HSBC charges

yummymoney

I have a question, I had approx £70 in my HSBC account and inadvertently forgot that a debit was coming from it, the debit was for £15 above the amount in the account thus making me approx £15 overdrawn. Last week I was sent a letter informing me that a) HSBC had charged me £25 for this privilege and b) they were also charging me 15p interest! :mad:
My account now has around £70 or so in it, is there any way I can reclaim these, overblown and in my view, extortionate charges in relation to the sums involved.

I am guessing the resounding one word answer would be NO but I would be grateful for any advice on this as I am somewhat disgusted with HSBC for this sledgehammer to crack the proverbial walnut!!

Premier_2

No.

The correct answer to whether you can reclaim these charges is Yes.

Contact the bank and remind them of their fair fees policy

podperson

You probably won't have much chance of reclaiming the charges in an official capacity but if you complain to the bank they will often refund one-off charges if you haven't had many on the account before.

Premier_2

I disagree. As I said, refer the bank to their own fair fees policy, an intregral part of the terms and conditions of the product.

The fee was incorrectly applied, and so can be reclaimed.

podperson

Perhaps I'm missing something but how was the fee incorrectly applied? The OP had a direct debit go out that they didn't have sufficient funds in the account for and so a charge was added for them going overdrawn. Seems like standard procedure and would assume it would be in their terms and conditions.

yummymoney

Thanks for the responses folks.

I really did feel it was very heavy handed of them to be honest but I know there had been some court action on behalf of the banks a while ago which led me to some confusion as to whether I would have a case against them or not.

OK this leads me to another question, (Sorry! ) I suppose it would be better to address the bank with a letter, does anyone know if there is a template letter that I can download that would be appropriately worded? If not what exactly should I say to them to, let's say, make them re-consider! :rotfl:

Thanks!

Premier_2

podperson wrote: »

Perhaps I'm missing something but how was the fee incorrectly applied? ....

Refer to the HSBC fair fees policy with regards to their bank charges

Premier_2

yummymoney wrote: »

Thanks for the responses folks.

I really did feel it was very heavy handed of them to be honest but I know there had been some court action on behalf of the banks a while ago which led me to some confusion as to whether I would have a case against them or not.

OK this leads me to another question, (Sorry! ) I suppose it would be better to address the bank with a letter, does anyone know if there is a template letter that I can download that would be appropriately worded? If not what exactly should I say to them to, let's say, make them re-consider! :rotfl:

Thanks!

Not heavy handed, just a mistake.
If you follow my previous advice, I'm sure they will see the error they have made and rectify it. You could probably do this over the phone or in branch which will be quicker and easier than putting a complaint into writing.
(If they don't accept the error they have made, then make an official complaint in writing by all means)

podperson

Premier wrote: »

Refer to the HSBC fair fees policy with regards to their bank charges

Ooh, interesting you should be fine to reclaim then yummymoney. Do any other banks do this, cause they really all should!!

yummymoney

OK thank you.

If I'm honest I think I would feel more comfortably writing a letter, I'm happier doing that than talking face to face. If I do write to them should I just write to my branch?