Weird letter I received from HSBC bank today

loveandlight

I have a 5 year bank loan with HSBC that has about 24 payments left to pay on it. It is paid by direct debit.

Today I received a letter from HSBC saying that they have found that my annual loan statements did not include all the info they are required to give me as they did not remind me of my right to make partial repayments at any time during the term of the loan.

As a result they are refunding all the interest I have been charged from the date they were required to give me statements up to the date I receive the revised annual statement(s).

They have apologised for the error and refunded £906.29 to my loan debt making the outstanding loan due to them now less.

Is this too good to be true or what? Is there more to this than they are offering or what? *confused face*

The letter is genuine as I called them to check.

Thanks for any replies.

marywooyeah

I think anyone with a loan would be thrilled to receive a letter like that - if they've confirmed it's genuine then just be happy with it and look forward to have less to pay off :beer:

grandma247

It sounds like a similar thing to the Northern Rock repayment we received for information not being given at the time of taking out a loan/mortgage.

lee111s

Quite a few Marks and Spencer bank customers have had similar letters refunding them interest due to lack of information provided so thank your lucky stars

loveandlight

Does anyone know the law on this as I would like to check it for myself. They could equally write to me again in the future saying they've made a mistake and add the interest on again! I'm not going to accept it without checking it out first.

suse*

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28639103

This is the same as the northen rock one. Amazing what a typo on a statement can get you. Merry Christmas :0)

somethingcorporate

How would you not accept an automatic refund onto your loan?

If they've confirmed it in both writing and over the phone what more do you actually want?

What law do you think would cover this?

More info on this helpful post here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=67233097&postcount=7

jamesd

loveandlight wrote: »

Today I received a letter from HSBC saying that they have found that my annual loan statements did not include all the info they are required to give me as they did not remind me of my right to make partial repayments at any time during the term of the loan.

That is a requirement of the law. It is not discretionary in any way.

loveandlight wrote: »

As a result they are refunding all the interest I have been charged from the date they were required to give me statements up to the date I receive the revised annual statement(s).

It is also a requirement of the law that no interest may be charged for any period covered by an incorrect annual statement. So they are required by law to refund it.

loveandlight wrote: »

Is this too good to be true or what? Is there more to this than they are offering or what? *confused face*

It's not too good to be true. They systematically failed to inform customers of their rights as they were required to do by law and this is what they get to pay for mistreating consumers in that way.

This page summarises the two changes to the Consumer Credit Act that introduced the relevant changes. Here is section 77A and here section 78(4A).

redpete

loveandlight wrote: »

Does anyone know the law on this as I would like to check it for myself. They could equally write to me again in the future saying they've made a mistake and add the interest on again! I'm not going to accept it without checking it out first.

It's not just happening to you, see similar threads referring to similar stories from a number of different banks here, here, here, here, here and here.

I think it is a ridiculous penalty for relatively minor mistakes but I suppose I would accept it if it was offered to me - I won't be going over loan statements with a fine toothcomb to check if there are errors though.

pamperedprincess

I recently got a similar letter from Black Horse who I had financed a car with. They refunded the interest and confirmed in writing that I owed them nothing. This was about a year after the loan was paid off. I certainly didn't query it.

loveandlight

Great many thanks for the links and the legal stuff. I shall enjoy reading up on it.:)