all of the claim. 8. Watched MCOL and on 11th April hit the Judgment button and it all went through!!:grin: 9. Notice of Judgment Rejected came through the post a few days later, dated 11th Apr 07 saying "case status is set" :o. 10. Notice of Transfer of Proceedings dated 11th Apr 07 arrived saying a defence to this claim has been filed. Transferred to Guildford County Court. The filing of an Allocation Questionnaire was dispensed with unless District Judge at the court orders otherwise. Defence from DG was: "1. The Claimants account is governed by the Defendants personal and/or business banking terms and conditions. 2. Pursuant to the Defendants terms and conditions the Defendant is entitled to make a charge for its services as set out in the Defendants price list, including an overdraft review fee for considering whether to provide and providing and overdraft. (their spelling mistake! ..lots of '?' instead of apostrophies too!) 3. The Defendant denies that the charges applied to the Claimants account amount to penalties at common law and/or unfair contract terms for the purposes of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (UTCCRs). 4. The charges applied to the Claimants account are reasonable and are properly and fully disclosed in the Defendants terms and conditions and published price list. The charges represent the contractually agreed price for the services provided and the UTCCRs are not applicable to them; alternatively, they are not unfair contrary to the UTCCRs. Further, the charges are not default charges and, accordingly, cannot amount to a penalty. 5. Save as set out above, each and every allegation made by the Claimant is denied. For the reasons set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief." 11. Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track from Guildford County Court received, dated 17 Apr 07 with hearing date of 10.30am on 14th June 2007. Bundles to be sent to both sides at least 14 days beforehand. 12. Letter to DG Solicitors, 18th Apr 07, quoting claim number, court date, etc, (letter that you suggest) stating "..mindful of the vast number of claims..." and asking for £2,996.32 + £100 Allocation Fee plus interest at £27.09 totalling £3,123.41 to be paid by cheque in full and final settlement. 13. Tried to call DG but no response. Hubby refused to leave a message on their voicemail. So, minor panic...ok, MAJOR PANIC...do you think hubby will get any kind of offer or will he end up going to court? I'm so encouraged by all the support and help everyone on this forum has given each other that I thought I'd join and see if I've done the right thing for my fella. Like most people here, a lot of his charges built up by going over his overdraft and being charged penalty fees on top of one another, often £100-200 per month when it would have cost them nothing for him to go about £20 over his overdraft to pay the Direct Debit in the first place rather than than charge £25 refusal fee and £30 for going over the overdraft! They also let him go over it a number of times, paying the amounts then charging him £10 for 'misuse of card' then bumping the charges on top after a few days!! Any advice/help anyone can give I would very much appreciate. Sorry for such a long-winded first post....phew.... Sorry, just realised I put this in intro section..I'm such a daft bat! Can it be moved?