HSBC overdraft charge

gt94sss2

travellingaussie wrote: »

I told them I thought this was ridiculous and waiting on their email back but otherwise they can stick it as far as I'm concerned just waiting on this new account paperwork to come through and then I'm gone!

Of the big banks, HSBC probably has the lowest/'fairest' charging structure.

I certainly woudn't move to Alliance & Leicester in the hope of getting a better service - its likely to be much worse..

Regards
Sunil

gt94sss2

travellingaussie wrote: »

What is the difference with a solo visa / electron card? What are bank giros (old fashioned?) and as for cheque book why would I bin any of these?

If you have a Solo and/or a Visa Electron, your available balance is checked each time you use your card - if there are insufficient funds then your transaction is refused.

That is what you seem to want.

However some shops/retailers don't accept these cards as their systems are not set up to check each transaction as it happens.

If you have written cheques or authorised a standing order or direct debit then you are effectively instructing your bank to honour those payments - while they can refuse if it makes you overdrawn they normally only do so on specific accounts (for those with poor credit records) or if it makes you 'substantially' overdrawn as refusing to honour such a request can cause a lot more problems for their customers.

Regards
Sunil

travellingaussie

gt94sss2 wrote: »

Of the big banks, HSBC probably has the lowest/'fairest' charging structure.

I certainly woudn't move to Alliance & Leicester in the hope of getting a better service - its likely to be much worse..

Regards
Sunil

Thanks, will still change though as I am tired of dealing with HSBC problems and charges and Alliance have a 0% and no charge on overdrafts till May 2009 I think at the moment which sounds much better. Also for the credit card one I have choosen has 0% on purchasing and balance transfers till May 2009 as well. So will get rid of the HSBC headache for a year for me and by then i think i'll well and truely be ready to move on from this country!

travellingaussie

gt94sss2 wrote: »

If you have a Solo and/or a Visa Electron, your available balance is checked each time you use your card - if there are insufficient funds then your transaction is refused.

That is what you seem to want.

However some shops/retailers don't accept these cards as their systems are not set up to check each transaction as it happens.

If you have written cheques or authorised a standing order or direct debit then you are effectively instructing your bank to honour those payments - while they can refuse if it makes you overdrawn they normally only do so on specific accounts (for those with poor credit records) or if it makes you 'substantially' overdrawn as refusing to honour such a request can cause a lot more problems for their customers.

Regards
Sunil

Thanks again, all of ours are checked when transacted in Oz I believe as your card would be declined if you tried to withdraw more money then you had in your account or available on you credit card - didn't realise it wasn't done here, thought it was common place!

ldavies_3

its pretty much a dozen of one and half a dozen of the other. we, as customers have a responsibility to keep our financials in check and only spend what we have got, therefore reducing charges to zero. This is where the free banking comes into play. its only when we use money that isnt ours that we are charged the fees. To be fair, this has always been the case and always will be. all banks are businesses and need to be viable and the only way to do this is to introduce fees and charges. its not like we dont know what them fees and charges are is it?

if for instance we were only charged a nominal sum for going overdrawn, would that be enough of a detterant to stop it happening? I know that I would certanly think twice before taking money out if its going to charge me the full wack..

I also know that I have access to telephone banking, internet banking and the option of going in to the branch so there is no excuse for going into the red ie i know my balances.

Interesting debate though..:cool:

travellingaussie

Yes it is advisable to keep your finances in check but charges like this to someone who can't afford them - and even though I am in a postion whereby I can, I still completely disagree with and don't take lightly someone after my money at the first chance they get - lead to people not being able to keep finances in check.

I have always had free banking in other countries and never had such charges. The bulk of a banks money comes from I would think investing our money and having the ability to utilise this, and should not come from ridiculous charges - i certainly don't charge them a monthly fee to have my money at their disposable - I understand if it is a regular habit of someone to ignore a limit and go over by thousands - but common sense should be encouraged in these dealings.

It certainly is no detterant to myself, simply has made me look and take my customer elsewhere so end of the day I may have lost £25 but I will easily have taken this from the bank in the long run by taking my money elsewhere. Business wise it is a greater loss to the bank then to a customer if customers remove there business immediately.

I have little time to get into a bank but yes do have internet access which i utilise on a regular basis - this does not mean every day though and I am often overseas on business so don't have the time to be monitoring every little detail to the pound, in this instance we are talking a matter of 2 days grace for £70 due to transactions going through that were refunded immediately. Most banks are after all using money which is not theirs to fund the business - ie it is ours - so on a single occasion whereby i have utilised some of theirs for 2 days it hardly warrents such a charge!

chardanna

lucypeach wrote: »

Just thought I'd let you all know this:

My bank sent me a letter last month informing me they were pleased to letme know my overdraft had been approved for one more year. The letter was 5 pages long. When I got to the last page (most people wouldnt read it) it told me I was being charged £25 for the pleasure. I have ner been charged for having a small overdraft facility and have been with the bank for 15 years. I telephoned HSBC and let them know I was unhappy with the charges and that I would like to close my account as other banks do not charge fee for overdrafts - only interest on how overdrawn you are. They very quickly refunded my £25 charge. So moral is - if you dont ask you dont get.

I had this same letter yesterday, called them advised I was not happy & would close my a/c if they continued with this fee, I have had to log a formal compalint as "policy won't let them refund it" then spent 10 mins expalining the girl on the phone the FSA regulations for response to complaint as she obviously didn't have a clue.... watch thsi space!

chardanna

ldavies wrote: »

This is an interesting one really.. IMO, banking is a service which should to be paid for and until the day comes when we have to pay for day to day accounts then its fair to charge for services ie overdrafts ( someone has to cough up for us going overdrawn etc)

They are paid- as they use our money on the wholesale money markets ext, make lots of money & pay us small interest on our deposits!

ldavies_3

I understand that but hey, unless we keep in all under the bed......in a shoe box maybe.... :rolleyes:

All the fees are advertised.. we wouldnt ask for a discount on food at the checkout of a supermarket.. well I wouldnt anyway lol

Meltdown_2

Hiding things in the (often very) small print of the Terms & Conditions doesn't quite tally with my understanding of the word "advertised".
Some banks are very much better than others in making charges clearly known to their customers. When will all of them realise that being straight with your customers is a good business policy to follow?

Turning to your analogy, it feels more like getting to the checkout to be told "Oh no, that item is 10p extra because today is not a Thursday, and the month has an "r" in it, and the temperature is above 20 degrees. It says all about this on a little card near the exit."
On second thoughts, it is more like only finding this out when you read the till receipt after you get home.