Ombudsman complaint against account closure

[Sarrahk]

help, do you have the address or tel no for ombudsmum for complaining against account closure. MBNA have sent me a letter today offering £100 goodwill and if i dont accept they will cancel accounts

 

regards

sharman24

 

yes go onto their website Financial Ombudsman Service and you can find out more info and the telephone number to call which is 08450801800

 

You definitely should raise it with them but be aware that they will not follow it up (although they will write a letter initially to HSBC to say thye have been notified which can be helpful) until 8 weeks after initial complaint OR until you have had final response from HSBC which refers you to ombudsman if dissatisfied. It is worth raising it with Ombudsman straight away though even if only to get that first letter and get a reference number on their system.

[Sarrahk]

Hi Sarrah,

you can do the 30 day free trial with Experian, and just cancel your account before the 30 days is up and your account doesn't get charged! I did it recently, found out about it on MoneySavingExpert.com ad-free, free to use, Consumer Revenge!

 

unfo i did this last year so cant get another free trial and i am resigned to having to pay my £2!

[Sarrahk]

hey folks.. my thread here has been a little dead for a while so i am posting an update..

 

Well as you may recall the ombudsman advised me to file 2 separate complaints- one re: bank charges and one re: closure (the latter which they cant investigate yet as they say i still need a final letter from HSBC!). Thye have now started an investigation in relation to a further £275 worth of charges applied to my account by HSBC in the last 3 months since my first refund and apparently my case has been allocated to the case work department... so wil see what happens there.

 

In relation to my ongoing battele over the accoutn closure.. well i now safely have a visa electron :-| account with alliance & leicester and my wages & bill payments are going from there now. HSBC have virtually ignored 4 letters i have sent on the closure and telephone calls i have made so am just hasseling them so they refer me to the ombudsman so they can finally start an investigation.

 

HSBC last week wrote & demanded i sent a cheque for £1200 for o/drafts on account (of which £275 is made up of the unlawful charges!!) and this is despite fact i had already written saying i only owe £900 and this will be repaid by £50 installments and i have already set up a direct debit iin this respect..

 

so the battle is ongoing, any tips would be helpful! x

[denver]

Sarrah,

Just write back re-stating your installment offer as all you can afford. You made a reasonable offer to clear the o/draft. If they want to spend a fortune taking it to court they will just get told off for ignoring your reasonable offer of payment and the court would check your income and expenditure and probabley order what you have already offered. HSBC know this. It wouldn't get that far. They're just trying it on (and we know how much thay do this, don't we?)

[Sarrahk]

Yeah i really hope it does not get that far as a CCJ could harm my career!

[un1boy]

any update?

[un1boy]

I spoke with the FSA about account closures and they said that once legal action has been taken by a consumer they have no say.

 

Also, the banking code said that the banks shuld assess each case seperately and not just automatically close accounts!

[Sarrahk]

right... I am resurrecting this thread!!! NEW UPDATE!!

 

Basically i got the £275 charges back from HSBC through the ombudsman at end September after filing the complaint. The ombudsman also confirmed to me it does cost HSBC £375 for each complaint they received... hoorah on that point!!

 

Well anyway .. in relation to the account closure, ombudsman advised i needed to wait for final response letter before they could look into this.. I did get a final response letter in October from HSBC who had hastily started to investigate my complaint as they were aware i had threatened them with ombudsman again.... However the letter said that they were still closing my accounts for "commercial decision" and that any complaint i had about it was outside ombudsman jurisdiction !!! :o I therefore took them (foolishly) at their word... and didnt pursue it further !! this is i have now found out to be untrue!!

 

I came on the site the other day to check out what has been happening and saw an announcement that All & leices were fined for retaliatory account closure !! So i have decided to pursue my complaint again and refer straight to ombudsman today as i am still in time !!

 

WILL KEEP YOU POSTED FOR SURE ...

[Sarrahk]

letter sent to HSBC today...

I write further to your letter of 5th February 2007

I have repeatedly advised you in letters and telephone calls (dating back to 4th August 2006), that I will be paying these monies back by way of instalments and your records will indicate that I have consistently made payments of £50 per month to account number XXXXXXXXXX.

I therefore ask you to desist from writing and requesting cheques for the full amount, as it is an unreasonable request and one which I simply cannot comply with.

I further advise you that I have now filed a complaint with the Ombudsman about your retaliatory closure of both of my bank accounts in this matter. When I have sought to ask HSBC to justify the decision behind the closures they have simply written that it was a “commercial decision”. In my opinion it is clear that HSBC closed my accounts subsequent to complaints I made about bank charges in May and June 2006 and I am making a claim for compensation for their actions in this regard.

I note in your final response letter of 4th October, you referred to the fact that any decision in relation to account closures is outside the jurisdiction of the ombudsman.

I seek to draw your attention to the recent Financial Ombudsman Service decision against Alliance & Leicester on this very matter. Alliance & Leicester were fined by the Ombudsman for retaliatory bank account closure after complaints were made by another customer about unlawful bank charges.

“[the customer] should not be prevented from bringing a legitimate complaint by the threat of having his account closed; nor do I consider it fair or reasonable of Alliance & Leicester to respond to [the customers] complaint about charges by closing the account. Alliance & Leicester appears to me to have used the closure of the account as a retaliatory or punitive measure"”

In my opinion the closure of my bank accounts was retaliatory and punitive, HSBC have never sought to deny this in any previous correspondence and HSBC now continue to act in a punitive and retaliatory manner by harassing me for full payment of my overdraft.

[Sarrahk]

Ombudsman complaint forms submitted yesterday! Will let you know once i receive updates!!

[un1boy]

Great, keep goign Sarah!!