What can I do?

[BankChargeBeauty]

When I was younger and more foolish, HSBC threw money my way in the form of an overdraft, a loan and a credit card, which I accepted. Naievly I thought that this all seemed like a good idea at the time. Of course it wasn't. I ended up owing them a whole lot of money that I couldn't afford to repay. Cue bounced DD's, missed/late credit card payments...all of which I was charged for - of course. Then HSBC's solution, a consolidation loan, which again I accepted but couldn't afford to repay. Cue more charges. EVentually the account was passed to debt collectors MCS and to cut a long story short I ended up with a CCJ. Unfortunately I don't think there's much I can do about it, but I suspect a large portion of the debt was made up of and caused by charges against me. However this all started in 2000 and I closed my account in 2002. Is there anything I can do about this?

 

Any advice would be appriciated. Thanks.

[Castlebest]

First thing to do is to try to find out what exactly happened and what charges you can recover... have a look here

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/516-1-data-protection-act.html

 

pete

[rory32]

Just to add to Castlebest's post the SAR will cover all the accounts you had with HSBC. So don't send a SAR and the £10 fee for each account. One SAR and one £10 fee will cover all three accounts.

[kennythecelt]

Go for it. You need to be equipped with your banking history. When you examine it you will find nuggets!!!!

[BankChargeBeauty]

Thanks for the advice everybody.

 

I have an additional problem. I can't remember what my account number was and I'm not sure if I have any old bank statements left from it. Is there anything I can do about that?

 

Also, am I right in thinking that I will only be able to claim from, say, June 2001, which is 6 years ago, to April 2002 - which is when I closed the account? I don't want ALL the statements I ever had from them. I was with HSBC from the Midland days, WAAAY back when I was a lil kid

[freakyleaky]

They will tell you the maximum they hold is 6 years anyway so that is all you will get. Not sure on the account with no number! Someone will jump in and tell you soon I am sure!

[rory32]

As long as you give them your address details at the time you held the account and some i.d. (a utility bill should be enough) they will be able to find your account details.

 

Usually banks hold statements for significantly longer than 6 years. When RBS sent me 5 years worth ('cos I live in Scotland) I wrote back to them telling them I wanted all statements they held. They quickly produced another 7 years worth of statements.

[BankChargeBeauty]

Usually banks hold statements for significantly longer than 6 years. When RBS sent me 5 years worth ('cos I live in Scotland) I wrote back to them telling them I wanted all statements they held. They quickly produced another 7 years worth of statements.

 

Thought you could only claim back 6 years worth? If I could go further back than that I WOULD be one very happy bunny!!!! I would use the money towards paying the debt collector back some of the money I owe them. At the mo I will be paying them back until 2011, if could get the money back for all the charges they applied then I could cut that time down by a SIGNIFICANT amount.

[rory32]

There was a thread on claiming back more than 6 years. I'll have a look and see if I can find it.