HSBC are sending the boys round

annoyedwithHSBC

Ive had a student account with HSBC since the start of University, I graduated this year and in July they sent me a letter to my home address telling me that my account had been switched to a graduate account (and the progression of my interest free overdraft - should currently be £1500).

The next time I hear from them was this morning, well I guess I didnt hear from them actually, I recieved a letter from a debt recovery firm telling me that I owed £1519 had to respond within 7 days else I would be taken to court.

I went to my local branch to find out what was going on and was treated like dogshit. They told me that efforts would have been made to contact me, then told me they had 2 addresses on file, but couldnt tell me which one these letters had been sent to... How come I have recieved the glossy graduate account brocure to my home address but not the letter telling me of my impending bank account closure??!?!
I left, rang my mother () and she said go back and make an appointment with the manager, i trot on back to HSBC and low and behold she was waddling around the branch. I pounce on her and say I need some help, she at first appears like she gives a monkeys but then decides that 'I should have changed my address on the file' (!!!!!!) and that 'They couldnt talk about it and now it is out of their hands'.
At this point im disgusted, i sigh and walk out.

My mum has spoken to trading standards as she works downstairs from them, they seem to think that the letter I recieved about my account being changed to a Graduate account might be quite important to my case.

I have been applying for jobs and not getting them and I dont have money coming in, let alone £1500, and I feel like ive been shat on from a great height by my 'local bank' at a really bad time.

I have the letter (sent to my home address) which says they are changing my account to a graduate account and that I will keep 1500 overdraft for 1 year then it will be 1000, this is from july, so I cant see why they have suddenly changed their mind, surely they arent THAT short of cash that they have to go taking money of broke students?

Do i have grounds to be annoyed?

PS. One of my main gripes is having to deal with such a hideous debt collection agency instead of 'my bank', ive googled them and the comments are not complimentary.

Lokolo

Don't double post please. I replied in your other post.

Mike1989

I can understand why you are annoyed and you have a right to be. Your bank has treated you like crap, instead of trying to help you, they sent you away and said it is no longer in their hands. However, if I'm not mistaken, it is still in their hands as it is their money they will be getting back through the debt collection agency. So in theory, might be wrong, it is still within their power to help you.

However, you owe them money that you borrowed. So you have a liability to pay them back and you will have known this. I suppose the second address was the one you were at uni right?

So maybe you should have informed them of the address that you are at. As surely you would have missed the statements of your graduate account not coming to your current address. So therefore, you should have realised something was up and gone into see them. That is unless you are registered for online banking and statements then that might be a totally different issue. But, you borrowed the money and they are probably going down the normal route. It is strange that they manage to send you the letter for repayment or be taken to court letter but not the rest. So you do have grounds to be !!!!ed off at them for sure. But I suppose it depends on whether or not you informed them of your main address, as that is part of the agreement when you sign up for a bank account to keep your details up to date. And also with debt you really need to keep on top of it as they are a business after all, and, not your friend.

But good luck with it and hope you get the result that you want. But you really should have kept your details up to date and kept a close eye on your account. And if you were not finding employment, you should have informed them that you couldn't afford to pay them back at this stage, or as it says in your other thread, put in place some loan repayment agreement.

Oldernotwiser

annoyedwithHSBC wrote: »

surely they arent THAT short of cash that they have to go taking money of broke students?

But you're not a broke student are you, you're a broke unemployed person. I agree that you should have changed your address from your student one as this seems to be the cause of your troubles. I'd suggest you contact them to arrange a payment plan, even with the small amount that you have available on JSA; if you can get your post from your university address it may throw some light on the matter.

annoyedwithHSBC

yeah if i had any clue what they were going to do I would have kept them informed. But they told me in July that I was changed to a graduate account and that I would keep my account and interest free overdraft for a year, until it was reduced to 1000 - They basically told me I was fine to keep the debt there, and seem to have got rid of the account because of it - to me it sounds like 2 departments doing different things but meh.

Oh and im not sure if it is or isnt still in their hands, do they sell the debt to the collection agency or do does the collection agency work on their behalf?

Mike1989

annoyedwithHSBC wrote: »

yeah if i had any clue what they were going to do I would have kept them informed. But they told me in July that I was changed to a graduate account and that I would keep my account and interest free overdraft for a year, until it was reduced to 1000 - They basically told me I was fine to keep the debt there, and seem to have got rid of the account because of it - to me it sounds like 2 departments doing different things but meh.

Oh and im not sure if it is or isnt still in their hands, do they sell the debt to the collection agency or do does the collection agency work on their behalf?

Don't take this the wrong way but I personally think that is a very ignorant way to be. You took out a student current account, agreed to an overdraft, and if you borrowed any money to pay it back. So when you agreed to take the account and pay off any debts you may incur, you thus, are responsible for paying them back and should have kept them informed. To say you had no clue what they were doing, or, what they were going to do is quite incorrect. You borrow money, you pay it back. You don't pay it back and they send you reminders were they are nice at first, then, they send a nastier letter, and so on. So if you say you didn't have a clue is quite mistaken, as you borrowed money and have to pay it back. That is part of the agreement you took on when you got that account.

I suppose if it is as a result for removal of your overdraft you might be able to say you didn't have any idea. But as far as I'm concerned, you haven't informed them of a change of address, and, you haven't really kept up your end of the bargain when you took on borrowing the money.

annoyedwithHSBC

I dont understand your point really. They have my address, they have sent me a glossy booklet about how great a graduate account with them is to my HOME address, but seemingly have posted the important stuff to my Plymouth address (How and why did they send 1 thing to my Home address, im interested in that!!). I heard everything was fine in JULY (they told me my account was now a graduate account and that I still had my interest free overdraft), and by DECEMBER im being threatened by a debt collectors agency - !!!!!!!

Humm

Mike1989

I agree with you that it is strange that they send you the details of the account to your home address whilst sending the rest to the other. But, it is your job to go to your bank and inform them were you are living. If I decide to start renting a place in the city I go to uni, I have to inform the bank that I am living at that address if they want to get in touch with me. Likewise I need to get in touch with the student loans company. By taking on an account and a loan, you agree to keep them up to date.

Now of course if you had told them about your home address you may not have had these problems. I suppose you can say it is silly they send one thing to your home and the rest to the other, only way I can see a cause for that is term address and home address that loan forms from the SLC and the bank asked me for. But even then, it still doesn't give you an excuse. They should have treated you better in your bank, I agree. And maybe, they should have contacted you via your address they sent the glossy booklet too. But they are a business, and, it is not their job to follow you around.

I am sorry if I am sounding harsh, I am just trying to explain that you are probably more at fault than the bank in regard to not telling them your home address. It doesn't make it right for them to treat you in branch the way they did, but, if you kept your address up to date you wouldn't have likely had these problems.

Margin_Walker

I definitely sympathise with the position you are in at the moment. However, HSBC don't write off accounts to debt collectors overnight. It's a process that takes months and plenty of warning/demand letters being sent to you. Not to mention that they will attempt to contact you on a daily basis on whatever phone numbers they hold for you.

From the bank's point of view they have got to be forgiven for thinking that you have maxed out your student overdraft then attempted to walk away from the debt. I'm assuming that there were no credits being made to the account so not only would it have been over the agreed overdraft it would also have been dormant during this period.

I have no idea why the letters were going to different addresses. It's probably something you should ask them directly. They should be able tell you which letters have gone where.

Oldernotwiser

Another thing to bear in mind is that you've exceeded your overdraft limit. They will have written about this to you and, if you haven't replied, they'll have no reason to think that you haven't emptied your account and done a bunk.

Northern_girl_2

Mike1989 wrote: »

Don't take this the wrong way but I personally think that is a very ignorant way to be. You took out a student current account, agreed to an overdraft, and if you borrowed any money to pay it back. So when you agreed to take the account and pay off any debts you may incur, you thus, are responsible for paying them back and should have kept them informed. To say you had no clue what they were doing, or, what they were going to do is quite incorrect. You borrow money, you pay it back. You don't pay it back and they send you reminders were they are nice at first, then, they send a nastier letter, and so on. So if you say you didn't have a clue is quite mistaken, as you borrowed money and have to pay it back. That is part of the agreement you took on when you got that account.

I take your point that if you take out a debt then you have to pay it back so assuming otherwise would be naive. However, HSBC's student account, like most others, makes a big deal about the fact that you can keep your interest free overdraft, with gradual reductions, for a couple of years after graduating. Therefore, you wouldn't really be expecting them to suddenly close the account.

Yep, the OP should have let them change know about the change of address. The OP has received post from HSBC to her current (presumably parental) address since leaving Uni though so maybe they assumed that they automatically switched to the non-term address. Having received one letter there it wouldn't be such a bizarre assumption and they had no reason to necessarily expect other letters.

OP - I'm afriad that I don't have any advice. HSBC have been really, really rubbish with graduate accounts recently: tring to stop overdrafts being interest free randomly, 'reviewing' o/d levels and charging a fee, sending lots of letters in a short space of time with conflicting info.