Harrassment by HSBC bank

griffster

We've had a joint account with HSBC bank for a few years now, but we stopped paying in anything around a year ago with a zero balance. We had a £200 overdraft on the account however. We had to use this around 6 months ago.

HSBC then started to contact us to pay this back as we'd stopped contributing to the account. Having had a few conversations with them we came to arrangement to pay them £30 a month to clear the balance.

Since then however we've been bombarded with letters and phone calls asking for us to pay up the full amount immediately even though we had this arrangement in place. On complaining about these we were first told to go to a branch. They told us that they were not able to deal with the issue so we had to call the call centre back. These, in turn, stated that the letters and calls were "automated" and to just ignore them.

Anyway, after numerous more letters and phone calls, and after 5/6 months worth of paying our £30 by Direct Debit leaving a balance of £50, we have now had a letter from HSBC saying our account is closed and it's been referred to a debt collection agency. Hopefully this won't go against our credit record. It shouldn't do seeing we've been paying!!!

Are we right in thinking this should not be happening? Surely, if we're paying regular agreed instalments we've complied! They'll be paying the debt collection agency commission if we pay them when we're already paying HSBC! Crazy!

Can someone offer us any advice please?

missile

I am surprised HSBC did not cancel your overdraft, close your account and ask you to pay back immediately.

meer53

Have you kept up to date with your agreed repayments ? If you havent then they will chase you for the full amount outstanding. Why do't you contact them and pay the remaining balance ?

YorkshireBoy

griffster wrote: »

Having had a few conversations with them we came to arrangement to pay them £30 a month to clear the balance.

And were these conversations backed up in writing? If not, that was a mistake on your part...unless you can provide a name/date/time etc?

Hopefully this won't go against our credit record.

There's no need to "hope". Simply order your credit reports (from Experian, Equifax, and possibly CallCredit) to confirm what HSBC and/or the DCA are reporting.

At best, it may be that HSBC reported an 'arrangement to pay' (AP), which will damage your credit rating. At worse, they could have registered a default before selling the debt on!

Andystriker

griffster wrote: »

We've had a joint account with HSBC bank for a few years now, but we stopped paying in anything around a year ago with a zero balance. We had a £200 overdraft on the account however. We had to use this around 6 months ago.

HSBC then started to contact us to pay this back as we'd stopped contributing to the account. Having had a few conversations with them we came to arrangement to pay them £30 a month to clear the balance.

Since then however we've been bombarded with letters and phone calls asking for us to pay up the full amount immediately

I think this bit is the part that bothered them. They probably wondered if or when they would get their money back.

Overdrafts are repayable on demand, so they asked for it back, which they are entitled to do.

Your credit report will certainly be damaged, and to avoid any more damage I would recommend paying them back in full today.

jalexa

griffster wrote: »

Are we right in thinking this should not be happening? Surely, if we're paying regular agreed instalments we've complied!

This is not to disbelieve you, only to help inform what to do, but as somebody has already asked do you have proof of arrangement?

That said, "5/6 months worth of paying out £30 by Direct Debit leaving a balance of £50" is probably quite compelling factual evidence.

In one sense HSBC have been quite patient. It is an inevitable consequence of ceasing to fund an account that a bank will demand repayment of any overdraft. There is a lesson there for you and for others.

So you have no complaint about that, however I would say on the posted evidence and the £30 payment record as a matter of fact, you have extremely good grounds for complaint on the administration.

I suggest you raise a formal complaint, in writing or by email, specifically about that. If you remain dissatisfied on "deadlock" or after 8 weeks, whichever occurs first, you would be entitled to ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to consider the complaint.

Rupert_Bear

griffster wrote: »

We've had a joint account with HSBC bank for a few years now, but we stopped paying in anything around a year ago with a zero balance. We had a £200 overdraft on the account however. We had to use this around 6 months ago.

HSBC then started to contact us to pay this back as we'd stopped contributing to the account. Having had a few conversations with them we came to arrangement to pay them £30 a month to clear the balance.

Since then however we've been bombarded with letters and phone calls asking for us to pay up the full amount immediately even though we had this arrangement in place. On complaining about these we were first told to go to a branch. They told us that they were not able to deal with the issue so we had to call the call centre back. These, in turn, stated that the letters and calls were "automated" and to just ignore them.

Anyway, after numerous more letters and phone calls, and after 5/6 months worth of paying our £30 by Direct Debit leaving a balance of £50, we have now had a letter from HSBC saying our account is closed and it's been referred to a debt collection agency. Hopefully this won't go against our credit record. It shouldn't do seeing we've been paying!!!

Are we right in thinking this should not be happening? Surely, if we're paying regular agreed instalments we've complied! They'll be paying the debt collection agency commission if we pay them when we're already paying HSBC! Crazy!

Can someone offer us any advice please?

Can you really blame them acting this way. You deliberately helped yourself to the overdraft with no intention of paying it back until you are contacted by HSBC. You then start complaining that they did not stick to there end of the deal. They obviously have no trust in you and who can blame them!

My advice would be to contact them and pay the small outstanding debt off and feel lucky you are not dealing with some Pay day loan enterprise.

griffster

meer53 wrote: »

Have you kept up to date with your agreed repayments ? If you havent then they will chase you for the full amount outstanding. Why do't you contact them and pay the remaining balance ?

yes, this was our point. We've been paying back regularly since on an agreed amount yet they still chase us to pay the full balance and have referred to a collection agency.

griffster

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

And were these conversations backed up in writing? If not, that was a mistake on your part...unless you can provide a name/date/time etc?There's no need to "hope". Simply order your credit reports (from Experian, Equifax, and possibly CallCredit) to confirm what HSBC and/or the DCA are reporting.

At best, it may be that HSBC reported an 'arrangement to pay' (AP), which will damage your credit rating. At worse, they could have registered a default before selling the debt on!

Unfortunately not, although we have the letters from them and a record obviously of each payment we've been submitting to them each month. They do have a record though that we agreed an arrangement although they say we agreed to pay in three instalments which is completely wrong.

Judith_W

Again, when you say agreed was this in writing? Did you then receive a letter stating they they are rescinding on the agreement and now want payment in full?

griffster

jalexa wrote: »

This is not to disbelieve you, only to help inform what to do, but as somebody has already asked do you have proof of arrangement?

That said, "5/6 months worth of paying out £30 by Direct Debit leaving a balance of £50" is probably quite compelling factual evidence.

In one sense HSBC have been quite patient. It is an inevitable consequence of ceasing to fund an account that a bank will demand repayment of any overdraft. There is a lesson there for you and for others.

So you have no complaint about that, however I would say on the posted evidence and the £30 payment record as a matter of fact, you have extremely good grounds for complaint on the administration.

I suggest you raise a formal complaint, in writing or by email, specifically about that. If you remain dissatisfied on "deadlock" or after 8 weeks, whichever occurs first, you would be entitled to ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to consider the complaint.

Thanks for the advice here. It's the fact they agreed the rate and told us to ignore future correspondence as they're automated which makes it irritating. Thanks again.