HSBC Charged me £25 each time i withdrew money

GiffGaffUser

Hi,

I'm a student and thought i had a student HSBC account (which allows an overdraft) however it seems the transferring of my current account to a student account didn't work as a women in my local branch forgot to make me sign something. So i went away using my overdraft which i thought had been sorted.

I ran up an overdraft of £145. Today i got a call saying i had to pay this ASAP and on top pay a charge of £153 (£25 charge each time i went over). I had no clue about this extra fee that gets added on as i thought i had student account - even if it was a silly mistake none of the cash points gave me a warning of being charged £25 each time i made a withdraw at the cash point.

I don't mind paying the £145 off as that's what i actually owe, but do i have to pay these silly fee's that they seem to add on and take money from us? I don't have money to just give away as i am a student.

If anyone can give me an insight on this situation - I've seen a few threads with people in the same situation however no answer was actually given. I am going down to my bank tomorrow 9 in the morning to try and sort this out so any advice what to say would be good.

Can i note, this is the first time i've been overdrawn on my account and usually has more than £200 in my account.

Thank you.

P.S. Can anyone also tell me the best deal for a student to go to for a banking account? As i've not really been happy with the HSBC service provided.

JuicyJesus

You need to chase up first of all why it did not get converted into a student account. What was it that didn't get signed? Did you provide all of the requested documentation on time?

Just basically say "I applied to convert my account to a student account and it didn't go through and now I've been charged, why did this not happen?" and go from there.

GiffGaffUser

Yes, i provided everything. Including my letter from UCAS, passport. It was down to the lady who forgot to give me something to sign...im guessing a contract between me and HSBC. She even said to me before i left it will be open in two working days. So off i go, happy i've got something sorted!

But if they believe me or not, i'm not sure. Hopefully...

3-4 weeks down the line, i get a call from HSBC. Demanding i pay, or have endless fee's and debt collectors on their way!

callum9999

GiffGaffUser wrote: »

Yes, i provided everything. Including my letter from UCAS, passport. It was down to the lady who forgot to give me something to sign...im guessing a contract between me and HSBC. She even said to me before i left it will be open in two working days. So off i go, happy i've got something sorted!

But if they believe me or not, i'm not sure. Hopefully...

3-4 weeks down the line, i get a call from HSBC. Demanding i pay, or have endless fee's and debt collectors on their way!

Go into your branch and explain this (that as far as you were concerned they opened a student account and gave you an overdraft). They may even be able to remove all the fees and finalise the conversion into a student account there and then.

But as unfair as it sounds, you are still responsible for keeping within your limits - so don't go in all-guns blazing demanding they do stuff because they messed up!

GiffGaffUser

Thank you both for the advice, i will do both what you said. I totally understand the overdraft is my fault too. Hopefully they will side with me.

GiffGaffUser

Bump - Any more responses before i head down?

Lokolo

I am not saying this is entirely your fault, but there is some self responsibility.

The £25 charge is not for going into your overdraft - it is for going over it.

You should have checked your overdraft had been applied before you started spending what you thought you had. You can easily see your overdraft on Internet Banking.

However, if you are nice then I am sure they will be willing to give the charges back given you should have had a student account with overdraft if that's what you were applying for.

Good luck.

meer53

Can't see how you were charged £25 for each ATM cash withdrawal, if there aren't enough available funds in your account, you can't get cash from an ATM.

JuicyJesus

meer53 wrote: »

Can't see how you were charged £25 for each ATM cash withdrawal, if there aren't enough available funds in your account, you can't get cash from an ATM.

Sorry, that simply isn't true. An ATM can indeed dispense cash if you have none available, the same way a debit card transaction can go through. It is at the discretion of the issuing bank.

meer53

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Sorry, that simply isn't true. An ATM can indeed dispense cash if you have none available, the same way a debit card transaction can go through. It is at the discretion of the issuing bank.

An ATM would normally only dispense money if an account was overdrawn if for example, the customer has a credit balance of £26 and requests £30. The bank has to allow the customer to obtain their £26 so will allow the account to go over by £4.

I don't know of any banks that allow money to be dispensed if the account doesn't have an available credit balance.

JuicyJesus

meer53 wrote: »

I don't know of any banks that allow money to be dispensed if the account doesn't have an available credit balance.

I don't know of any that wouldn't, in line with their standard terms for unauthorised overdrafts. HSBC, for example, specifically advertise the option to accept or refuse a withdrawal that would take you overlimit if you use one of their ATMs with one of their debit cards.