Ship at port about to set off into the wild ocean.

[abracadabra]

Hi all,

 

I am about to send my Preliminary Approach for Repayment to HSBC for the last 4 years' 'Total Charges' on my account.

 

Over the last four years a modest sum of £491 has been siphoned from my account, usually for going into overdraft (often by no more than £10).

When I first encountered my first penalty charge, I went straight into my bank and asked them to simply not allow me to withdraw money that I didn't have. I didn't have an overdraft and didn't want one. I explained that if my balance is at £10, don't let me withdraw £20 from an ATM. They said that it was not possible to do this for some obscure sounding reason which now escapes me. Seemed nonsensical at the time. Of course it is my responsibility to keep track of how much money is in my account, but even so, I would have thought they could simply decline any transaction that would take me into the red. Particularly as I didn't have an overdraft. Did I?

 

I have never earned very much money, and have tried to take reasonable care with the operation of my bank account. But, yes, occasionally I would dip £10 or £20 into that phantom overdraft - the one that I didn't actually have.

Once I was charged £72 in a single day for withdrawing more money than I had.

£72!!!! I was incensed. Banks are supposed to comply with some sort of fair and ethical banking code are they not? Seventy-two pounds didn't seem very fair or ethical to me. I had visions of a giant evil-smelling computer sitting there applying fees with its cold mechanical heart, sparking like a lunatic.

 

Four years later, and I'm trawling the internet's depths, and I come across this site. Celebration bells pealing in the distance. Finally people are banding together to claim what is surely theirs. Hard earned b****y money. Yours and mine.

Long live the people! Wish me luck.

 

Abracadabra.

[abracadabra]

Well just got two of them off, recorded mail, to these two chaps:

 

Phil Beaumont

Senior Service Quality Officer

Arlington Business Centre

Milshaw Park Lane

Leeds

LS11 OPP

 

 

 

 

David Lewis

Head of Customer Relations

Level 36

8 Canada Square

London

E14 5HQ

 

 

 

Hope they're responsive.

[Shizzle Dizzle]

Good luck with your claim. I sent my preliminary letter at the start of the month to Canada Square and no response as yet. LBA is already printed and ready

[abracadabra]

Well well well,

 

Today I received a letter from HSBC offering me £440 out of my £491 in charges back. The letter states that although they believe the charges to be fair and defensible in court, they just don't have the time and...er...money to let it go to the courts.

 

"If your claim for a refund proceeded to Court, we believe we would successfully resist any legal challenge in relation to these fees."

 

"HSBC is, however, mindful of the management time and irrecoverable legal costs that it may incur in relation to such a claim."

 

The slithering of serpents' bellys on the tiled floor of HSBC Leeds?

 

I am surprised to receive a letter of this nature so early on in the process, as I was only about to send my Letter Before Action (LBA) today.

 

I sent Preliminary Approach for Repayment letters to two people:

 

David Lewis

Head of Customer Relations

Level 36

8 Canada Square

London

E14 5HQ

 

Phil Beaumont

Senior Service Quality Officer

Arlington Business Centre

Milshaw Park Lane

Leeds

LS11 0PP

 

The letter I received today was signed by Colin Langdale.

He works at the Leeds address above, and is a colleague of Phil Beaumont there.

 

I now have 10 days to sign and send the 'full and final settlement' sheet attached, and wait 7 working days (upon their receipt of my acceptance) for my bank account to be credited.

 

A question I have to all of you out there is...what should I do?

It's £50 short of the full amount claimed, but do I really want to go through the rest of the process now for that £50. Of course the principle of the matter still stands, but hey, I've just been offered £440 from a bank which, satisfyingly for me, clearly doesn't want to take any chances in the courts.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Abracadabra