HSBC Managed Loan

alidai

Hi all,

Having got into a bit of a mess while i was at Uni i now have a loan with Cahoot for £9,000 ish at 5.7% and also because i was in trouble with HSBC with a CC, Flexiloan and Overdraft they gave me a Managed Loan for £8,500 to make it easier for me. That was 15 months ago and i didn't realise then that this loan wasn't just a normal loan and that it was cos i was really bad with money. The APR on it is currently 9.9% above the banks base rate which works out as around 14-15%.

Anyway, during the last year or so i have sorted my life out and have tried to obtain a loan to cover the HSBC one so that i can return my account to normal.

I have applied for a loan with a few places (i know not really good for my credit rating) and have been succesful with getting a Smile loan but at a rate of 10.5%.

This is a better rate than my HSBC one and also wouldn't be a managed loan. Therefore would it be advisable to take this loan and pay off the HSBC loan. Also would HSBC then be able to return my account to a normal status and provide me with a Switch card etc?

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

Alidai

The_Big_Yin_4

In al fairness just paying off the loan with HSBC will NOT guarentee you a normal account in return it will all depend on your scoring within said bank , have you tried calling them to find out if its possible NOW as you can have a swotch card and a managed loan heck i know of occassions where an overdraft is possible but this again depends on te conduct of your account. When you took out your loan with HSBC you would have had a NIL overdraft limit placed on your account which is reviewable every year and does not always get removed , you would need to ask once you had paid off the borrowing ,

If you are able to get a loan at a lower rate isn't it always a good idea but i would be wary and check what rate you are genuinely paying with HSBC before commiting to anything As the saying goes "Only fools rush in!"

alidai

The HSBC rate is 14.9% so deffo worth changing and i've read through everything thoroughly now to realise whats going on.

I'll ring the bank up on monday to see what they'll do about my account though.

monkeylugs

I had a managed loan given by HSBC taken out in December 2000. It was for £10,000 and I was paying it off at £120 per month.

We sold our house in October 2004 and I decided to pay off the balance of the loan using some of the equity so the loan was paid off.

Previous to that, however, I did have a switch card, not just a solo and I was also offered an overdaft of £200 (which I did not accept). I said to them "Oh when I took this loan out you told me you would not give me any form of borrowing until it was paid off" and they said it had depended on my "behaviour score" and it had gone up all the time (due to the fact I kept it in credit and the amount of money going into it).

I must admit that HSBC, I found, were always the most approachable of my creditors.

alidai

They have been approacheable i'll be honest about that. I guess i'll have to speak to them on Monday when i can. I have asked the question about it via secure message on my Internet Banking but have received the usual automated reply.

Rafter

Your account with HSBC will always have a black mark against it probably. Good luck trying though.

I suggest you have a word with Smile and see if they will give you a current account with Debit card. If they have given you a loan there is a good chance?

There's is a very good current account, particularly if you don't use branches very much and are happy to do your banking over the phone or the internet.

Good luck.

R.

alidai

Cheers Rafter,

When i applied for the loan with Smile i applied for a current account too and got that.

As if you say, their current account is good then when i pay my HSBC loan off should i simply transfer my current account over to Smile and then close my HSBC one or would it be worth asking HSBC about my account?

thanks

Alidai

Cashbereft

HSBC, the bank from Hell.Nice to see the "Managed Loan",(for which they do nothing in return except charge obscene interest) has other victims.
We became victims of this phenomenon a year ago,when the bank with "local knowledge", had its 5th reshuffle of employees and our so called personal adviser (the 5th), was moved sideways, and the bank that was with us "all the way" pulled the rug.(see our earlier desperate post).
We have now been paying for the consolidated overdrafts, loans, failed PPI, and downright banking incompetance (a grand total of £31,000),on the managed loan for a year.They've had £5400 from us and because its top loaded we owe about £100 less than when we started.If we keep on like this we will give them £30000 for £30000 borrowed.About the same rate as we could get from a loan shark, yet this is perfectly legal and above board.........
We have just found out that if we take 2 loans for £15000 a piece, we will pay, with PPI, a total of £37,000;making a grand saving of £22,000.So much for helpful understanding HSBC,so we're off as fast as our little legs can run.
A few asides -they failed to inform us of the availability of an Euro cheque account, which as we transfer £1100 per month, would have saved us about £600 per year on a better exchange rate.
They have just cancelled all direct access to our local bank staff/personal adviser (which on reflection may not be all bad given the high standard of business advice we've had up to this point) so it all has to be done through a call centre in India.
They failed to honour a PPI,claiming it was an insurance dependant on me seeking work not being made redundant.
They stopped my pension without my permission,claimed it was our fault and to this date (a year later) we dont know whats happened.
They took us for a ride selling us Life Cover for a mortgage ,that was all fees and costs,then when we bought abroad (complete with cheaper cover) and had no need for UK cover, gave us all but nowt back.
Generally we feel they should feature on Rogue Traders, as the level of help, professionalism,anything is not what one would have expected from such a major player.
STAY AWAY FROM HSBC, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

se0373

I wonder whether the way HSBC tries to enforce its "Managed Loan" scheme is actually fully legal - from my experience, it is far from ethical..

I borrowed 25K for home improvements 3 yrs ago. I have met all the repayments, never had any arrears, have had an HSBC account for 15 yrs, and am a high earner.

Over the last few months, I have got into some financial difficulty - not severe, but enough for me to contact my creditors to explain the situation. With the exception of HSBC, they all agreed to reduced payments for either 3 or 6 months - with no hassle.

HSBC initially refused, point-blank, to reduce my monthly payments. When I appealed against this, they sent a contract to sign for a managed loan, stopped my Switch card, replaced it with a Solo card, and froze my account. Fortunately, I had the sense to read what was proposed in the contract.

I have 60 payments of 450 a month still to make. I anticipate an improvement in my situation by the end of the year - and told HSBC this - but wanted to pay 300 monthly until then. The Managed Loan contract they sent would, indeed, allow me to pay 300 a month - but for 10 years! The interest rate is double that on my loan..

If I had agreed to this, when all I wanted was to reduce my payments by 150 a month for 6 months, I would have ended up paying nearly 13,000 more in interest over the loan term (in comparison with my current loan). It would also have very drastically increased my overall debt to HSBC (from 26,000 to 39,000 or so).

Perhaps consciously making a customer's debt problem considerably worse is legal - but it surely cannot be ethical?

IoweIoweitsofftoworkIgo

out of date

Glitterari

I found my managed loan to be a great help (so far...will be paid off in next month or 2)