Compensation Value for HSBC £7500 Debit Error

akidzolkifli

Hello,

This is my first time posting, so hope I'm doing it within the guidelines. I have a unique problem and wanted advice on compensation value. In June 2018 I requested a balance transfer from HSBC to AMEX. There was an error on HSBC side and they transferred £7500 by mistake. This was returned by AMEX however HSBC claims it was not returned. This meant for the last year I have been hounded by HSBC through calls and letters threatening for me to pay back the value. It also meant I incurred several late fees, repayment notices, default letters, removal of my overdraft and reduction in my credit score.

As you might imagine this really affected my mental and physical well being as the calls were occurring during work time. Long story short, HSBC admitted it was their mistake and have found the missing payment. They are also offering me £750 in compensation.

However based on the time spent on calls with HSBC and AMEX (at HSBC request), plus a year of mental and physical anguish I have requested for a higher compensation of £2000 based on the factual calculations below.

Requested Compensation
HSBC Call Time (explaining HSBC creditors on the issues numerous times): 6 hours
AMEX Call Time (chasing up AMEX on the request and behalf of HSBC about the issue): 4 hours
Charge Rate to clients (based on time lost as these calls were during work time): £100 per hour
Fixed Cost Total: £100 x (6 + 4) = £1000
Mental Health cost (ongoing loss of sleep, reduced performance, physical issues caused by stress including time in Physiotherapy): £1000

My question is, do I have any consumer rights or should I just be grateful of the compensation they have offered despite a horrible year? Really would be grateful for your opinions and thought

Thank you,

powerful_Rogue

I would say the costs of any phone calls/letters and £250 on top as goodwill.
If £750 is higher then this, then take that.


You will struggle to claim any money for "mental and physical anguish"

unholyangel

If you're simply asking can you ask them for that amount then sure. You can ask them for a rainbow unicorn if you so wish.

If you're asking if you have a legal basis for asking for that amount then imo that is a firm no.

Under law, losses are limited to those that are foreseeable and the expectation is that parties take reasonable steps to minimise their losses and not take unreasonable ones to increase them (such as calling them during your working hours when their opening hours are 8am-10pm seven days a week/instead of writing to them).

You'd unlikely be entitled to anything for the "distress" elements unless perhaps you were (for example) trying to buy a house and the banks mistake meant that you were refused/had to accept a loan on less favourable terms (which can be difficult to say the least, to prove you would have been accepted if not for their mistake).

The financial ombudsman sometimes make awards for distress/inconvenience but they tend to be rather modest when compared to the level of inconvenience/upset caused (a few hundred quid maybe).

BoGoF

£100 an hour.......get real.

Physiotherapy ??

As above, you are entitled to actual costs of phone calls etc and perhaps some goodwill payment. £750 should more than cover it.

visidigi

I'd take the £750 and a documented guarantee that all credit impacting issues have been removed and corrected where applicable - the offer made is fair, asking for £2,000 is excessive when you are having zero loss here.

pinkshoes

You need to quantify your losses and prove that you lost £100 an hour.

e.g. if your pay was docked during the time you were not working and on the phone chasing this up, and this is shown on your pay slip, then this is your evidence.

Do you have a medical note stating that your stress was caused to this situation and required physiotherapy???

I'm thinking the £750 is a great offer. Accept it and move on with your life.

akidzolkifli

Perfect, thanks for the advice and opinions all! I agree mental distress is hard to be measured, and I suppose its up to the individuals tolerance to stress. The numbers are reflective of my charge rates to clients and not made up and agreed both parties should minimise time spent during work - but what am I to do when HSBC were the ones calling me weekly during work hours and pushing me to call AMEX?

Appreciate you all taking the time to help me out

davidmcn

akidzolkifli wrote: »

The numbers are reflective of my charge rates to clients

What you charge to your clients is irrelevant. You can make up your time elsewhere. If I'm a corporate lawyer in the City it doesn't mean I can charge people £500 an hour for the time I spend sorting out my domestic issues.

akidzolkifli

davidmcn wrote: »

What you charge to your clients is irrelevant. You can make up your time elsewhere. If I'm a corporate lawyer in the City it doesn't mean I can charge people £500 an hour for the time I spend sorting out my domestic issues.

I think there might be some confusion here, this wasn't my time spent sorting out my domestic issues. This was time spent sorting out HSBC's own issues, which I highlighted to them.

davidmcn

akidzolkifli wrote: »

This was time spent sorting out HSBC's own issues, which I highlighted to them.

Unless you're claiming that you were actually providing professional services to HSBC (for which they had agreed to pay you £100 an hour), rather than just sorting out problems with your personal banking, I'm not sure where you're going with this. It hasn't actually cost you £100 an hour.

Aylesbury_Duck

I'd grab the £750 and run. It's a reasonable offer and your suggestion of £2000 is just greedy. I too think your spurious calculation of the worth of your own time is inflated and somewhat irrelevant.