HSBC - again...

RedBern

quick question - HSBC have closed my DD's graduate account with them, she was £180 OD (from a £1500 overdraft) and has been out of the country since January. I went in to the bank to explain she was away and she'd be back the end of July. I suggested she pay £10 per month which the bank agreed (all verbally). When I went in on 15th July to pay £10 they told me the account was closed. I asked them to log the fact I'd tried to pay the £10. My daughter has now had a letter from a debt collection agency demanding the £180. My quick question is ... do HSBC have to notify her of their intention to close the account?

chuckley

was this posted elsewhere?? the story sounds so familiar!

anyway has your daughter moved recently?? it sounds as tho theres been a lack of communication from 1 or the other and the bank have now 'had enuf' and closed the account. i thought banks were meant to tell you of closures, BUT for the debt to be sent on, your daughter should have been getting 'final demand' letters, e.t.c... you need to find out when hsbc sent out letters to your daughter, coz it doesnt add up.

RedBern

sort of posted elsewhere!

She's been away and had some post - I opened letters eventually as most of it was junk - and as soon as I realised what was going on contacted the local branch. However, having agreed to pay the £10 per month - was surprised they had acted as they had!

So now, DD is worried about a bad credit ref - which it appears she'll get. I'm cross as I think HSBC have been hasty having been told to hang fire whilst she was away -
glad to see their profits have dropped!!

CLAPTON

all very unlear

-if she was only 180 into a 1500 overdraft, why was there a problem.

-surely she must have asked you/someone to open all her post and deal with any issues if she was travelling for a long time.

- and if there was a problem, 150 doesn't seem a lot to pay off temporally

chuckley

RedBern wrote: »

sort of posted elsewhere!

She's been away and had some post - I opened letters eventually as most of it was junk - and as soon as I realised what was going on contacted the local branch. However, having agreed to pay the £10 per month - was surprised they had acted as they had!

So now, DD is worried about a bad credit ref - which it appears she'll get. I'm cross as I think HSBC have been hasty having been told to hang fire whilst she was away -
glad to see their profits have dropped!!

so did u open all the hsbc post for her?? and none were of demand payments? unless she knows of the situation and thought to bury her head so when u came along and opened up the post u found this debt collection thing....

also if shes only so little into the OD i cant see y they'd run her down. im guessin shes 180 over her limit and thats what they are chasing for...

something is defo not right with this story.

barclaysguy

FYI - Most banks will start collections activities if you are within an agreed od limit but not making a regular payment into account. They will normally send out a few warning letteres then disable to the od limit - then close.

RedBern

if she was only 180 into a 1500 overdraft, why was there a problem.

-surely she must have asked you/someone to open all her post and deal with any issues if she was travelling for a long time.

- and if there was a problem, 150 doesn't seem a lot to pay off temporally

yes she was only 180 into a 1500 od - she hadn't touched the account for months - and wasn't using her HSBC card whilst away.

I opened the post if it looked like a 'proper' letter - but it all looked like junk mail to be honest.

She went to branch today - although she no longer has an account with them. The customer services lady said they didn't know she was out of the country as she hadn't told them - she wasn't spending 'their' money so why on earth should she tell them where she was? She didn't tell Barclays she was out of the country either!
She then said that they had closed the account at the end of June. I'd gone in to the branch at the end of May and told them she was out of the country and agreed to pay £10 per month beginning 1st July. They gave her a copy of the piece of paper I signed to that effect - and still closed the account before 1st July - as she hadn't put me as 3rd party access on account -so - yes they knew she was out of the country - but they couldn't act on the info I gave them so they closed the account. She has now lodged a complaint with the branch......

chuckley

even if she wasnt using the account, they wouldnt just close it without first trying several times to get her to pay up, or contact her.

when did your daughter go away?? so from May this has been going on?? y is it now august with no xtra payments to reduce the amount?? u say verbally £10 a month as agreed.... but have you paid contributions up to now? i think ur daughter knew from before she went away, but ignored it as she was well within her 'agreed' limit...

RedBern

nope - she was away from January - and hadn't had any correspondence from the bank until April/may time. Honest! The bank claim they've tried to contact her by phone - I work part time so am at home 1 day a week - and there's always someone in by 4pm every day. I went in Bank Holiday week in May and agreed to pay £10 a month - the girl agreed first payment for July and they closed the account before that date....

Superheavy

barclaysguy wrote: »

FYI - Most banks will start collections activities if you are within an agreed od limit but not making a regular payment into account. They will normally send out a few warning letteres then disable to the od limit - then close.

As he said....there's basically two things that would have probably led it to this situation, either the issue with no credits coming in for a significant period of time (I believe it's somewhere between 4 to 6 months), otherwise, if there's returned correspondence from that address and they can't get hold of her for months. Also, if she is a student, was she getting most things like statements to another address? They would have sent any mail to that address for quite a while if your address was the secondary one.

RedBern

nope, nope - she finished uni 2 years ago - no returned correspondence from this address - just not opened! - and this was the only address they had on record anyway.

I'm going in to bank with her later today as, when she went in yesterday, they had no record of me trying to pay money in last month - despite my going to the customer service desk and asking they make a note of my efforts to pay in.

I'm frustrated at HSBC's stance on this one. They've closed an account without the account holder having a chance to sort it out. I'm not a 3rd party so they wouldn't discuss it with me - but they were quite happy to take my money - but not my word she was away.