HBOS screwing us over or not?

Wonkysplitdemon

I would just say as a bank employee, "I just assumed" is top of the excuses pile. Yes you assumed something, unfortunately you assumed wrongly, the statements are sent out for a reason. Its amazing how many people don't bother reading their statements.

If for some reason you forgot to make the payment one month and it transpired you had not received the statement. I would wager you would be on the phone complaining about the charge? It runs both ways of the stream.

opinions4u

blackworx wrote: »

You did it when you stated that I did not welcome being reminded of my own responsibilities.

That's the way I interpreted this:

Right, I stated in my original post that I am aware we were idiotic in not checking the statements. That much is a given; it has already been said more than once; anyone else fancy chipping in to tell me what I already know?

blackworx

Wonkysplitdemon wrote: »

I would just say as a bank employee, "I just assumed" is top of the excuses pile. Yes you assumed something, unfortunately you assumed wrongly, the statements are sent out for a reason. Its amazing how many people don't bother reading their statements.

If for some reason you forgot to make the payment one month and it transpired you had not received the statement. I would wager you would be on the phone complaining about the charge? It runs both ways of the stream.

It's not an excuse. As a bit of background, the part of our original letter to HBOS which concerned the late/early payments was basically a grovelling mea culpa saying "look, we screwed up, this is what happened, as you can see we've been making regular payments and it's not a delinquent account, any chance you'd be willing to reverse it just this once?" ... We got no reply for almost 8 weeks, then we started getting various replies which came from different people, contradicted each other, and none addressed our entire case (i.e. the PPI as well). I should point out that we weren't bombarding them with mail. Apart from the first letter where we had to chase them up, we have waited to get all their various replies before sending a response. It was only after several months of this unproductive to-ing and fro-ing that HBOS themselves unilaterally declared our case "a complaint" quite in contradiction to our original grovelling letter.

The individual folk I have dealt with in the past at HBOS for phone banking/helpdesk etc. have all been great. It just seems that the organisation itself sucks. We have already decided to take our money elsewhere as soon as this is cleared up one way or the other.

Anyway, you shouldn't be too bothered yourself as it's idiots like us with our "excuses" that keep you in a job ;o)

dunstonh

There is an old saying. Assume makes an "as5" out of "u" and "me" (had to put 5 instead of S as board filters it > !!!")

Countless number of errors are made due to assumptions. Incorrect assumptions are not an excuse. At the end of the day you have to have personal responsibility.

blackworx

opinions4u wrote: »

That's the way I interpreted this:

So it's not the bit you found when you scanned back through the thread looking for the statement of mine that best fitted your presumption? Bottom line: that's not what I meant and you know it.

Now, you can either accept that your jumping in to have a go (and in the process adding nothing to what had already been said) was at best unsympathetic and at worst just plain old agitation, or you can continue to argue the toss.

If you choose the latter (something I doubt you'll be able to resist) then it'll be with thin air as I'm done here. I have the answers to my questions, for which I am grateful, and a whole lot more for which I am not.

dtaylor84

Perhaps the reason people are being so blunt is due to the title of your post. The bank are not screwing you over.

kriss_boy

I think this whole thread is a wind up...

If the OP admits it was an error on his/her own part not to bother checking the statements then surely its end of argument. I really cant begin to fathom how someone would be so unconcerned about borrowing a couple of grand and not keep a close eye on repaying it.

You made a silly mistake that was the result of your own naivety- I dont see how you can blame HBOS on this one and I think you're lucky they even gave you the £12 back.

dunstonh

dtaylor84 wrote: »

Perhaps the reason people are being so blunt is due to the title of your post. The bank are not screwing you over.

You do tend to find that the responses to "sensationalist" style posts or where the person has gone off on one when its actually their error are a bit heavier in the response compared to those where the OP is written asking questions in a sensible manner.

PNPSUKNET

A suggestion moving forward, get a 0% credit card and transfer the balance. The fos has to look at agreements, if it is signed within the last couple of years accepting ppi their is no case to answer and would be kicked out at first stage . Catalogues are the same as credit cards with the billing dates and can be a pain.

Hax

blackworx wrote: »

Now that I have had a chance to go back over the details it turns out that on one of the occasions we were "late" we had actually paid too early, i.e. before the statement was issued, causing the payment to register in the previous month.

FWIW: The bank doesn't know the difference between an early payment or an "additional" payment.

For example, I always pay at least the minimum amount on my credit cards as soon as the statement is produced. Then, towards the end of the month, if I have money over, I will pay more off my credit card. The statement date for the card is around the 4th of the month and so, that payment shows against the previous balance and not as a payment on the new statement - which is what I want - quite the opposite to what you wanted above.