I have had a similar situation, where HSBC have set off another account holders debt using a joint account in my name without notifying me. I have complained, as I am now responsible for his debt (they have made the joint account overdrawn) and was not made aware that this could happen when I opened the account (2003). I am being chased by them and they are threatening to take me to court. They don't seem to bother with him as they are obviously aware that he wont pay up. I am expecting a baby in nine weeks and really unsure what to do.

Thanks, that's very useful - one of the situations that they describe is almost identical - fingers crossed

Thanks for the quick reply. So how does that fit in with the banking regulations? According to the CAB, they can't do it without permission of the account holders, unless they specify that they can in their T & Cs. I can't find this anywhere. Also how can they make one account overdrawn to remove the overdraft from another? I understand that I might lose the credit that was in the account, but I find it hard to accept that they are allowed to do this - they certainly didn't make me aware of it when I opened the account.

Hi, I am currently in dispute with HSBC. I had a joint account covering a shared freehold, which had been unused and in credit since December 2007 until I received a letter to say that it was overdrawn by £179 and could I make arrangements to pay it back. when I went in to the bank I was told that money had been transferred from the joint account into the personal account of the other account holder to cover his overdraft. The bank have told me various different stories about how this happened, including that he went into the branch (he is housebound), that they phoned him to get his agreement, and that he phoned them to authorise it. They have since chased only me for the debt and are now threatening to take us both to court. My understanding of banking regulations is that transfers cannot be made from joint accounts to personal accounts held at the same bank without the permission of all account holders. HSBC keep saying that he was allowed to authorise it within the terms and conditions, but I can find nothing that says they are allowed to do this without consulting me. Their T & C say they can use accounts in credit to cover debts in other accounts, but not that they can do so without notifying us, nor that they can make the joint account overdrawn. Can anyone advise me on this? I have just written a response to their service quality team and am ready to take it to the financial ombudsman. They are threatening to refer it to a credit reference agency in 18 days. the other account holder is both devious and flaky and I think my chances of getting him to pay anything are zero, which makes me entirely responsible for his debt. Please help me anyone - advice would be very welcome