When Midland Bank changed to HSBC....

Bearadown

That's what I'm wondering too

Barny1979

Bearadown said:

That is assuming it's still valid....?

Why wouldn't it?

QrizB

Bearadown said:

I've been repaying HSBC £76 monthly and never missed a payment since.

You've been paying interest-only on a £1900 loan for thirty years? At roughly 48% per annum?

You really need to follow HSBC's complaints process, as recommended by others in this thread.

https://hsss.hsbc.co.uk/ukpersonal/contactforms/contactus_complain.jsp

And you need to check through your bank statements to see if there is anything else that you're paying for unnecessarily!

smashinglynaive

Bearadown said:

That's what I'm wondering too

Why are you wondering it though?

Do you really think that once a company is acquired, all debts owed to it are magically wiped?  Of course not, they are simply owned by the acquirer instead.  I think you'd have heard before now if the acquisition of another bank basically wiped everyone debts, don't you?

Debts are assets just like tangible ones and can be freely bought and sold.  You now owe whoever bought the debt when it is sold, otherwise, nobody would ever buy a debt.

Also worth noting that HSBC owned Midland in its entirety from 1992, several years before you took the debt out, so the debt has always been owned by HSBC.

Bearadown

Yes thanks I can see that, but what happens to any legal agreements etc. that are contained in these purchased debts ? Are they no longer valid ?

smashinglynaive

Bearadown said:

Yes thanks I can see that, but what happens to any legal agreements etc. that are contained in these purchased debts ? Are they no longer valid ?

Of course they are valid, otherwise the debts would be worthless and nobody would buy them.

Bearadown

Yes I can understand that as well, which brings me right back to my original post about HSBC at the beginning.

GrumpyDil

I think it's been suggested but get all your paperwork together (if you still have any) or you could request a SAR from HSBC for any information they hold in relation to you and once you have that information write to them with all the info you have asking them to investigate and confirm the exact status of the account, along with details of how the money you have paid has been allocated against the loan.

As an aside I had a flexiloan years ago with First Direct and I don't recall having these issues. 

sourcrates

You really have allowed this to go on for far too long, it should have been noticed, and dealt with years ago.

As others have mentioned, there is no point whatsoever ringing HSBC about this, the call handler will be powerless to help you.

Put your complaint in writing, or submit online if HSBC have the technology, then it will be sent to the correct department, as these things are actioned and remedied at a much higher level than call handler.

You will have repaid this debt many times over by now, you should be looking for a remedy that includes a part refund of what's been paid, plus statutory interest @ 8% per annum.

Good luck, hope you get some money back here.

sourcrates

Bearadown said:

Yes thanks I can see that, but what happens to any legal agreements etc. that are contained in these purchased debts ? Are they no longer valid ?

They are only valid if, on request by the debtor, the creditor can produce a copy, or a reproduction, of the original loan agreement, as most loans are governed by the consumer credit act 1974, section 77/79 is the applicable clause.

Failure to produce said copy renders the debt unenforceable in court, for however long the breach continues.

This only stops the creditor from taking legal action however, they can still chase the debt, still ask for payment, and still report to your credit file, they just can`t force payment through the courts.

In reality, in situations where the documents can`t be provided, once a debtor informs the creditor of their rights in these circumstances, the creditor tends to lose interest in the matter, and will concentrate on accounts that are enforceable instead.