HSBC want to charge me - but is this right, and what can I do?

thriftymanc

gordo43 wrote: »

You probably won't get much of a response by sending a message online, they'll have a script to stick to (i.e. no refunds allowed). You might be able to get more of an explanation/refund by visiting a branch (and nicely) explaining whats happened, they have more discretion, especially if these charges haven't happened before. You seem to have a good case if you can show them the statement concerned, which shows a zero balance at the end of every day. Might be an idea to ask for a formal o/d at the same time.

When I speak to them about this properly I'm going to try to do it face to face - in the meantime the online messaging feature is actually pretty helpful, at least they're sending me the info I ask for (though not had a reply today so will have to wait for Monday for that). I just need to see if my local branch is open on a Saturday though - I hope it is, or I'll have to take time off work to go in and if I take time off work I don't get paid for it! (Temping jobs are so wonderful aren't they?!)

I think I probably will arrange a small formal overdraft with them, and then I will carry on doing what I do now, but at least if anything bizarre happens like this in the future I would only get charged interest and not a fee. It seems a bit unfair to me that I have to do this, but at least it's a safety net. Fingers crossed though that I can get HSBC to either give me concrete evidence that I did do something wrong so I can hold my hands up and promise not to do it again, or they can admit they're wrong and not charge me.

IoweIoweitsofftoworkIgo

comments withdrawn

thriftymanc

IoweIoweitsofftoworkIgo wrote: »

OP, can you look at a detailed statement showing your end of day balances for the period for which you've been charged?

I'm sure that you will find that you have been o/d more than the the odd £10?

The most the bank will charge you is £150 per month, ie, 6 separate occasions, but you shouldn't be charged per occasion more than you've actually been o/d, which is why you have the odd '£4' showing.

As long as you transfer funds like you state you do, bearing in mind the cut-off time for internet banking is around 8pm, then your account will not show an o/d position and you will not be charged.

HTH

Yes I have looked, as I have mentioned I log into the website every single day. I am usually overdrawn by more than £10, as I have said, but I always pay it back the same day and that's why this is an issue. The cut off time is definitely not 8pm, I was told by staff that it was midnight. I often log in at around 11pm at night and top up, the money transfers instantly so this is fine, if the cut off was 8pm then I would have incurred far more than three charges. For example when my rent came out in June I was left a few hundred pounds overdrawn and did not transfer the money in until around 11pm the same day. This wasn't one of the things they've charged me for as this happened on a different date, not one of the three dates they gave me.

I'm baffled by the charges. I know that I have been charged £25 per 'incident', which = £75, and then they can't charge me more than the highest amount I was overdrawn by, which would have to be £74.something going by this rule. But I have checked the dates they gave me and I was not overdrawn by £74.something on any of them (even before topping back up to zero, I mean). In fact I don't have a balance of -£74 at any point in my account history for the past six months! (Yes I am that sad that I actually checked it all!) Stranger and stranger. I can only wait and see what they say about this because it's all looking very odd. I really do think they've made a genuine mistake here. After all, people can get speeding fines for cars they've never driven in their lives...?! Oh I don't know!

pashish123

HSBC is not a good bank to bank with.

All of their savings rates are way less than others offer in market.
Look outside HSBC.

Also they have some wierd overdraft rules.

Beate

Instead of long discussions on how, when and why this has happened: Get a proper overdraft to avoid getting charged again and then reclaim back your bank charges as per Martin's article on the main page. You will find lots of help regarding this over on the "Reclaim your Bank Charges" board.

globalds

I can't get my head around this one ...I just don't see what you gain ...
This has to be the hardest way of managing an account i could imagine .
Also if you log on at 11.00 pm ...bank account at £0.00..then you log off ..and sainburys processes a card charge for a purchase and it lands in your account at 11.01 pm ..you are still overdrawn at midnight ..

IoweIoweitsofftoworkIgo

comments outofdate

regularsaver1

From their website:

"Overdrafts we agree to may cost you an Arrangement fee on some of our accounts. If you anticipate that you may want to make frequent informal overdraft requests, it may be cheaper for you to apply in advance for a formal overdraft."

"
Our Fair Fees Policy

Our Fair Fees Policy means that we will not charge any fees for agreeing either formal or informal overdraft requests, unless they occur frequently.

• You will not have to pay for your first agreed overdraft request (formal or informal) in any 6 month period. Each further request in a 6 month period may incur an arrangement fee.
• You will not have to pay fees for being overdrawn by £10 or less.
• You will not have to pay more in fees than you are overdrawn by in your charging month, so a £15 overdraft will not cost you £50.
• You will not have to pay a fee for an informal overdraft request if your account is credited with covering funds by the end of the same day. "

Unless it occured frequently?

thriftymanc

Well, thankfully it turns out I was right. Today I logged back into my account, and the big red banner saying I was going to have charges applied had vanished. By this point I was... well, I was already baffled, this made me even more so, so I got straight on the phone to them. The woman I spoke to couldn't find any record of charges due to be applied to my account whatsoever. I insisted that this message had been shown on my account last week and that I had already received messages though the online system telling me the supposed incidents these charges were for, she insisted she could see nothing on the system and implied I was getting confused - ?! After going round in circles for about half an hour I pretty much just hung up and called back again hoping to get someone different. This time, I spoke to a very helpful (yes, I was surprised too!!) man who basically seemed as baffled as I did, said that the charges were no longer due to be applied to my account and that he couldn't see any particular reason why, but then he couldn't see a reason why I was due to be charged in the first place as the three separate incidents that were supposed to have taken place never did and I had never been overdrawn overnight (thank god someone else could see this, I seriously thought I was seeing a whole separate bank account history to HSBC for a while there!).

He really couldn't give me an explanation as to why I was told I would be charged, but he was extremely nice and apologetic, which is the most I can ask for really. Better than that first woman getting grumpy with me and acting like I was making up stories to waste her time

So, it looks like I can carry on doing what I'm doing then, I did confirm with the man I spoke to that everything was in order and he said it was absolutely fine, confirmed to me that midnight is the cut off point and as long as I have my balance at zero then no charges will be incurred. I'm going to phone back later in the week to arrange a formal overdraft just to be on the safe side in case they ever go mental and try to do this again though!!

thriftymanc

globalds wrote: »

I can't get my head around this one ...I just don't see what you gain ...
This has to be the hardest way of managing an account i could imagine .
Also if you log on at 11.00 pm ...bank account at £0.00..then you log off ..and sainburys processes a card charge for a purchase and it lands in your account at 11.01 pm ..you are still overdrawn at midnight ..

Nope, not hard, I log in every day anyway to keep an eye on money going in and out of the accounts and just shift over the balance to the current account when it's overdrawn. Takes a few seconds and I'd rather have the money in as ISA for as long as possible than sat in a current making 0.00001p a millennium!

Also for as long as I've been using internet banking I've never seen any debit card charges come out that late at night, to be honest I didn't think anything did get processed that late - usually everything's come out by around 6pm - but I suppose I'll keep an eye out and see if it does happen.