I submitted my Data Protection Act in June 06 but only received statements from Oct 00 not June 00 as I should of. I have been hasleing HSBC to provide this data. Eventually I got to speak to a customer complaints manager. He said that records get destroyed so I couldn't have them anyway as the statements I want are over 6yrs old. Filed in my Court claim today and also submitted that they have failed to reply in full to my Data Protection Act and that I want the outstanding info. Lets see what happens once we get into the court process. This will probably set the presedent as to whether HSBC actually do destroy the data or not. If I get my records back then I guess so can everyone else. My guess is that statements are achived off onto tape somewhere and kept indefinanately. I guess we are all being told they are destroyed due to the extra expense and time for these records to be retrieved. I'll keep you all posted.

I've been in contact with HSBC for several months now trying to sort out my claim. I started the claim in June with my DPA requesting statements on specific accounts. They wrote back 1 month later saying they would send statements on all acounts I hold. I got my statements but missing approx 4 months. It looks like my account number changed, probably as I moved my account from 1 branch to another. I've informed them that I want these statements for the changed account number and they are duty bound to issue them. They are saying that I specifically did not request the account number of my old account thus can't have them. I contest that they said that they would issue statements for all accounts. They are now saying that the 6 year timeframe has passed and as such they can't access the info. This is rubbish (IMHO) !!! I am now progressing to the court stage to reclaim. How should I cover this in the section "Particulars of claim" ? All my fees are from 2000 / 2001 so I am pretty sure these missing statement will contain a fair few extra fees. Any help appreciated.

A further update: I've had a letter back from HSBC today stating that they will refund all my charges (£473). Obviously they won't admit liability but will do it based on costs. On the bottom of the letter where I have to sign they have put £425 instead of £473. Either an admin error or rather naughty. This leaves me in a bit of a quandary: Should I just accept the offer of £473 and learn from the experience or Should I still push them for the 4 months worth of missing statement with a yet unknow value of fees ? Cheers Dave

Hi All, Thought I'd let you know where I am upto so far. Sent of DPA 11th June Got statements just within 40 days but 4 months missing. Wrote first letter demanding fees back on 30th July + reiterated the fact that 4 months statements are missing - No response. Written final letter today demanding fees back + informing them that I will apply the missing 4 months if received, or I will apply to the court to get my missing 4 months statements. Should HSBC ring me up for a settlement what would you deem reasonable to cover the missing 4 months statements. I would recon full settlement for known charges (£473) + 1.5 per month extra, or should I force it to court and make them issue my statements ? Cheers Dave

Did he receive any documentation stating what the final repayment amount was ? Did he receive anything from the bank stating that the loan was now repaid in full ? If either of the above 2 happened then I think he will be OK. Call centres record all calls so they will be able to see exactly what happened on the day in question. If they have quoted a figure for final settlement and he has paid the full amount then its HSBC's look-out that they have not quoted the correct figure. One other point - welcome peoples views on my thinking. If the HSBC branch has made repayments onto the loan then you should not have to repay that back unless you have made a prior agreement with them ?

I think that there is a link with all the addresses in which should give you a few options. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/hsbc-bank/213-all-hsbc-contact-info.html Regarding default notices - You can request a copy of your credit file from any of the main credit referencing agencies. You should be able to request on line. Forgot to mention it should only cost you about £2. The main agencies are Experian, Equifax and Call credit. Hope this helps ?

Hi, Few quick questions. I wrote to HSBC ages ago to get all my statements for 6 yrs on 2 of my accounts. They wrote back saying they would send statements on all my accounts inc credit card etc. I recieved 5.75 yrs worth but am missing about 3 or 4 months. This is possibly due to the account number changing as I moved branch. I have not received any credit card statements. I sent off the DPA chaser outlining the above 2 weeks ago but heard nothing. What are my next steps ? Also can I submit a claim to recoup the charges that I know about and state that if any more become apparant by gaining access to the other 4 months worth of data I will issue another claim to get those back to ? One final question: When I send letter 1 to reclaim my charges I notice that under the "what I require section", there are 2 spaces, 1 for charges and 1 for interest. I though interest could only be claimed at 8% once I was ready to submit the claim to court ? Thanks for anyones help in advance. Dave

There are a few more bits that they can claim such as infrastructure costs for the IT systems + call centre peoples time answering your call when you ring up to complain etc. You are right on the premise that £12 is still an over inflated charge. Remember the bigger the bank the more they benefit from economies of scale, thus their unit cost to apply the charge is less. A bank is never going to disclose costs into the public domain so I doubt that they will ever challenge a case brought. Just think of how many examples you can think of where banks apply penalty charges: - Non Payment / late payment of CC - Non / Late payment of mortgage - Bank charges etc Once the flood gates open and fees are reduced we will all get stung in another way. The banks need to claw back the revenue somehow.

Thanks for the speedy replies. As you say its a quick process and I'd only be saving myself 14 days. I'll stick to the tried and tested approach to ensure there are no unexpected surprises.

Quick question: Why should I issue 2 letters to HSBC prior to starting court proceedings. 1st - Initial letter requesting fees back 2nd - Stronger version of the 1st Surely I could just send 1 which states explicitly that should they ignore it or fail to act within 14 days I will start proceedings ? Am I missing something ? If the shoe was on the other foot you can be pretty sure that HSBC wouldn't be so slow to act. Any thoughts appreciated. Cheers

What the OFT has ruled is irrelevant. Bank charges are Penalty charges and not liquidated damages which are allowable. Irrespective of what the OFT has ruled these charges are probably illegal and cannot be substanciated in court.

Thanks for that. I've amended the letter to suit my needs. Given them 7 days to reply to my request. Lets see what happens. Going to send my 1st letter requesting the charges back next weekend - its only £500 so far, hopefully we will go the court route as this adds about £150 in interest. Cheers Dave

I dont think thay could make you repay any loans as these are fixed term arrangements. O/D's are repayable on demand so they could close your account and make you pay this back within 30 days.

Hello All, I'm looking to reclaim bank charges from HSBC. I've written to them asking for 6 years of bank statements. They have replied and sent me statements from the 9th Oct 2000. I'm obviously missing approx 3 months of statements. I've had my account with them over 12 years. I obviously wish to progress to the next step of writing to them to reclaim my charges but there may well be extra charges in the 3 month period they haven't sent. What is my best course of action ? Cheers Dave

Point taken. I quite like a fight (When I know I'm in the right !) Thanks for the comments BTW

I used a letter from bankchargeshell.co.uk to request the 6 years of info. There was the relevant quote cited from the DPA that I had a right to the info and that only a charge of £10 could be levied. I will be using the letters from this site going forward though. I have a quick question though: To the best of your knowledge do HSBC fast track certain applications: Ie If claims are going to be under £500 they just pay as its not worth the time and effort to dispute. I can understand them trying their hand with the big claims as some people may be put off.

I've known that you can reclaim bank charges for quite a few months now. I thought that I was quite good with money and only got charged once in a blue moon and so wouldn't have many on my account. I went on to HSBC online banking today and went through each statement for the two accounts that I run. The online sytem only holds 5 yrs worth of statements but even so I managed to tot up nearly £500 worth of charges. I certainly didn't appreciate how these things tot up. I've written to their head office today and am going to post the letter tommorow requesting a breakdown of charges applied to my account in the lst 6 year, or statements. I'm sending this letter recorded delivery so they can't play the, "Didn't receive it" card. Once received I will be pushing forward reclaiming all charges which have been applied. Am I correct in assuming that the following is a good timetable to work to: Issues DPA letter (40 Days possible elapsed time) Issue letter requesting refund (14 days) Issue warning if not refunded court action follows (14 days) Log claim online Wish me luck !!