HSBC Commercial Card -Rant

rubble2

I recently took out an HSBC Commercial Card and made business purchases to the value of £604.

Two days before the payment due date I transferred payment in full to the card account and as of 16th May the card account online was showing as £0.00.
On the 18th May (the payment due date) HSBC transferred the full payment again from my business current account to card account leaving it in credit by over £600 and my current account overdaft down by £600.

I rang the customer service department for the card and was told that because I only paid the balance off two days before the DD was due it would have been too late to stop the DD, but that she would reverse the transaction and credit the money back into my current account 'within 24 hours'.

Two days later still no payment so I rang again,this time I was told it would take up to three working days to arrange the refund.
This morning (fourth day) still no change so I rang again. This time I am told that they cannot action the transfer until seven days after the DD payment is made (why?). and that it will then take three working days for the money to appear in my account.

It seems ridiculous that I can make a faster payment to any account in the UK within 2 hours but HSBC take in total two weeks to transfer funds from a their credit card to an account held also with HSBC.

In the meantime of course I am getting charged interest on £600+ which has been taken out of my business overdraft.

I asked how to complain about the situation but was told that they could register 'A statement of dissatisfaction' about the situation but as the bank is following it's own procedures correctly then a complaint will not be investigated.

Rant over - I thank you

[Deleted User]

Why did you make a manual payment when there is a DD setup?

And why are you not using a business credit card?

Herbalus

A commercial card is a form of business credit card.

Not sure this is a rant directed at HSBC systems, but more about how credit cards direct debit works. Some cards do change the DD amount if the payment is early enough, but 2 days before the payment date is too late.

Getting refunds of credit balances on a credit card is not always as quick as it seems also.

agrinnall

Assuming that the DD Guarantee applies to business accounts then I would suggest you remind HSBC of the following term:


"If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society"


noting the word "immediate"


https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

rubble2

Herbalus wrote: »

A commercial card is a form of business credit card.

Not sure this is a rant directed at HSBC systems, but more about how credit cards direct debit works. Some cards do change the DD amount if the payment is early enough, but 2 days before the payment date is too late.

Getting refunds of credit balances on a credit card is not always as quick as it seems also.

Thanks, you are correct - the card I have is a 'Business Commercial Card'.
The rant really isn't about the direct debit being taken out, I can accept that a payment two days before the DD comes out may be too late, I am more concerned with two things really, the time it takes to refund the overpayment (10 days is simply unjustifiable) and the fact I was twice given incorrect information about how long the refund would take.

If I had been told the timescale to refund at the beginning I wouldn't have been particularly happy about it but would have just put it down to experience.

Herbalus

agrinnall wrote: »

Assuming that the DD Guarantee applies to business accounts then I would suggest you remind HSBC of the following term:


"If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society"


noting the word "immediate"


https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

It doesnt look like there has been a direct debit error on this one though. The right amount was taken, as it wasnt aware of the manual payment. I dont know whether the refund will be for the direct debit, or the manual payment.

eskbanker

rubble2 wrote: »

I asked how to complain about the situation but was told that they could register 'A statement of dissatisfaction' about the situation but as the bank is following it's own procedures correctly then a complaint will not be investigated.

rubble2 wrote: »

The rant really isn't about the direct debit being taken out, I can accept that a payment two days before the DD comes out may be too late, I am more concerned with two things really, the time it takes to refund the overpayment (10 days is simply unjustifiable) and the fact I was twice given incorrect information about how long the refund would take.

If I had been told the timescale to refund at the beginning I wouldn't have been particularly happy about it but would have just put it down to experience.

If the ten days in total is consistent with their procedures then as above there's no point in complaining about that.

However, if you were given inaccurate information on more than one occasion, that's a separate and legitimate reason to complain, in that the staff you spoke to presumably contradicted those procedures. My suspicion is that if you complain specifically on that basis, referencing the exact dates and times of the phone calls (which will presumably have been recorded), then they'll offer some sort of modest goodwill gesture that would cover the interest and cost of calls.

mt99

I would ask hsbc to look at the terms and conditions for that card and point out o you where it mentions 2 days or indeed any number of days

Herbalus

mt99 wrote: »

I would ask hsbc to look at the terms and conditions for that card and point out o you where it mentions 2 days or indeed any number of days

I wouldn't have thought T&Cs would specify how quickly funds would be returned if payments towards the card take it to a credit balance. At least, this hasn't been the case in any of the literature that I have.

Best thing to do is probably just to keep ringing until you speak to somebody who can do what you want.

jonesMUFCforever

agrinnall wrote: »

Assuming that the DD Guarantee applies to business accounts then I would suggest you remind HSBC of the following term:


"If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society"


noting the word "immediate"


https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

What error by HSBC?
In this case the OP had made the error.

18cc

Not sure why the Op has made an error he has made a payment reducing the balance of the card and therefore the bank should not take the direct debit 2 Days later

there is no mention in the terms of conditions that there is a 2 day cut off or any day cut off - the payment was made the direct debit should not have been taken it's a simple as that.