HSBC Cancellation of D/D and bank charges

Maddogjones

Hello all,

I need to help. It's a bit of a long story but I'll try to keep it short. 2 years ago I was hit by a drunk driver this caused damage to my back, right leg and left shoulder cos of this I'm not able to walk far and on a bad day I can barely stand. Not really relevant but thought I'd mention cos people on other sites have just told me to get a job so I thought I would explain.

I've recently started claiming Disability living allowance and Employment support allowance (started claiming in January of this year). In February of this year there was an issue with my claim for Employment Support allowance and payments stopped and started.

I have a current account with HSBC. In February when my E.S.A payment didn't come through I was left unable to pay my telephone and Broadband. I tried to cancel the direct debits but I was told I had to give notice and HSBC Honoured the D/D's and then charged me for going overdrawn. When E.S.A finally paid me most of that went on charges. This had a knock on effect in March and April. Managed to get my finances in order until last week when due to a mix up with medical certificate the E.S.A stopped payments and I was left short. My BT phone bill (£20) was refused and HSBC charged me £10 for it. 3 days later when my Broadband bill was due (£24.99) HSBC honoured that and then charged me £35 for going over drawn. BT tried again to take payment for the Phone bill and the bank again refused it and have now cancelled all of my D/D's for the phone, broadband and car insurance.

I feel like I'm not in control.

Can HSBC cancel D/D's without notice and can they charge so much for going overdrawn when I'm in financial hardship ?

Any suggestions would great.

Thanks and sorry for the Novel.

Gaz

jjlandlord

If I log on to HSBC online banking I can cancel D/D with a click.
You might have had problems not being able to cancel you D/Ds the first time. But after that imo, it was up to you to sort things out.

jambosans

Maddogjones wrote: »

Can HSBC cancel D/D's without notice

No.

From HSBC's T&Cs:-

HSBC wrote:

16.3. You can withdraw your agreement for direct debit payments to be made at any time by telling us via branch, TBS or PIB before the end of the day before that payment is due to be made by us. You should also tell the recipient that you have cancelled the direct debit instruction.

Maddogjones wrote: »

can they charge so much for going overdrawn when I'm in financial hardship ?

Spending £44.99 per month on broadband and telephone hardly smacks of someone who is in financial hardship.

I'm not trying to be rude, but if you're going to start claiming "financial hardship", you need to realise these are the types of things that will be scrutinised.

I'd suggest you have a look at the following page on HSBC's website, which gives guidance to customers who think they are in financial hardship:-
http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/about/putting-your-finances-in-order

There's also advice and support available on the Debt-Free Wannabe board.

Maddogjones

jjlandlord wrote: »

If I log on to HSBC online banking I can cancel D/D with a click.
You might have had problems not being able to cancel you D/Ds the first time. But after that imo, it was up to you to sort things out.

That you for you comment - I didn't know that the ESA payments had been cancelled until after fact. Had I have known I would have cancelled the D/D's right away. I'm afraid I'm not in contact with the mystic..

jambosans wrote: »

Spending £44.99 per month on broadband and telephone hardly smacks of someone who is in financial hardship.

I'm not trying to be rude, but if you're going to start claiming "financial hardship", you need to realise these are the types of things that will be scrutinised.

Both fair comments.. have today axed the Broadband and gone for a pay as you go dongle and changed my telephone plan to incoming calls only.

regarding the HSBC link - I have been to my local branch they weren't very receptive which brought me here.

I will have a look at the Debt-free wanabe forums. I'm not sure how much will relate to me as I don't have debts.