@hsbc_uk_help Hsbc causing my family suicidal pain

[bach]

Details of our complaint with HSBC are explained below;

 

 

• HSBS COLLECTIONS DEPT ARE CALLING UP TO 7 TIMES A DAY FOR PAYMENT.
  
• SHE IS 8 MONTHS PREGNANT, IN A WHEELCHAIR AND CRUTCHES.
  
• CONSTANTLY IN PAIN. WHEN RESTING IS CONSTANTLY BEING DISTURB BY HSBC BABARDMENT OF CALLS.
  
• MY SON ILL WITH WORRY EFFECTED HIS CREDIT RATING
  

I AM DESPERATE I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT TO HELP IT’S A LIVING NIGHTMARE.

 

PLEASE IF THERE IS A SOLICITOR OUT THEIR CAN YOU HELP US.

My daughter in law, has had a current account with HSBC for 20yrs.

She took out a loan from HSBC 5yrs ago and was repaying the loan at a rate of £260.31 per month; the loan is due to finish September 2016. She has not missed one payment whilst paying back the loan over the last 5yrs.

 

MARCH 2013

I suggested she try and reduce her loan repayments, and at the same time perhaps she could release some more money by re-structuring the original loan and she would be able to perhaps gain a better interest rate.

 

APRIL 2013

She was made redundant from her job. She immediately rang up HSBC in April and asked them for advice through their Finance Department as she knew she would have difficulty paying her loan repayment of £260 31 in May without going over her agreed overdraft limit. She informed them she would be able to continue with the repayments the following month in June as per usual as she had already found new employment (she is a Paramedic) however, there would be two weeks during which she would be without employment and therefore earnings. The result of this was that she would be missing ONE Month DD payment in May with agreement. She specifically asked if this would affect her credit rating and was assured that up to 7 payments could be missed or deferred before any action would be taken. At no point during the conversation was she advised that this would be registered as a default on her credit rating file. In the meantime, to reduce payments she stated to the financial team that she would stop using her credit card but she also stated that she did not wish to cancel the card.

 

HSBC informed her “that was absolutely fine” and the May payment could be paid back at the end of the loan time or earlier if she were able to.

 

HSBC did in fact take the May payment from her account but immediately refunded the payment into her current account. She was then expecting the loan payment to be taken from her account in June as normal, as agreed in the telephone conversation to HSBC in April. Loan payments continued to be paid as normal and as agreed.

 

AUGUST 2013

She an her partner made an evening appointment with the local HSBC customer service manager in Solihull during the week commencing 12th August, now knowing that they were expecting a baby and sensibly planning ahead for the additional financial pressure this would put them under.

 

They asked the customer service representative, if they could re-structure the loan, hoping to be able to get a better interest rate and another loan. He took some details, and started the process of entering information, saying that he was hopeful she could consolidate the loan with her credit card, borrow some more money to help with the baby and still reduce her monthly payments.

 

The application was refused, much to everyone’s surprise, so he investigated why that should be. It transpired that HSBC had without consent or any contact with her cancelled the direct debits paying back her HSBC gold credit card. As a result of this there was a note on the file cancelling the credit card and registering a default.

 

At no time was she informed that the DD payments had NOT been taken from her account. She at no time received any correspondence from HSBC informing her that she was behind with the repayments of the Credit Card.

 

The Customer service manager telephoned Head Office to find out why the Direct Debits had not been taken from her account. He also tried to contact the assessing agency to see if they would change their mind, pointing out that she had been a loyal customer since December 1993, and had never, in all that time, defaulted on any payment.

As it was now around 5.30 pm in the evening, head office informed him that it would be looked into immediately the next morning and they would telephone first thing the following day, but for now they could progress no further.

 

She was totally unaware that the JUNE, JULY and now AUGUST Direct Debit had NOT been taken from her current account until this appointment with the local HSBC Branch.

 

The HSBC customer service manager informed her that “had it not been for the Direct Debit mistake there would not have been a problem for her obtaining further credit.”

 

The following morning HSBC head office listened to the tape of the telephone conversation which she had made in April. As agreed, the customer services manager telephoned her to advise her as to the results of the investigation.

 

The Customer Services Manager stated the following:

 

 

• The telephone conversation confirmed that she was not advised about the default.
  
• The telephone conversation confirmed that she was not advised that the direct debits would be stopped on her credit card.
  
• The policy of the bank was to automatically cancel all direct debits associated with borrowing through the bank (loans, credit cards) but again she had not been advised of this.
  
• The member of staff she spoke to had been “spoken to” and would undergo retraining.
  
• Payment of £142.00, the amount accrued by the bank cancelling the DD would be taken from her current account on 2nd September.
  
• HSBC person apologised for the error but stated that they could not “undo” the effect their error had had on her credit status.
  

 

Later that week she returned home to find a letter from HSBC dated after her meeting with Customer services manager Solihull branch informing her that her credit card was in arrears and would be cancelled if she didn’t make a payment. This was a direct contradiction of the information that the Solihull Branch had found on her file, which showed that the account had already been closed. This is a further example of the mis-management of Paula’s account.

 

2nd September 2013

The direct debit was NOT reinstated, and the credit card payment was not taken despite having been promised as resolved by the customer services manager. She had to make a manual payment to rectify this.

 

5th September 2013

She noticed that the loan repayment had not been taken from her account either, for the first time. She had not asked for this to be cancelled, delayed, deferred or anything else.

At this point she was under immense stress, upset, and had a complete lack of faith in HSBC and its staff.

 

21st September 2013

She and her partner made another appointment with Solihull HSBC branch Manager, to discuss the effect this had had on them, and requesting her help. The stress of the catalogue of errors was by this point causing her to suffer blood pressure problems which are especially dangerous in pregnancy.

 

She explained that the DD had still not been taken from her account for the HSBC Credit Card and in addition HSBC had cancelled the Direct Debit for the LOAN without informing my daughter in law

 

Ms Bond agreed immediately to refund any late payment charges she had incurred as she agreed that the defaults were not her fault. However, the default would still remain on her credit file. Ms Bond informed them that Branch Managers do not have any authority to remove defaults from credit files, and despite previous requests with two employers at HSBC head office to have the default removed not one individual within HSBC company says that they have the authority to do so.

 

Ms Bond stated she wanted to further investigate and although she would be going on holiday she would make sure that daughter in law would be contacted personally by herself on the Wednesday and after that her colleague would deal with it. Ms Bond contacted her on the Thursday and stated that she could confirm everything she had told her – however, a loan default would permanently stay on her file with regard to the agreed deferment because in actual fact their policy is that you cannot defer payments and settle the loan a month later than agreed. Again, a direct contradiction of what Paula was told originally.

 

While they were with her, Ms Bond initiated a new standing order mandate for the personal loan and credit card which would go out around 5nd October 2013. Since she initiated this, payments have been taken correctly.

 

However, daughter in law is still not able to get any credit due to the default placed on her credit file by HSBC, and is unable to restructure her loan to gain a better interest rate. She is now 7months pregnant and has had to start her maternity leave earlier than anticipated because she has developed a serious medical condition associated with the pregnancy which has means she must now be on a wheelchair. It is more necessary than ever that she consolidate her loan and card, and despite the fact that Ms Bond confirmed her credit rating within the bank was “very good”, they will not assist Paula further.

 

Ms Bond assured her that she would receive a letter detailing the results of investigation and offering a full unreserved apology in writing regarding their error. This letter has still not been written, now nearly 3 months after meeting with Ms Bond.

 

My daughter in law and my son are extremely distressed and she is suffering severe anxiety attacks as a result of the financial stress. Both her midwife and obstetric registrar have cautioned against further stress as it has the potential to be detrimental to her unborn child.

 

IT IS AN ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE FOR US ALL.

 

I am so sorry this explanation is long and drawn out. I wanted you to have the facts that I/we am aware off. I/we would be so grateful if you can help us to get the default removed from her credit file. It would make such a difference to their situation as they are feeling quite desperate with life at the moment. We are all incredulous at the ineptitude of HSBC and the lack of logic and common sense in refusing to consider her for a consolidation loan which would reduce her repayments – a refusal directly caused by HSBC own error!

 

Edited December 19, 2013 by bach

[citizenB]

Has your DiL made a "formal complaint", in writing to HSBC ? It looks to me as though they are "not treating her fairly" and this is contradictory to their own rules and the Lending Code.

 

 

Have a read of the BCOBs articles in my signature and see if there is anything amongst that, that might help. However, you MUST now cease telephone contact and keep everything in writing. With regard to the number of calls your DiL is now receiving, I think she needs to send out the Telephone harassment letter. I have put the link below for you. If you wish to add to it regarding your DiL's health situation, then do so.

 

 

Send it to HSBC head office.

 

 

I suggest you read the different versions available, but would think that the draft in post # 3 would be the one you should send.

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387367-Harassment-by-Telephone

[bach]

Hi and thank you so much for taking the time to read such a long thread.

I sent yesterday 17th a telephone harassment letter recorded delivery for her.

I am about to send a letter to the Chief Executive Alan Keir, HSBC which will be finished tomorrow and will send recorded

(This by the way is the 3rd letter we have written to HSBC head office)

The BCOBS I have read and learnt inside out and have quoted this in my letters, HSBC have also broken many rules in in the Consumer Credit Act 1974,

including applying a default as she was not informed in writing.

I have even written to a National newspaper for help but not yet had a reply from them

This is as far as we have got with it all.

DiLaw has been really responsible and answered all calls from HSBC collections, informing them she is taping calls and making notes of times and frequency.

She askes if HSBC are they calling to offer her compensation and offer an apology or are they asking for payments.

They always say payments and at that point she says " I am now going to terminate you call"

I don,t know what to do now to help them!

 

 

My son is a Dr of Music and she is a Paramedic. they are a professional couple and are being treated like idiots by HSBC

 

 

I love them both very much, their health is really suffering through HSBC incompetence.

Thanks again for offering your help, you have confirmed to me I am on right track.

Regards Lynn

[citizenB]

If you read some of my posts you will see that I am not a fan of HSBC or their consolidated loans (managed loans) or their attitude to people with mortgage difficulties.

 

So anything I can do to help, I will

 

You should receive a response to your formal complaint within 8 weeks - so put a mark on your calendar so you know when to leap to the next step. Although the Financial Ombudsman can be very slow and sometimes contradictory in their decisions.. if you dont receive a reply from HSBC within the response time or it is not satisfactory, then the FOS should be your next move. Aside from anything else, once you have lodged a complaint with them, HSBC should back off.

[bach]

Thanks CitizenB

 

 

I am reading as much as I can in the meantime about HSBC. I'm not surprised your not a fan of HSBC they are unscrupulous lot.

Just to add to my woes Iv had a M&S bag of clothes stolen from me today £160 (from outside Morrison's)

Police say it was a set up, apparently they are coming into Solihull from up North.

Just another incident to cope with.

Tomorrow is another day

Thanks for being so supportive.

Lynn