Do you have money worries and a loan or credit card with your bank?

Becky1981

I recently went into my local HSBC with my employer who is disabled and her mother who was third party to the account, I am a carer. We had been locked out of the telephone banking and had to go into the branch to get it set up again. We set up a new pass code and I handed over my payslip along with my HSBC Bank Card to the CSR and asked him to transfer my wages from my employers HSBC account into my HSBC account, he then slides a piece of paper over to my employers mother and asks her to authorise the transaction.



The next day I call the HSBC telephone banking service as each month I transfer £200 over to my Barclays current account to cover my direct debits and ensure I keep myself in a negative {overdrawn} or zero Balance to ensure BarclayCard cannot use there right to steal my wages while I have put the account into default/dispute!

The balance of my account showed that I hadn't received my wages, not fully aware of what had happened I transferred what I had left in the account over to Barclays hung up and recalled the bank with my employer to discover that the CSR had transferred my wages into my Barclays current account, after two hours on the telephone to the HSBC they logged my complaint told me it would take five day to resolve the matter and I should hurry things along at the Branch where we had made the transfer.

During the 2 hour telephone call I logged on to Barclays online banking to discover that in under 12 hours of the money being transferred at 05.30 am BarclayCard helped themselves to £266.07 of my wages. I requested HSBC stop my telephone banking transfer but they said they were unable.

When I went into the Branch I was told there was nothing they could do as my employers 71 year old mother had authorised the transaction. Although the CSR put my wages into a completely different bank account than the one requested, after being handed my HSBC card the fault lies with the 71 year old woman who believed the account details on the paper matched the card details she witnessed me I hand the incompetent man at the desk. I might add that my card and payslip were passed back to me and then the mother was asked to sign and authorise the transfer not check if they were correct.

I'm truly amazed that i could be shafted like this!

pippa201

Dear Martin and Colleagues,

I would like to contribute to your data base regarding the banks' rights to set-off.

As you will see, the outcome is good, but it may give some weight to your arguments, especially as I have told all my friends and family, "If you have savings or accounts with a firm with which you also have borrowings, move all those other accounts
elsewhere !! "

My wife and I ran a small manufacturing business, founded in 1986, employing up to fourteen at one time.

Like all such enterprises, we found it increasingly difficult to receive all the support we needed from our bank, B******s, during the recent years, especially 2008 onwards.

My wife and I, foolishly perhaps, maxed out our Visa Cards to inject some much-needed capital.

The bank then systematically reduced our overdraft facility until eventually, they "pulled the plug" and we were forced to place our business into Voluntary Administration in February 2010.

In April that year, my wife was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer, and in order to reduce our card repayments, she took out a personal loan with B******s, which certainly helped.

This was subsequently restructured in 2011, making things a little easier.

My wife died in January this year (2012).

During discussions with my local B******s branch, mainly to change our joint current into a sole account in my name, it was pointed out to me that my late wife had a small credit balance in her own name, and I was asked what I would like done with it.

I asked that it be transferred into my own small account. I waited and waited, until it became necessary to contact my local branch again.

Meanwhile, I hadn't ceased the repayments on the loan - in fact, they were made by Direct Debit - which only B******s could cancel.

I then received two bank statements in my wife's name - one showing a balance of about £600.00. This had been closed and the amount used "in favour of ********....." - obviously the Loan Account

The other was the grand total of 71p, which had been similarly used.

In April this year I telephoned the "B******s Help Line" (a contradiction in terms, as everyone will know), by way of complaint.

Clause 13 of the Loan Agreement states: "Set-off - If you you have failed to pay us any amount you owe us under the loan, we may use any money that you have with us in a current, savings or other account to reduce or repay the amount you owe to us in accordance with the terms of that account"

As I stated, the loan repayments were not in default, so I said that Clause 13 had not been breached, and demanded a full refund of the account balances.

All that the Helpline operator could do was cancel the Direct Debit arrangement, and refund the two payments that had been made since my wife's death.

I made sure that the cancelling of the DD's wouldn't put the account into default. This was confirmed (I hoped at the time that I could retrieve a recording of the conversation if necessary).

However, although the payments were returned, subsequent payments continued to be taken. These were subsequently returned, but only thanks to the intervention of my local Branch Manager.

At no time did I receive any written notice or information. The two "cold-hearted" bank statements were the sum total of B******s communications.

In May, I received a call from a member of the B******s Service Centre in Warwick, who informed me that she had been charged with investigating the case, and checked on some details and history.

She then volunteered the information that the two balances would be credited to my sole account. I'd won !!

Whoa, slow down.......

I immediately wrote to the B******s Service Centre in Warwick, asking to be told the basis on which the decision to reimburse me had been taken.

I heard nothing, so wrote again in June.

I eventually received a lengthy reply, but which made no attempt to answer my direct question.

I then received a letter from a firm called Phillips and Cohen. An internet search showed that they are Debt Collectors/Purchasers.

I wrote by return, explaining that my wife was technically insolvent at the time of her death, and that her estate was at zero, and said that B******s had wasted their time.

I have heard nothing from them. Not even the courtesy of an acknowledgement.

I recently received a telephone call from a representative of the B******s Complaints Team based in Liverpool.

The whole scenario was gone through again, and I was asked to allow more time for Legal checks to be made. I fully expected B******s to ask for their money back - but you can guess what my reply would have been !

However, all is now well.

Important: It would appear that as soon as the bank is notified of a death, checks are made and if appropriate, Direct Debits in respect of loan repayments are immediately cancelled, in order to bring the Loan Account into default, therefore giving the Bank full legal right to invoke "Clause 13" or similar, and use Set-off.

How callous and mercenary.

I was therefore very lucky.

I shall receive a full written report, including the reason why I wasn't written to, and as to why the whole process has taken so long (Apparently, the Bereavement Centre just "sat on" my correspondence, instead of passing it on to Liverpool).

I suspected that some major errors had occurred, and nobody wanted to admit them.

I had a similar saga with my wife's Barclaycard - but the loan "department" got there first !!

The investigator who called me told me of a case where the bank had completely closed a savings account against a person's borrowings after death, leaving nothing for the funeral expenses !!

Banking history is important when negotiating borrowings, but I would strongly urge all consumers to close all other accounts held with their lenders, just in case.........

David JM East Kent.

qwerty546

Barclays have taken £777 from my bank account in payment against a loan I have with them. I have been in contact with them regarding my current financial situation and they are aware that I have a 7 month old daughter yet they have still seen fit to take this money leaving me with £60 to feed myself, my husband and my daughter for the rest of the month. I have tried to contact them but keep getting transferred to a department that is 'currently out of operation'. I really don't know what to do. I have tried to open a different bank account but do not have a drivers licence or passport to prove my identity so have, so far, failed.

hutch610

qwerty546 wrote: »

Barclays have taken £777 from my bank account in payment against a loan I have with them. I have been in contact with them regarding my current financial situation and they are aware that I have a 7 month old daughter yet they have still seen fit to take this money leaving me with £60 to feed myself, my husband and my daughter for the rest of the month. I have tried to contact them but keep getting transferred to a department that is 'currently out of operation'. I really don't know what to do. I have tried to open a different bank account but do not have a drivers licence or passport to prove my identity so have, so far, failed.

Ridiculous that you need those if you dont drive or go abroad. I have a friend who has neither as well. They make you feel like you MUST have one of them to prove identity and all at your cost as well. Hope you manage to find a bank who will take you on.

Inespa85

Myself and my partner stupidly got into debt,

We both work and are paying off the best we can (most will be clear by 2015 at the rate we are going) however we both have overdrafts which we would like to clear down etc.

Mine £2500
His £2030

I've read about moving bank account so they cant take your money but i'm not sure how it really works. Do i apply for a bank account with out an over draft and move my pay etc to that but what happens to the last one and how much would they expect to pay back monthly? I haven't got huge amounts of spare cash a month so obviously need to be careful which steps i take.

Both these OD are with Halifax and we go back to the same amount monthly. We alslo pay the interest on these too monthly.

We also have a halifax loan which comes out of this account.

None of our debts have ever defaulted so not sure if this is something we should worry about!

bb-2012

Hi
I had no idea that this was something they could legally do! Shocking!

I recently opened a new account with Halifax because I'm fed up with HSBC's charges. I was about to move my business banking there as well, until they just took £33 from my account (really? was it worth it??!) to go towards my halifax one mastercard! Unauthorized by me, I hasten to add.

In fact I'd already spoken with them about a pending international payment that will be clearing the full balance on the card in the next week or so. I can't wait to get rid of them and would warn anyone to avoid them like the plague.

It's outrageous that they can do this! Needless to say I'm closing my account, will close the savings account I have with them, I have cancelled the business banking appointment and will take great pleasure in transferring my personal and business banking to the yorkshire bank instead.

Best wishes to anyone else affected by this ridiculous practice, keep fighting for the right to control your own money.

miss_jones76

I also have the same problem, I had an overdraft with halifax have got myself into problems due to halifax extortionate charges, I have now just registered with CCCS, and opened a LTSB Account. CCCS have told me to not bank with LTSB as Halifax is now part of Lloyds banking group, so likewise I am worried that I will have no money to live. I have rang LTSB advisers and they have told me that halifax and themselves are two seperate entities. I'm now worried.

AliDB

My issues with the Robbing Bankers of Scotland began in 2009. It has been nearly 4 years of hell. Without going into the whole saga I will be brief.

I have given the Chief Executives Office in Edinburgh one final opportunity to correct all of their mistakes, return my accounts to the position they were in prior to RBS catalogue of errors, refund my actual expenses, agree to pay my consequential losses and offer an acceptable amount of compensation.

If they fail to resolve my complaint to my complete satisfaction I will do the following:-

Sue RBS in the County Court for unfair treatment under Section 150 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 for breaching the rules as set out in BCOBS (The Banking Conduct of Business Regulations Sourcebook).

The BCOBS came into force in 2009. They are hugely powerful regulations and are capable of being used to force banks to act fairly in relation to their customers in every respect.

If enough of us do this then the FSA, OFT, BOS and most especially BANKS and the FINANCIAL SERVICE INDUSTRY will HAVE to take notice and stop this absolutely disgraceful treatment of us poor struggling customers.

I've looked for any info on this site about Martin and MoneySavingExperts taking this subject on but can't find a link? Did they do it?

Little_Miss_Uni-Debt

Short version - off setting makes it impossible to plan your finances in already difficult times and really screws you over for a long time to come!

It's one thing to offset with someone who has savings or the payment is a small percentage of the cash in their account, but they did it while I was already in a small overdraft meaning huge charges were built up by repeatedly taking and bouncing the 1 payment I had missed.

Full story -

I had issues with HSBC due to setting off back in 2007 after redundancy. It could have all been resolved in 1 conversation. All was needed was as a 2 month payment freeze/holiday & a one off 'fee' for the inconvenience while I found a new job. Instead they enforced the setting off rules & it turned into thousands of pounds of charges and 5 years of fighting with them.

They just took everything in any order they wanted. It was specifically designed to cause the maximum profit for the bank in bank charges & interest.

When it all started I had my wages paid into my HSBC current account & also had a small a graduate loan with PPI to get started after university (own home & car)

I was made redundant from my job and tried to claim the PPI - which HSBC botched and I was unable to claim.

I explained my situation to them via letter, face to face, over the phone - probably in the region of 25 to 30 times. I thought they'd help as it was their fault I couldn't claim on the PPI - not so.

They refused to refund my PPI even though it was not fit for purpose. They took and returned the 1 loan payment I had missed continuously as I was at OD limit, - each time they did this I got £75 in charges. (£25 overlimit, £25 returned payments £25 unarranged overdraft fee) then they'd try to take it again and again. There was also overdraft interest applied to all of this at 20% APR!

They bounced the payment as there wasn't enough room on the overdraft but always found room to up my overdraft to make way for the extra charges.

I had got a temp job to keep my head above water while I was searching for something new. When my wages went in they were eaten by the charges bringing me back down to my agreed overdraft level. Then they'd start trying to take the missing loan payment again - minutes after my wages from my temp job had gone in.

I had several months unable to pay rent, buy food and behind in council tax (which is very scary) I would have been homeless if it wasn't for a very kind and patient landlady.

With off setting - once they take your money it's gone. You have zero chance of getting it returned. On several occasions I couldn't even get petrol and had to walk to work (a very long way)

Every time I spoke to HSBC the only 'help' they offered me was to increase my overdraft to make way for more charges - which I got very angry at.

I have been fighting this since 2007 using the information on this site.

I got a new unassociated bank account where my wages were safe.
It can take a while before a new account is active and then to change your bank details over with your employer - They still managed to wreak havoc with offsetting in just a couple of months.

Fixing their damage takes a long time! It took a while to pay off my other arrears with landlady, council etc. Then I caught up with the 2 missed loan payments.

Then eventually I got around half (£450) of the charges returned under the hardship rules using MSE letter templates. It took a long time as this was when the test case was all on hold still.

Finally last month I got nearly £1000 back in PPI and I've sent off to the Ombudsman to appeal for the remaining £500 in bank charges.

I'm finally free from HSBC as their refunds have covered everything I owed (all debt was made up of charges)

Banks shouldn't be allowed to take advantage at a point where you need help the most. Offsetting on a negative balance should be illegal.

AliDB

I just posted about this very thing. You can sue your bank for unfair treatment regardless of their terms and conditions, and judging by their treatment of you this would definitely seem grossly unfair!