HSBC not playing fair

[vint1954]

Hi Vint and TS80

 

No there was no overdraft on the account they made it overdrawn with this transaction.

 

Yes i have sent a letter asking for clarification on the action they have made on my account but they just sent another final demand.

 

My thoughts were to send a very firm letter demanding they explain their actions. And if they dont il complain to the FSA.

 

Any thoughts

 

GG

You realy need to make it clear that they have acted unlawfull, in setting up an overdraft that you have asked for. Silence on that subject, may be seen as acceptance in that area.

 

Send Slicks letter, but ensure that they are aware that the overdraft is not acceptable to you.

 

I would follow that through with a definite complaint to the FSA and maybe trading standards also.

 

I don't think asking them to explain their actions will do any good. We know why they did it and so do they.

 

You need to be outraged at these people.

 

Copy your letter to your local branch, even your MP, explaining the situation. You can do this by e mail.

[guzzleguts]

Thanks for your replies pedross, vint and your letter Slick.

 

Is it not possible that if i send a letter stating that i am seeking advice on this matter and that i did not agree to this overdraft, then as this action has only been done on Internet banking, i have not got a letter stating what they have done, so they could reverse their action. My initial letter was to coax a letter out of them proving what they have done, all i have is a print out of my current account showing the huge debt.

 

My thoughts were, in my next letter i would demand for them to explain their action, and ask for them to inform me of what they have terminated and why my current account is thousands overdrawn. And if they do not reply to my letter i will complain to the FSA.

 

Il wait for your comments before i send it off.

 

Thanks

 

GG

[diddydicky]

GG, whatever your personal circumstances, there are lawyers who will bite your hand off for a CFA on this and you REALLY ought to hand it over to a professional now and stop dithering!!

[slick132]

Hi GG,

I agree with you - that you should wait for the bank to confirm their position or explain things as they see it. Steaming in heavy handed is not what I'd recommend yet.

 

 

for a CFA

DD - is this a Conditional Fee Arrangement

[guzzleguts]

Thanks Slick, il send them the firm letter and hope they send me a letter stating what they have done. If they dont il prob go down the route DD has posted.

 

Thanks to both of you i will keep you posted.

 

GG

[diddydicky]

Hi GG,

I agree with you - that you should wait for the bank to confirm their position or explain things as they see it. Steaming in heavy handed is not what I'd recommend yet.

 

 

DD - is this a Conditional Fee Arrangement

 

yes- IMO this is as "bang to rights" a civil case that a lawyer would ever have

[thunderstorm80]

Thanks for sharing this unacceptable behaviour with HSBC.

 

I am in a similar situation with them, they admitted they do not hold the original credit agreement. This seems to be happening a lot with HSBC (and most probably for a reason, I seem to remember the application form had no terms). So they are making the agreements disappear it would seem.

 

I also had a current account too with zero balance and no overdraft. Having read your post, I popped in the local brach first thing in the morning and closed the current account so they do not do the same to me. I am banking with another "thief" at the moment. Let's see what other tricks they will come up with.

[diddydicky]

Thanks for sharing this unacceptable behaviour with HSBC.

 

I am in a similar situation with them, they admitted they do not hold the original credit agreement. This seems to be happening a lot with HSBC (and most probably for a reason, I seem to remember the application form had no terms). So they are making the agreements disappear it would seem.

 

I also had a current account too with zero balance and no overdraft. Having read your post, I popped in the local brach first thing in the morning and closed the current account so they do not do the same to me. I am banking with another "thief" at the moment. Let's see what other tricks they will come up with.

 

personally i would be inclined to deliberatly OPEN an account- not close one

 

I would be more than happy for them to "create" an overdraft off their own back and pay my credit card account off with it

 

I would acknowledge that the credit account was paid up and write them a second letter telling them where they could stick their account with the overdraft on it

 

seems to me like he's had a brilliant result when he gets it sorted!!

[guzzleguts]

Absolutely agree with DD, thats why i was concerned going too hard at them until they confirmed by letter of their actions.

 

GG

[guzzleguts]

An update on this HSBC have written to me stating they moved the account balance into my current account so they could reconstruct a new loan, and then they could pay back the PPI i complained about.

 

Only thing is i never agreed to a new loan, they had sent me a consent form but i never signed it and i have not spoke with them on the phone.

 

So if anyone is around today thats helped me on this, opinions please before i get some legal advice this week. Or maybe one last letter is needed, im open to advice.

 

Thanks

 

GG

[vint1954]

You need to tell them that you will not accept this being moved to your current account and that their actions are unlawfull as you have not requested this. Point out that they have no autorization and they must credit your current account, removing the unautherized overdraft.

 

Then make a complaint to OFT, FOS, MP and bank chairman.

[guzzleguts]

Thanks Vint

 

Is there a section of the banking code that deals with debit sums only being transferred to other accounts with credit balances only?

 

GG

[vint1954]

Thanks Vint

 

Is there a section of the banking code that deals with debit sums only being transferred to other accounts with credit balances only?

 

GG

There will be, but I am not up to speed with the banking code. The right to off set only includes taking positive ballances. I guess that what they are trying to do is give you an unauthorized overdraft. A big no no. This should have been delt with a month ago though.

 

You realy do need to turn this around, insisting that they credit your bank accout forthwith and any interest or charges. Make it clear that you are not going to accept a new loan or the overdraft. They are missleading when they say they need to do this to sort out the PPI. They are trying to introduce a new enforcable loan. Now that they have closed the other loan, they are stuffed. They cannot reinstate it unless you agree, which you wont.

 

You realy need to jump on this now and report them to the OFT and FOS.

[guzzleguts]

Thanks Vint

 

I have already drafted out a very strong letter stating what you have said above and what slick had advised and i also threatened legal action if i do not a satisfactory reply.

 

And i also demanded the ppi refund by cheque and by return of post.

 

Thanks again

 

GG

[uptoeyeballs]

Can you share what happened GG?

 

uteb

[diddydicky]

There will be, but I am not up to speed with the banking code. The right to off set only includes taking positive ballances. I guess that what they are trying to do is give you an unauthorized overdraft. A big no no. This should have been delt with a month ago though.

 

You realy do need to turn this around, insisting that they credit your bank accout forthwith and any interest or charges. Make it clear that you are not going to accept a new loan or the overdraft. They are missleading when they say they need to do this to sort out the PPI. They are trying to introduce a new enforcable loan. Now that they have closed the other loan, they are stuffed. They cannot reinstate it unless you agree, which you wont.

 

You realy need to jump on this now and report them to the OFT and FOS.

 

yes there is ( i have lost it due to a computer crash) but they CANNOT create an overdraft by transferring the debt onto your bank account

 

HOWEVER the good news is that if they have- then they have paid off your existing agreement so it is satisfied and unfortuneately for them have now entered into an agreement with you which is not valid under the consumer credit act since (presumably) you have not signed an agreement with the prescribed terms for this new loan!!

[diddydicky]

i would write as a formality and accept that the credit card account is now terminated

 

so that they cannot transfer the money back to it

[diddydicky]

this is taken from the ombudsman's office:-

 

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/40/40_setoff.htm

 

The basic position is that a firm has a right – but not a duty – to look at a customer’s overall position and to ‘combine’ the accounts held by that customer. This is sometimes called a right of ‘set off’ or a right to ‘combine’ accounts. A firm has this as a general right, whether or not it mentions the right in the account terms. So, in the examples above, the firm can transfer money from an account that is in credit in order to make payments due on another account. But it does not have to do this.

 

Certain conditions must be met before the firm can exercise its right of ‘set off’.

 

 

The account from which the firm transfers funds must be held by the customer who owes the firm money.

 

The account from which the firm transfers the money – and the account from which the money would otherwise have come – must both be held with the same firm.

 

The account from which the firm transfers funds – and the account from which the money would otherwise have come – must both be held in the same capacity by the customer concerned. So, for example, if Mrs C holds a savings account in her capacity as treasurer of a local society, the firm cannot take money from that account to pay Mrs C’s personal credit card bill that she normally pays from the current account she holds in a personal capacity.

 

The debt must be due and payable. For example, if a customer misses making a loan payment, then (at least until it calls in the loan) the firm can take only the missed payment – not the balance of the loan.

We would not usually expect a firm to warn customers before it exercises its right of ‘set off’. A warning might prompt customers to move their money to an account with a different firm. But we think that it is usually good practice for a firm to tell a customer as soon as possible after it has made a transfer.

[guzzleguts]

Hi all

 

Its still ongoing, a lot of correspondence is changing hands but getting nowhere.

 

Thanks DD but it was a loan not a credit card, dont think that matters though.

 

After all the letters i have sent they will not comment on what they have done, they just get their DCA monkeys at MCS to hassle me.

I think they know they are in trouble because they havent issued any claim forms, as i have been asking them to do.

 

GG

[diddydicky]

they have dropped themselves right in the doo doo

 

it is ALSO against OFT guidelines to encourage further borrowing in order to pay off existing debts