Thank you. I suppose it really is the right option, after all it has to be paid.

Hi, I would appreciate some advice please. I offered to pay a DCA a HMRC debt for last years tax over a period of 10 weeks. They agreed and were easier to deal with than when I made similar offers to the Inland Revenue in the past. An order fell through (I'm self employed) and I haven;t been able to pay anything yet. I should however, still be able to clear to debt within 12 weeks and start payments in about 3 weeks. I received a letter today asking to make the first installment by phone and I wondered how best to deal with them. Thanks for any advice.

I called the HSBC in January and asked them to change the payment system for my Mastercard Business Card from paying the full amount to paying the mimimum, starting from the payment due 20 February, as per their website which states: Q. How do I make payments to my Business card account? A. You can either set up a minimum or full Direct Debit. This must be from your Business Current Account with HSBC, and the funds will be taken automatically 7 days after the statement date. If you are on the minimum Direct Debit option you have 25 days from the statement date to pay off the balance in full in order to prevent any interest charges. Although they agreed, when I got the statement it said they were taking the full amount. They have been unable to trace the call and taking the full amount has put me £2,000 over my overdraft limit, the card suspended and no money. I cannot find the name of the person I spoke to and they are unable to trace the call. They say on my card I cannot make minimum payments anyway. The call was made a month ago and I have narrowed it down to 2 dates, neither of which show calls on the HSBC system. I made the call while working alone at a clients home and the client isn't the type of person you could ask for their telephone records to prove the call. They say they will take the card off suspension if they can find the call, and I will be able to eat again, but I won't hold my breath. If they can't trace the call I have to wait 35 days for the suspension to be lifted. Grateful for any suggestions. Thanks, Tony

Sorry Northernpug I posted a reply last month to thank you, but obviously didn't download properly. In the end I called them and they agreed to £100 per month.

Hi, I am hoping for some friendly advice for a longtime lurker and hope I'm in the right section. I've had business and personal accounts with HSBC since they were the Midland Bank. They've seen me through good and bad, though the emphasis in recent years seems on the latter. As my turnover reduced considerably between 2006 and 2008 they made me turn my business £20k overdraft into a £2.5k overdraft and £17.5k small business loan. The five year loan will complete on 16 July and that will be £402 less to pay out each month. The only problem is I have not been able to meet the last two payments due on the 11th and the second attempts to take the payments failed. I now need to speak to them to come to some agreement to get back on track and I wonder if I could ask for your expert advice on what they would accept? My ideal answer would be if they would allow me to clear the payments over the remaining six months as and when I can afford to make additional payment, the second, perhaps more realistic plan would be to pay the £804 off in equal payments over the period. The last option, which would prove very difficult would be I clear the arrears by the end of March. In each case I would ensure funds are available for the normal monthly payment. Are they likely to accept any of these options or demand payment now? They have behaved excellently in the past and I have no complaints about them. In 2011 they allowed me to pay off a £12.5k credit card debt linked to my personal account off at the rate of £20 per month, which will be repaid just before I am 100. And they still allowed me to keep my £3k personal overdraft. However, I realise a few lives were used up with that and this is a business loan. The business isn't insolvent. If I added up everything coming in less every going out, I am in credit. It's just the timing of things coming in.