HSBC to start Sharing Credit/Debt Info

Lillyella_2

I am worried about how this is going to affect me, I have been in debt for 3 years and the CAB have helped me negotiate lower, interest free payments to all creditors, its still going to take me years to pay it off, but surprisingly my dealing with HSBC (who do not know the extent of my debt and with whom I have held a current account for 7 years) have been favourable, I have an overdraught facility with them which they gave me no questions asked, what I am worried about is that they will look at my credit rating and suddenly decide they shouldn't have given me an overdraught facility and this will be detrimental to my relationship with them. I do not owe HSBC any money, by the way.
The last part of the article says:The bank said 5.4m customers that have opened a product with the bank since 2002 will be immediately affected.

How?


http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-loans/debt-news/article.html?in_article_id=402548&in_page_id=62

mattp_3

if they have given you an overdraft facility, they must have been happy to lend you the money in the first place, they would not be able to retract your overdraft without a good reason (i.e. non-payment or continually going over your limit)

The last part of the article says : The bank said 5.4m customers that have opened a product with the bank since 2002 will be immediately affected

- I think this means that the information may be shared on products taken by customers after 2002, not that they are going to review their loans and overdrafts (after all they have also signed a credit agreeement that states the terms on which the money has been lent - they cannot change that now??)

ManAtHome

They are only going to share the information with other institutions who are also prepared to share. I think this is a reaction to recent bad publicity after lending some people far too much. It won't necessariliy prevent you getting credit, but is likely to limit the amount offered.

My understanding is that info will be held at Credit Reference Agencies and will be used to check your credit if you apply for a new product or possibly extend an existing one. If you've had problems in the past, these would have shown up on any credit check anyway (as missed payments), so HSBC obviously see you as a reasonable risk. Don't think you'll have a problem unless you want to dramatically increase your overdraft limit.