HSBC (merged threads)

lotusian

Hi Danny,
Thanks for your comment, I agree that my overdraft is massive, and there are a number of reasons for this, some personal, but also because this is 'free' money (I have some money elsewhere thankfully!).

The point remains that even if I had no overdraft arranged at all and went 39p overdrawn I would still have had this ridiculous charge levied on my account.

I do agree with you that banks should be able to dissuade people from borrowing beyond their means and beyond the scope of any arranged overdraft, but I still maintain that charges should be structured on a sliding scale so that people who generally manage their account quite competently and go overdrawn by only a few pence once in a while are not penalised heavily for making a genuine mistake (or in my case, penalised for somebody else's mistake - we'll wait and see what Amazon say about this too).

I'm not the kind of person who will exceed agreed limits if it is at all within my power to do so, but I agree that there are people out there who are certainly more careless. Obviously banks have to draw the line somewhere, and once that line is drawn then they must maintain it, but it is the borderline cases where disproportionate bank charges seem the most ridiculous and arrogant.

lotusian

altyfc wrote: »

Sorry to hear this, Ian. Utterly ridiculous.

First off, I would be voting with my feet and changing banks if they're not going to sort it.

Secondly, I would be complaining very loudly in the bank. Stating the facts calmly but for all to hear. "I WENT 39P OVER MY OVERDRAFT LIMIT FOR SEVEN DAYS AND YOU FEEL IT IS FITTING TO CHARGE ME £76... WHY?!" They'll no doubt want you to go in a quiet room to 'discuss' the matter. I would stand firm, still being reasonable, and say that you don't want to go into a room, you just want it resolved "NOW". I'm sure the banks can't like these kinds of things being aired publicly and it looks very unreasonable of them in front of their customers if you are able to keep your cool at the same time.

Good luck...

Thanks for your post altyfc, I'll wait and see what Amazon say in response to the letter I am sending them, but if I have no joy there, I will most definitely follow your advice. I'm not paying £48 for nothing, especially when it wasn't even my fault. I think banks are running scared at the moment with the sheer tidal wave of charges being reclaimed, and if the test case is decided against them they will stand to lose even more money. They are on very rocky ground at the moment, if I were them I would restructure my penalty charges now and make them much more reasonable. I definitely wouldn't want angry customers shouting the odds in my branches and encouraging other customers to do the same, so lets hope they see sense!

smallplane

Hi Sophist.

I'm also with HSBC and I wanna start the ball rolling on reclaiming fees for going over my overdraft.
Have you had any problems from the HSBC for wanting to reclaim the fees?

Sophist

Well, I haven't got any further than asking to see the charges, as I say. And I've closed the account anyway, so there's not much more they can do. The letter said "we dispute that the charges are unlawful" or something like that, but that's about it, nothing particularly menacing.

viva1angel

no one can help?

Orford

I want to know if i am able to reclaim those now?

Yes

would a Postal order be allowed?

Yes that's fine

pink_chilli

Hi,

I am posting this on behalf of my mum. She has had a lot of trouble with HSBC over the past 20 years she has been banking with them. In June last year she opened an account another bank as she was then, for the first time, in a finacially acceptable (to the bank) position to do so. Since then she has been trying to clear the overdraft on the old HSBC account not using it to spend. We have put in a claim for unfair bank charges last March, which we will review following the court case decision. Many Thanks to Martin and other members providing excellent advice and resources for the reclaiming process. :T

Since November we have been recieving phone calls pestering mum to pay the overdraft off. Basically any money she has put in to clear the charges has been swallowed up (and some) in further charges sometimes totalling £170 per month. Mum has explained this to the 'customer service' staff calling here but it hasn't ended their hounding.

She is now £611.78 overdrawn £550 of which are the result of charges. Please can you advise what she should do next?

As I'm sure you will appreciate she is not willing to put anymore money into the account to pay the overdraft off as it is futile in resolving the situation.

This is very stressful for my mum, and members of the family answering the phonecalls.

Many Thanks in advance for any advice given.

Claire.

Orford

Send them this letter

Dear Sirs
Harassment by telephone

Account Number: XXXXXXX
I am writing to clarify that I am currently in the process of requesting a refund of bank charges unlawfully made to my account.

I need to make you fully aware that I am disputing the sum owed and, as such, you must refrain from any further action until this dispute is fully resolved.

I also refer to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing.

I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls. (Delete if necessary)

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.

I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded. (**Even if you don‘t yet have recording equipment!!**)

Yours faithfully,

nalced777

Hi guys, I have an interesting situation myself with bank charges, I'm with HSBC. I wrote my letter claiming £125 about a month before the court case put everything on hold, I got a second letter in but they didn't write back. Now I've recieved two different charges (due to going overdrawn) in the past two months, one for £19, the other for £40 (That might consist of two £20). So clearly they've lowered the charges slightly, but still obviously unreasonable. Is the court case now over, and do you think I'll have any luck if I write again and request all the old charges and the new ones? Anyone else had experience of dealing with HSBC?

Cheers in advance for any replies, getting the money back from the bank at the moment would be a massive help, times are hard!

BAILIFFCHASER

nalced777 wrote: »

Hi guys, I have an interesting situation myself with bank charges, I'm with HSBC. I wrote my letter claiming £125 about a month before the court case put everything on hold, I got a second letter in but they didn't write back. Now I've recieved two different charges (due to going overdrawn) in the past two months, one for £19, the other for £40 (That might consist of two £20). So clearly they've lowered the charges slightly, but still obviously unreasonable. Is the court case now over, and do you think I'll have any luck if I write again and request all the old charges and the new ones? Anyone else had experience of dealing with HSBC?

Cheers in advance for any replies, getting the money back from the bank at the moment would be a massive help, times are hard!

The charges accrued after issuing automatically form a second claim. So you just repeat the whole process again.