HSBC reduced my overdraft?!

leesa85

Hello....

Please help.

I've recently just graduated and when i went into my bank the other day i noticed that not only had my account changed from a student to a graduate account without my knowledge but it has also been reduced from £1750 down to £1500 without informing or giving me notice?!

I realise this is a large overdraft already but I have been at Uni for 4 years. To make it worse they reduced my overdraft even though I was using it so now I am over £100 over the new overdraft limit which they kindly informed me would be liable for charges any time I need to use my account.....

HELP!!! What can I do I have spoken to them and they have said they can do what they like. I can not pass their credit check so they won't put it back up!!

Lisa

selllerness

I sent them this today - sorry its long, but worth it I think... pls don't use as it may jeopardize my case, but take inspiration if you want.

'I am sorry I have had to resort to writing, I did call and I also understand you have tried to contact me several times and left a voicemail message, sadly my inability to simply call you back is indicative of a greater problem, the reason for my contacting you.

First a little history. I became a customer of HSBC in 1982, when it was The Midland Bank, it was my first bank when I began work and I have remained loyal for the last 26 years. You can imagine over the years how many banks have tried to win my business, however I have remained faithful. One of the reasons for this was the relationship I had with various bank Managers; 2 who were exceptional in x and x. Were it not for their commitment to personal customer service, even in the face of growing corporate depersonalisation, especially in my times of need, I would have been tempted away many years ago. Over the last 20 years I have had bank accounts, mortgages, credit cards, insurance products, I know that HSBC have benefited greatly from my commitment to them.

Sadly it seems that rather than HSBC trying to learn lessons from other banks, it has continued on this model of taking power away from branches and centralising decision making to call centres, computer models and other ways which take no account for relationship into any decision making process. To be frank I’m not sure what a local bank manager’s function is; it would perhaps be more realistic to refer to them as Operations Managers, who oversee the function of local branches, but as your predecessor x told me, you no longer have any power to make decisions.

2 years ago my marriage ended, this changed the financial landscape completely for me. I lost everything, it cost me around £250,000 by the end of the process, I have to say had it not been for x, who listened and empathised with me, I perhaps could have been completely wiped out. She had been through a similar thing and knew at that time I needed a friend at the bank. She helped me make all the arrangements to get through a scary few months during the transition period and whilst the house was sold. Sadly x was moved on – I do hope as recognition for her outstanding efforts?

2 years later I have started to get things back in order and the rebuilding of my finances in taking place, sadly since the departure of Helen not with the help of the HSBC.

For example about 6 months ago I needed to arrange an extension of my overdraft, £1,000 for a week. This was needed whilst moving house as I was waiting for a deposit refund from my previous landlord. I called the branch, not directly, but through a series of convoluted phone conversations with various call centres. Eventually x called me back and I explained my need. Rather than x make a judgement call based on my long trading history with the bank, as his predecessors has done, he took me through a credit questionnaire and then had to call a centralised credit checking department to see if this would be possible. At the end of this he granted the extension, but also told me he would be making a charge to me for the privilege of this – talk about kicking a man when he’s down!

HSBC seem to be an organisation that no longer wishes to communicate with people on a personal level, I think after 20 years of faithful patronage I deserve a little better. Perhaps when some bright spark in marketing is thinking up the latest account, they think about one that rewards faithfulness. The Premier Account identifies the wealthy, but it gives not incentive to stay. Imagine an account that rewarded faithfulness – this would help you retain customers, even in the difficult times, and right now I think we would all agree a mass departure of customers would be the last thing HSBC needs after losing 28% in profits this week. I’m not sure who you employ to come up with your account products, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the best way to keep customers is to reward faithfulness. I can only imagine the salary they are on, but right now you’ve not got the best brains in the business working on this – in fact it reminds me of the current raft of Nat West TV ads, which show two idiots trying to dream up new customer incentives. Imagine an account that accrued rewards the longer you stayed? It could be a simple as a letter on your 5th, 10th, 20th anniversary etc. sating ‘thank you for staying’ and on these anniversaries offering preferential interest rates, fast lending decision and wait for it… a real manager to speak to. Come on HSBC you can do better then this!

Which brings me to my real reason for writing; I’m now getting my finances back in order after a terrible two years and I’m asking myself ‘why should I remain faithful to a bank who have not remained loyal to me?’ HSBC have epitomised the old joke that ‘a bank is a place that lends you an umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back when its raining’

In the last two months alone I have been stung with over £150 worth of charges. In the past it would have been simply a call to my manager to tell them of a short-term cash flow issue and they would have adjusted my overdraft accordingly. Now to instigate that would take a military operation of phone calls and credit checks – useless. But the net loss is mine with extortionate charges.

Now I’m holding the cash – a current account in credit, £2000 in savings and a loan of £19,000 with you. I know lots of other High Street banks would love my custom, so I’m writing to ask what HSBC are willing to do to keep me? It would need to be at least the refund of the charges which I have been stung with over the last few months, not the interest, I’m not stupid I know the bank is here to make money – but the charges are an insult and a result of HSBC’s failed customer care and communication policy.

I’ve talked about this issue in the terms of relationship and as I finish I want to bring the comparison in again. There comes a point in every relationship when even a faithful partner has had enough of either neglect or abuse. This letter is me saying ‘I’ve had enough HSBC – change or I’m going’. I’m not some impetuous customer, I’ve been faithful for over 20 years, if I didn’t care I wouldn’t even bother writing, but I am because I hope things can change and HSBC can return to some sanity.

I am sorry that you’ve got such a letter so early in your new position, they’re the kind of ‘oh sh*t!’ letters I hate receiving, but often it’s the truth that makes the difference. This is not personal, but you’re my Manager so you get the letter. I know many of these problems are systematic and based on short term thinking in policy making. For this reason I am copying in Stephen Green (Group Chairman) and Michael Geoghegan (Group Chief Exec), in the vain hope that some changes in core policy can make the difference to HSBC ailing fortunes.

The bank is facing serious financial challenges right now, not because of the aforementioned policies, but because of the issues surrounding sub-prime lending. However this is exactly the time they need to work hard to retain market share – I do hope HSBC will take this seriously and be able to report in 20 years time that they still have many faithful customers.

I look forward to your response and the responses of your leaders.

leesa85

Thank you for sharing that with me, I may attempt to go down a similar route although i feel right now they have me between a rock and a hard place and feel pretty helpless!!

Thank you

tootiefrooties

My husband and I both bank with HSBC and he graduated 2 weeks ago. About a month ago they sent a letter saying his overdraft would be reduced, but we had been prepared for this for quite a while. When you open a student account with them, if you read the terms and conditions you will see that it automatically transfers over to a graduate account when uni ends, at which point the overdraft gets smaller every year. (Which, at least, is better than wanting it all back at once).

He also studied for 4 years and so had 1750 overdraft, larger than the normal 1500. This means next year they will want 500 back to keep it in line with the majority of graduate overdrafts (they will be giving 250 back) - so do bear this in mind and start saving!

It's very bad that you didn't get a letter from them to remind you - I agree, and you should complain about this, but you should have been aware that this would happen. It was a student overdraft, after all, so it wouldn't stay that way when you are no longer a student.

Good luck getting it sorted out anyway

Infidel

HSBC suddenly decided to make all of my overdraft (in which there was an interest free portion) chargeable at the shockingly high rate of 18.8%. So now i am being well and truly duped as i'm currently 1500 into it. Does anyone have any advice? Can you balance transfer on negative accounts in the same way that you can with credit cards, as i'm sure i can find a bank that charges less than 18.8%. Can they get away with just changing my account from graduate to 'bank account' with such a sudden impact?

Thanks,

Blacksheep1979

there's plenty of banks that'll offer you a graduate account and treat you the same as if you'd been with them during your student years.

HSBC tried doing this last year to everyone (getting rid of interest free od for grads) and it wasn't until the NUS said they would block them from advertising in any union that they reversed the decission. In my opinion they're scum which is why I took their money, shoved it in a high interest account and never used the account.

Shoshannah

I have an HSBC student account. I'm just starting my fifth and final year at uni. I thought it says in the small print that they will reduce your overdraft once you graduate? I guess it was wrong of them to do that without notice but I think it's made clear that it will happen after graduation.

melancholly

Shoshannah wrote: »

I have an HSBC student account. I'm just starting my fifth and final year at uni. I thought it says in the small print that they will reduce your overdraft once you graduate? I guess it was wrong of them to do that without notice but I think it's made clear that it will happen after graduation.

they've changed the timing of it - it was meant to be a reduction after a set number of years and now it's less. it's the moving the goal posts that is unfair - as well as the sending out of multiple letters with conflicting information so that no-one knows where they stand. i'm not with HSBC but after all the mess they have made in the last two years, i would encourage anyone with them to change to a different bank.

Crabman

I graduated last year - they gave me conflicting info about the interest-free element of my overdraft, so I (and others on below threads) have complained via the FOS arguing they should adhere to the timescales set out in the Banking Code:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=991967

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1048569

Lokolo

I just got a £1000 interest free overdraft with HSBC woo woo, but I am planning on putting it in savings and then hopefully put it back in time when HSBC go rar rar rar at me and want their money back! :cool:

alicemary

Hi,
I had the same experience a few years ago with HBOS, sudden disappearing overdraft with no notice at the end of a 4 year course.
My solution, though unorthodox, was to barge into my local university branch weeping and wailing, waving my arms about and causing a scene (lots of huge dropping tears, damsel in distress style).
The bank staff picked me up and dusted me down and took me into a meeting room where they managed, somehow, to allow me an overdraft of half what it was right then (1250 instead of 2500). This was the best they could do, and it was a great help. They gave me a month's moratorium on unauthorised overdraft fees, enough time for me to scrape together the amount needed to get back into authorised OD territory.
The key here is to barter, with a real person. Make an appointment with your university branch of HSBC to discuss it. Be firm, make them realise that they will not get anything out of you despite smacking charges on you. They want their money back, as much as they can get, it's in their interest to compromise too.