Advice needed re unreasonable HSBC overdraft charges

MickS

I am in this position with HSBC now. All they do is quote their "Fair Fees Policy" which are not fair at all. In answer to the question, I believe they only have an obligation to tell you once you are over the limit, by which time fees are already incurred.

In my case I had direct debits going out the day before money was going in yet they still returned the direct debits charging me £25 a time. (They charge up to a maximum of 3 a month) December's charges totalled £208 putting me £200 over my limit which makes me reluctant to pay any more money in as the first £200 I can't spend.

I have since cancelled all direct debits with HSBC and just left the account sitting £200 over the OD limit. Now getting phones calls from them but as I tell them, they put my account over the limit not me.

Using a Lloyds account now to pay bills but most of them manually when it suits me and not by direct debit.

dixon-bainbridge

syrok wrote: »

that's right but on another hand if you get your debit card stolen you don't want a big balance on it, it's a fine balance

If your debit card is stolen you would tell the bank and they would stop it. Plus they need the pin to get cash and most cards have verisign if they try to use it online. I wasn't saying have a huge balance in your account but if you have regular payments coming out of the account then you will need at least that amount in the account to cover it - otherwise there is no point in moving your money anywhere as you won't gain anything

dixon-bainbridge

MickS wrote: »

In my case I had direct debits going out the day before money was going in yet they still returned the direct debits charging me £25 a time. (They charge up to a maximum of 3 a month) December's charges totalled £208 putting me £200 over my limit which makes me reluctant to pay any more money in as the first £200 I can't spend.

What have the bank done wrong? You didn't have enough funds in your account to pay for your direct debits so therefore you where charged.

At the end of the day the bank is not there to be your mate, they are a business. Their fees and when they will be applied are all listed in their T&Cs when you sign up - no one forces you to sign up for their account.

Why do people continue to blame the bank when it is their own management of the account that has made them incur charges!

lanza

JamieStapleton wrote: »

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.

Dont listen to the junk blamers here. The new system is designed so you cannot fathom how to settle it, even if you take a day of work to remain in the house for the monthly statement to arrive, as some branch managers may recommend.

SEE this,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3818735

some smart alec or team of psychopaths in their system (who should all be hung drawn and quartered- in the modern sense) has figured out a method so the branch managers never mind the customer cannot figure out how to settle the charges.

What was their bonus i wonder ? I would sure like to track these people down and find them.

dixon-bainbridge

lanza wrote: »

Dont listen to the junk blamers here. The new system is designed so you cannot fathom how to settle it, even if you take a day of work to remain in the house for the monthly statement to arrive, as some branch managers may recommend.

SEE this,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3818735

some smart alec or team of psychopaths in their system (who should all be hung drawn and quartered- in the modern sense) has figured out a method so the branch managers never mind the customer cannot figure out how to settle the charges.

What was their bonus i wonder ? I would sure like to track these people down and find them.

Stop hijaking other people's posts to push yours. This post has nothing to do with Santander and nothing to do with the OPs original post.

lanza

pinkteapot wrote: »

Exactly what charge would you consider reasonable?

25 pence !!

Gromitt

lanza wrote: »

25 pence !!

Then how would the bank make sufficient profit to pay their executives the millions they demand?

Anyway, regardless, you can get your target of 25 pence by applying for a small overdraft, say £250. Chances are you will not get charged for this and so if a DD comes out unexpected, you'll just be charged interest on the amount, which will likely be <= 25p, depending on when you notice (you'd normally have a text message setup, so it should be within 24 hours).

lanza

Gromitt wrote: »

Then how would the bank make sufficient profit to pay their executives the millions they demand?

they can have a million pence instead !!

Or if they demand pounds a million pounds, let them have it. A million pounds of seaweed (due to all the scum on it) !!

Anyway, regardless, you can get your target of 25 pence by applying for a small overdraft, say £250. Chances are you will not get charged for this and so if a DD comes out unexpected, you'll just be charged interest on the amount, which will likely be <= 25p, depending on when you notice (you'd normally have a text message setup, so it should be within 24 hours).

Nice idea, for somebody who wants to start a reasonable bank. If there are such people please tell me. I am sure almost everybody here (except those members with the high post counts and fancy graphics who all thank each other strangely) would of course agree and migrate immediately.

MickS

dixon-bainbridge wrote: »

What have the bank done wrong? You didn't have enough funds in your account to pay for your direct debits so therefore you where charged.

At the end of the day the bank is not there to be your mate, they are a business. Their fees and when they will be applied are all listed in their T&Cs when you sign up - no one forces you to sign up for their account.

Why do people continue to blame the bank when it is their own management of the account that has made them incur charges!

Because if there are not enough funds to pay my own bills how can they take out their own cut. They are in effect paying themselves with their own money.

The £25 charge is to "review" the direct debit but it doesn't cost them £25 to look at it and say no. They could just not pay it. They would still charge £25 if they did pay so the alternative should be don't pay it and don't charge.