Hannah V HSBC

[hannah1980]

Hello to everyone..............I am currently banking with HSBC (for my sins) we have 2 accounts one for bills and one for day to day expenses, plus a savings account and a credit card.

 

I have spent all weekend preparing bank statements and writing a letter to our previous bank, Halifax, asking for £3898 back over 4 years of unfair charges. This has driven us to look more carefully at our account with HSBC. The charges which they are inflicting on us are huge, and without realising it, we are £800 (our overdraft is only £500) overdrawn which is made of of about 75% bank charges just piling on to of each other! It has just become to huge to pay back in one payment and yet they continue to charge us (one month nearly £200!!!!!!!! ). I want to begin action against them as well but am concious that we are in a sticky situation begin so overdrawn and I am aware that they may get nasty and demand we pay this off. Also it puts us in a difficult position to move onto another bank. Who is going to want to take us on with such a huge debt, whethers its of our making or not?

 

Any advice from anyone would be most warmly welcomed.

 

I feel that we should bid our time and wait for Halifax to payout and then make a claim against HSBC, but its so frustrating to know that at the end of this month they will be taking even more money from us, I want to do something about it now!!!!

 

Please help.................

Hannah Bananna

[rdm2006]

Hello Hannah and welcome to the site

 

HSBC hav'nt been closing accounts on the first claim so you should be OK although i can not gurantee that. It may be wise to open another account somewhere just in case

[hannah1980]

Well things are not going well. I was called in today to the customer realtion officer because of our huge overdrafts. I have had to agree to take out a Flexiloan with them to pay back everything I owe ( 75% which is their charging I will add). So now have a loan for £1800. Not only are they charging me £150 this month, they are also now expecting me to pay £72 per month for this loan. I KNOW how stupid am I but my husbands card was swollowed and I had to give my credit card back!!!!!! I was so angry.

 

However, I got my "missing" statements out of them whilst I was there, it turns out they never changed our address when we moved in february, even though we told them twice, and our statements have been going to our old address. Any way I am upto date and ready to post my letter asking for the charges back.

 

So I now have a claim against Halifax for £3898 and am preparing another claim for HSBC for about £2000. If I win..........bring it on

 

Hannah Banana

[dinahjl]

Hi Hannah - its enough to drive you mad isn't it!

 

You WILL win and get all the money they have taken returned; each charge they apply in the meantime, just keep adding them to the spreadsheet.

 

We found the Alliance & Leicester very good for a new account - we had a poor credit rating, and they have set us up with no problems. They will not allow an overdraft for 6 months, but anything to move from HSBC after 19 years!!

 

All the best with the claim,

[Bookworm]

Sorry you didnt get an answer before, Hannah.

 

Right, new bank account. Lots of basic accounts around, Natwest step, I hear, is easy to get. TBH, unless you have a default somewhere, changing banks might not be that difficult, when I changed a few yrs ago, my o/d was nearly 2k, and the new bank took us on without blinking. If you start using the new account from scratch, then you won't have to worry so much about the HSBC one, as you'll know that they can pile charges as much as they like, they will only have to take them off again at the end of it...

 

OTOH, if you want to concentrate on Halifax, that's fine too... Trust me, the buzz when you get your money back from Halifax will fire you up so much that you will be LOOKING for the next target! lol.

[dinahjl]

Hi Hannah,

Great advice from Bookworm as always.

 

I would open a new bank account right away if you can, and as bookworm said, this will allow you to run an account where there is no overdraft to eat up your money every month. Several are now very understanding about credit history - they have to be with the whole country in debt, so you should have a choice. We found Alliance & Leicester very straight talking and their terms and conditions are in print that you can actually read! They offer a couple of internet based accounts that allow you to really keep on top of your finances - it has helped me become much more organised with our money.

 

If you have the energy and time while you are taking on the Halifax, I would start on the HSBC account as soon as you have set up an alternative account with a new bank. And if you do have internet access to your HSBC account, you can get all the statements for 6 years on line (avoid all those duplicates they love to send)!

 

Best of luck with the new account. lol

[hannah1980]

Well here we go all over again. Im new to the HSBC part of the site and thought I woould just say hi. Having done my calculations HSBC owe us £1659. Funny how it seems so similar to the £1600 loan they made me take out at the begining of August!!!?????!!!!

 

 

Hannah

 

Halifax £4700 **settled in full**

HSBC 1st letter sent off

[Digger61]

Go for it Hannah and in a little while you are rid of the Loan!

[hannah1980]

Well I sent my 1st letter asking for money back some time ago and I have not heard any reply! which surprises me as we bank with HSBC.

 

I sent the letter to the Head of Customer Relations in London. Any body not had a respnse from this guy as well, who is best to send the 2nd letter to?

 

Thanks

[Michael Browne]

Same place. It's not unusual not to get a reply or for their reply to the prelim to cross in the post with your LBA

[hannah1980]

Well I am going to send to the same man again and cc to one of his minions as well in the in the hope some one will take some responsibility....ha ha this is a bank we are talking about............

[hannah1980]

Well I still have not heard a thing from HSBC. Sent my 2nd letter today, again to David Lewis at Canada Square in London. I hope that I will hear something soon, its a little strange how its all gone so quiet?

 

Has any one else used this contact to send stuff in. As we bank with HSBC we are hoping to have had a response by now in the form of a letter or phone call but there has been nothing.........

 

Any way on we go to Court again, they should take notice at that point.

 

[Shizzle Dizzle]

Hi Hannah,

 

I sent my LBA today too - my preliminary letter was also addressed to Mr. Lewis and I didn't receive a response either. I like to think it's because he's received so many letters he can't get through them all.

 

You're right about the court action - that's when the HSBC seem to pay attention, I'll be ready to file my MCOL at the end of the month.

[hannah1980]

Many thanks good to know some one else is having problems. Our account has been down graded to a solo card!!!! because we are struggling to pay THEIR charges each month, they want to make sure we are able to handle our account well before giving us a switch card back again........I AM SOOOOOO ANGRY

 

How dare they treat us like children, when its THEIR HUGE charges which are causing us all the trouble, another £125 to add to the long list......not a happy bunny this morning. Luckily we have opened a new account else where and I will be transfering everything over this month.

 

Bring on Court, I want to go before a judge (shame it will never happen)..... :mad: :mad:

[Natalie99]

I sent both of my letters to David Lewis and didn't hear anything until 2 days after I'd filed my MCOL, obviously by then it was too late. Bad luck HSBC!

 

Just waiting to hear from the Solicitors now. Fingers crossed.

[Jaynekul]

I sent Prelim to him also & havent heard anything yet. Keeping it well diaried for the 14 days exactly. Another £125 gone from my account as well today plus £16.25 interest! What bank have you transferred to Hannah? I have only dared to try & open a step account with the Nat West so far but would like to have an account with switch like a normal person who is earning a good living but being persistantly ripped by these people. Have you noticed how they seem to wait until your account is most vulnerable before applying these charges?

[Kazzy77]

yeah they are really really good at doing that lol. i opened my second account with barclays and got a switch card just fine. easy and quick to open the account too. hope that helps

[wiggo]

No response for me either - I expect he's busy. My LBA goes tonite. Looking to see if more charges hit my account this week!

[Jaynekul]

Yes it does I will apply online for them instead. Note your comments on other thread Kazzy re bandits. I totally agree with everything you have said. they couldnt careless if you & your kids have to eat dirt as long as they can rub their hands together at the thought of more charges

I had a cheque bounced for the survey on my house. I was downsizing to try and help the financial situation. The money was in the account. When I went into the branch to blow a gasket they just put me with some total halfwit goon who could only offer me the charges back. Big of them eh? I put in a formal complaint to the FSO I included all manor of other things as well eg losing a cheque I paid in for 3 weeks etc. Yest I got a call telling me they were going to approach the HSBC for the standard compensation of £50!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, they couldnt get through. Perhaps if they fly out to India they would have a better chance. I feel like telling them to stick it Id rather pursue the bank charges side of things but they do fine them £500 I think for every report made so dont want to let them off the hook for anything

[Kazzy77]

good for you! use all avenues available, i say. the uprising of us "little people" is long overdue lol. they need to be made accountable for all the disgusting corporate theft they have gotten away with at the cost of their customers.

 

best of luck with your claim and complaints.

[hannah1980]

Hi Jaynekul I went to the Coop bank. Mainly because of work for the County Council and the coop bank are renound for liking you if you are emplyed by local authority. They were wicked, full Visa Debit card on its way with a £100 overdraft free of charge! and NO minions in New Deli!!!!!!! I have actually spoken to the same lady who open my account WHENEVER I have called in to ask questions. Phone number straight to the bank and they have a moral code which is really good about how they invest their money etc etc. I was amazed at the speed of service.

 

Dont go to NATWEST they are awful and the next bank on my hit list.....I had nothing but problems which escilated into a member of staff verbally abusing me at the branch!!!! They are going to be my hardest and favorite which is why I have kept them to last. The other Bank I can recommed is Alliance & Leicester, they seemed to know what they were doing as well. You also get money if you open one of their accounts - cant remeber which?

 

Hope this helps

[Jaynekul]

Thanks to you all for your help. applied online to barclays got to wait the 4 days for a decision. If a no will go to Coop only down the road from where I work

[hannah1980]

Well I have decided to back up my LBA and sent another copy of the LBA letter and list of charges dated 14/10 to HSBC, just to remind them that the clock is ticking. Want to make sure that I have given them every opportunity.

 

Having read across this site I see that HSBC seems to be playing the silent card. Maybe new policy?????

[Jaynekul]

I have recd Ack letter saying will investigate in the fullness of time LBA tomm#~!

[hannah1980]

Oh lovely....put you back in your place. Ignore it, if it doesn't contain a cheque carry on as you would. Make sure you keep to your 14 days.