HSBC Bank Account and Credit Card

[BearCat11]

Hi Everyone,

 

I had a HSBC bank account from the age of 9/10

 

when I reached 18 they offered me a credit card with nice credit limit of £2500, along with an overdraft of £1000,

stupidly at a naive age of 18 I used both of them to their full advantage, making payments every month.

 

Unfortunately a few years later I reached a financial hardship for my age, earning only a low wage

and having split from a partner I was living with, I found myself in a house share

 

paying most of my wages to live and eat, also (stupidly in hindsight) taking out Wonga loans to make ends meet,

because HSBC were charging me bank charges on top of bank charges.

 

I quickly spiralled into debt land with everything including both my HSBC Credit Card and bank account,

luckily I had a second account with Halifax where I could have my wages paid into without it being eaten up with bank charges.

 

My debt with HSBC was soon 'sold' onto their made up 'solicitors' - Restons, and also 'Metropolitan Collections' which I also believe is a subsidiary of HSBC.

 

6 months into this my mother offered me a place to stay, and I was far to embarrassed to tell her the extent of my debt at the time,

 

1 day the bailiffs came knocking on her door to advise that I had been ignoring HSBC and not made any payments.

My mother and step father sat me down and I vowed to set up a payment plan to avoid this embarrassment for them again

and I stuck to this for at least 18 months or so.

 

I was lucky to meet my now fiancé who helped me out a great deal by paying off what I thought was the remaining debt with HSBC, and I found myself back on track.

 

It wasn't until yesterday I came home to an ominous looking letter on my doorstep, advising me that 'Reston Solictors' have issued a Count Court Claim form for the unpaid account for my HSBC Credit Card, which I admit on my part was forgotten about as I thought I had paid them off and never thought to check.

 

As I'm still only young (26) this is the first I've seen of one of these and it really left me shaken at the thought of having to go to court,

 

I called CAB and they were helpful in advising my options with the form to which I made a decision that I want to get rid of it completely

and called 'Restons Solicitors' today to settle the account with £772.00.

 

In a matter of curiosity I opened an experian account this evening to check my credit score,

I notice two defaults on my account, for both aforementioned HSBC accounts.

This has really shaken me again as we're looking to take out a mortgage next year to buy our first marital home.

 

My question to the knowledgeable people of this forum is,

 

am I in any position to make a complaint to HSBC that I don't agree with these defaults as the root cause of the debt initially was due to bank charges which I couldn't pay, it states they were issued in 2011 and I have no recollection of these (does anyone else remember any post they received 5 years ago?!)

 

or - are they quite right to do this to me, for my own stupidity?

 

Thank you very much in advance and thank you for reading my rather lengthy life story post!

 

Also to ask if anyone knows - If both my fiancé and I apply for a mortgage once we're married next year, and he has an impeccable credit score, would the defaults on my account still affect any applications?

[dx100uk]

1./ they were not bailiffs they were a no powers dca doorstepper...you got spoofed.

 

 

I seriously doubt the wisdom of some CAB advisors...very bad advice

 

 

when was the date on this claimform please

 

 

dx

[BearCat11]

Hi dx,

 

Thank you for your response, the date on the claim form was 29th Jan.

 

Was I wrong to call them and pay it?

 

Thanks.

[citizenB]

Hi dx,

 

Thank you for your response, the date on the claim form was 29th Jan.

 

Was I wrong to call them and pay it?

 

Thanks.

 

You have avoided court and a Judgment against you, so in some respects.. no - you have not "done wrong".

 

However, in the first instance when the "bailiff" came to call - did they identify themselves as bailiffs ? Because the only reason a bailiff would call would be if a claim had been issued against you and the claimant won and you didnt pay what then becomes the judgment debt.

 

What was the last date you had made any payment to the account prior to the Claim form being issued ?

 

What is the date of the first default on your credit file ? - it will stay there for 6 years - irrespective of whether you have paid or not. However, HSBC will have to mark the account satisfied.

[citizenB]

I have a feeling that you may still need to respond to the Claim form. I will ask for you.

[dx100uk]

sorry I didnt quite grasp your full post?

 

so you DO HAVE

and actual court claimform?

 

or is it a letter from someone stating restons maybe taking you to court.

 

bit puzzled.

 

 

dx

[steampowered]

If the only thing you have is a threatogram from Restons, no need to do anything further.

 

If you have received an actual county court claim form, then Restons should withdraw it now that you have paid the debt. Unless you can confirm with the court that this claim has been withdrawn before the deadline, I would enter a defence stating that the debt has already been paid, just in case of any admin screw ups on their end.

 

If you apply for a joint mortgage with your fiance then yes the defaults will be on your credit report and will affect a mortgage application. But the effect should be smaller now that the debt has been paid. You should check your credit rating over the next few weeks (either free trial with experian then cancel, or somewhere like noddle) to check that the debt has been marked as paid.