HSBC Business Banking Charges

Capa

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for what will probably be a long post, but I feel that it's necessary to explain the whole situation.

About ten months ago I started a small business and acquired a large company as a long term client who requested that I start up a business bank account for them to pay into. I thought this was fine and went down to my local branch of HSBC with a Purchase Order addressed to my company on which I hoped to open a Business account.
I feel at this point it should be noted that the whole reason that I went with HSBC was that they were offering 12 months 'Free Banking'.
Either way, the PO was deemed sufficient reason by my bank manager and the account was opened. Several months later money was paid into the account. I withdrew this to my personal account and went on my merry way.

Somewhere along the line several months later I believe that I withdrew more money than was in the business account to my personal account. (I am unsure about this, but it's the only logical explanation that I can think of.) Soon after this moment, (I'd say this was around 7 months ago). Every month I would be charged £6 for what HSBC term as 'Additional Services'. Like a muppet, I'd pay it, despite the fact that I had no idea what these services were, nor what they were in addition too.

The chances are, I admit, that I would pay the sum late as the business was not doing well by any stretch, even now writing this I am £6 in debt on the account - if I made a late payment the £6 fee usually doubled to £12. At the end of the day this didn't bother me too much, although I found it a pain due to the fact I rarely used the account; I get paid by the client I described earlier 2-3 times a year (twice thus far), asides from that there is no money going into the account.

Last month I was particularly late with the payment, and they sent me a letter stating that if I didn't pay up they'd close the account and I'd still be liable for £12. I thought I'd better go down to HSBC, pay the money and that'd be the end of it, so I did this.

However, this morning I got a letter through the post stating that I have accrued an overdraft fee of £128, this has been accompanied by no explanation of such. Frustratingly, had there been no 'additional charges' there would have been no overdraft in the first place.

Essentially put, have I just been a wally about this and I'm just going to have to suck it up, pay the money then close the account to prevent any further charges, or is there something I can actually do to lessen the fee or eliminate it altogether?

Thanks for any help received,

Edd

Wywth

Capa wrote: »

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for what will probably be a long post, but I feel that it's necessary to explain the whole situation.

About ten months ago I started a small business and acquired a large company as a long term client who requested that I start up a business bank account for them to pay into. I thought this was fine and went down to my local branch of HSBC with a Purchase Order addressed to my company on which I hoped to open a Business account.
I feel at this point it should be noted that the whole reason that I went with HSBC was that they were offering 12 months 'Free Banking'.
Either way, the PO was deemed sufficient reason by my bank manager and the account was opened. Several months later money was paid into the account. I withdrew this to my personal account and went on my merry way.

Somewhere along the line several months later I believe that I withdrew more money than was in the business account to my personal account. (I am unsure about this, but it's the only logical explanation that I can think of.) Soon after this moment, (I'd say this was around 7 months ago). Every month I would be charged £6 for what HSBC term as 'Additional Services'. Like a muppet, I'd pay it, despite the fact that I had no idea what these services were, nor what they were in addition too.

The chances are, I admit, that I would pay the sum late as the business was not doing well by any stretch, even now writing this I am £6 in debt on the account - if I made a late payment the £6 fee usually doubled to £12. At the end of the day this didn't bother me too much, although I found it a pain due to the fact I rarely used the account; I get paid by the client I described earlier 2-3 times a year (twice thus far), asides from that there is no money going into the account.

Last month I was particularly late with the payment, and they sent me a letter stating that if I didn't pay up they'd close the account and I'd still be liable for £12. I thought I'd better go down to HSBC, pay the money and that'd be the end of it, so I did this.

However, this morning I got a letter through the post stating that I have accrued an overdraft fee of £128, this has been accompanied by no explanation of such. Frustratingly, had there been no 'additional charges' there would have been no overdraft in the first place.

Essentially put, have I just been a wally about this and I'm just going to have to suck it up, pay the money then close the account to prevent any further charges, or is there something I can actually do to lessen the fee or eliminate it altogether?

Thanks for any help received,

Edd

Have you "just been a wally"? - Yes I think you have.

Free business banking means that during the free business banking period we will not charge you for the provision of our standard account services set out in the table below.

https://www.business.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/business-banking/business-bank-accounts/business-direct-account/free-business-banking-explained

The table does not include the provision of free loans, overdrafts or indeed default charges applied "for going beyond your overdraft limit, or bounced cheques and direct debit"