Hi, I have never used this website before so I am not quite sure how it works. I guess I just tell my story! My husband and I had a thriving business 2 years ago (public house). The brewery offered us a second pub to add to our profile. At this point we had a personal loan of £15000 with HSBC, a M/Card with a limit of £8000 and a healthy personal and business bank account. We then asked to borrow £20,000 from HSBC in the form of a small business loan. They agreed to £10,000 and a £3000 O/Draft on our business account. So in total we owed them £28,000 (unsecured). We took on this second pub and unforunately the business didn't do what we all thought it would. (The brewery and HSBC had agreed with the business plan) This meant we just got further behind with payments and then got charged over and over again. We approached our business banking manager to help us but she said there was nothing she could do. We ended up having to sell both pubs and now my husband and I along with our 3 children are living with parents, working very long hours to try and start repaying this debt. HSBC then consolidated everything into a managed loan. The debt is now standing at nearly £40,000. I'm still not sure how any of this happened. We never had any assets to cover this loan and they were perfectly happy to lend us this money on an unsecured basis. Yes, we asked for the money but I wish they had now said no! The repayments started at the beginning of august (approx £600 per month) but £1000 interest has already been added. The debt will never be repaid! Vicky

Hi, I have never used this website before so I am not quite sure how it works. I guess I just tell my story! My husband and I had a thriving business 2 years ago (public house). The brewery offered us a second pub to add to our profile. At this point we had a personal loan of £15000 with HSBC, a M/Card with a limit of £8000 and a healthy personal and business bank account. We then asked to borrow £20,000 from HSBC in the form of a small business loan. They agreed to £10,000 and a £3000 O/Draft on our business account. So in total we owed them £28,000 (unsecured). We took on this second pub and unforunately the business didn't do what we all thought it would. (The brewery and HSBC had agreed with the business plan) This meant we just got further behind with payments and then got charged over and over again. We approached our business banking manager to help us but she said there was nothing she could do. We ended up having to sell both pubs and now my husband and I along with our 3 children are living with parents, working very long hours to try and start repaying this debt. HSBC then consolidated everything into a managed loan. The debt is now standing at nearly £40,000. I'm still not sure how any of this happened. We never had any assets to cover this loan and they were perfectly happy to lend us this money on an unsecured basis. Yes, we asked for the money but I wish they had now said no! The repayments started at the beginning of august (approx £600 per month) but £1000 interest has already been added. The debt will never be repaid! Vicky