HSBC claim advice please.

spirit975

Hi all this is my first post and i`m looking for some advice please.
I bank with HSBC (for my sins) and have incurred 3025 pounds (sorry i don`t have a pound sign on the keyboard) in bank charges over the last 4 years.

I am a single mum to 2 small children and i have proved that i am struggling and claiming under hardship. I filled in my expenses/income details and had 2 replies basically saying they were sorry i was struggling but they weren`t prepared to do anything as they believed the fees to be fair. I even asked for a loan to help get out of the overdraft cycle, and then for an extension on the overdraft, and both were refused.
I wrote 2 letters to the bank from the templates on this site, and when no agreement was reached i took the matter to FOS, again using the templates/advice given on here. I received a letter from FOS a couple of days ago to say they were going to contact the bank.

Today i had a phonecall from HSBC and they talked through my finances etc and we were on the phone for nearly an hour and first he offered me 350, which i turned down, and then he offered me 600 to help with my debts and said that was the maximum offer, although it wasn`t "final" but i`d have to wait until the test case to get any more assuming it ends in our favour.
I turned down the 600, although it was a helpful amount it is nowhere near the 3025 owed, in fact i`ve incurred more charges since my first complaint so the figure now stands at 3140. He is going to send me the paperwork with details of the offer in case i change my mind.

Did i do the right thing by turning it down? What happens next?

Thankyou.
Spirit.

natweststaffmember

spirit975 wrote: »

Hi all this is my first post and i`m looking for some advice please.
I bank with HSBC (for my sins) and have incurred 3025 pounds (sorry i don`t have a pound sign on the keyboard) in bank charges over the last 4 years.

I am a single mum to 2 small children and i have proved that i am struggling and claiming under hardship. I filled in my expenses/income details and had 2 replies basically saying they were sorry i was struggling but they weren`t prepared to do anything as they believed the fees to be fair. I even asked for a loan to help get out of the overdraft cycle, and then for an extension on the overdraft, and both were refused.
I wrote 2 letters to the bank from the templates on this site, and when no agreement was reached i took the matter to FOS, again using the templates/advice given on here. I received a letter from FOS a couple of days ago to say they were going to contact the bank.

Today i had a phonecall from HSBC and they talked through my finances etc and we were on the phone for nearly an hour and first he offered me 350, which i turned down, and then he offered me 600 to help with my debts and said that was the maximum offer, although it wasn`t "final" but i`d have to wait until the test case to get any more assuming it ends in our favour.
I turned down the 600, although it was a helpful amount it is nowhere near the 3025 owed, in fact i`ve incurred more charges since my first complaint so the figure now stands at 3140. He is going to send me the paperwork with details of the offer in case i change my mind.

Did i do the right thing by turning it down? What happens next?

Thankyou.
Spirit.

I don't agree with turning down offers whatsoever, however, once you have the letter from them we can see if there is room to go with regards to the FOS.
How much would £600.00 help? Remember that financial hardship is about alleviating financial difficulties and not necessarily about how much they owe against how much they offer but how much the offer helps clears priority debts.
How about £600.00 plus waiver of fees and charges for 3 months?
Does that make sense to negotiate, perhaps on that basis?

How much do you owe the bank, how much do you owe priority debtors(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities)?

spirit975

natweststaffmember wrote: »

I don't agree with turning down offers whatsoever, however, once you have the letter from them we can see if there is room to go with regards to the FOS.
How much would £600.00 help? Remember that financial hardship is about alleviating financial difficulties and not necessarily about how much they owe against how much they offer but how much the offer helps clears priority debts.
How about £600.00 plus waiver of fees and charges for 3 months?
Does that make sense to negotiate, perhaps on that basis?

How much do you owe the bank, how much do you owe priority debtors(mortgage.rent, council tax, utilities)?

Thanks very much for that...

Well i owe 2000 on a credit card, but i`m told that is unimportant even though i get extra charges from them by not meeting payments..i know its not priority from the banks point of view but it`s still pretty important to me in not incurring further charges.
I have a 500 overdraft with the bank, as of the 30th of this month, assuming the rent goes out, i will be around 800 overdrawn. I owe British Gas 300, i owe E-On another 80 on top.
I was told my priorty should be to push the CSA further in terms of making payments for my eldest son, but as his father isn`t working then i don`t get a penny anyway so that would be pointless.
I didn`t expect to get the full 3025 in one go, but something a bit more substantial for covering my debts would have been helpful, and a little bit to help keep my head above water and keep me out of the overdraft. Basically i was hoping for around half of what was owed, is this too optimistic?

I don`t want to turn it down only to lose everything if the test case fails to go in our favour, i`m not sure how likely this is, but i also want as much of whats owed to me as possible if that makes sense.

I don`t mean to sound greedy, but it would be great to actually treat my children to some Christmas presents this year and actually buy them a new outfit instead of trawling through charity shops. The 600 would help pay off some of my debts, but when my debts are there primarily because of the bank charges then i don`t think its a fair offer.

natweststaffmember

It's actually something you can do ie claim the charges back on the credit card for the last 6 years INCLUDING the £12 ones.
CSA is priority debt as well.
You are claiming back bank charges under financial hardship so the offer is meant to help.

Look, this will sound harsh no matter how I say this, a refund of charges is not to help pay for luxuries and even Christmas presents could be seen as a luxury. However get your details on the credit card and we may see something that MIGHT be able to deal with that issue because the charges themselves may be a lot and could therefore mean the credit card is cleared and some
And there ain't nowt wrong with charity shops(there are a lot of bargains to be had)

spirit975

Thats, totally see where you`re coming from in terms of luxuries. I just see it as i use the 600 to pay off some of the debt, and then that leaves me exactly where i started, with less debt granted, but still making arrears payments and still living out of my overdraft, still clocking up charges, so it would help immediately, but not longer term. I really don`t mean to sound ungrateful, and i certainly will try a little negotiation with HSBC to see what we can come up with. I agree that the CSA is priority, but as my sons father is "not working" (officially, although i know he`s doing something, i just can`t prove it) then i don`t get anything. He`s not even claiming any benefit as he still lives with his parents so i`m literally not entitled to anything from him.

What do i need to do with the credit card? Just the same as i did with the bank?

I understand also about the Christmas thing, and i didn`t mean it quite as it sounded, i just mean if i can get the debts under control then i can start saving a little for Christmas rather than expecting the bank charges to cover it, if that makes sense?

Thanks again.

natweststaffmember

spirit975 wrote: »

Thats, totally see where you`re coming from in terms of luxuries. I just see it as i use the 600 to pay off some of the debt, and then that leaves me exactly where i started, with less debt granted, but still making arrears payments and still living out of my overdraft, still clocking up charges, so it would help immediately, but not longer term. I really don`t mean to sound ungrateful, and i certainly will try a little negotiation with HSBC to see what we can come up with. I agree that the CSA is priority, but as my sons father is "not working" (officially, although i know he`s doing something, i just can`t prove it) then i don`t get anything. He`s not even claiming any benefit as he still lives with his parents so i`m literally not entitled to anything from him.

What do i need to do with the credit card? Just the same as i did with the bank?

I understand also about the Christmas thing, and i didn`t mean it quite as it sounded, i just mean if i can get the debts under control then i can start saving a little for Christmas rather than expecting the bank charges to cover it, if that makes sense?

Thanks again.

I misread the bit about the CSA since I assumed there was money owing that wasn't coming to you. Furthermore, the credit card charges in themselves might clear the debt.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/credit-card-charges
That is the guide to claiming credit card charges.
I would say that accepting it will alleviate some of the worry which is one good thing. As I said, see if they will negotiate on a halt to charges for say 3 months so that it enables you to budget without their charges taken money out of it.