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HSBC and Metropolitan Collection Services

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  • Excellent! THANK YOU!!

    That will be my mission for tomorrow.

    Thanks everyone for your swift replies and most excellent advice - much appreciated. I will fight another day :D

    Sunshine
    Official DMP Member No ... wait for it ... 180!!! :D
    Sealed Pot Challenge 2009 #397
    :jSuccessfully reclaimed Abbey bank charges under hardship criteria 22/05/09:j
  • sparkey1
    sparkey1 Posts: 444 Forumite
    100 Posts
    Dont bother. Metropolitan is an HSBC Company and it is within their terms to pass information around their group companies.

    If you dont beleive me, listen to the recorded message that you get. Its the same voice and music as HSBC!

    Good luck with HSBC they are a nightmare to deal with nowadays.
  • DevonGirl
    DevonGirl Posts: 433 Forumite
    It had something to do with it being a HSBC current account and a HSBC loan - he couldnt cancel the DD and he couldnt close the account because of the linked loan - madness!

    Hi Sunshine38

    I'm in the same situation - have a HSBC current account with overdraft and HSBC loan. I now get my wages paid into another bank, so no funds going into the current account. I just went online and cancelled the direct debit from the current account into the loan without any problems - have you tried that?
    Best wishes and good luck!
    LBM - March 2009, DMP Start - April 2009
    DMP Mutual Support Thread Member 297

    (Don't forget to click on 'Thanks'! Thanks!)
  • Ossireo
    Ossireo Posts: 573 Forumite
    DevonGirl wrote: »
    It had something to do with it being a HSBC current account and a HSBC loan - he couldnt cancel the DD and he couldnt close the account because of the linked loan - madness!

    Hi Sunshine38

    I'm in the same situation - have a HSBC current account with overdraft and HSBC loan. I now get my wages paid into another bank, so no funds going into the current account. I just went online and cancelled the direct debit from the current account into the loan without any problems - have you tried that?
    Best wishes and good luck!

    This was the position I was in as well. Internet banking will not let you cancel the Personal Loan Standing Order, it advises you to call the centre, when you call the centre they refuse to cancel the Standing Order. I actually escalated this via complaints and they still refused to cancel the Standing Order, although they did in the end refund all the charges they had placed on the account as a result of bouncing the Standing Order :rolleyes: They constantly refused to deal with CCCS, refused to accept my payments, harrassed me by phone (until I removed my number from telephone banking!)

    Last month my Loan, Credit Card and Current Account were all passed to Metropolitan and the phone calls started again. I noted they combined the loan and current account to one debt (this may explain the different amount you have been quoted) I replied to their 1st letter with this ...
    Many thanks for your letter dated 11 March 2009 which was received by me last week.

    The Consumer Credit Counselling Service are still dealing with my case, my client reference with them is XXXXXX. I am still claiming Income Support as a Lone Parent and have no assets and my last review with them suggested I should consider Bankruptcy. I am presently undertaking retraining to try to increase my employment prospects as I have still not been able to secure employment. I have included a copy of the last review which also details my Income and Expenditure; I can confirm that as of this date those details are still correct.

    Please can you address all future correspondence to CCCS, I will advise them that you are now in control of this particular account and they will forward the monthly £X.XX that I can afford to pay as per my last review while I prepare for bankruptcy.
    I also included (snagged from wonderful MSE people of course)...
    I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing.

    I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls. I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.

    I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

    If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

    Please treat this also as a formal complaint, and send me a copy of your company complaints procedure.

    Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company w
    [FONT=&quot]ill be recorded. [/FONT]
    [FONT=&quot]

    [/FONT]I was rather surprised to receive back a letter of apology and confirmation that they had liaised with CCCS and were now aware of my DMP and they had removed my number from their records and they would no longer contact me.

    As someone has previously mentioned Metropolitan seem easier to deal with the HSBC themselves, even though it still is HSBC :rolleyes:
    [FONT=&quot]
    [/FONT]
  • rog2
    rog2 Posts: 11,650 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    sparkey1 wrote: »
    Dont bother. Metropolitan is an HSBC Company and it is within their terms to pass information around their group companies.

    We know that MCS is the in house 'collection service' for HSBC. However, HSBC don't want their detors to know that - they deliberately use the MCS 'software' to make it appear that they have passed the 'debt' to an outside debt collection agency.
    To me, this is, irrespective of any T&C, a breach of the OFT Guidelines as they specifically intend to give debtors the 'false or otherwise' impression that MCS is not a part of HSBC.
    I had a similar situation with HSBC/MCS and, had it not been for this forum, I would not have known that MCS were part of HSBC.
    I wrote back to 'MCS', pointing out the OFT guidelines on Debt Collection with copies to the 'Customer Service Manager of HSBC' and their CEO - Mr Steven Green.
    I received an acknowledgement, from a PA to Mr Green, within a week of my letter. This was followed, a couple of weeks later, by a letter from their Customer Service manager, explaining that it was their policy to refer cases like mine to MCS, but that, in my case this course of action was 'inappropriate' and that I would not be contacted by MCS again.
    That is, probably, as near to an apology that I, or anyone, would ever get from HSBC.
    I am NOT, nor do I profess to be, a Qualified Debt Adviser. I have made MANY mistakes and have OFTEN been the unwitting victim of the the shamefull tactics of the Financial Industry.
    If any of my experiences, or the knowledge that I have gained from those experiences, can help anyone who finds themselves in similar circumstances, then my experiences have not been in vain.

    HMRC Bankruptcy Statistic - 26th October 2006 - 23rd April 2007 BCSC Member No. 7

    DFW Nerd # 166 PROUD TO BE DEALING WITH MY DEBTS
  • Ossireo
    Ossireo Posts: 573 Forumite
    rog2 wrote: »
    We know that MCS is the in house 'collection service' for HSBC. However, HSBC don't want their detors to know that - they deliberately use the MCS 'software' to make it appear that they have passed the 'debt' to an outside debt collection agency.

    Yet they are not intelligent enough to devise a different hold music and narrator on the number for MCS, and as far as I remember from when I worked for HSBC during the transfer of branding of Midland to HSBC the music was specifically written or picked for them so its not like its just a bog standard hold music compilation:rotfl:
    (yes it was a moment of weakness, I was going to phone not write, then I slapped myself and hung up!)
  • Lensman_2
    Lensman_2 Posts: 1,506 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    edited 11 April 2009 at 11:24AM
    HSBC/MCS did the same to my loan/OD - put the two together to form a new debt. Where does that leave the CCA request? For the new debt? Or just the loan, since the current account (OD) will not have one.

    Also, from this excellent article:
    ConsumerWiki - Debt Collectors: On the Inside - Q & A's (clicky)
    • The OC sells an account to a DCA, who collects on it for several years before defaulting on a CCA request. It's then discovered that the account that was purchased contains an amalgamated balance with 2 other accounts.... BUT, no new regulated Agreement was ever issued to cover these amalgamated funds.
    Such an undertaking, although rare, may be 'justified' under s18 of the CCA 1974 (multiple agreements) IF, and only IF, the creditor could justify to a court that agreements should be amalgamated in order to reduce costs for both parties (debtor/creditor) and bring about a 'fairer' settlement to the accounts. The creditor would have to show that the debts do not exceed £25k, that any new undertaking was agreed IN WRITING with the debtor, that the debtor agreed to be bound by the new repayment terms. However, such consolidation or amalgamation of accounts would require either a new agreement OR the express written consent of the debtor.
    How can we go about challenging this? I gave no written consent for them to do this.
  • rog2
    rog2 Posts: 11,650 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Lensman wrote: »
    HSBC/MCS did the same to my loan/OD - put the two together to form a new debt. Where does that leave the CCA request? For the new debt? Or just the loan, since the current account (OD) will not have one.

    How can we go about challenging this? I gave no written consent for them to do this.

    Quite clearly, Lm, the article states that there must be written agreement to this new 'agreement' by the debtor.
    Since overdrafts are not, generally, covered by the Consumer Credit Act, this 'practise' appears, to me, to be little more than an attempt, by the Bank, to avoid their legal responsibilities, under the Act, towards the 'loan'.
    I think that your best solution would be a 'Subject Access Request' - SAR - to the Bank. This should, not only, give you the original cca (if one exists) for the loan, but should, also, show when the two were 'amalgamated', proving conclusively that this was done without your required written agreement.
    Then, I think, your first form of redress would be via the Financial Ombudsman.
    I am NOT, nor do I profess to be, a Qualified Debt Adviser. I have made MANY mistakes and have OFTEN been the unwitting victim of the the shamefull tactics of the Financial Industry.
    If any of my experiences, or the knowledge that I have gained from those experiences, can help anyone who finds themselves in similar circumstances, then my experiences have not been in vain.

    HMRC Bankruptcy Statistic - 26th October 2006 - 23rd April 2007 BCSC Member No. 7

    DFW Nerd # 166 PROUD TO BE DEALING WITH MY DEBTS
  • Hi Everyone

    Thank you so much for your help with this issue so far. I'm afraid I need some more support/advice :o

    The latest update is that HSBC have got hubby to sign a form indicating which branch he wishes to collect the data relating to the SAR request made. Hopefully, we should get all that paperwork soon then.

    This evening we are met with a threatening letter from Metropolitan stating:

    "... If you do not contact us we intend to instruct DG Solicitors to issue legal proceedings and apply for an attachment of earnings order.

    ... You can prevent this action if you contact us now on ... blah blah"

    Do I try and get hubby to ring them? I know he will not remain calm on the phone. He's already wound up just with receiving this letter. I'm trying to convince him that it is more "scare tactics" but, to be honest, I'm really worried that this is going to go to court.

    HSBC refuse to deal with CCCS.

    We're trying to establish where the alleged total debt comes from as there are several discrepancies in previous paperwork.

    It's all becoming a bit of a mess.

    I know that lately (over the last month) I've taken my eye off the ball. I've found it very hard to cope and have to hold my hands up and say that I just havent been able to face all of this. I'm a couple of months into taking antidepressants and thought I was doing ok in dealing with everything. I havent been logging on to MSE very often because I've just not been able to face things/been unable to try and help others - everything just seems pretty pointless and a never ending struggle.

    Whilst I'm "in confession" you may as well know that I "broke" into the last "arrears" payment due for the council tax (because I wanted my kids to have new clothes for Easter and because it was then short to pay the remainder of the bill, the rest just "disappeared" - my fault, I know) and, I've had my first ever letter wherein the council have immediately passed it for bailiff collection ... part of me wanted to laugh with hysteria the other part of me wants to die of shame. I knew I had to pay it ... but thought I would get another fortnight's grace in time ... nope, not for me. The council already had their liability order in place so they just passed it straight over. I've contacted Equita (via email) and offered to pay it (plus the now added stupid "costs") at the end of this month.

    And, finally, just for good measure ... we still havent been able to find the money to pay the phone bill (with the additional added charges) so I think that's being disconnected shortly. Not the end of the world, I know, but just more shame to be added to my already mounting misery.

    Sorry for the outburst folks ... if you've read this far along ... you deserve a medal!

    Can anyone pick me up and dust me off a little, please?! I'm already "virtually" black and blue having beaten myself with my own stick!

    Thanks, as always ...

    Sx
    Official DMP Member No ... wait for it ... 180!!! :D
    Sealed Pot Challenge 2009 #397
    :jSuccessfully reclaimed Abbey bank charges under hardship criteria 22/05/09:j
  • sparkey1
    sparkey1 Posts: 444 Forumite
    100 Posts
    Sunshine 38 stick with it. Everyone here seems to be trying to help you. If debt was easy we would all be happy!

    I have probably missed something here. Are you in employment?

    Its not going to help you much if you cant speak these companies without a phone. Can you make some payment towards the phone bill. I don't know for sure but that may stop the phone from being disconnected. Can you post the phone company name on here, someone might know what their disconnection policy is.
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