HSBC dilemma

samuel.s

In 2004 I held a US dollar account with HSBC and it had about $350 in there. To have one of these accounts their was a maintenance charge of about $40 per quarter,so for next three years they was taking $40 every three months from the balance for the maintenance charges for the account.
Once the credit balance ran out they started putting the account into overdraft. I hadn't asked for overdraft facilities on the account and yet they kept deducting the maintenance fees.
In 2008 I lost my business and marriage and moved abroad to work. Since then the charges on this account have been mounting up.No statements though we're being received so didn't know the extent of the fees they had been charging.
My ex and I have kept a joint current account operational with HSBC purely for ease of paying jointly liable d/d and it was useful for me for sending money for the children.
Early 2011 my ex forwarded me a letter from the foreign account stating they had granted me a further overdraft and my balance was now -$1,000 I telephoned and explained I had left this account in credit and that I have for the last 4/5 years received no correspondence form them regarding the account. They agreed to knock a couple hundred dollars off the overdraft as a goodwill gesture. I asked them can you please close the account to stop me receiving any further charges. They declined because I could not pay off the overdraft. Moving on to July 2012 they have transferred the balance to the joint account which has caused major problems for ex. The amount was about $1231 by now which has put the account £2800 overdrawn with a £2000 limit.
My ex is now screaming at me because her electric,gas etc are paid by d/d from this account and she receives her benefits into the account. She is panicking because on monday her benefits get paid into account and electric is due to come out but she is not going to be able to receive the money which she needs for her living expenses and also they will not pay the electric.
This is also going to lead to even more charges now for going over the agreed OD limit and for non payment of d/d and cheques bouncing.
What can I do to try and firstly get her out of this mess and secondly do I have any rights regarding the charges they repeatedly made to the account even though I asked them to close it 2 years ago.

meer53

Why do you still have a joint account with your ex ?

It really is your fault that you didn't repay the overdraft (or at least set up an agreement with HSBC to repay it) when you called them last year. An account with an outstanding debit balance can't be closed until the balance is nil.

If you were my ex, i'd be screaming at you too.

Call HSBC, explain whats happened, see if they will set up a repayment plan for you. You've already had a charges refund from them so i don't think they'll offer anything more. You knew last year that they wouldn't close the account. You need to make sure that you pay into your joint account so that your ex can pay their bills. It's not their fault this has happened.

samuel.s

Yes I know should have changed the account but when I left uk went in a bit of a hurry and to be honest it just became convenient as i had credit cards etc with HSBC and I could just make transfers to pay the bill.
I was not in a position to repay the overdraft at the time and I asked them to close the account yet they have kept it running to keep adding the charges and now it suits them they have closed the account and put all these charges into the current account.which will just make me have even more charges added.

meer53

You should both open sole accounts with HSBC to simplify things and prevent your ex having any more problems due to your financial issues. Banks have the right of set off for any debts, you really need to call HSBC to sort this out. This will also have affected both of your credit files

callum9999

meer53 wrote: »

You should both open sole accounts with HSBC to simplify things and prevent your ex having any more problems due to your financial issues. Banks have the right of set off for any debts, you really need to call HSBC to sort this out. This will also have affected both of your credit files

Why? I would have thought it would be more sensible for them to have accounts elsewhere that HSBC couldn't take money from. Maybe a bit late now, but assuming this can be resolved it would at least stop them doing it again.