Problems with HSBC

stuart264

Dont know where to start with this.....I ran up about £30K of debt paying lawyers to try and get contact with my children when my ex-wife's new partner made thinks difficult

Through a combination of scrimiping and working stupid hours I cleared all but about 11K of it, then last year I got exposed to a bio-hazard at work, nearly died and have been on incapacity benefit for the last year.

Most of my creditors were great, understood perfectly agreed nominal payments until my health improves and/or my compensation claim (through my union's lawyers) gets paid out.
HSBC on the other hand have been total T**ts I owe them about £8K on my personal loan, initially they agreed to freeze payments for 3 Months, that 3 months expired over the Easter holidays unfortatly at that time I suffered an adverse reaction to one of the painkillers I was on which left me aphasic for a short period of time and unable to speak in anything much over the vocabulary of a 4 year old. I faxed HSBC about the position, their disabilities group confirmed that they were happy to wait until I could talk again.

Only problem was over the bank holiday weekend their debt collection department bombarded me with phone calls to "talk about my arrears" knowing that I couldnt speak (NB Be Warned they are playing games with the caller id's) Come the Tuesday my powers of speach returned enough for me to go nuclear at HSBC and file a formal complaint.....which got nowhere...next thing I know I am being offered an interest free loan over 12 years to repay my total debt to HSBC (About £11K) It was a good deal though the problem was I couldnt afford the payments on benefits as the monthly payment was about 60% of my income I wrote and told HSBC this and included a full breakdown of my income and expenditure, they sent me a default notice yesterday....pay £1468.56 by the 21st June or its court.

Any ideas what I do now......their credit control people seem to be beyond common sense, they know the position, they have my full income and expenditure and they know if they take me to court I will have no option but to declare myself bankrupt and considering the lawyers had everything of value in the divorce and I live in rented accomodation they are going to lose out.I just want them to accept a payment I can afford to make until my health improves or I get a compensation payment that I can settle my debts with and they are being total sods about it.

lynzpower

Welcome and so sorry to hear of your situation

I suspect the best thing to do would be to speak to CCCS or PAyplan ( links at top of the page) first thing on Tuesday morning and see if they can enter a dialogue regarding them accepting a token payment. If they can organise this then it should mean that creditors are held off, although heresome regulars report that letters and phone calls get through. If these persist then there may be route for harrassment.

However, this isnt my speciality, this is only info Ive picked up from here.
~

Dont worry, someone will be along soon who knows

Do you have any more wolves at the door to hold off?

All the best
Lynz
x

Pigeongirl

Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if they did take you to court as any judge looking at your case would make an order that you repay at an amount you can afford and they would be bound by that, even if it is only £1 per month.

They wouldn't be able to threaten and hassle you as long as you kept to the terms of the order.

What a bunch of unfeeling bast**ds.:mad:

stuart264

I know....they have been complete sods. I have banked with them for years since I opened an account as an student nearly 20 years ago.

Really disgusted with HSBC they know the situation, they know my finances and they wont accept a token payment, wouldnt mind knowing what a judge would think of their conduct if they do take me to court.

Only other creditor is Royal Bank of Scotland, they understood perfectly and accepted a token £4.60 per month open ended.

Thriftylady

I know this makes no sense at all but.....I work in a bank, and the one where I work will only accept reduced payments or whatever after a default/enforcement notice has been issued and the account has been passed to the debt recovery department. So is there any possibility that they might negotiate once the 21st June has passed ? Although, having said that, you did say that they agreed to freeze repayments for a while, and obviously that happened before this letter was issued....

The one thing of comfort that I would say is that banks are very reluctant to go to court for small debts such as this, as the cost to them outweighs the benefit. However, they are legally obliged to issue letters warning that this might happen right at the outset, which is why so many people on these forums receive these letters when they know and their banks know that taking them to court will make no difference....

I hope you have some luck negotiating with them. Whilst the staff within the banks are often human (but not always!) , and many of them are even sympathetic, unfortunately like all big businesses they are at the mercy of whatever their company policy is, no matter how ridiculous.....

southernscouser

I know this might sound like a daft question but did you take PPI on your loan?

All I can really say is what a bunch of barstewards! :mad: :mad: :mad:

stuart264

No I didnt take PPI out on the loan as they wanted nearly 25% of my monthly repayment as premium. Wish I had but hindsight has 20/20 sight.

lynzpower

And to think we always say cancel it.... mind you lets face it if you did have it there would be a tiny loophole for them to wriggle out of paying ( i know I tried to claim off a lloyds one, no chance) so at least youve probably saved yourself loads of money from the off.

just my opinion folks

jessicamb

What a nightmare Stuart. I cant add anything to the things people have already posted - except I bet that the second the cheque hits the bank for any compensation they are falling over themselves to be helpful!

oOMiaOo

Sorry Stuart, I can't offer any advice here, but just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about your situation. I will look menacingly at my branch of HSBC when I next go past it. :mad:

I hope it all works out for you.

homersimpson_3

I faxed HSBC about the position, their disabilities group confirmed that they were happy to wait until I could talk again.....bombarded me with phone calls to "talk about my arrears" knowing that I couldnt speak

to say this is appauling is an understatement particularly as you have kept them fully informed and are going out of your way to repay debts and cooperate with them. you should contact cccs, payplan or cab and let them negotiate with the creditors- you shouldn't have to put them up with this sort of behaviour- you have rights too- have you contacted office of fair trading or escalated complaint? i would also contact agencies such as disabilities rights commission for advice.