Advice needed re unreasonable HSBC overdraft charges

JamieStapleton

To provide some background I am a HSBC customer for the last 7 years. I have rarely been overdrawn and conduct my finances sensibly. Married with 2 kids, I am sole earner and earn a decent amount. 7 years ago, I arranged an overdraft facility of £300 for emergency purposes. In the last 7 years I have probably used in 3 times.

Here's the problem.

Last December my employer decide to pay me a week early meaning I had a long month before next payday. Xmas was heavy spending as per usual, not more than most though. Essentially I ended up not only eating into my overdraft but going over it by £300 (unauthorised). I logged into my online account TODAY and saw that HSBC are due to deduct £104 in charges for this period of unauthorised usage.

Now I accept I broke the T&Cs and the charge is valid on that basis. I also accept that over the course of December and January I didn't pay much attention to my account and inevitably went overdrawn without realising. Naive I know but historically I have always had enough coming in to not worry about creeping into the overdraft.

I rung them up this morning to explain the situation. I also impressed the point that over the last 7 years I have never incurred charges due to unauthorised spending. My intention was to explain the situation and get the charges waived. Or at least halved. Needless to say I failed, and here is the problem.

Whilst speaking to the manager on the phone I found out that in January my unauthorised spend was waived due to my historical record. However because my unauthorised borrowing spread over two billing periods charges could not be waived for the time I was in an unauthorised overdraft state within the second billing period.

Obviously I was annoyed that they would waive the fees but what has annoyed me more and has prompted this post is I was not informed at any point that

1) I was overdrawn
2) the original infringement was waived but as such if I continued overdrawn they would not waive again.

If I had know either of these points I would have rectified the situation asap and prevent this £100 charge. I am intending to escalate this through HSBCs complaints team. Would like to gauge some opinion from those on here in the know.

Have HSBC got an obligation to inform me of an escalating situation that has incurred a large charge on my part? A simple communication to me in January would have prevented this.

Thanks in advance.

noh

Your statements would inform you that you are overdrawn.
Is today the first time you have looked at one this year?

opinions4u

Online banking.

Telephone banking.

Postal statments.

ATM balance enquiries.

Mobile phone updates.

Take control of your finances. Please.

boobies

Your charges have in effect been halved, as they were waived for the first month.

dixon-bainbridge

JamieStapleton wrote: »

I have rarely been overdrawn and conduct my finances sensibly.

I wouldn't really call that sensibly. You admit to increased spend due to Christmas so you should have been paying extra attention to your statements to make sure you are within your limits, not less attention, especially with ease at which you can look at your accounts these days.

I don't want to have a go because we all make mistakes but at the end of the day you've gone over your overdraft limit and the bank have charged you as per the T&C's - it's hardly unreasonable.

JamieStapleton

You all seem to miss the point. My question to you was not how to run my finances but rather whether a bank has an obligation to inform you that they have waived the fees for a billing period.

If they had I would of rectified the situation earlier.

dixon-bainbridge

JamieStapleton wrote: »

You all seem to miss the point. My question to you was not how to run my finances but rather whether a bank has an obligation to inform you that they have waived the fees for a billing period.

If they had I would of rectified the situation earlier.

The reason people have responded as they have is because you are just passing the buck. It's YOUR account, it's YOUR money, it's up to you to manage it not your banks.

I don't think the banks have to tell you when you are over your limit as you have T&C's that clearly describe the procedures.

I don't know about HSBC as I don't bank with them but Halifax have an service where they will text you if you go within a certain limit in your account - might be worth seeing if HSBC do something similar for future.

JamieStapleton

Thankyou Dixon a useful reply finally. Well the second half anyway.

I am fully aware of my naivety of not checking my account enough but I have not come on here to rectify the past. What I wanted was clarity on whether a banking institution have an obligation to inform you if you are overdrawn. You have given me some help but I would like to know whether the FSA provide guidelines for these instances.

ILW

JamieStapleton wrote: »

Thankyou Dixon a useful reply finally. Well the second half anyway.

I am fully aware of my naivety of not checking my account enough but I have not come on here to rectify the past. What I wanted was clarity on whether a banking institution have an obligation to inform you if you are overdrawn. You have given me some help but I would like to know whether the FSA provide guidelines for these instances.

Banks have no obligation whatsoever to inform you that you are overdrawn. That is the customers responsibility. It is that simple and you are wasting your time going to the FSA etc.

syrok

The question is how do they justify those charges? I mean HSBC charges you £25 per transaction even if you go £1 overdraft, at the same time paying you 0.01% interest on your positive balance. How reasonable is that and what kind of cost they incur to demand such compensation? To me these are unfair charges and FSA should be looking into this.

I myself had £75 charges last month which they would not wave dispute me being with them almost 7 years. So I switched account to Halifax and got £100 incentive which paid these charges off. I suggest you do the same.

For all those keen to judge other people I can assure you there can be many reasons why you can't check your balance. As it's a good reason not to leave a lot of money on your debit card accidental overdrafts can happen

noh

JamieStapleton wrote: »

Thankyou Dixon a useful reply finally. Well the second half anyway.

I am fully aware of my naivety of not checking my account enough but I have not come on here to rectify the past. What I wanted was clarity on whether a banking institution have an obligation to inform you if you are overdrawn. You have given me some help but I would like to know whether the FSA provide guidelines for these instances.

Yes they are required to inform you but it does not need to be a seperate letter.

They inform you of your balance and charges using the statements.
Which are, as opinions4u says, available from multiple sources.