HSBC - Advice much appreciated!!

Lou-lou_4

Hi all,

Apologies if there is already an answer to my question on the forums but my eyes are hurting from trying to find out!!

In a nutshell, I started my claim for unfair bank charges amounting to around £2400 with HSBC in February 2008 after the case was put on hold and recently wrote to them citing Financial Hardship - I have no priority debt arrears ( mortgage, utilities etc are all up to date) however after a bad few months I am constantly going over my overdraft limit of £400 and being charged up to £100 per month.

I had a response to my letter with an income and expenditure form to complete and a number to call to go through the info. I have spoken to a very nice lady today in the financial guidance team and she has gone through the budget planner with me. To cut a long story short I don't qualify under the hardship criteria ( which to be honest I wasn't holding my breath on anyway) but she has waived the £50 in charges due to be taken next month and has offered a managed loan to consolidate my overdraft with a personal loan that is already in place.

Do you think I should agree to go down this route?


Should also say when the temp overdraft limit is to be put in place while the paperwork is dealt with she also agreed to include enough for a direct debit that was refused on Friday and 1 that is due to go out next week before pay day!!

Lou-lou_4

Anyone??

stu1975

Hi Lou-Lou

If you do not meet the specific criteria for the hardship claim then you will have to "sit and wait" until the outcome of the case.
Re your proposed Loan to consolidate, if you are still using the account for your bills and have wages paid in then IMHO this is something that i would probably do myself but it is your choice.
Your claim will not be affected at all and it will stay the course along with everyone elses claims.

Dont forget that whilst this is on hold it is earning interest everyday for you

Stu

Lou-lou_4

Thanks Stu

I think I just needed some reassurance that it's the best way to go, plus the monthly payment is much lower than the personal loan I have and she said I can pay more each month if I want to. Hopefully when the hold is lifted I can use my refund to pay it off completely (crossed fingers) !!

stu1975

You will be fine, I am on my third one here with Abbey and also a few others.
The test case is good in one way but an a** in another, in the way that is was far easier to claim before the case.
Once it is sorted you will get your money back plus all the interest that it has accrued if the court rules this in consumers favour, If you have had charges since the date that it was out on hold you can also add these on and ammend the claim but that is up to you really.
Did you get as far as issueing court proceedings etc etc.

Stu

Lou-lou_4

No I just started the reclaiming process after reading all the stories on here and have been waiting patiently ever since!! But like I said it's been a bad few months so I thought I'd try the hardship route even though I didn't think it would get me anywhere - my priority bills go out as soon as my wages go in so have never missed any payments. Hopefully we'll all get nice fat bonuses in January instead of the fat cats at the banks!!!!

stu1975

lol, very true, chin up we will all get there.

esmerellda

and has offered a managed loan to consolidate my overdraft with a personal loan that is already in place.

Do you think I should agree to go down this route?

i wouldn't touch a managed loan with a barge pole, if you have a google on hsbc Managed loans you will see no end of problems with them (theres a number of threads on the consumer action group about them) honestly please do some research before getting tied into a managed loan. the monthly payment may be less but the overall payment is much much more.

it would be cheaper to take a completely seperate loan with someone else and pay off hsbc.

Your overdraft is only £400, and it is in full dispute with your charges claim.

If you are in a circle of charges on charges every month you need to make a change to stop it happening.

move to a new bank and leave the overdraft at hsbc and organise a monthly repayment on what will then just be a debt, they should stop interest and charges on it and let you pay it off at £10 a month - the entire overdraft is made up of charges.

if you have a look at some other threads on here i have posted a few letter examples telling the bank the accounts in dispute when there are problems with an overdraft debt whilst reclaiming.

mangle101

I fully agree with esmerallda on this one, DO NOT go anywhere near a managed loan, i have previously had one & it takes years & years to pay off!

Lou-lou_4

esmerellda wrote: »

i wouldn't touch a managed loan with a barge pole, if you have a google on hsbc Managed loans you will see no end of problems with them (theres a number of threads on the consumer action group about them) honestly please do some research before getting tied into a managed loan. the monthly payment may be less but the overall payment is much much more.

it would be cheaper to take a completely seperate loan with someone else and pay off hsbc.

Your overdraft is only £400, and it is in full dispute with your charges claim.

If you are in a circle of charges on charges every month you need to make a change to stop it happening.

move to a new bank and leave the overdraft at hsbc and organise a monthly repayment on what will then just be a debt, they should stop interest and charges on it and let you pay it off at £10 a month - the entire overdraft is made up of charges.

if you have a look at some other threads on here i have posted a few letter examples telling the bank the accounts in dispute when there are problems with an overdraft debt whilst reclaiming.

Hi Esmerellda, many thanks for the advice, however the personal loan I currently have is £103 per month with 2.5 years left, I am currently £917 overdrawn (with only a £400 overdraft) and combining the two with a managed loan I was quoted £52 per month over 7 years BUT I can pay as much more each month as I want to therefore paying it off sooner and making the interest lower. So if I continue with paying £103 (and more when I can afford to) it would be paid off anyway in approx 3 years.

I have tried getting a loan elsewhere to no avail - just had Freedom Finance call me because A&L refused but I made my excuses and got off the phone as I understand they only deal in secured loans - which I will NEVER do!

Your point about changing banks is something I have been thinking about doing anyway but I want to get this mess straightened out first (the overdraft is not entirely made up of charges, it's mainly due to ALL household bills going out of my account and like I said a bad month a few months ago where I went overdrawn, got charged £75 then some direct debits went out taking me over again .......... and so on and so on into a vicious circle!!

Lou-lou x

stu1975

Hi Lou-lou

You're right regarding Freedom Finance, Unfortunately for me I used to work for them and the rates are terrible, they do deal with unsecured as well but you will never get a rate lower than 19%Apr.

If you go down the Managed Loan route, juts make sure you read all the T&C and maybe get someone else to have a look over as well.
A)make sure that it is over a max of 7 years
B)That you can over pay and that it brings down the balance not just interest
C)Make sure there is no penalty to pay this off early

Hope this helps you

Stu