Has your overdraft been cancelled?

beach21

Current account provider HSBC
Overdraft limit before change 1,000
Overdraft balance at time - 724
New overdraft limit after change 0
Whether this happened at an official overdraft review no
Any charges not yet
Whether you were notified by a letter written 4 days after they took the overdraft away

Are they allowed to do this? surely some warning should be given!! Job seekers allowance has been going into this account for 6 months! we are in recession can they not see that this is harsh?!

Can anything be done?

kitty_kat_6

Hi - my frist post on this site / forum, so be patient with me - as I'm new to this...

Here goes my bank NIGHTMARE:

Current account provider HSBC
Overdraft limit before change 1,000
Overdraft balance at time - 581
New overdraft limit after change 250
Whether this happened at an official overdraft review no
Any charges yes
Whether you were notified NO



Last year - I agreed an overdraft of £1000.00 with HSBC, which was approved by them and no questions asked. Sadly due to the climate, I kept slipping down that slope of using it more and more. Then one month I went over the limit, got charged and I accept the charge for that, as it's my fault.

• 12th June 2009 - I got a letter from HSBC saying 'Your overdraft has been approved for another year'. Great news - filed it and didn't worry about it any further.
• 14th September 2009 am - I thought, right I've had enough of this, why don't I consolidate all my overdraft with my loan and sort my ever increasing overdraft out and get myself out of the misery. Applied for a loan over the phone, which again was agreed. Part of the conversation was that HSBC would reduce my overdraft to £250. I was told to go to the branch and sign on the dotted line.
• 14th September 2009 pm - went to the branch, went through the figures and it became clear that the calculations didn't leave me enough funds until payday, so I agreed with the two ladies who did my application that the £1000.00 overdraft would remain.
• 11th November 2009 - went to the petrol station to fill my car up with petrol only to have my debit card rejected - twice. Luckily I had enough cash to pay for the petrol. Called the bank to find out what's going on and HSBC decided on the 5th October to reduce my overdraft to £250.00 without any notification to me! 22 days after it had been agreed it would remain at £1000.00. They've now placed me in the red, severly overdrawn with £10.00 to my name until payday. I've gone through all the smallprint on the loan agreement and there is no written condition that my overdraft was a condition of the loan.
• 11th November 2009- spoke to 7 different advisors over 40 minutes, who all put me through to different departments - Collections, Financial Services, Customer services. The 7th person turned out to be the same person as the 3rd who took pitty on me and said she'd help. She listened to me (whilst I was crying my heart out) and then told me I had to see the branch, as that's where I signed.
• I made an appointment at the branch for 12th November at 10.00am
• 12th November 2009 am - saw one of the ladies who dealt with my loan application, who can recall having the conversation with me, but basically the short of it - her hands are tied! We raised a 'service failure' complaint and I was told HSBC would contact me within 48hrs. I was not satisfied with this, as my situation had not been resolved and I asked to see the Bank Manager. The lady checked his diary informed me she'd get him to call me. So I waited at home, received a call from her to say he's too busy to see me... (I was furious!)
• 12th November pm 2009 - I had a missed call from a 'blocked' number otherwise no contact from HSBC. I tried to call HSBC and ended up speaking to the chap who did my loan application, he said he'd listened to my call and I'd agreed the overdraft reduction - which I did at the time of the call. But the conversation in the bank superseeded the call! He said all they could do is put me through to Collections and arrange for me to have a repayment plan... which of course also affects my credit rating!!!
• 14th November 2009 - I received a letter from HSBC who said they'd listen to my call and said I'd agreed to this and that the believe the matter is now solved to my 'satisfaction'! WHAT?!
• In addition - HSBC are also telling me that on the 2nd December they are going to apply £150.00 charge for the priviledge of being overdrawn!

As you can see - I'm having a fab time with HSBC... I don't really know where else to go with this!!!

I have since opened a current account with NatWest, went in and spoke to the Branch Manager there who could not believe this. They've given me an overdraft and a good account, I've moved all my dd's over with the exception of my loan & mortgage which are both with HSBC. I contacted them twice for them to send me the DD mandate via Telephone Banking and received a mailer to say that my 'brochure' was not available!!! I now will have to go in to the branch to change the DD for the two items, as you can't do it over the phone like everywhere else!!!

Any thoughts - recommendations of how I can get HSBC to not charge me the £150.00 would be welcome and of course any other thoughts!! Can't believe that THEY have put me in this impossible situation.

Luckily - payday is round the corner and my new current account is waiting to receive it, but it's amazing how far £10.00 can go!

STUCKINALOOP

Sorry bit of a rambling one. I used to have an account with HSBC as well as a managed loan. The loan is now paid off but during the final few months of payments HSBC started taking out random extra sums of money towards the loan. When I queried it they put it back in but they did it so much that I ended up changing banks to Halifax.

They were great I opened up an Ultimate Reward Account which came with a £1500 overdraft. That was in April 2009.

With one thing or another I ended up being into the overdraft but not over it each month. Then in June I went to France for the Le Mans race and having been unsure what the speed limit was on a particular road ended up with a 600 euro on the spot speeding fine. I had to borrow the money from a friend to and then pay him back when I got home. I explained this to the bank who were unable to help so against by better judgement I took out a payday loan and cashed a few cheques so that I could pay him back.

Since then things have spiralled and I had to keep recashing cheques each month meaning I was around £500-£600 over my limit each month. This was then cleared by my salary but left me short each month.

I could see it spiralling and spoke to my bank who put me in touch with their money management service. They said I could take out a short loan to cover it. They then came back and said I was not in enough debt/trouble to qualify for any help and they were unable to do anything more. Today I got paid, but received a letter this morning saying I need to return my card and cheque book and my overdraft has been cancelled.

I have rent, car payments and others goping out in the next couple of days and am very worried. I was always told by the banks that if you feel you are going to have problems on the account you should discuss it with them which I did but appears I was not in enough trouble to receive any help.

I have to go into the bank this afternoon to give back my cards and cheques. I still have my account with HSBC which I was going to use to pay my wages into and slowly clear ther overdraft on my Halifax account which I can no longer do.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

naijapower

You really need to go into the bank and discuss face to face with a manager.
That is the only way you can get any help at this stage if at all it exist.
But i am sure they might be able to help somehow

tilbert_2

I too have been hit by this.

I'm on a year abroad in Baltimore as part of my degree and Abbey have taken away my OD. Without notice. Only a 400 pounds one but there for if I need it which I have done; thanks to Abbey's shocking conversion rate my Xmas flight home cost more than 50 pounds more than I expected. On Tuesday I went to an ATM to take money out.. had 'insufficient funds'. Called from abroad, the call centre was closed. Have to wait til the morning to find out what's going on and why they've done this; I'm in America, I don't know how they're expecting me to cope. I have money coming in every week, and I've stuck with the bank despite the endless headaches I've endured from them. Think the second I'm back on British soil I'll be switching- although I've got to find a couple of hundred pounds and god knows how much extra in fees to pay them back first. Sickening, absolutely sickening.

STUCKINALOOP

Well I though everything had been sorted out. Went into the bank, they informed me that the overdraft had been cancelled but that the outstanding cheques on the account would be honoured and once they had all gone through I was to contact the bank to arrange repayment of the overdraft. Called the bank today only to discover that they have not honoured any of the cheques and have charged me their ridiculous fees for each one. The rather rude man on the phone said they don't have to honour anything and refused point blank to help me any more.
Luckily I have an HSBC account that my wages are now being paid into but I still have all my creditors to keep happy until I get paid just before xmas.
Think I may start a DFW post - maybe the only way of getting myself straight.
Not expecting anything from the bank at all but have written to them stating they are unlikely to receive any funds until Feb due to their actions. Luckily I have another bank I can use.

abbie9395

I am a mature student and having been with halifax for ten years i decided to open my student account with them, as they also offered the best rate of overdraft. I am now 18 months into my degree and had an overdraft of £1800 which i was completely up to the limit, due to the fact that i also have a mortgage to pay. On the 23rd December i received a phone call from the debt collection agency telling me that my overdraft has been removed and i now owe £1800, which obviously I do not have. I explained that I had no notification from Halifax that this was about to happen, and also that when I opened my student account I was told that the overdraft was guaranteed for the duration of my degree. I rang Halifax customer services and spoke to the RUDEST woman i have ever come across, who told me that since i graduated last year i am no longer entitled to an overdraft. She refused to listen to me when i attempted to explain that i was only halfway through my degree, and basically called me a liar, and at one point told me to shut up and listen to her. I will not accept being treated like this it is DISGRACEFUL,i have an appointment in the branch on new years eve and hopefully will get it sorted, but to be honest even if they reinstate my overdraft,which i doubt they will,i will do my best to pay it off and close my account with halifax.

simax

Nationwide wrote to me the other day telling me I no longer qualify for my overdraft on my FlexAccount due to their internal scoring.

£50. Not £5,000 or £500. Just £50. Hoohoo I'm in deep poo now! :rotfl::D

I think it's probably as the account is hardly ever used anymore as I moved my banking to LTSB a year ago.

Gives me a good reason to cancel the account. I can't think of any reason to keep it open

AfterDark

A few years ago I had an overdraft of 2.5k with the halifax was 2.3k in the red when they sent me a letter to let me know it was expiring soon, was refused a loan to cover it noway I could pay it back in time. Called the halifax and got through to a nice agent,

Who suggest I lower my overdraft limit by £50-100. Which would then make it run on for another year. :T

Needless to say I lowered the limit with him and made some major cut backs and paid off the overdraft within the year :j

rb10

abbie9395 wrote: »

I am a mature student and having been with halifax for ten years i decided to open my student account with them, as they also offered the best rate of overdraft. I am now 18 months into my degree and had an overdraft of £1800 which i was completely up to the limit, due to the fact that i also have a mortgage to pay. On the 23rd December i received a phone call from the debt collection agency telling me that my overdraft has been removed and i now owe £1800, which obviously I do not have. I explained that I had no notification from Halifax that this was about to happen, and also that when I opened my student account I was told that the overdraft was guaranteed for the duration of my degree.

Overdrafts are never guaranteed; if you look back at any documentation that you've had from Halifax (or any other bank) about an overdraft, you will see that it says "overdrafts are repayable on demand" (or words to that effect).

They would have sent you a letter, are you sure they have the correct address for you?

simax wrote: »

Gives me a good reason to cancel the account. I can't think of any reason to keep [the Nationwide account] open

If you ever go abroad, you'll find that Lloyds (like nearly all the other banks) charge you a fortune. At Nationwide, you pay a tiny amount outside Europe, and nothing within Europe. Well worth keeping the account open (just with £1 in it) simply for the next time you go abroad.