Cheeky HSBC!!

JackNo1

Hi, I need to get something off my chest and this seems to be the place to do it.

I have recently moved house, from one rented property to another. Because of this, I have been waiting for the deposit from the old place to come back for weeks, but the landlord is dragging his heels about filling in the paperwork. Anyway, this made me have to miss my credit card payment as I had to prioritise my bills until the deposit comes back.

Today I get a call from HSBC credit card services, on my mobile phone, asking me to make a payment. I am late for about £11 and odd pence. First off, I never give card details over a mobile phone. It's not a secured line and I don't want my card details stolen. Secondly, I explained the situation to the lady on the other end of the phone. She wanted me to confirm a date when I could pay, I explained that I did not know when the deposit would come, so I couldn't give an exact date. In the end she decided I would pay by 1st July.

She then had the nerve to suggest I go and borrow what I owed from a friend or family member to pay the credit card bill!! I was shocked, the bleeding nerve and cheek! I told her that because of my waiting for this deposit money that I had to prioritise my bills and food came a lot higher than their bill. She started to lecture me on managing my finances better. I cut in and said look, I'm 35, you don't know me and you're not a financial advisor, so don't go lecturing me on my finances. After the call was finished I made a written complaint, not that it will do much good.

Has anyone else been treated like this, or told to go and scrounge the money off a mate?

stevemc1

[i have been through the same i got into a bit of hard times going throgh a divorce and was told well if you cant manage your credit wot chance do you have of managing your marraige,i nearly fainted my dad paid the 300 and i cut the card up,do the same

quote=JackNo1;discussion/981679]Hi, I need to get something off my chest and this seems to be the place to do it.

I have recently moved house, from one rented property to another. Because of this, I have been waiting for the deposit from the old place to come back for weeks, but the landlord is dragging his heels about filling in the paperwork. Anyway, this made me have to miss my credit card payment as I had to prioritise my bills until the deposit comes back.

Today I get a call from HSBC credit card services, on my mobile phone, asking me to make a payment. I am late for about £11 and odd pence. First off, I never give card details over a mobile phone. It's not a secured line and I don't want my card details stolen. Secondly, I explained the situation to the lady on the other end of the phone. She wanted me to confirm a date when I could pay, I explained that I did not know when the deposit would come, so I couldn't give an exact date. In the end she decided I would pay by 1st July.

She then had the nerve to suggest I go and borrow what I owed from a friend or family member to pay the credit card bill!! I was shocked, the bleeding nerve and cheek! I told her that because of my waiting for this deposit money that I had to prioritise my bills and food came a lot higher than their bill. She started to lecture me on managing my finances better. I cut in and said look, I'm 35, you don't know me and you're not a financial advisor, so don't go lecturing me on my finances. After the call was finished I made a written complaint, not that it will do much good.

Has anyone else been treated like this, or told to go and scrounge the money off a mate?[/quote]

[Deleted User]

yes, when I went over my student overdraught limit due to it being the summer and I couldn't find a job. a woman rang and asked when I was going to pay I responded with that I would pay as soon as I had money she suggested I pay it off with a credit card or loan from family! I informed her that according to OFT guidelines they are not supposed to suggest me getting into more debt to pay off what I owe to them and that I don't borrow money off people ever then I hung up on her.

pinkshoes

Don't forget that a bank is a business, and if you borrow on a credit card, you're entering and agreeing to their terms and conditions on paying it back.

Imagine it was YOUR business, and that a client decided they couldn't pay you until they got someone money from someone else. Imagine you NEEDED that money to pay your electricity/supplier or whatever to keep your business going. I'm sure you're really not going to give a crap about whatever excuse they give you on why they haven't paid yet, as your main priority is not to listen to sob stories, it's to maintain the cash flow of your business.

I know it's only £11, but if every single one of their customers suddenly couldn't pay £11, then it would have a massive affect on their cash flow, which can cause a business to go bankrupt.

Try looking at it from a different point of view. Yes it's annoying your old landlord hasn't given you the deposit back, but that's not the bank's problem or fault, so your letter of complaint should be directed at the landlord, NOT the bank.

myrnahaz

I suppose this type of call is going to become more popular with the banks etc now that they can't charge such huge penalties if you go overdrawn or miss card payments.
It's quite clever, really - they annoy you so much that you go and borrow from family or friends to pay the bill (pay them back, so to speak!) - job done! They know that only a few customers will close their accounts so it's worth the risk.
It's no different to any company chasing late payments from a customer.

I'm not defending this type of debt chasing - the Inland Revenue did something similar to me when I had a huge bill as a result of THEIR mistake, and I was so mad with the woman's cheek that I immediately borrowed the cash to pay the bill, so it obviously works.

RadoJo

It is not in the interests of banks to lend money to those who cannot repay it, so I am not surprised. If you borrow money from a bank, and agree to repay it a certain time, than fail to do so, and then instead of contacting them to explain, you wait until they contact you, and then you ask them to accept that you will pay it back 'when you can', why would you feel aggrieved? Surely they are entitled to ask you when you are going to repay the sum that they leant you? You have breached the contract you had with them, and they have asked you when you might be able to rectify it - I certainly wouldn't call their behaviour cheeky.

In fairness, borrowing from a friend or family member would be better than owing money on a credit card - a friend or family member probably won't charge you interest, will be understanding if you are late paying for a reason such as you have stated here, and won't affect your credit rating, so it is not such a bad suggestion, particularly if £11 is causing you trouble - it's not a huge amount to borrow from a friend, but it is the kind of sum which can still incur interest and compunding problems when left on a credit card.

dreamypuma

I can't believe this post.....

If the OP doesn't have the competence to repay money owed to a bank in a timely manner then what is he / she doing with a credit card?

I wouldn't waste your time writing a letter to HSBC complaining. Quite frankly you are in the wrong, and should prioritise better.

redrabbit29

dreamypuma wrote: »

I can't believe this post.....

If the OP doesn't have the competence to repay money owed to a bank in a timely manner then what is he / she doing with a credit card?

I wouldn't waste your time writing a letter to HSBC complaining. Quite frankly you are in the wrong, and should prioritise better.

Here here.

JackNo1

Wow, lots of negativity here, I didn't expect that! Let me say that this is the first time I've been late with a payment, and that it was not my fault, as explained above, i am still waiting for a deposit back in order to pay my bill and when it comes I will pay it back. my comment and anger was towards the lack of understanding and respect, and the cheekiness of thinking they know my personal circumstances when they don't.

Are you suggesting I go without food for a week in order to pay the bank? Not exactly what I'd expect from human beings!

Edited to add, the bank wrote to me and apologised.