HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life vs HSBC

[alexifa]

1. Don't worry about the date.

2. You can update right up to when you file court proceedings.

[HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life]

OK, so far I have sent my preliminary letter asking for a refund of £840 on the 23/11/06 which I had no response from hsbc within the 14 days.

 

So I then sent an undated LBA with an updated spreadsheet which included a further charge for £125 that was applied to my account on 18/12/06 (totaling £965 in charges!)

 

On the 20th december I had a letter from hsbc saying that:

 

'' I am pleased to advise that we have agreed your recent informal request for an overdraft. The balance of your account is £759.59 overdrawn. Please remember, all overdraughts are repayable on demand.''

 

This to me seemed like they had started to look in to my situation and had granted me the overdraught to prevent me from incurring any more charges as my agreed overdraft limit was only £400 at the time. Incidently I have agreed a formal overdraft of £800 and am currently well within the limits of this.

 

I then recieved a letter dated 22/12/06 from Colin Langdale - Hsbc senior service quality officer which read:

 

''Thank you for your letter dated 23/11/06 concerning your request for a refund of all your bank charges.

 

I am looking into the matters you have raised and will contact you with a full response as soon as I have completed my investigations.

 

In the meantime, I enclose a copy of our leaflet which explains how these matters are dealt with. If you do need to contact us, please quote reference number xxxxxxxx.

 

Yours sincereley

 

Colin Langdale

Hsbc senior service quality officer''

 

 

This letter concerned me for 2 reasons:

 

1. It seems that hsbc are investigating the charges that were stated on the preliminary letter spreadsheet which doesnt include the £125 charge applied to my account on 18/12/06. obviosuly I would like this £125 back, is it likely that they will know to investigate this charge?

 

2.It took them pretty much one calender month to respond to my preliminary letter and I have already sent my LBA. should I wait to hear something back from hsbc or carry on with the reclaim step by step process?

 

Please can you help me. What is my next action?

 

Thanks in advance for your advice and Happy New Year!

[RETURNED TO SENDER]

I would wait until at least 14 business days from the date of your undated 2nd letter to see if you get a response to it, did you send it by recorded delivery ?

 

If the response is "we will look into it further blah blah" then issue a claim against them using moneyclaim online including the extra charges they applied after your first letter.

 

Finally dont worry, it just takes a bit of patience.

 

Happy new year to you too.

[calconnor66]

I had a simmilar letter from Colin Langdale, thne got one saying they had acted accordingly and I was not going to get a dime from them. They also said I could complin to the ombusman.

I would proceed with you cliam collect all the evdince spreasheets etc, and send it to them showing your intentions. I did that and was ignored and then they still refused to pay, but I felt that it added more weight to my case saying I had tried all ways to sorting this out and was basically forced to use the small claims route.

Furthemore they entered a defence on the last minute when I issues SCC. I got paid out a week later after telling them I intended to defend my claim and go for a full disclosure. Please keep your chin up. Look at my thread help the bank entered a defence. It has quetsiosn I asked like you and some very good advice. might make you feel better. and remeber it is your money Cal x

[HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life]

Thanks for your replies.

 

Yes all of the letters I'm sending to hsbc are sent recorded delivery.

 

I think I will wait untill the end of this week and if I still haven't heard anything or just get another ''we're looking into your situation'' letter I'll proceed to SCC.

 

Any more info or advice on this would be great. cheers

[HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life]

Just received this from hsbc today:

 

'' 02 January 2007

 

Dear Mr Hsbc_destroyed_my_life

 

Ref: 1811XXXXXX, A/C 40-XX-XX XXXXXXXX

 

Thank you for your letter dated 23 November 2006 Concerning your request for a refund of bank charges. I apologise for not yet having fully completed my investigation.

 

I will contact you again by 23 January 2007 and expect to be able to provide you with a full response at that time.

 

In the meantime, I would like to thank you for your patience and enclose a copy of our leaflet ehich explains how these matters are dealt with. If you need to contact us, please quote the above customer reference number.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Colin Langdale

Senior Service Quality Officer''

 

 

So pretty much the same as the first letter I was sent. But this time saying when they will respond.

 

What should I do?

 

Sit back and wait for their response? Or send them another letter? - If so should I proceed to the Small Claims Court or reply with something else.

 

Please help, Thanks

[chkaijo]

No don't wait for a response. once time is up proceed to next stage which is mcol- small claims court. if you don't they will continue to give you the run about. be brave just do it. I receive aletter from mr colin today and he offered to give me back some of my money but i am not having it. isent off my mcol today:D

[HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life]

No don't wait for a response. once time is up proceed to next stage which is mcol- small claims court. if you don't they will continue to give you the run about. be brave just do it. I receive aletter from mr colin today and he offered to give me back some of my money but i am not having it. isent off my mcol today:D

 

Did you tell them that you would accept that money as a ''part payment'' and will persue the remaining amount?

[Guest bong]

hiya, yes proceed with court claim. if you wanted to clarify the date the undated letter was sent you could, if you felt like it, send Mr Langdale a short letter saying thank you for your letter of 2 Jan. My letter before action posted on xdate gave you 14 days in which to comply before court action would commence. You have had more than 28 days in which to deal with this matter and I am now writing to inform you that I have commenced a claim in the x county court.

[BankFodder]

You stick rigidly to your timescales. Don't acept their's.

If you told them that you would take certain action in 14 days then that is what you do. Otherwise don't send letters or make threats which you won't keep.

 

It undermines yourself and everyone else.

[chkaijo]

Did you tell them that you would accept that money as a ''part payment'' and will persue the remaining amount?

 

yes i have

[chkaijo]

i have accepted partial payment. i included this statement in my letter. so that u can use it when need be.. However I will accept as partial settlement the amount offered and that I will be willing to withdraw my claim upon unconditional full settlement. sorry for not including that before

[calconnor66]

HI,

I agree with the info given stick to your timescales they sent the same to me and then rejected my claim go thorugh the small claims route as soon as the time is up, and keep your fingers crossed, I think they will let you take it to the day they ahve to offer a defnece. Keep going you wil get it.

[HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life]

Huge Thanks for all your great responses.

 

This morning 05/01/07 I have officially entered my MCOL for the amount of £942.49 + daily interest at 8%.

 

£80 for court fees seemed expensive to me, is this a standard rate or does it go on a sliding scale dependant upon how much money is being claimed?

 

Amongst the text which I pasted in to the ''particulars of claim'' box on mcol it says: ''Defendant is aware of all details as a list of charges has already been supplied. Another copy will be sent''

 

1.What I wanted to know is there a standard letter available to go with this extra copy of charges that is to be sent?

 

Bong stated in a post above

 

Quote:

''you could, if you felt like it, send Mr Langdale a short letter saying thank you for your letter of 2 Jan. My letter before action posted on xdate gave you 14 days in which to comply before court action would commence. You have had more than 28 days in which to deal with this matter and I am now writing to inform you that I have commenced a claim in the x county court.''

 

Perhaps I could use something along those lines combined with letting them know I have attached another copy of my schedule of charges?

2. Do I need to write to hsbc again to tell them that I have gone to MCOL. I'm pretty sure that mcol will inform them but I just wanted to be certain.

 

3. Is there anything else I need to do at this moment in time or should I just sit back and wait to see if they enter a defence?

 

Thanks again everyone

[calconnor66]

It is a sliding scale for court charges but remeber yu will get it back.

I would not bother writing to the HSBC as they will have notification usually within 48 that a claim has been registered against them by the courts.

You will have to wait 2 weeks now, and they will probably have to wait it out, they entered their defence aginst me at 4.50 by fax and they had until 5.00pm.

They may not enter a defence if that is the case you take your court papaers back to court after 14 days is up and they will insturct the hsbc to pay you back and you ahve won by default.

I think they wll enter a defence though thinking you will get scared and leave it, but dont.

They may just pay you out,

If they enter a defence send them a strong letter saying you intend to defend your claim ( look at my link) and give them a timescale to respond , I got mine because was going away and gave them three days to respond as i had written my defence and told them it would be filed in my absence. Send them a strong lettler dont beat about the bush.

Carolyn

[HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life]

Hi,

 

The situation as it currently stands: I went to mcol and applied for my bank charges reclaim on 05/01/2007. On the 08/01/07 I received my statement which had another £150 charge due to be taken from my account on 17/01/06.

 

Now This new £150 charge hasn't been included in the amount I applied for when I went to mcol nor has it been included on any schedules of charges that I have sent to HSBC.

 

1. Luckily I haven't yet got round to sending hsbc an up to date copy of my bank charges schedule as I stated I would do in my mcol application. So I'll just stick the £150 charge on the bottom of my schedule and send it. I'm pretty sure this would be the right thing to do - but can someone please just clarify this for me. Thanks

 

1.(a) Incidently when I do send my updated schedule of charges. what should I write on the covering letter? I was thinking of something along the lines of '' Dear sirs, Thank you for your letter dated 23/12/06 regarding refund of bank charges. For your information please find attached an up to date copy of the schedule of bank charges that have been applied to my account. Kind Regards...'' Is something like that ok? Should I make reference to the fact that I have gone to mcol?

 

2. Is there anyway to update mcol to include this further charge of £150?

I would hate for my case to be settled and still be down £150!

 

Please help, thanks again.

[lateralus]

once you've filed the claim - you can't add anything on.

you can however - approach it a couple of ways -

a polite/firm call to your bank - branch (not india), and let them know that you consider these to be illegal charges and you have a claim with the courts pending and as a goodwill gesture - wouldn't they like to reverse this one - rather than to see another claim from you. (a little bluster here - as you really don't want to file again). alternatively, or in addition, when you send your breakdown to dg solicitors after they have acknowledged the claim - you might add a sentence - like "i have received another charge.....perhaps you would be so kind as to include this whenyou are reviewing my claim - don't just add it on. if you do the official amendment to the mcol it will cost £35. try the other way first - the banks have reversed them as a one-off in cases we've seen here. maybe a personal visit. go into the search on the blue line above and try "additional charges" or something and see if you can see what others have done - or just bump this to get more ideas.

[HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life]

(accidently posted this on a seperate thread)

 

The situation as it currently stands: I went to mcol and applied for my bank charges reclaim on 05/01/2007. On the 08/01/07 I received my statement which had another £150 charge due to be taken from my account on 17/01/06.

 

Now This new £150 charge hasn't been included in the amount I applied for when I went to mcol nor has it been included on any schedules of charges that I have sent to HSBC.

 

1. Luckily I haven't yet got round to sending hsbc an up to date copy of my bank charges schedule as I stated I would do in my mcol application. So I'll just stick the £150 charge on the bottom of my schedule and send it. I'm pretty sure this would be the right thing to do - but can someone please just clarify this for me. Thanks

 

1.(a) Incidently when I do send my updated schedule of charges. what should I write on the covering letter? I was thinking of something along the lines of '' Dear sirs, Thank you for your letter dated 23/12/06 regarding refund of bank charges. For your information please find attached an up to date copy of the schedule of bank charges that have been applied to my account. Kind Regards...'' Is something like that ok? Should I make reference to the fact that I have gone to mcol?

 

2. Is there anyway to update mcol to include this further charge of £150?

I would hate for my case to be settled and still be down £150!

 

Please help, thanks again.

[calconnor66]

Did you open another account, if so start by getting your salary paid into this account and transferring all your direct debits over. That pretty much put paid to extra charges for me as I was getting charged becuase they had contiuned to bouce DD because they had left me skint as thye had taken money from me. I went to Smile set up all my own DD and got £500 overdraft as part of their service.

2 send them an updated charge sheet with the new info on , it wont hurt

2 They will either defend see my other reply, and you can just add it to the final sum when you make them pay, so dont worry about that as I doubt very much that it will go all the way. OR if they ignore it and you win by default you can bang it on the bottom of your final claim with the additional interest.

You have just over a week to wait and it should all conclude nicely, sit back relax and think of what you are going to spend your cash on.

Dont forget if you havent opened a new account do it now, if you ahve start the process of transferring DD your slary etc.

Good luck Cal

[claire78]

You can amend your claim using an N244 form, it costs £30.00 which is non refundable.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/41901-form-n244-application-notice.html

 

You CANNOT just add £150.00 onto the schedule you send to HSBCs solicitors, they will only pay the amount you sued them for.

 

Alternatively, you can claim again for the £150.00, it's up to you really.

 

You need to send the schedule of charges to [email protected], she is a solicitor at DG.

 

I do agree that a parachute account is a very good idea, saves the hassle of any more charges

[Guest bong]

Hiya, ok new charge £150 17/1/07 - you could amend your claim at MCOL by submitting an application on form N244 which will cost you £35 and you won't be able to claim that fee back. I wouldn't recommend doing this. What I would recommend is a letter to DG solicitors, when they acknowledge your claim, saying

 

HSBC has processed / will be processing another charge to my account of £150, on 17 Jan, since my claim was filed with the court. I am of course anticipating that your client will settle my claim, in the same way that it has settled all claims of this nature, therefore please obtain your client's instructions to include this further charge within the settlement figure. This will save your client additional costs and a court fee of £30, if I have to raise a separate action for the recovery of this charge.

 

Make sure you mark the letter with your claim number so that they can tie it together with your claim.

 

I wouldn't send your schedule to DG until they have acknowledged. If you send it to HSBC you will have to send another one to DG anyway since HSBC don't deal with it once it has gone to court. You could send it with the above suggested letter.

[Guest bong]

sorry claire you posted while I was doing mine.

[HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life]

Thanks again for all of your responses. You guys have been absolute life savers.

 

Regarding calconnor66's comment:

 

I do have a parachute account with Natwest also with an overdraft facility of £500 (incidently this overdraft took quite a hit over the xmas and new year period). I am happy for my salary to be paid into the natwest account and set up all of my outgoing dd's to be paid from natwest. My only concern is that I am still quite heavily overdrawn in my hsbc account and Im worried that once I win the case, hsbc will pay the funds into my account, cancel my overdraft facility. I know this seems unreasonable but Im sure banks can alter overdraft terms agreements at their discretion, Is this likely?

 

Please let me know as Im about to start the process of transfering all my dds accross now!

 

Regarding Bongs:

 

I think I will do as you advised. As I dont want to spend a further £30 on mcol. If worsed came to worsed I'll just do the entire reclaim process again for this new £150 charge. Are you sure I dont have to send any further correspondence untill I hear from DG solicitors?

 

Thanks again for all your help so far

[Guest bong]

yes, send it as soon as they've acknowledged. with regard to the overdraft, they can call it in at any time - those are standard terms.

[HSBC_Destroyed_My_Life]

yes, send it as soon as they've acknowledged. with regard to the overdraft, they can call it in at any time - those are standard terms.

 

Ok, thanks I will do.

 

I think I will transfer everything to my account with natwest.

 

As soon as I win, I will withdraw the money from my hsbc account and pay it in to my Natwest account or spend it on a trip to California (after donating atleast 5% to the website of course)

 

I belive that hsbc should give you 30 days warning prior to any change to your overdraft.

 

I will also stop using my hsbc account and just pay a few pounds in every month to cover interest and a very small portion of the overdraft itself.

(my brother has been doing this for about a year with no problems)

 

I guess If hsbc ever ask me to pay back all of the overdraft at once I can write them a letter back to tell them I can only afford £x.xx per month (I've heard about this being done frequently on martin lewis' website)

 

Let me know what you think. Cheers