Is this now the norm for sidestepping the rules?

neverdespairgirl

Russ_Vengeance wrote: »

I made a wee tactical error with my money in Jan, and ended up goin £30 over my O/D limit. :doh: !!!!!!. It now seems that HSBC have decided that instead of charging the legal £12 penalty fee (which I have no problem with - It was my screw up!) they are going to charge me a £25 'arrangement fee' for extending my O/D for the period I was over the aforementioned limit:mad: .

You've lost me slightly - is this a current account?

In which case, the "legal £12 penalty fee" doesn't apply. That relates to credit cards, not bank accounts.

In relation to bank accounts, the case is currently wending its way through the High Court, and there isn't yet a decision on the lawfulness of the charges.

neverdespairgirl

Russ_Vengeance wrote: »

We know what they're doing, they know that we know what they're doing, but there's absolutely f**k all we can do about their blatant profiteering.

There is something you can do - you can be very, very careful about not going to near your O/D limit, do you have internet banking? That really helps.

Broken_hearted

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

There is something you can do - you can be very, very careful about not going to near your O/D limit, do you have internet banking? That really helps.

YOU CAN BUT IT DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK. At christmas our natwest card was cloned and pushed into an O/D we don't have, natwest investigated and because it was used in a chip and pin device (by the thief). They waived the fee but we had to pay for the transaction.:mad:

MKDebt

>> And it can't be reclaimed, because it's a charge for a service, not a punitive charge.

This is not strictly true. HSBC slapped me with charges of 150 and 100 over 2 months for unauthorised extensions to my overdraft. I wrote them a very snotty letter of complaint via the form on the website, and they refunded £200 of it. I'll post the message if I can find my copy.

I may have been aided by the fact that I had just re-mortgaged and had a balance of £66000:j at the time of the refund - but it is still worth a go.

Matt

MKDebt

Here is the message I sent to HSBC

Dear Sir

Account 11-11-11 22222222 MR M ******* & MRS F **********

I am writing to you about what I consider to be excessive informal overdraft charges that have been applied to my account. These are as follows

09 Oct 2007 Arrangement Fee £125
09 Nov 2007 Arrangement Fee £150 (due to be applied)

Please note that I am not querying the way these charges have been calculated, or the fact that due to your current charge schedule they should be applied to my account - I accept that under the current terms and conditions of the account that the charges are correct.

Calling them a service charge is laughable - HSBC provided me with no service whatsoever, except increasing my informal overdraft limit, and charging me for the privilege. HSBC made no attempt to contact me by phone, letter or email to warn me that I was incurring these charges.

I have been a customer of HSBC for over 10 years and have in the past been generally happy with the service provided.
I would be happy to pay £25 for each month for the level of "service" I have received, consequently I would like the following as a gesture of goodwill.

Cancellation of the November charge, and a refund of £25.

or

If the November charge has already been applied to the account, a refund of £175.

I have spoken to to my branch manager about this - he didn't even talk to me face to face, just relayed a flat "No" through the junior personal banker I was talking to.

I am well aware that all bank charge reclaim actions have been suspended pending the outcome of the Financial Ombudsman review, please do not attempt to use this fact to put me off. This is not a formal reclaim, it is a request for you to show some measure of goodwill for the poor level of service I have received.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Lily74_2

Hi Russ

I am so mad at the moment I've had to join this thread and post a reply just to vent some anger. I had a letter from HSBC back in Dec saying that they were reviewing my overdraft and were charging me £25 for the privilige as part of their new policy. I was angry then but thought I need the overdraft so just played along with it. I like many other people have had a bad Jan with money and went £2.60 over my limit in the middle of Jan for which they charged me £25. Then on the 25th Jan my original arrangment fee of £25 came out of my account sending me more over my limit. I got paid on the 31st Jan but the money actually was in my account on the 30th by BACS transfer I just could'nt draw on it but they could see it. A DD was paid on the 30th and they charged me another £25. I've just been on my account today to see £50 in arrangement fees waiting to come out of my account next month so I rang them.

V. interesting. The £25 arrangement fee that you have been charged is for everytime you go over your limit they are now saying that they are having to arrange an overdraft for you and are charging you. What's even better is that if you have behaved yourself and not gone over your limit or asked for an increase in the last 6 months then the annual arrangement fee of £25 would of been waivered - basically for good behaviour. So if your struggling and are trying to pay off debts or dare to go over your limit you will be charged £25 per time. Needless to say I told them what I thought and told them what they were doing was unlawful. Actually I told them I'd pee myself laughing when the OFT rules in favour of the consumer and that bank charges are indeed unlawful.

HSBC made huge profist last year from people like us. If I were you I'd ring them and fight it - you might feel better after a rant but their staff have obviously been briefed not to budge as I didn't get anything back. Good luck.

neverdespairgirl

Lily74 wrote: »

. Needless to say I told them what I thought and told them what they were doing was unlawful. Actually I told them I'd pee myself laughing when the OFT rules in favour of the consumer and that bank charges are indeed unlawful.

.

Hi - it's not the OFT, it's the High Court - the OFT have, with the banks' agreement, brought a test case.

ADRIANS_WORDS

try calling the bank i got stung £50 quid ring them up and ask nicely if they will overtunr it it worked for me

at least try